Home automation / Smart Home

[Bongu]

I don't see a dedicated Forum for this here and figured I am talking about gadgetry.

Is anyone here into the Smart Home thing? Wink? Hubitat? Home Seer? SmartThings? Others?

I have always been an advocate of Smart Home services and devices. I started with some X10 stuff back in the ***coff coff*** '80s. I am currently into Zigbee, Z-Wave, and WiFi control. I am way too cheap to do a Crestron system as I am a hobbyist on a limited budget.

Most of the new brand platforms are free to use once you purchase hardware.

Some platforms have switched to a monthly subscription fee and I am sure their customers are furious.

Please share your experiences and thoughts on this stuff.

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[Foxbat]

I had the X10 stuff in my first house so I could control lights and appliances, but it withered and died for some reason.

I was waiting for some standard to shake out, but nothing has shown up to “Rule them All” so you either end up with two or three different systems that are good at what they do but need something like IFTTT or Amazon Alexa to tie them together, or one system that does just enough, but can’t handle the couple of outlier devices that you have.

Then, there’s the whole Internet of Things security flaws that poke holes in your ISP router and provide avenues of attack to your “secure” home network.

So far, I have not gone too far with IoT devices, and those devices I have use HomeKit for secure communications to the Mothership.

I got a Smart lightbulb that required a special App to control it, and it was such a bad solution I can’t recall if I put it in service as a regular lightbulb or just put it back in the box and forgot about until now.

 

[waylew]

My house is stupid,truck is stupid,stupid phone/tv/tractors/etc.
Hell I'm stupid but I've been accused of being smart,but I don't believe them

 

[klang]

My primary home automation is Insteon. I have a small fortune invested in their switches and plug-ins. Alexa control is available. Pretty reliable in my experience. Have been using it for years.

I also have some Hue bulbs which work pretty well. Also Alexa control.

Both systems require hubs where the scheduling smarts reside.

I use Blue Iris on a Windows PC to control cameras.

ecobee smart thermostat.

Probably other stuff I'm not remembering. I expect there is probably a single provider solution available now but I don't want to replace everything.

 

[harshness]

I've been using a Vera Lite for quite a few years now. It is mostly for lights but it also handles my Schlage door lock. It works fine and supports most all of the wireless protocols.

 

[navychop]

I use Kasa, MyQ and Honeywell (remote access thermostat). All controlled via their own app and Alexa.

Cafe Induction range does not use Alexa. At least, not yet.

 

[klang]

Add MyQ to my list as well.

 

[Bongu]

I also use MyQ, Nest for Thermostat and Honeywell for Thermostat.

I see most hubs listed. Nobody indicated Wink yet. I left Vera and have my controller still, and mainly use SmartThings.

A good mix of systems are represented here.

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[TRG]

I still have a box full of X-10 stuff in my garage. LOL.

I only have a couple of automated outlets from Amazon. They are just set up with timers and controlled with Alexa. Right now I'm controlling my outdoor Christmas lights with two of them. I never found a need to automate my home. It was just novelty for me. I'm a gadget guy but I lost interest in home automation pretty quickly.

 

[Foxbat]

In the IoT Christmas Lights category, has anyone spent their children’s inheritance on some of these?

Home - Twinkly​

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[Bongu]

As I get older, my abilities and my motivation to put up lights is waning quickly. The tree gets put up and the lights are part of the tree.

These can be awesome displays if you encounter them.

In the IoT Christmas Lights category, has anyone spent their children’s inheritance on some of these?

Home - Twinkly​

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[dweber]

From 2000 through 2015 I had my whole house working with X10 devices including 3 Dimming Wall Switches. 10 lamp modules, 5 Appliance Modules, Door Chime, 2 cameras, controller module, Transceivers, multiple remotes and 4 Motion Detectors. I had a Smarthome Signal Repeater plugged into my 220 volt dryer outlet to allow the X10 signals to work across both phases of my 220. I had macros controlling lights and appliances.
Then the Smarthome Signal Repeater quit working and X10 devices on one phase stopped working since the controller signals would not pass from one phase to another.
After doing some research on the different smart automation schemes I changed everything to Lutron Caseta in 2018 and 2019. I now have Lutron Caseta 6 Dimming Wall Switches, 3 on/off switches, 5 plug in lamp modules, 8 pico remotes, and the smart hub.
Lutron Caseta switches cost more but they have the following advantages:
1) The dimming wall switches do not require a neutral. Like many homes most of my wall switches do not contain a neutral.
2) The on/off wall switches can be used with existing 3 way switches.
3) The quality of the Switches is much better than the X10.
4) Most important is the Lutron Caseta Smart Hub integrates with Alexa, Google, and Apple Home Kit (Siri). Thus I can control all of my lights using Alexa or Google (My Dish Hopper3 has Google Assistant built in) or with Siri on my Apple IPhone.
5) I have created Scenes and Schedules on the Lutron Caseta hub to control lights based on x minutes before sunset and based on occupancy.
6) On Alexa I have created Scenes such as “Night Light” to turn on Main Bedroom and Bathroom Lights to 10% for nighttime bathroom breaks. Movie Light dims Living Room Lights for TV watching.
7) Unlike X10, the Lights turn on to the set brightness. X10 would turn on at 100% and then go to the preset brightness.
8) You can program a preset brightness for the center button on the Pica remotes and wall switches.
9) The lights can be CFL, incandescent, or LED.
10) I can control all of the Caseta devices remotely through my Apple TV.
11) Caseta will also control Serena Shades and several thermostats.






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[HipKat]

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Not to get off topic but I Was having this discussion a year or so ago about how I started my computer journey on a Commodore PET and a guy in the thread says there's a whole culture of people who still use these! Man, I wanna get one now and relive some old memories, programming in Basic, etc... That was cool seeing you have one

 

[HipKat]

You guys are such power users lol. All I have are lights, Phillips Hue run via the Wiz app and integrated with Google Home and Routines.
Google Routines are pretty nice.

At 4:40 PM (and changing as the days get longer), my outside lights go on. As do my hall light, my office Floor lamp, a lamp in the living room - all set to 10% Brown. Lightsi n my kids rooms turn on @10% Indigo.

At 7 AM, all those lights turn off.

When I go to bed, I say "Hey Google, Goodnight", the hallway, office and girls rooms lights go off, I get the weather and calendar events for the following day and Forest Sleep Sounds play through the Nest Mini in my room (I have 4 mini's throughout the house). The sleep sounds has replaced leaving the TV on all night and I sleep SO much better.

In the morning, I say "Hey G, Good Morning" and the hall and office lights come on, I get the updated weather and calendar reminders.

I also have a Speaker group set up with the Polk AudioMagnifi-Max System in the living room and all the minis so I can use Google Home to stream anything on Pandora or SiriusXM throughout the house.

I know you guys are worlds ahead of the little system I have but I think I'm good with this for now.