Home Automation I put a commercial building automation system in my new house. |
- I put a commercial building automation system in my new house.
- Does anyone here work in the Home Automation industry? I'd like to make a career out of it, not sure which path to take...
- What this mean? Inovelli Black Series, non neutral.
- My experience with the SwitchBot Curtain - Rod Edition
- Previous owners put these all over with no central thermostat. Any idea how I can make them smart? Details in comment
- Help with smart bulbs
- Does the Ring Smart Light Bridge Play Well With Other Smart Devices?
- Smart Curtains/blinds help?
- Best contact and motion sensors for home assistant?
- GE color wave white?
- WiFi Seamless Handoff Home System
- Got a newer revision of the Weiser Premis, small change to the battery cover, but big QoL update!
- I got sent the SwitchBot curtain to test and my experience with them was amazing. I made a review on my site if anyone is interested. No affiliate links. All opinions are my own
- New House. Starting Over
- Geofencing with homeseer
- Questions Regarding Hub
- Question for GoControl owners
- Finding automated outdoor shades?
- Connectors for LED strips
- I have both a SmartThings hub and a Hubitat hub en route. Which should I keep?
- Can these wires be used on RGB Strips?
- Z-Wave / Homeassistant | Aotec USB stick and Multisensor won't connect
| I put a commercial building automation system in my new house. Posted: 20 Nov 2020 05:16 PM PST I'm hoping this can stay here. I see a lot of folks trying to cobble together many different technologies in this sub reddit, in an effort to do some pretty cool stuff. But its stuff that in the commercial Building Automation world, that would be dead simple and just the start. Unfortunately those abilities come at a price, and work with things almost never found in your house. In other words, it can be really expensive. Full disclosure, I am a Building Automation Systems contractor, and I have been in the business for over 23 years. I am keeping this post vendor/brand neutral as possible, as I do sell and install these types of systems for a living, and it seems like promoting one of those here would be in bad faith. Truth is, that all the major manufacturers have similar capabilities. I also have never even looked at anything like home kit, as the current state of home automation me to be a tedious, half assed mess. I did do some lights in the past with a Mi Casa verda Vera Zwave controller, but I gotta say i was not impressed. My wife and I own a small farm that had a 100 year old farmhouse, that unfortunately had fatal structural flaws. Since it was coming down with or without our help, we decided to tear it down and build a new one. After a couple of decades in Energy Management, HVAC, and Project development and management, I decided that I would put a commercial grade Building Automation system. Installing a system like this would probably cost around $30K retail, but remember I am a dealer so the parts I got at wholesale, and I did a lot of the work myself. I have not added up what I spent, as its hard to cleanly separate all the costs. I also insisted on some commercial concepts with the HVAC system mostly, and some electrical. My builder was completely on board with this. His HVAC contractor was not. I should have fired him several times. He was an idiot, and I work with loads of commercial mechanical contractors that would have cut me a nice deal to do my house. But the builder wanted to use "his guy". He also wanted to use his electricians, but I fired them three days in for very good reasons. I was able to bring in my own contractor that had a full understanding of what I was trying to accomplish. Anyway, the thing with the HVAC system that blew the contractors mind is that I ducted the heat pumps together and used zone dampers to be able to send the heating or cooling from any heat pump to any part of the house. This has several advantages. Since I have two different sized heat pumps, I can match the most appropriate heat pump to the load. I also can equalize the run time they accumulate. Most importantly, if one dies, I do not lose heating or cooling to any part of the house. I put a hot water heating coil in the common supply as well. I have a combi boiler that does both my hot water and also has a heating loop that I can trigger with my system. I have full control of both the hot water recirc loop and the heating loop. The electric strip heat for the heat pumps is still there in case all else fails. I hope to never use it. My house is divided into four zones, that have modulating dampers. In commercial buildings this type of system is referred to as a "VVT" or a pressure dependent system. Pressure dependent systems are old technology, and quite frankly are not really installed that much anymore for good reason. They are however cheap, and for my house, it was a good application. The system keeps track of the active set point in the space and adjusts to keep the temperature stable in the zone. The system keeps track of the zone needs and responds appropriately to keep both the zones and the heat pumps happy. I used flow, temperature, and humidity sensors to calculate the realtime BTU performance of the heat pumps, and to alert me by text when one starts to slip too far. I have six "sensor nests" through out the house that can tell me all kinds of things including temperature, humidity, light levels, sound levels, and occupancy. They also have RGB light rings that I can use to have the system communicate status or anything else I want. In addition, there are two touch space temperature sensors that users can use to interact and display suystem info, as well as a larger touchscreen in the kitchen. The screen shots in the imgur link show a web based interface that is actually hosted by my company, so that I can access the system from anywhere. There are four programmable controllers (DDC) in the system, that communicate using a standard called BACnet. (ASHRAE 135 if you're really bored.) BACnet is a very popular communications protocol in the industry. What's not shown? I have two doors with fingerprint readers so that I and my family are never locked out. I'm registering some trusted friend as well, with the caveat that the system will log them using their fingerprint to enter, and it will text me immediately when they do. I also have an Enocean wireless hub, to do lighting controls next. Questions? I'm here. ask me anything. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 09:30 AM PST More or less self-explanatory from the title. I work in a totally different industry but I love to geek out with smart home tech like all of you. I've been looking to get more into the more custom stuff like Home Assistant, Raspberry Pi projects, etc. Not that I'd be opposed, I don't think I'd try to work for a brand as I don't have any kind of professional background there (essentially a n00b with coding) but rather focus more on starting my own business providing local bespoke system installs, whether residential or for small businesses. Does anyone here actually do this for a living and if so is it fruitful? [link] [comments] | ||
| What this mean? Inovelli Black Series, non neutral. Posted: 20 Nov 2020 12:53 PM PST
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| My experience with the SwitchBot Curtain - Rod Edition Posted: 21 Nov 2020 01:38 AM PST
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| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 11:22 PM PST I have Phillips Hue smart bulbs and they will not connect to my 2.4g network. I have tried seemingly everything and they won't work. If I use another phone to set up a personal hotspot I can connect them just fine. I've moved them within inches of the router, tried manual pairing, changed ssid names, etc.. I have an arris surfboard router that supposedly uses both 2.4 and 5g and I've verified my phone was connected to the 2.4 before attempting to pair the bulbs. Please help as this has been an ongoing frustration for months!! [link] [comments] | ||
| Does the Ring Smart Light Bridge Play Well With Other Smart Devices? Posted: 20 Nov 2020 03:00 PM PST For example, if a solar light motion is triggered, I want it to turn on my TP-Link outlet. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 05:02 PM PST Hey guys, I'm starting to look into curtains and blinds, there are a lot of options so I'm a little confused, doesn't help that I have no experience in traditional curtains and blinds, let alone smart ones... so I'm wondering what the order of installation is? Like do I start with installing traditional curtains and make it smart afterwards? or do I need to get smart motors/rails then install curtains afterwards? For curtains I'd like to have day (sheer) curtains + a night curtain to actually block out the sun if needed. For smarts, I'd like to control both with Alexa (IE: Alexa open day curtains/night curtains) and preferably be able to set a schedule for automated opening/closings. Any ideas or guidance would be really appreciated! [link] [comments] | ||
| Best contact and motion sensors for home assistant? Posted: 20 Nov 2020 12:51 PM PST Looking for the best (cheap) motions sensors and (7) contact sensors that work with home assistant. I currently have a pretty small smart home set up, but I'm looking to expand. Right now I have an Ikea tradfri set up, with a few bulbs, gateway and remote. I also have a bunch of wifi enabled plugs, a switch, and led strips (Kasa, or Tuya compatible). I have some Wyze products as well, including a couple cameras and the scale. I do have several Alexa based devices including the echo plus (which I'm using as a zigbee hub), I haven't attempted to add into home assistant yet, but it's on the list. Attached to the plus I have 3 hue bulbs, but I'm looking to switch everything over to a cheaper alternative, most likely ikea or wyze (or if you have another suggestion). My wyze products are not attached to home assistant either at this point (also on my to-do list.) So should I go with sensors from Ikea or Wyze, or should I go with a cheaper aliexpress alternative? My ultimate goal is to create a 100% automated light system. Especially at night, I'd like the lights to turn on from the hallway to the bathroom at only a fraction of their brightness. I'd also like everything to go off if no one is home or in the room. On another note, I'm very new to home assistant. so preferably something thats easily integrated would be ideal. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 07:14 PM PST So I have throughout my home GE Enbrighten dimmer paddle switches in every room I have renovated. Due to an imminent arrival of a new family member and time I reluctantly agreed to let a general contractor to handle our master bedroom and bathroom reno. Anyway cut a long story short, post contactor reno the paddle switch on the main master bedroom light is scratched to hell and back. I want to replace it as it feels and looks nasty, but it seems I cannot get a replacement paddle switch cover in white. I guess I could always buy a complete new switch but way overkill. Anyone know of anywhere I can get white? I googled and can get the ivory/black/brown but not white. My alternate option is to swap it with my laundry light switch, due to placement it's not readily visible but hoping not to have to (call me lazy but a 3 week old and 3 year old in the house is giving me plenty of work away from all the other small and large projects time) [link] [comments] | ||
| WiFi Seamless Handoff Home System Posted: 20 Nov 2020 12:43 PM PST My large two story house is wired with CAT6 in every room currently. Unfortunately the breakout box for all the cat 6 is located in one corner of the house, so the opposite end of the house get spotty wifi reception. I wanted to setup a system to get seamless wifi through he house for our many wireless devices. Should I be looking at mesh systems or Access Points? Any consumer grade suggestions. [link] [comments] | ||
| Got a newer revision of the Weiser Premis, small change to the battery cover, but big QoL update! Posted: 20 Nov 2020 07:49 AM PST
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| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 06:03 PM PST I bought a new house and brought nothing from old one. I'm ready to start thinking about interfacing an alarm with a HA hub. I used to use a Vista 30 to a Vera Plus through EVL-3. I know the Vista plug in has been abandoned for a while but it still works. I'm looking to start with a new hub, interface and alarm system. I though about Homeseer but their shop only shows a $99 hub and a $1,000 hub. I was hoping for something in between. Should I resurrect my Vera and the old Vista plugin? What is best? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 04:16 PM PST I can't figure out how to do geofencing with homeseer. I saw ways to do it with apps like life 360. But I don't want yet another app on my phone I have to deal with. Can it be done with the homeseer app? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 02:04 AM PST I started getting into home automation recently, but unfortunately before I saw this sub-reddit. We have a good array of Lutron switches, three TP-Link wifi switches, and just bought a wifi Yale x August lock. Is there a good hub to manage all these, mainly since there is a lot of WiFi components? I saw homeseer does not really work with the Yale x August lock. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 09:07 AM PST I'm looking at a GoControl GD00Z-8-GC. In the videos, the alarm beep is annoyingly loud. Is there a way to mute it, or disable it, or cover the port with epoxy? [link] [comments] | ||
| Finding automated outdoor shades? Posted: 20 Nov 2020 12:37 PM PST I have a very small (550sq.ft.) condo, and ~ 20 linear feet of sliding glass patio. Is anyone familiar with blackout / other shade setups that work being installed outside (covered patio, wind rarely but can really pick up)? I have an automated projection screen inside that lowers down I front of a 100" wide section of patio, but unfortunately that does not black out light from the city. The projection screen housing takes up the space where an indoor shade would otherwise fit. Hence the idea of having one installed outside, I guess almost like an automated storm shutter? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 20 Nov 2020 12:12 PM PST Hi all, I recently bought some Osram Led strips and I 90° connectors to place them where I need them to be. The only things I find need me to cut the silicon to do the connections and it's not the easiest part especially because those Osram have a very thin layer of "paper" with the "wires" in it. Isn't there any male-female connector ? Or is there a way to easily remove the silicon Thanks ! [link] [comments] | ||
| I have both a SmartThings hub and a Hubitat hub en route. Which should I keep? Posted: 20 Nov 2020 12:46 AM PST Like the title implies, I keep changing my mind about this stuff. Ordered the Hubitat, but then changed my mind and ordered the Smartthings hub. Waffling again. Both arrive this weekend. Which one should I return? Home automation setup is soon to be about 10-15 zwave Inovelli switches (also en route), and a few Hue and Ikea lights I inherited from a failed Christmas present to my parents (already running, but need the new hub to pair with the wall switches). Also pondering a smart thermostat, and a video doorbell. Hubitat is attractive because it's off the cloud, and... The most... flexible?... maybe? SmartThings is attractive because it's more user friendly and straight forward to setup?... Maybe?... Has Hubitat improved it's UI since it was first released? Is Samsung's UI actually any better? How do either fair with things like video doorbells and thermostats (or should I leave that to my voice assistant?)? Any compatibility pitfalls for either I should be aware of? [link] [comments] | ||
| Can these wires be used on RGB Strips? Posted: 20 Nov 2020 05:20 AM PST Looking to build an Infinity Cube, but i need to cut the strips into two different piece for two sides on the cube. Would this wires on 22AWG work on the rgb strips? New to this and not familiar with wires so not sure if RGB Strips need specific wires or not. I wont be using neopixels just normal generic rgb strips that require 4 wire connections instead of 3. example of how i need to connect them If y'all have any questions, feel free to ask. [link] [comments] | ||
| Z-Wave / Homeassistant | Aotec USB stick and Multisensor won't connect Posted: 20 Nov 2020 06:07 AM PST Hi there, I'm not new to Homeassistant but I am new to Z-Wave. I have a Aeotec Gen5 USB stick which is found fine by my Homeassistant docker. To test my first Z-Wave device I also got a Aeotec Multisensor 6. Now I follow the guidelines, I click the 'Add node' button, then I press the button on my Multisensor. The blue led starts blinking as it should, but after a few seconds it turns red indicating that it couldn't find a network. I've already factory resetted the Multisensor, but that didn't help. Here's the log from Homeassistant: Thank you for any help you can offer! I'm afraid of investing in more Z-wave devices before I figure this out. [link] [comments] |
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