[NA]Home Automation - What are you uisng?[NA]

EppyGA

EppyGA

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Let's Fly
I've used X-10 for over a decade. Picked up an Echo a couple of weeks ago along with a Harmony hub for TV and an Insteon hub. Bought a couple of Insteon LED Bulb to put in the lights on the nightstands in the bedroom. They seem to work when they want. We have the hub linked to Echo and have the Insteon app on our phones. Last night we're ready to turn out the light and no go. Not recognized by the app or by the Echo.

Z-Wave looks like the next choice, any comments?
 
I use Z-wave for my front door lock and my thermostats. I chose it because it works with my alarm system.

The only other thing I'm considering is the Garage door actuator so it will also disarm the alarm when the door opens.

My exterior lights are on simple timers which is fine.
 
WeMo
They are straight wifi, and work well.

I have all my exterior lights on those switches, the switches download the sunrise/set times for your location and go on and off based on that, also lots of other rules you can use, and they don't require any BS hubs or nonsense, just uses your houses existing secured wifi network.

One word to the wise, don't go too LED crazy, I use them for my exterior, but it's always a PITA with my lutron digital (LED compatible) dimmer switches inside, I just use normal bulbs or the classic Edison style bulbs inside the house now.
 
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I have two Echos, a Wink hub and mostly Z-Wave switches. I have a Honeywell thermostat and also the Chamberlain MyQ garage door controller. Everything works pretty well for me.

Edit: I use GE Z-Wave switches for the in-wall switches.
 
We're looking at the Wink Hub2 as the core of the system we want. Owe we could swing it, control4 is the way I'd go.
 
I gave up on X.10 after using it at the last two houses. I just sold an entire box of random X.10 I had left over on eBay. I had some Insteon stuff but I'm relatively unhappy with the support from SmartHome and the fact that it is single vendor compared to the larger X.10.

I'm doing Z_Wave right now. I like the idea of the multivendor access. There's becoming more and more things that work with it. I too have the Schlage door locks (5 of them) and the Radio Theromstats on it. I'm expanding the system. I've got garage door controllers for it but I haven't installed them. Lights are next. I'll probably build something wifi with a Raspberry PI or Ardino for the hangar door. It's just got too many things going on to just use a simple PUSH ONCE TO OPEN-PUSH ONCE TO CLOSE. You need to be able to stop that door.
 
SmartThings. I have it integrated with my Echo and Dots so far.
The online community has made this probably the best HA system out there IMO, despite the ST cloud infrastructure growing pains. ST says they're concentrating on beefing up the infrastructure and this is slowing down official enhancements. The ST Engineers/Devs have learned to stop promising features/updates on the forums because they can rarely deliver on time, which ****es everyone off. But the online community devs have created some smart apps (CORE, AskAlexa, SmartTiles, etc.) that have greatly enhanced what you can do on the platform. Hopefully someday ST will build those enhancements into the official platform.
I think ST is a good mix for slightly technical folks all the way up to developers/engineers. You can get as crazy as you want with it.

I initially bought into ST to control my chicken coop door and have slowly started adding relays/dimmers to my light fixtures controlled by motion sensors. I usually buy SmartThings devices or even some compatible Iris branded devices from Lowe's when they're on sale. The water leak sensor in my basement has already saved me twice so I'm pretty happy even though the ST platform has glitches now and then. It was hard to break the wife from the habit of using light switches as they're not really needed with my setup, but over time she's adapted ok. She still grumbles when there's a glitch with the system now and then.

I have an automation to alert us over the speakers when there's a water leak in the basement, it also sends app notifications and a text to our phones.
I have automations to turn on lights in several rooms when motion is sensed, and to dim certain lights at night, like when I go downstairs for a snack or to the bathroom.
I have an automation/SmartApp to control the color of the Osram Lightify lights on the front sidewalk, different colors for different holidays.
I have automations to open/close the chicken coop door when I want. There's even integration with the D-link streaming camera in the chicken coop.
I have an automation that opens/closes the garage door as we depart/arrive and turns on the entry lights. This one also send a voice notification over speakers connected to the system.
I have a few Aeotec remotes around the house that control lights/switches or perform some of my automations with the click of a button.
I have a few open/close sensors on a door or two to let me know if someone has opened a door.
I have my Ecobee thermostat connected but let the Ecobee control things as it's pretty rebust, but there are some community Ecobee device handlers and SmartApps that take it to a whole new level if you need more functionality.

Lot's of reading here: https://community.smartthings.com/
 
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The Smartthings hub is a Z-Wave controller. The good thing is that if you decide to ditch that hub, your devices will work other Z-Wave interfaces (well they will now secondarily).

One nice thing about Z-Wave in addition to the network technology where all the devicess can be repeaters is they consume very low power. You can stick things like battery operated motion sensors on the wall and have them turn on lights, etc...
 
flyingron said:
The Smartthings hub is a Z-Wave controller. The good thing is that if you decide to ditch that hub, your devices will work other Z-Wave interfaces (well they will now secondarily).

One nice thing about Z-Wave in addition to the network technology where all the devicess can be repeaters is they consume very low power. You can stick things like battery operated motion sensors on the wall and have them turn on lights, etc...
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Yep. The SmartThings Hub (at least V2 which is what I have) has Z-wave, ZigBee, and Bluetooth radios in it. Bluetooth is not enabled yet nor is there a timeframe for when it will be enabled.
Depending on the device and how much it's used/triggered I've seen pretty good battery life. My battery devices are CR2032 (I think) and CR2 powered and there are some SmartApps that can monitor and alert you to battery life remaining.
If I want to extend my mesh's reach I use the Iris SmartPlugs (wall warts) which have repeaters in them since they're wall powered.

I wonder if there will be any big HA product announcements at CES this year?
 
Also, something else to think about is how/where your HA commands work. Some of the automations/commands for SmartThings run local on the hub, not requiring an internet connection to the "cloud." I believe this is mostly the case with the SmartThings SmartLighting automations/SmartApp. The vast majority of SmartThings automations/SmartApps require the cloud for processing so keep that in mind. Not sure how it is with other HA products out there. Lots of folks want to see more things taken off the cloud and put on the hubs.
I live in the country and my internet connection is a 4G Verizon Jetpack/Mifi (2 bars of 4G is about all I can get) on an unlimited data plan and the cloud dependency really hasn't been too much of a problem, provided my power doesn't go out! But I've got a 22kw Generac whole house generator for that so, knock on wood, I'm good!
 
I have a tv remote and a remote for the Roku. Hmm... Oh yeah, a remote for the windows media center PC to.
 
TCABM said:
We're looking at the Wink Hub2 as the core of the system we want.
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Keep looking. I bought it and it is way more hype than it is practical. I am looking for another solution and dumping the Wink.
 
Shawn said:
Keep looking. I bought it and it is way more hype than it is practical. I am looking for another solution and dumping the Wink.
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I have the original Wink and it has worked well. It controls lights, thermostats, interfaces with Echo for voice commands and sends an alert if I leave my garage door is open more than 15 minutes. What is a "practical" use?
 
baboss said:
The water leak sensor in my basement has already saved me twice ...

I have an automation to alert us over the speakers when there's a water leak in the basement, it also sends app notifications and a text to our phones.
Click to expand...

Have you just considered taking that a step further and installing a controllable main water shutoff so a leak would trigger a complete shutdown?

We've thought about doing that since we have a pressure tank that's monitored, but it would do me little good to know it blew a leak into the basement and was flooding and going (hopefully) down the drain in there if I'm an hour or a continent away. (Technically if we're a continent away the main is shut off manually anyway.)
 
I've looked at the valve closing devices and may install one. The problem we had was the water softener discharge pipe somehow popped out of the sump pit cover and spewed water all over the floor and the other time was when the A/C drain line to the sump pit got plugged and created a mess.
What I'm more concerned about is high water events as we live along a creek and have already been through one flood event the cause of which was a power outage during heavy rains. The whole house generator should take care of that as long as the sump pumps don't die! I want to monitor power usage of our two sump pumps so I can tell when they start discharging more than normal. There are a couple of ways to do this that I'm mulling over.
 
At least I no longer have septic pumps and the raucous "deep sh-t" alarm that went off when the pumps failed.
 
Shawn said:
Keep looking. I bought it and it is way more hype than it is practical. I am looking for another solution and dumping the Wink.
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Curious on specifics here.
 
Maybe I'm mired in the trenches of parenting, but this seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. Can someone explain how this stuff makes your life easier/better?
 
GeorgeC said:
Maybe I'm mired in the trenches of parenting, but this seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. Can someone explain how this stuff makes your life easier/better?
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Very individual here. In our house we have some forgetful people. Some of the solutions allow you to build a series of commands (If-Then) that can take care of tasks like locking doors and making sure garage doors are closed, lights turned off, etc.

ETA: both our previous home automation modules are now busy automating their own lives, so we don't have those systems anymore.
 
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GeorgeC said:
Maybe I'm mired in the trenches of parenting, but this seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. Can someone explain how this stuff makes your life easier/better?
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For me, it's turning my exterior lights on and off with sunrise and set, especially as someone who works long shifts and likes to travel.
 
Control 4. House is basically 100% automated. Still cant get the clocks to stop blinking 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00 12:00
 
GeorgeC said:
Maybe I'm mired in the trenches of parenting, but this seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. Can someone explain how this stuff makes your life easier/better?
Click to expand...

I'm with ya on this. I'm just happy 'cause my kids are finally old enough to start fetching drinks for me. That's automation in my house.
 
denverpilot said:
Have you just considered taking that a step further and installing a controllable main water shutoff so a leak would trigger a complete shutdown?
Click to expand...

You've given me an idea... and one that is easy for me since I have my own water well, just need to power off the well pump and the system will lose pressure before too much damage can be done.

Thanks.
 
I just got an Echo for Christmas. It's pretty cool for playing music, and maybe answering some trivia questions. But I haven't really figured out what else it can do to make itself useful.
 
PPC1052 said:
I just got an Echo for Christmas. It's pretty cool for playing music, and maybe answering some trivia questions. But I haven't really figured out what else it can do to make itself useful.
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1) Turning lights on and off when your hands are full (like carrying in groceries) or just too lazy to walk over to the switch.
2) Updating a shopping list (especially if the Echo is in the kitchen). The list can be viewed and updated from a mobile app at the store.
3) Changing temperature on thermostat
4) Voice activated timers (two timers per Echo). I use this in the kitchen all the time.
5) Weather updates
6) Getting the current time, as I don't like a lighted clock on the bedstand (useful in the bedroom, we have two Echos and a Dot).
7) Getting conversions in the kitchen, such as how many tablespoons in a cup, etc.

YMMV, but we love our Echos.
 
I got a Nest thermostat in March for my birthday, installed it this fall in the Destin house, it's good to check the HVAC when we aren't there to make sure we aren't heating or cooling the whole neighborhood! I can also change it from 78 degrees when we are away to 70 degrees before we take off and it's cool when we get there. Wife just added a couple of Nest cameras, not so sure I am a fan, but there work OK. Other than that it's manual switches! :eek:
 
PPC1052 said:
I just got an Echo for Christmas. It's pretty cool for playing music, and maybe answering some trivia questions. But I haven't really figured out what else it can do to make itself useful.
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With a Harmony Hub you can link to Echo and tell Alexa to turn your Entertainment stuff on and off and change channels.
 
I'm a terrible person.
The kids were home for Christmas.
I hid the TV remote so they had to get up, walk across the room and push the channel Up/Down button.
My son remarked "It's like living in the stone age, just like you did Dad."

I let him live.

The next day they all had remote apps installed on their phones.
 
Shepherd said:
I'm a terrible person.

The next day they all had remote apps installed on their phones.
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Amateurs.....most phones nowadays have the apps installed from the manufacturer...
 
vkhosid said:
Amateurs.....most phones nowadays have the apps installed from the manufacturer...
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Actually they are professionals. All with PhDs in computer science or math and working in the fields.
They had all rooted their phones and deleted "extraneous" apps, including the universal remote app. I made it more challenging by changing the router wifi password, and since cell service sucks at my house, that stopped that that avenue.
In the end they drove a mile down the road to a hot spot, and installed what they needed.
 
Uhhhhh. . .let me think about it? Someone I don't know, but who can fairly easily ascertain who I am, is asking for a description of the electronic holes in my home security (AKA consumer grade home automation). . . .should I post my b'day and SSN, too?
 
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