how smart has your home gone?

jpaul · 28 Oct 2021 at 18:31

NeilF said:
No that's the V2 one. The V1 version (which had different symbols for the on and off buttons) was narrower and couldn't cover a UK light switch box. The new V2 one (which you've linked to) is a tad wider, and just wide enough to properly cover and screw into a tradition Uk light box socket.

OK I see - they/v2 is the same width as a UK plate @ 80mm, the height is 125mm , which is taller than the 80mm of the square UK plates, so if the gubbins doesn't extend beyond 80mm you should be ok using existing box. - why haven't they made it the right size though - uk market too small ?

NeilF · 28 Oct 2021 at 19:53

jpaul said:
OK I see - they/v2 is the same width as a UK plate @ 80mm, the height is 125mm , which is taller than the 80mm of the square UK plates, so if the gubbins doesn't extend beyond 80mm you should be ok using existing box. - why haven't they made it the right size though - uk market too small ?

The rectangular block of buttons is 90mm tall so is bigger than a UK socket, hence the rear plate being so tall.

utajoker · 28 Oct 2021 at 22:34

NeilF said:
Hue's v2 dimmer switch is now the right size to screw directly into/over a regular light switch socket.

so if i get 2 of the v2, 1 for top and bottom of stairs, they can control the same bulb and keep it powered when off the light is off.

NeilF · 29 Oct 2021 at 09:12

utajoker said:
so if i get 2 of the v2, 1 for top and bottom of stairs, they can control the same bulb and keep it powered when off the light is off.

Yes they can control the same bulb, both turning it on/off/dim. They also have a dedicated "Hue" button which steps thru a number of defaults you can define (eg: different colours or say 20%-40%-60%-80%-100% brightness).

Not sure what you mean by "keep it powered when off the light is off"?

utajoker · 29 Oct 2021 at 20:34

NeilF said:
Yes they can control the same bulb, both turning it on/off/dim. They also have a dedicated "Hue" button which steps thru a number of defaults you can define (eg: different colours or say 20%-40%-60%-80%-100% brightness).

Not sure what you mean by "keep it powered when off the light is off"?

Auto correct. I mean keep the bulb powered to run routines but not emit light until wanted.

NeilF · 29 Oct 2021 at 21:01

utajoker said:
Auto correct. I mean keep the bulb powered to run routines but not emit light until wanted.

Yes, you can run schedules and the like which will control the bulb and override the last instruction from a button.

Semple · 29 Oct 2021 at 22:16

utajoker said:
can anyone reccomend a smart switch that works with a phillips hue bulb to control the light on my landing.

i want to have a light come on to act as a night light but do it regardless of the state of switches at the top or bottom of the stairs.

How do you want the light to come on as a night light? It needs something to trigger it, whether that's within Hue such as dimmer switch or motion sensor or even voice. Or external to hue with door sensors, pressure sensors, sound sensors, pretty much any kind of sensor.

For example the hue motion sensor allows you to set an automation to turn a light off X mins after its been switched on because of motion detection.

utajoker · 30 Oct 2021 at 18:30

Semple said:
How do you want the light to come on as a night light? It needs something to trigger it, whether that's within Hue such as dimmer switch or motion sensor or even voice. Or external to hue with door sensors, pressure sensors, sound sensors, pretty much any kind of sensor.

For example the hue motion sensor allows you to set an automation to turn a light off X mins after its been switched on because of motion detection.

Will use the automation in hue.

Just want it to come on at midnight and go off about 5 incase our 5yo son gets up in the night to go the toilet and doesn't bump about or wake us up. Brightness just above the night light setting so it's enough to see buy not too bright.

I may just buy a bulb, turnout on when I go up and set a widget on phone to turn it off so it will still have power to work.

I was hoping there was some switch that controls the lights like a standard switch but still maintained power to the bulbs for automation

Participant · 30 Oct 2021 at 18:38

Just ordered a Worx Landroid L1500 robotic mower and I'm excited about setting it up, if that counts as smart home tech.

Nick1881 · 30 Oct 2021 at 22:23

I've got a few Kasa plugs on lights and my coffee machine
I have a Yale Smart Alarm
My house has Hive but I don't have the hub.
I've got a Eufy doorbell

No smart bulbs yet.

Anyone using Home Assistant?

heeeed · 30 Oct 2021 at 23:34

utajoker said:
I was hoping there was some switch that controls the lights like a standard switch but still maintained power to the bulbs for automation

there are hue switches and there are friends of hue switches that look a little better but are eye watering price if you wanted to do the whole house and they won’t match other switches looks wise

Semple · 31 Oct 2021 at 00:14

utajoker said:
I was hoping there was some switch that controls the lights like a standard switch but still maintained power to the bulbs for automation

The standard hue dimmer switches would achieve this, and then you just set the night light on a timer - i.e. switch on at 10pm. The only caveat to this is if the dimmer switch is pressed during this time it would over-ride the "night light", and would then require manually enabling again.

Nick1881 said:
I've got a few Kasa plugs on lights and my coffee machine
I have a Yale Smart Alarm
My house has Hive but I don't have the hub.
I've got a Eufy doorbell

No smart bulbs yet.

Anyone using Home Assistant?

Yeah quite a few of us using HA. There's a dedicated thread to it a page or 2 back.

Robert · 31 Oct 2021 at 21:16

Have google just stopped updating nest products? Find it really weird that I can’t even get a temp sensor and easily integrate it with nest. The new battery doorbell seems like trash too.

Phoenix211 · 31 Oct 2021 at 21:27

NeilF said:
Are any other Echo Show owners able to reproduce this (ugly/pointless fade out/in) issue?

Yup. I'm used it now but it's annoying when it catches my eye.

Bluecube · 31 Oct 2021 at 21:29

Nick1881 said:
Anyone using Home Assistant?

Yes, there’s a few users on the forums. Why do you ask?

413x · 1 Nov 2021 at 09:50

I have to say my video doorbell is providing a welcome addition. Even my partner who doesn't really care for this stuff is grateful for it.

So much so that I'm probably going to cough up for nest aware subscription.

Had a bit of trouble few weeks ago caught on vide and had an issue with a friend (I won't go into) where by we really don't want a specific person coming round. Just having the doorbell does provide piece of mind.

I was skeptical. But I'm a convert now.

Tado smart heating is great too. Even if it did need faff to set up

Nick1881 · 1 Nov 2021 at 10:51

Bluecube said:
Yes, there’s a few users on the forums. Why do you ask?

I'm considering running it if it's worth it with the devices I have. I don't have an Alexa in my house.
What is the cheapest device I could run HA on?

Bluecube · 1 Nov 2021 at 14:01

Probably a Raspberry Pi. I’d personally go for a Home Assistant Blue which is pretty much plug and play.

Semple · 1 Nov 2021 at 20:12

Nick1881 said:
I'm considering running it if it's worth it with the devices I have. I don't have an Alexa in my house.
What is the cheapest device I could run HA on?

I've got it running on a rpi4, but i had to mod it to use SSD as mine was writing data to the card too frequently for it to catch up.

NeilF · 4 Nov 2021 at 22:07

Anyone using a voice assistant with a Broadlink RM Pro?

It's stopped working in the last few hours? Using the RM Pro directly all is working, but firing off Echo Routines fails to fire them off on the RM Pro?

Hopefully a network glitch/problem with Broadlink!?