Luddite dumb ass apartment here too, although my AC is not as sophisticated as yours sir.
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Do you live in a smart home?
- Thread starter FatMax
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Luddite dumb ass apartment here too, although my AC is not as sophisticated as yours sir.
We're either very smart or very scruffy in our house, depending on what time of day it is, where we are going, and other variables. As for "smart" homes - the only smart thing is MANUAL control, and manual control that has almost ZERO connection to the internet. Getting up off your back side and walking to a switch never killed ANYONE, whereas NOT getting up probably has.
I don't jump on the fad train, because once you're aboard you don't have any say in the destination.
I don't jump on the fad train, because once you're aboard you don't have any say in the destination.
Unless the command and control is onsite using a server that I built I will not be making my home "smart" my home doesn't need to be online and at the whim of some corporation and their willingness to support products as they age.
I started with a couple bulbs because I hated the plug in timers then started changing.over. Went with a couple hue bulbs for.my blind wife for color and then wanted lights on timers for the birds then all the lights in the house. I found I just have all the bulbs on when home at different levels. It costs far less then having them on motion sensors and such. Then came nest and the nest smoke.detectos and the door locks and my wife's pill bottle I made her. Now smartthings works pretty well overall. What I hate is if you have a power out or even blink all the bulbs come on. In the middle of the night it sucks.
I have two WeMo light switches, the Homekit enabled Hue hub with about a dozen white bulbs and 2 Hue Blooms, and a Nest thermostat. I'm hoping to add an August lock soon and the Logitech Harmony Elite remote and hub. I'd really like to have all Homekit devices, but I feel like it might be quite a while before everything I want is compatible. I really wanted the Apple TV 4 to be more of a Homekit hub with Siri integration (without the remote). So unless something happens soon with that I'm very tempted to switch to SmartThings and all Z-wave devices as well as an Amazon Echo. My impatience is getting the best of me...
Several months ago I would not recommend smartthings but it is decent now. Takes some practice to get it setup like you want it. It is fairly slow triggering sonos when someone is here. Once in awhile it does not know where your phone is. Using Siri to do things is just a pain trying to remember what the routine is called faster to pull down the today menu and use the widgets. Sometimes my wife can get Siri to turn all the lights on or off but it is usually slower in the long run.
I've automated almost everything in my home with a combination of HomeKit devices, Z-Wave + Wink, and custom code running on a Raspberry Pi. My favorite thing about it is I can leave my house or go to bed with all my lights on and TV blaring, and everything turns itself off, the doors lock and the garage closes. It makes raising a baby and a toddler easier.
The Samsung Smartthings hub might also be a good choice. I hear it works with more devices than Wink, and there is also a homebridge-smartthings integration to make it work with Siri like how I use homebridge-wink to bring my Wink devices into HomeKit.
I've been debating Wink vs. SmartThings. I know SmartThings works with more devices, which I like. But I've also heard the UI for the Wink app is better. So I'm not sure which way I'll go.
The Wink app is nice, but I've only ever used it one time, and that was to pair my z-wave light switches to the hub. I control my z-wave lights with Siri on my Watch or iPhone. I hear Alexa is the fastest but I don't have an Amazon Echo. Occasionally I use the touchscreen shortcuts in the iOS 10 control center. Other times the lights automatically adjust based on scheduled scenes, triggered by the garage door opening, geofences, or iBeacon proximity. The app is the last thing I would use to control the lights, so my point is I wouldn't be as concerned with which app is nicer.
As I have grown my home automation system, I have learned the most important attribute is whether the device has an API that can be integrated into the rest of your system so you can centrally control it. Philips Hue has a great API that anything can tie into so that is a safe investment. Some things don't have an API at all, like the iDevice Switch or Schlage Sense lock, which means I can't automatically check whether my door is locked.
As I have grown my home automation system, I have learned the most important attribute is whether the device has an API that can be integrated into the rest of your system so you can centrally control it. Philips Hue has a great API that anything can tie into so that is a safe investment. Some things don't have an API at all, like the iDevice Switch or Schlage Sense lock, which means I can't automatically check whether my door is locked.
OK, that makes sense. That makes me think going with SmartThings will work better for me.
I wish I knew how to work with Homebridge with my Mac mini so that I could have Siri control my two WeMo light switches, but I am by no means a coder. I would literally need an idiot's guide for setting up Homebridge.
I wish I knew how to work with Homebridge with my Mac mini so that I could have Siri control my two WeMo light switches, but I am by no means a coder. I would literally need an idiot's guide for setting up Homebridge.
You don't have to be a coder, you just need to know basic Linux commands like "cd" and copy and paste some commands. People on the Homebridge issues page or Slack channel will help you.
I might be able to handle some basic commands. Years ago (15-20 years) I had to remotely provision telecom equipment using a Linux shell and a handful of commands. So I could probably handle it. Maybe I'll have some time to play with it in a few weeks and also buy the SmartThings Hub and a few door and window contacts and motion switches.
I live in a reasonably smart home. I've got 10+ lutron caseta switches, a handful of Hue bulbs and a hue smart switch talking to HomeKit. I also run HomeBridge on my server that serves up Nest and my Chamberlain garage door to home kit.
I have a couple of automatic rules set up, but nothing too fancy.
I'd like door locks with *both* home kit and NFC support.
I don't regret paying for the equipment, but I wish Lutron would sell their caseta product in bulk for a few bucks off per switch. $59 a unit gets pricey fast when you're doing a whole house.
Many years ago, I used X10 switches and lamp modules to automate wired lights and table lamps. Currently we have Insteon hardwired switches in about 40% of the house, a few Insteon lamp modules. I prefer the wall switches over "smart" bulbs since it provides flexibility over bulb choices in overheads and floodlights. The Insteon devices, a Haiku fan and Logitech Harmony hub (with Yonomi) for A/V are voice controlled by Amazon Echo devices in the family room and master bedroom. I'm waiting for the announced update from Sonos that will provide Echo voice control to the Sonos speakers.
I have a substantial investment in Lutron dimmer switches and Hue lights (for areas where I can't or don't want to replace wall switches) plus a few lamp modules from Lutron and iDevices.
There are two KwikSet Z-wave deadbolts connected to a Wink hub, a Nest thermostat, an Amazon Echo and two Echo Dots. Also have a Ring Pro doorbell and several Nest Cams looking out on key areas of the yard & driveway. A Chamberlain controller is connected to the garage door and two Harmony hubs control the two AV systems.
And to round things out, I have a couple old iPhone 5's set up to act as always-ready "Hey, Siri..." voice controllers like the Amazon Echos, an IFTTT account, and HomeBridge running on my iMac which is always running as a home server (HomeBridge, iTunes, Remote Desktop).
Beside the voice control, I have two iPads (a 9.7" Air and a mini 4) running iOS 10's home app for "physical" control of lights. One in the kitchen, one in the master bedroom.
From virtually any room in the house, I can use voice commands to turn on/off/dim lights, change the Thermostat, turn on/off the backyard water fountain, turn on/off the TV in the family room, etc.. I can also control those same items from my watch and phone (either through Siri or the Home app). I also have a couple of pre-programmed light schedules I turn on when we're away on vacation.
Right now, the only thing that's fully automated really are the outside lights (come on at sundown, turn off at sunrise; knows sun up/sun down time by location regardless of time of year) and the backyard fountain (off at midnight). I also have a back hallway light and a downstairs bathroom light each with a motion sensor to turn the light on when it detects motion and off after 5 minutes of no motion. Otherwise, my house is usually too busy to automate much else - I have three teenagers, so people are too frequently coming and going to program too much more automation.
Oh, the entry door to the house does automatically re-lock when the garage door goes down (via a Wink program).
At the moment, I do not have my garage door or door locks connected to voice control for security purposes (or, at least, the illusion of security). Don't want someone yelling though a partly-opened window for Siri/Alexa to unlock the doors or open the garage. But I can control them remotely from my phone so I can either let people in to the house while I'm away or lock the doors at night without getting out of bed.
I do like the HomeKit scenes, though, as I can tell Siri "goodnight" and she'll turn off all the interior lights, the outdoor fountain, and ensure the exterior lights are on.
I like the Amazon Echo for music, as my wife can just ask for a genre ("Alexa, play some jazz") and it'll just pick something. Siri can't really do this very well.
Everything works from both Siri and Alexa except for changing the color of the Hue lights, room/house "scenes" and turning on/off the TV. The Amazon Echo doesn't seem to support changing the color of Hue lights. Siri can't turn on/off the TV since it's dependent on triggering an IFTTT action (Alexa can do it but Siri can't). And scenes are a Siri-only thing at the moment.
Wife and kids tend to use Alexa; I tend to use Siri.
So, the house is potentially smart, but most of the time it's under manual control.
There are two KwikSet Z-wave deadbolts connected to a Wink hub, a Nest thermostat, an Amazon Echo and two Echo Dots. Also have a Ring Pro doorbell and several Nest Cams looking out on key areas of the yard & driveway. A Chamberlain controller is connected to the garage door and two Harmony hubs control the two AV systems.
And to round things out, I have a couple old iPhone 5's set up to act as always-ready "Hey, Siri..." voice controllers like the Amazon Echos, an IFTTT account, and HomeBridge running on my iMac which is always running as a home server (HomeBridge, iTunes, Remote Desktop).
Beside the voice control, I have two iPads (a 9.7" Air and a mini 4) running iOS 10's home app for "physical" control of lights. One in the kitchen, one in the master bedroom.
From virtually any room in the house, I can use voice commands to turn on/off/dim lights, change the Thermostat, turn on/off the backyard water fountain, turn on/off the TV in the family room, etc.. I can also control those same items from my watch and phone (either through Siri or the Home app). I also have a couple of pre-programmed light schedules I turn on when we're away on vacation.
Right now, the only thing that's fully automated really are the outside lights (come on at sundown, turn off at sunrise; knows sun up/sun down time by location regardless of time of year) and the backyard fountain (off at midnight). I also have a back hallway light and a downstairs bathroom light each with a motion sensor to turn the light on when it detects motion and off after 5 minutes of no motion. Otherwise, my house is usually too busy to automate much else - I have three teenagers, so people are too frequently coming and going to program too much more automation.
Oh, the entry door to the house does automatically re-lock when the garage door goes down (via a Wink program).
At the moment, I do not have my garage door or door locks connected to voice control for security purposes (or, at least, the illusion of security). Don't want someone yelling though a partly-opened window for Siri/Alexa to unlock the doors or open the garage. But I can control them remotely from my phone so I can either let people in to the house while I'm away or lock the doors at night without getting out of bed.
I do like the HomeKit scenes, though, as I can tell Siri "goodnight" and she'll turn off all the interior lights, the outdoor fountain, and ensure the exterior lights are on.
I like the Amazon Echo for music, as my wife can just ask for a genre ("Alexa, play some jazz") and it'll just pick something. Siri can't really do this very well.
Everything works from both Siri and Alexa except for changing the color of the Hue lights, room/house "scenes" and turning on/off the TV. The Amazon Echo doesn't seem to support changing the color of Hue lights. Siri can't turn on/off the TV since it's dependent on triggering an IFTTT action (Alexa can do it but Siri can't). And scenes are a Siri-only thing at the moment.
Wife and kids tend to use Alexa; I tend to use Siri.
So, the house is potentially smart, but most of the time it's under manual control.