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    Home Automation Programming and Service Tech Tools

    November 08, 2020

    Home Automation Programming and Service Tech Tools

    Programming and Service Tech Tools

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 06:40 PM PST

    Looking for a good thermostat

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 09:58 PM PST

    Looking for a good thermostat

    Hello,

    For a couple of years, I've been looking for a good (WiFi/ZigBee) thermostat that just always works. Currrently, I have a dumb Remeha iSense thermostat connected to a modified OpenTherm box connected to Home Assistant and sometimes that works great, and sometimes it doesn't do anything.

    You're probably thinking: "Maybe it's because you modified the OpenTherm box". Well, it lost connection after 10 messages on the original firmware, so I hooked a NodeMCU to the TX/RX ports on the OpenTherm box and ran a Telnet server on it. That was the only way I got it to work with Home Assistant. But after a few months it only allows me to read data. The funny thing is that it only allows that if a special header is sent by the thermostat to Home Assistant after startup.

    So yeah, it's all a bit unstable.

    Therefor, after those years, I kind of gave up on making the original thermostat work with Home Assistant and I'm now looking for a good WiFi (or ZigBee) thermostat for a 2 wire system.

    Of course, there is the Google Nest, but that seems like a pain in the ass to setup in Home Assistant. I also found the Remeha eTwist, which looks a bit weird, but could be a option.

    Do you have any suggestions? It would be nice to have an integration with HA, but I'm also very capable to send curl commands to it, if that's necessary.

    My current thermostat:

    https://preview.redd.it/ijnevyk6m5y51.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ba1545ef2f3c488f427104afd5880308f73d8519

    submitted by /u/Kmillion2
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    Best indoor cam that I can use as a baby monitor?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 09:21 PM PST

    Need an indoor cam that we can use as a baby monitor for when our toddler is asleep, no budget in this regard.

    Edit: I would like to mention that we already do have a radio based unit. I just wanted one that one of us can check if we had to go down stairs to get the mail (live in an apartment complex) or take the dog out to pee while the baby is sleeping. Currently the radio based baby monitor doesn't make it outside.

    submitted by /u/Dexinthecity
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    new to home automation but not to code...

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 01:00 PM PST

    I have some experience in electronics and code, but this automation stuff is new to me.

    I'm up in Finland. We have car pre-heaters. I have a plug-through switch from Clas Ohlson that takes a departure time and turns on the power depending on the temperature. So if its -5C outside, then the heating will be on for 30 minutes, if it's -20C then 2 hours, that kind of thing.

    I would like to replicate this but with a bit more understanding; I'm thinking about temperature sensors in the car feeding back "turn off" and also to be able to override (we realise we have no milk and want to go get some but 15 mins of pre-heating is better than nothing, so we press a button / switch / UI). The switch works but it has its own clock (which is therefore always wrong), it's a pain to program and I think I can do better.

    How to do this? I figure I have a couple of different possibilities:

    • One is to use Home Assistant or similar and then a ConnectBee or so stick. This would allow ZigBee connectivity back to a server and then to both power sockets outside and also feedback from, say, and Arduino with a temp sensor. I'd also then add a temperature sensor or two to the house to state "it's 5.2C outside" to guide the heating time. I have a good idea already of how long I want to heat for and the DEFA Termini in the car(s) already have a cutout when they get "too warm"
    • Another option would be to use a Shelly or two, with their temperature input. But then I don't get the feedback loop, which I want to make sure costs are OK by not heating too much.

    I picked up a Trådfri gateway the other day and it seems to mess up our existing Trådfri lights in the bathroom (they blink) so I turned it off and am happy again. I picked up a Ledvance Smart+ outdoor socket at the same time, and that seems both really nicely built and it's capable of dealing with the loads (>2kW) ... if there's something better, I'd like to know what it is :)

    I have a server running, so I can use a VM for this automation stuff, or a Pi (got a couple of those lying around, too). Thoughts on what I could do would be good.. adding this to a HTML server and showing status etc. is future music. Grafana is already installed on one machine, though, so it would seem an obvious choice. Not played with it much, mind, but it's there. Would be nice to flick through tabs with train information on one, headlines on another, weather on a third and status on a fourth.

    Thoughts?

    submitted by /u/bretti_kivi
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    Are Lutron Caseta switches different from dimmers according to Alexa?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 02:23 PM PST

    I recently replaced almost every light switch in my house with Caseta dimmers. They work great after connecting to my Amazon account. I also installed two Caseta switches. These also work great. They are connected via the Lutron app. However, Alexa does not recognize these two particular devices. For example, "Alexa, turn on all lights" will turn on all connected lights, except for the two switches. Is there an extra step with Alexa or are switches simply not supported? Which would be weird.

    EDIT (solution): Credit to u/OoglesOfOogles - had to change the "type" in the Alexa app from switch to light. Then everything worked correctly.

    submitted by /u/matt_not_mat
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    Is it possible to make a custom-sound command for Google Home Mini? (for disabled people)

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 11:57 PM PST

    Hello, I'm trying to configure the Google Home Mini for my mum. She is disabled and cannot pronounce words clearly, she can only make some high pitch non-lingual sounds.

    Can Google Home Mini or Google Assistant software recognize custom sounds (non human language) and take them as commands?

    If it's not a native feature of Google Home Mini, are there some ways to workaround for achieving that?

    Thanks a lot in advances!

    submitted by /u/brockoala
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    (US) Whole home intercom/radio. Upgrade/replace/destroy? Description in comments.

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 01:01 AM PST

    Looking for an outdoor door sensor that works with a 2-3 inch gap

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 08:53 PM PST

    I have some outdoor gates that I'd like to have sensors on to know when they are open or closed. I have zwave that can reach the gates, my WiFi is spotty and my zigbee network would need a repeater to reach the area. Anyone have a decent solution?

    submitted by /u/mldkfa
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    Does any IP PTZ CCTV camera exist with a BNC output?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 08:02 PM PST

    Hardware suggestions for lighting

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 01:58 PM PST

    I've recently been looking into automating some of my lighting and such in my house I'm building. I'm looking for the best way to possibly do this. As of now the plan is for all of the lighting to be run off 12v dc circuts. Outlets will more than likely ac. I'm looking for a chip that I can use to turn on and off as well as dim a series of lights, using an app and google or alexa assistants. I'm up for programming if I have to but am struggling with the cheapest way to go about it. I could buy bulbs(hue, lifx, ect) but they seems extremely expensive I'm curious if there is a chip or board I could wire directly into part of the circuit to achieve this. Any suggestions on this project or any other projects I should include would be great. I'm already planning on a few. Security system, NAS, smart locks, nest.

    submitted by /u/sleepymedic4466
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    Humidity not showing on Amazon EchoSNZB-02

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 11:06 AM PST

    I've heard that getting a security camera like Nest Hello that can stream 24/7 to the cloud is a massive hog on your bandwidth and fast tracks you to any ISP data caps. Can anyone that has one of these kind of cloud camera setups give their input?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 07:14 PM PST

    It's what's making me lean more towards local storage setups like Eufy, though Google Hello does have some pretty great features.

    submitted by /u/DoctorStrangeBlood
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    Need help for my project (temperature related)

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 06:34 PM PST

    Hi all , I am here to advice for my project. I need to replicate the real-time monitoring feature of a smart factory. To do this, I plan to mimic sensors taking temperature reading of machine parts by having a sensor taking temperature of an aluminium can.

    The question is, what sensor should I use? I am wondering whether DHT11 or DHT22 can take temperature directly from the can if the sensor is taped on the can. Or any other ideas how to implement this is welcomed !

    submitted by /u/itspizzteoh
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    Smart Plug Schedule Management

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 11:04 AM PST

    I want to turn on and off plugs every other hour between 7am and 4pm. This is to heat two basement rooms via a space heaters.

    I got two Wyze smart plugs to solve this. But HOLY MOLY. I will need to create a schedule for each plug individually. I cannot create a single schedule and apply it to both plugs. This sucks.

    Is there a smarter way to solve maintaining a schedule for multiple devices?

    submitted by /u/6-1-2
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    Roborock S5 Max v Deebot Ozmo 950?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 03:57 PM PST

    With Deebot Ozmo 950 at $450 on Costco, and Roborock S5 Max currently at $550 (may go lower during Black Friday?), evaluating which one would be better. Has anyone tried both, and have a reccomendation?

    Additional, main concern with Ozmo 950 is that online reviews say that the force used in mopping is weak. Is this similar in Roborock S5 Max?

    submitted by /u/The_No0b
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    Out lights never get shut off because we are lazy. If I upgrade my lights to smart lights, how long would it take to make it worth my time and money?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 06:46 PM PST

    shelly 1 with no neutral powering LED lights

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 10:50 AM PST

    Hi, I'm looking at the Shelly 1 to turn my spotlights in my kitchen into smart lights.

    https://shelly.cloud/products/shelly-1-smart-home-automation-relay/

    ​

    My current light switches don't have a neutral wire, just live going into the lights switch, and then controlled live coming out of the switch and going to the bulbs.

    It says in the spec sheet for the shelly that when running without neutral it requires 10W of power to trickle through the control wire.

    This 10W would flow through the lights when turned off. I have 6 MR16 (12v) lightbulbs connected to each switch.

    But I can't find any information about how whether 10W would be too much power to send through the lightbulbs when they are off. Does anyone know what the maximum wattage you can send through these lights without them outputting an light?

    submitted by /u/taiwankeyboard
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    To few now too many wires

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 10:39 AM PST

    I bought a Caseta wall switch (part of the starter kit. It has three wires, 2 black and one white (Ground). When I opened my wall switch (currently a very old dimmer) I saw the switch only had two wires connected, not 3. One white, one black. Digging back, I found that black wires were screwed together, and there were actually 3 incoming black wires all screwed to the one that went to the switch. So at the end of the day I have one too many wires, and as they are all black, not sure which ones should be used/paired. Thoughts?

    submitted by /u/DenraelLeandros
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    Is it possible to control Wifi Switch using wi-fi thermometer/thermostat?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 10:12 AM PST

    I have a bathroom heater that is controlled by a Leviton Decora Wi-Fi switch (DW15S). Currently, I am able to control this heater fan through the My Leviton app on my iPhone. I can schedule it to turn on or off throughout the day.

    I'd like to add a wi-fi connected thermometer/thermostat in my bathroom where the heater is installed. My thought is that if I were able to connect both the thermometer AND the Leviton switch to the same app, I might be able to program them so that when the thermometer reads below a set temp, it turns on the Leviton switch until the temp is raised to another set temp.

    The problem is, I don't really know how to write code, and I'm not too knowledgable with home automation in general moreso than being able to install switches and light bulbs that connect to WiFi.

    Can this be done? Is there a thermometer that I could get for this purpose? Is there an app like Alexa that I could connect these two devices to and do an "IF (temp below X), THEN [Switch ON]; IF (temp above Y), THEN [Switch OFF]"?

    submitted by /u/sau924
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    Moving to newer house, what's the latest?

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 09:53 AM PST

    Hi all,

    I'm moving out of a 100 year old house and into a 30 year old house, and so as part of this I'm hoping to revamp my automation setup. My current setup:

    • Aeotec Gen5 Stick
    • Domoticz
    • FreeBSD host
    • Several GE Zwave+ dimmer switches
    • Several Monoprice zwave door/window sensors

    When I originally set this up 3 years ago I had big plans, but frankly, the initial set up fell *way* short of my expectations. Issues include:

    • ZWave devices not responding 100% of the time. It seems random, sometimes everything works great, but then sometimes lights just do not respond at all.
    • Devices misrepresenting state. It is unacceptable that a gate or door sensor tell me the gate or door is open when it's closed for example.

    So, now that I'm moving, I'm looking to try again. I still have a number of zwave+ dimmers that I'll be bringing with me, so I'm not necessarily looking to completely abandon that protocol, unless everyone tells me it's the protocol itself that's causing my issues.

    I'm hoping to land on a set up that satisfies the following:

    1. Extremely reliable. I shouldn't wonder if my door is actually closed when I'm out of the house. Some latency is okay as long as it *works*
    2. Modular. I'd love to be able to expand the system to include support for things like my sonos speakers, etc
    3. No "cloud" based solutions. I have a home VPN for any features like that.
    4. APIs / Open-ish. I'm a software engineer by day, so having the ability to code up scripts or plugins to fill in automation gaps is huge for me. I'm not looking to buy some proprietary black box that leaves me waiting for updates to get useful features.
    5. Linux/FreeBSD support. I'm not looking to have a windows box running anywhere.

    Is what I want possible? or are things still in the beta/unreliable phase? A lot of people seem to recommend homeseer, would that fit the bill?

    submitted by /u/buzzookabee
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    Do IP cameras always use bandwidth or only when being streamed? Assuming no NVR setup; only IP cams.

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 09:48 AM PST

    Set up IP cams at the cottage for simple check in purposes (not security). Nothing is being recorded anywhere, I simply wanted the cameras to check in once in a while.

    I'm paying for a pay as you go internet plan at the cottage, to which the cameras are connected to.

    Question: Will the IP cameras rack up my internet bill 24/7 or will that local internet bandwidth only be used when I check into the streams?

    Thanks for your help

    submitted by /u/osomamaso
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    Outdoor cameras

    Posted: 08 Nov 2020 09:38 AM PST

    Looking to add some cameras to the outside of my house. Wanted to know if anyone had recommendations to look into.

    Ideally I would not get a subscription based service, and would not completely write off making my own personal storage for video in the house.

    submitted by /u/ninjaburg
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