Home Automation Inspired by the Arcade post earlier this week, I wanted to share using my watch to activate my home office! |
- Inspired by the Arcade post earlier this week, I wanted to share using my watch to activate my home office!
- 24 hours with Lidl smart bulbs and a hue hub (UK)
- Any way to automate this ac/furnace switch?
- KNX Simulator
- Am I chasing a mirage?
- Comparison of 3 Smart Button Controllers (Lutron Pico Remote vs Sengled Smart Light Switch vs Lutron Aurora)
- SwitchBot Curtain problems: Can't finish calibration
- LED Light Strips alternative?
- Setting up a new “smart home”
- Moved into a house with an RTi setup, how to use it?
- Strange issue with 3 pole Feit Dimmer Switch
- Can I automate whole house using controller+wifi+relay?
- Moderating cows and critters.
- Open close sensor
- Automated "permanent" Christmas Lights
- Wiz schedules
- HomeBridge VS Home Assistant or both?
- Looking for doorbell phone alert device, but not a smart doorbell camera
- Do you have any cool NFC automation ideas using Apple / Siri Shortcuts?
- Newbie Needs Help Deciding
- LOOKin Remote2 - universal IR remote with Open REST API, in-device automation, Google, Alexa, HomeKit support with realtime IR analysis.
- When the dumbest solution turns out to be the most reliable one
- Easy to use smart sprinkler controller
- - DIY How To - Reviewing & Programming Caseta Motion Sensor New Update...
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 11:19 AM PST
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| 24 hours with Lidl smart bulbs and a hue hub (UK) Posted: 07 Dec 2020 02:27 AM PST Bought 7 gu10s, 1 e14 and 2 e27 bulbs and added them to my existing network of hue bulbs. Out the box, good first impressions. All found by the hub on the first try and no problems pairing at all. First problem, however- none of the bulbs support power-on behaviour. Ok, fine, I can overcome this with routines on the Echo hub. Other problems/observations that I couldn't fix: • None of the bulbs dim to the same amount as hue bulbs by quite a significant margin. Lidl at 1% is a hue at 50%. • Response time is really variable, especially if you're using scenes. Can take around 5 seconds when controlling a large zone but are not noticeably less responsive when controlling individual bulbs. However, hue labs scenes involving colour changes over time are unusable in my view. The Lidl bulbs take too long to respond and when they do change there is no gradual shift at all. • Combining a Lidl colour bulb in a zone with a hue white only bulb will reduce the functionality of the colour bulb - many options are missing in the app. Not sure if this is the same if using a hue colour bulb, never tried, so not sure if this is normal. • Gu10 bulbs got switched off at the wall with a standard switch. When turned back on they went back into pairing mode. Took 5 minutes to find the hub again but then back into pairing mode after 30 seconds. Paired again to the hub, tested the switch again. Back into pairing mode. Their pairing mode is also really irritating - bright white light that is constantly gradually fading in and out and doesn't stop for about 10 minutes. Failed the WAF, not to mention my approval, so these have to go. Judgement: You get what you pay for. I'll keep the non gu10 bulbs. They work fine for their purpose; they're all in table lamps and not the main lights. Colours are fine,and full brightness is good, rarely going to need them to dim lower than they're actually able to so they'll do until I eventually feel the need to replace them with something better. I mainly wanted the gu10s to work so I could replace all my kitchen lights as the hue ones are crazy expensive. Maybe the Lidl tech just isn't up to managing that many bulbs in one zone properly. My search for affordable colour gu10s that work in the hue ecosystem continues. Edit: formatting [link] [comments] | ||
| Any way to automate this ac/furnace switch? Posted: 07 Dec 2020 06:14 AM PST
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| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 10:09 PM PST What's your opinion on KNX Simulator? I keep seeing ads for it and I'm curious. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 06:06 PM PST I can't be the only one that wonders about this, but I must not be searching for the right terms. I've been in home automation for almost 10 years now. Maybe I'm looking for something that doesn't exist? I am running home assistant in my house and I have been focusing on trying to get everything into my environment and away from cloud services. SmartThings was in the environment for Zigbee control and would have all kinds of sensor dropouts, and currently I am on day 3 or so of intermittent (wifi) garage door opener automation. Thing is, I'm not sure it isn't already running in peak condition. There are things I want to be much more responsive, but I am unsure if my expectations are off. As an example, I am using Zigbee motion sensors from SmartThings and they interface with HASS through Zigbee2MQTT. I don't know if what I want is even possible, but essentially I am seeing up to a full second delay between the zigbee sensor picking up motion and the caseta light turning on. I want near instant activation. I acknowledge that there may be some kind of delay instituted because of interface translation, but I'm not sure what is reasonable and what isn't. I also have experienced intermittent issues with Spotify pausing momentarily on my Sonos (all of which are hardwired). Spotify blames it on sonos and sonos blames it on network configuration. But my phone doesn't have the same issue as the sonos speakers. For hardware, the HASS instance is running on a dedicated server at this point since the other VM's are no longer in use. From a hardware resources standpoint, everything reports as well below maximum resources. The network has 4 VLANs in regular use and it is a unifi environment. Main VLAN for anything I'd consider doing online banking on. IoT VLAN that is split to only be 2.4ghz to deal with picky gear that won't join a combined SSID (thanks Mijia). Then there is the guest VLAN, and lastly the security cameras have their own VLAN. Everything that is hardwired is wired with CAT6a Copper wire. My environment is all Unifi and the dashboard almost never dips below 92-94% user experience rating. How do you know if your network is the breakdown? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 11:14 PM PST tl;dr
Detailed ReviewI wanted to get a smart light switch that I could put over my existing dumb light switches. I tried out 3 different options to see what would work best for me. I'm using all of these with the Hubitat system. Below are my findings! Button feelPicoThe Pico remotes are much more tactile then the Sengled remote. The Pico remote has a good amount of travel in the button press, so you feel when the button is pressed, whereas the Sengled has little to no travel in the button press. This leads to the Sengled having that mushy button press I described. Yes, the Pico doesn't have the same "click" as a paddle switch, but it is definitely what I'd describe as tactile. You know that you've pressed it. SengledOn the other hand, the Sengled remote is so mushy that you don't even know if you've pushed it. I even had some instances where I saw the green indicator LED light up on the remote, but no button press was triggered. I think this was if I didn't press hard enough. You really have to give your press some oomph to make sure it registers. ResponsivenessPicoThe response time on the Pico is much quicker. I noticed that the Pico remotes have two different drivers you can choose from in Hubitat: SengledThe Sengled button controller driver didn't have any sort of option (at least as far I could tell). I asked about it in this thread and got no reply. So it's on/off buttons had a delay that was really annoying. Compound this with its mushy buttons and you have no certainty of knowing if you clicked the button or not. Meaning you have to awkwardly wait for a second to see if the lights come on, not great when you're just trying to quickly go into a dark room to grab something and then leave. MountingI didn't want to go with a more "permanent" solution like getting in-wall switches because we plan to move out to a bigger place at some point in the near future. I was really keen on something that was easy to temporarily mount so that we could take it and go when we move out. I'm using the Mitzvah paddle switch cover to make sure no one turns off the switch to the smart bulbs in the house. So I wanted to mount whatever switch I got on top of these. I got the idea to use these magnets from Smart Home Solver's video and this article. SengledThe Sengled remote's magnet was decently strong, but it has a hump for the battery cover that makes it not sit flush with the Mitzvah covers. I don't have an actual picture, but you can see it from this pic from the manual and the marketing shot of its baseplate: PicoThe Pico on the other hand has really strong magnets and a flat backside so it sits super flush and perfectly with the Mitzvah. I didn't even need to super glue the magnets for the Remote to stay firmly on the Mitzvah. I used the same double sided tape as well just in case, but I don't think it's actually necessary. Here are some of my pics: Lutron AuroraAs I don't have the old style toggle switches, I didn't get to actually try this out. Though my wife did love these the most because of the solid easy big single click. And the rotate to dim is brilliant as well. I was considering trying to super glue the base onto the Mitzvah, but in the end decided against that because it seemed like a janky solution. SummaryThe Pico remotes are great and I'm glad I made the investment to get the $150 SmartBridge Pro because we can get the Lutron Caseta dimmers at our next house! 😀 Definitely recommend to anyone that wants a fast, mountable, and tactile solution. The Lutron Aurora seems like a really great option for anyone that has toggle switches. I would not recommend the Sengled remotes as on-wall switch replacements to anyone. If you plan on using them solely as handheld remotes, then that may be alright. But because how firmly you have to press the buttons to get them to register it doesn't work that well for a switch that you want to easily be able to press when you walk into a room. There aren't any reviews on the Sengled remote at the time of posting that I could find, so I definitely bought these as an experiment. I hope this review can spare someone else the time with these cheap remotes, because remember: you always get what you pay for. 😉 [link] [comments] | ||
| SwitchBot Curtain problems: Can't finish calibration Posted: 07 Dec 2020 03:23 PM PST I have had so many problems with these devices; from them not traversing my telescoping curtain rods; to them causing my curtains to bind when trying to pull(and not including the strap they advertised as being the solution to the problem, and then marketing it as a separate product, and then to top that all off, the strap not actually being available anywhere to purchase from their site). But those were addressable. I bought a new non-telescoping curtain rod($60), and I ran a thread from clip to clip on my curtain, despite barely being able to reach them and having to stand on my couch where I could barely reach it. The biggest issue I have, though, is that it won't actually save my calibration. I bought four SwitchBot Curtains: one pair for the living room, and one pair for a bedroom. I have tried multiple different ways to get calibration to work. I tried calibrating the bedroom as a pair, and when I try to do the last check that they open and close, neither of those buttons does anything. The finish button does light up and become available, but after I press nothing, the device is not available to be controlled(always saying the device is not calibrated). I was once able to get one individual SwitchBot Curtain to calibrate, but not since then. I don't want to have to go in and manually open/close each side of each curtain. That's more work than just walking over and pushing them open. I've invested over $500 on this project, and yesterday I literally spent eight hours trying to get it to work(with another hour today). Still my calibrations don't save. Any suggestions? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 05:06 PM PST Hey everyone I'm redoing my room and I've always wanted LED lights but I hate the idea of having them running along my walls. I was wondering if there was some kind of product that would illuminate my room in all different colors besides LED strips! Thank you! [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 03:25 PM PST Bit of background. I currently have a hive hub as my hub that currently controls my heating and works as a hub for HomeKit that I use mostly with my Eufy cameras. Ideally I want to use an old iPad on the wall To easily control everything, but was wondering if google / android have any alternatives that I can use with an old Samsung tablet, rather than having to go out and spend £150+ on a refurbished iPad? UK based of that helps at all... [link] [comments] | ||
| Moved into a house with an RTi setup, how to use it? Posted: 07 Dec 2020 05:51 PM PST Hello, so I moved into a house with this in the basement. There's also an iPad with an RTiPanel app that has access to some things like Lutron Caseta switches, home speaker system, and home security DSC panel. The seller showed me how to use the app and all, but how do I gain access to the back end to make further changes? The seller didn't mention anything about that, do I need to contact the electrician who set it up? I have 0 experience with these whole home automation systems. Is it true that I can only access this panel with the iPad? Thanks [link] [comments] | ||
| Strange issue with 3 pole Feit Dimmer Switch Posted: 07 Dec 2020 04:02 PM PST I am adding smart switches periodically throughout my house and got a good deal on some Feit Smart Dimmers at Costco. I added one to my hallway and its behavior is... strange. The circuit currently has one standard switch at the end of the wallway, and the smart dimmer at the other side. When the standard switch is "on", the smart switch behaves as expected and works fine, turning the lights on and off and dimming with the dimmer toggle. When the standard switch is "off", the lights in the hallway go dim (not off) and the smart switch doesn't do anything. Any ideas? I have been screwing with this thing for the past 4 hours. [link] [comments] | ||
| Can I automate whole house using controller+wifi+relay? Posted: 07 Dec 2020 07:38 PM PST I have made a simple project using node mcu and relay. But I have not installed it anywhere. Now, a friend wants me to automate his full house. I was thinking of using one main controller and many relays near the switch board, (am thinking of using 2 way switch). When I talked to a senior who does professional home automation, he said I shouldn't do it without experience as there are many things, like isolating voltages, realy arc, circuit protection, etc. My question is, what are the safety measures or process that I should use and how can I learn about them? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 11:14 AM PST Last years I chased over 160 cows on foot out of my forty acre wooded off grid barbed wire fences parcel. It was great exercise but took a ton of time and I found out cows are a lot smarter and more determined than they get the credit for. I unsuccessfully used a cheap motion sensor system with great video quality but poor image recognition as a test in a limited area. Next year I would like to use smart cameras (don't have electric power but am good with setting solar) at the their favorite breaking in locations and transmit the signal to hub running software that is smart enough to distinguish between a sneaky cow and a branch waving in the breeze. The challenge I need help with is the software if any (no reliable internet access available) that can receive and process the image. I plan to use ubiquity Loco M2 transmitter/receivers connected with RJ45 to Outdoor IP Camera POE Onvif H.265, SV3C UltraHD 4K (8MP) with Audio Recording and powered with solar batteries. However I am open to suggestions on a better way of doing it. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 04:33 PM PST HI I'm looking for a reliable open close sensor for windows and doors. Something that will connect to my home network and send and alert to an app when triggered. I've looked quite extensively and most I see require a hub of some sort and a monthly fee as well if an app is used. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thx [link] [comments] | ||
| Automated "permanent" Christmas Lights Posted: 07 Dec 2020 09:57 AM PST I have been looking and working on some solutions to incorporate LEDs into my gutters / soffit. This with the intent of having a solution that runs year round for any number of holidays or "fun". Anyone have anything going or found any lighting that they like? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 03:44 PM PST I just bought some wiz bulbs and actually got them all connected no problem on a caseta switch for my sconce lights out front of my house. What I want to figure out if I can do is have the lights turn on at sunset (i have this setup already when I had regular bulbs with an alexa routine) and play a light color routine depending on the time of year. Like right now I want it to play the christmas colors that are preset on the Wiz app. Not sure if I can find a way to set dates to cutoff one color and change to another one though. Has anyone tried this with any success? I Have IFTTT but have yet to mess with it. [link] [comments] | ||
| HomeBridge VS Home Assistant or both? Posted: 07 Dec 2020 11:54 AM PST I have been using SmartThings for the past 5 years, but I've finally decided to leave. My initial plan was to run Home Assistant and figure out how to connect Home Assistant to HomeKit, but from what I've gathered, it sounds like HomeBridge can run Z-Wave / Zigbee directly now too. My question is, being a very Apple centric house, what makes the most sense?
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| Looking for doorbell phone alert device, but not a smart doorbell camera Posted: 07 Dec 2020 03:35 PM PST I used to use this device: https://www.omahachamber.org/emerging-tech-corner-ringpatrol/ It was awesome. You put it between the doorbell button and the chime near the power supply, connect it to your wifi, and download a simple app. It could silence the doorbell when needed. It would send a phone notification when someone pressed the button. Best of all - it did it all with existing hardware, no need to change the button, no need to change the chime, no cameras, no smart subscription. But it seems the product is now dead, the app isn't on the app store anymore, and the website domain is dead. The developer cannot be reached anymore. Does anyone know of an alternative that does something similar? [link] [comments] | ||
| Do you have any cool NFC automation ideas using Apple / Siri Shortcuts? Posted: 07 Dec 2020 09:36 AM PST Hey all! I was doing some research for some clients and decided to compile a list of various NFC uses and realized there was so much potential utilizing Siri Shortcuts. Does anyone have some great NFC ideas I could add to my blog post? (hesitant to post the blog post as I don't want to spam ... just looking for ideas to add to the post I've published.) [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 12:40 PM PST I apologize if this is one of those question posts that constantly gets asked. I'm a novice and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Once upon a time, we had a Wink 2 Hub. I got mad at Wink for switching from free to a monthly subscription. But, now we have all of these "smart" products that were Wink compatible and I can't seem to find a definitive answer for "What can I replace my Wink with that will work with all of this fancy technology the way I want it to?" I have Echo Dots (2nd gen). I'm fine with upgrading to the 4th gen that has a built in hub but they don't seem to connect with Schlage or Sensi products unless I'm wrong (which could very well be). I'm leaning toward a SmartThings but we have Apple products and there's a HomeKit app that I'm wondering would have any value with SmartThings or another product. Here's what I own. I'd love your suggestions.
Thank you in advance for any help! [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 07 Dec 2020 05:26 AM PST
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| When the dumbest solution turns out to be the most reliable one Posted: 07 Dec 2020 03:44 AM PST
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| Easy to use smart sprinkler controller Posted: 07 Dec 2020 04:41 PM PST My new built house came with an in ground sprinkler system. It has a Hunter X Core Controller. Programming this thing is like programming a 1980's VCR. It's so archaic that even the builder scheduled it incorrectly. I don't know much about sprinkler controllers. Are there smart controllers that are compatible with this system? My requirements are: -Splits the sprinklers into 4 zones, each of which can be scheduled differently. -Wifi connectivity with an app and/or website. -Easy scheduling on par with, say, the Nest or Smart Things app. -Alexa integration -Do you know of any good controllers that meet those requirements? [link] [comments] | ||
| - DIY How To - Reviewing & Programming Caseta Motion Sensor New Update... Posted: 07 Dec 2020 03:47 PM PST
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