how smart has your home gone?

Noakesy85 · 13 Dec 2019 at 09:50

When i eventually buy my Forever Home, I plan to have a whole heap of Home Automation. I love it but my wife hates it (shes a technophobe).

We currently have the SKYQ remote that lets us voice search stuff... that's it

Ozmusafir · 4 Jan 2020 at 11:30

Ubiquiti WIFI AP and USG.
Google Nest Hello.
Nest Protect. x3
Google Home Mini. X2
Google Chromecast.
GE smart double socket.
BMW Series 530e (Can control via IOS App)

Planning to add:
Nest Thermostat Gen3
Philip Hue Lights
Curtain opener (kickstart)
Nest or Ubiquiti outdoor camera.

task · 6 Jan 2020 at 11:21

task said:
Evohome in all rooms
Hue doing lights in hall/dining room/living room/office and outside
MyOlive Smart metering for oil tank
MiHome for plug sockets and further lights that won't take hue bulbs

A few additions;

Robovac
Hassio server
Additional Hue/Tradfri bulbs
Google Home

It would be great to make the electric gate "smart" so I can ask google to "open the gate" while driving and it opens, a project for the new year.

Flibster · 6 Jan 2020 at 14:45

Added Echo Show 5 to my office/playroom. Nice little thing and not expensive, surprisingly it was much cheaper than the Echo Spot in the bedroom and it's a better device overall.
It replaced a Dot 2nd Gen. Dot is now in the dining room hooked up to a Marantz PM4000 amp and some Celestion F10 speakers.

Still waiting for the Echo Auto to be released...

Skully · 7 Jan 2020 at 12:43

task said:
A few additions;

It would be great to make the electric gate "smart" so I can ask google to "open the gate" while driving and it opens, a project for the new year.

Don't ask, automate!

task · 7 Jan 2020 at 13:31

Skully said:
Don't ask, automate!

The automation would be tricky, the gate needs to be open by the time we reach it otherwise it's a bit iffy stopping on the road at night. I don't want to use a geo-location based trigger as every time I drive passed the house or go for a walk in the woods and come into range the gate will trigger so "asking" is probably the least difficult to implement without causing issues.

The easiest way is probably a GSM trigger on the gate and a routine to text it to open from voice commands.

Skully · 7 Jan 2020 at 14:02

task said:
The automation would be tricky, the gate needs to be open by the time we reach it otherwise it's a bit iffy stopping on the road at night. I don't want to use a geo-location based trigger as every time I drive passed the house or go for a walk in the woods and come into range the gate will trigger so "asking" is probably the least difficult to implement without causing issues.

The easiest way is probably a GSM trigger on the gate and a routine to text it to open from voice commands.

That's a shame, I didn't consider that you'd be stopping on a road.

I plan on using a combination of my car's location tracker and ping through HASS for mine but I can wait for it to open (when I buy it!).

task · 7 Jan 2020 at 14:47

Skully said:
That's a shame, I didn't consider that you'd be stopping on a road.

I plan on using a combination of my car's location tracker and ping through HASS for mine but I can wait for it to open (when I buy it!).

Interestingly I just found this;

https://www.remootio.com/#

It's compatible with my gate, I need to see if the geo-fencing option will allow me to specify certain areas that make the gate open but worst case it will allow google assistant to open the gate for me via android auto.

task · 9 Jan 2020 at 19:06

task said:
Interestingly I just found this;

https://www.remootio.com/#

It's compatible with my gate, I need to see if the geo-fencing option will allow me to specify certain areas that make the gate open but worst case it will allow google assistant to open the gate for me via android auto.

Skully said:
That's a shame, I didn't consider that you'd be stopping on a road.

I plan on using a combination of my car's location tracker and ping through HASS for mine but I can wait for it to open (when I buy it!).

Fitted this today, works really well although the geofencing isn't granular enough for my needs it would likely work for yours. Shouting at google assistant works fine.

byeo · 13 Jan 2020 at 12:28

Is there such a thing as a smart bulb which also can project stars onto the walls? I can find smart bulbs and star projectors but not a combination of both. They might not exist, rainforest doesn't seem to bring up my exact request.

Semple · 13 Jan 2020 at 12:49

byeo said:
Is there such a thing as a smart bulb which also can project stars onto the walls? I can find smart bulbs and star projectors but not a combination of both. They might not exist, rainforest doesn't seem to bring up my exact request.

I can't say i've ever seen anything like this, it sounds like rather a niche project.

Best chance you probably have is a smart plug to switch on some sort of start projection lamp.

byeo · 13 Jan 2020 at 13:21

Semple said:
I can't say i've ever seen anything like this, it sounds like rather a niche project.

Best chance you probably have is a smart plug to switch on some sort of start projection lamp.

Yeah, I thought that but it was worth a shot, thanks anyway.

jimjamuk · 16 Jan 2020 at 11:58

So most of the teething problems in my cottage are now out the way I'm now looking at setting up some HA. Only have a couple of google speakers at the moment and thats just so the wife can have music on demand. Have recently set up a new QNAP NAS which has the option of running instances or home assistant or open hab. Anyone have any experience of either of those or should I look at a hub solution?? or just go with Google home assistant which I've not looked into yet

I think for Phase 1 I would be looking at motion detection with some smart lighting to kick things off but I would want to add bits and bobs on once it was up and running.

Also I have a 1800's cottage with some thick walls - I assume I need to worry about placement of hubs etc. For example I have a 3 disc home home wifi mesh to cover the house due to this

Skully · 16 Jan 2020 at 16:38

jimjamuk said:
So most of the teething problems in my cottage are now out the way I'm now looking at setting up some HA. Only have a couple of google speakers at the moment and thats just so the wife can have music on demand. Have recently set up a new QNAP NAS which has the option of running instances or home assistant or open hab. Anyone have any experience of either of those or should I look at a hub solution?? or just go with Google home assistant which I've not looked into yet

I think for Phase 1 I would be looking at motion detection with some smart lighting to kick things off but I would want to add bits and bobs on once it was up and running.

Also I have a 1800's cottage with some thick walls - I assume I need to worry about placement of hubs etc. For example I have a 3 disc home home wifi mesh to cover the house due to this

Google Home Assistant doesn't exist.

Home Assistant
Google Home

Two different things.

Home Assistant is kind of a hub for your hubs. It can control a huge amount of devices from different vendors. I use it at home and it integrates IKEA lights, Philips Lights, Yeelights, Zigbee Devices etc.

Google Home are the speakers you shout at to perform actions.

Psycho Sonny · 16 Jan 2020 at 16:39

byeo said:
Is there such a thing as a smart bulb which also can project stars onto the walls? I can find smart bulbs and star projectors but not a combination of both. They might not exist, rainforest doesn't seem to bring up my exact request.

smart plug and a star projector

i switch my subwoofer on using a smart plug. my grow lamps too come on and off to a schedule set by my smart plugs.

byeo · 17 Jan 2020 at 05:50

Psycho Sonny said:
smart plug and a star projector

i switch my subwoofer on using a smart plug. my grow lamps too come on and off to a schedule set by my smart plugs.

Thanks, I think that's my best option, I was just hoping there would be a bulb which eliminated the need for an actual projector.

Psycho Sonny · 17 Jan 2020 at 09:32

byeo said:
Thanks, I think that's my best option, I was just hoping there would be a bulb which eliminated the need for an actual projector.

Just stick some star shaped stickers onto an led bulb.

Semple · 17 Jan 2020 at 09:53

jimjamuk said:
So most of the teething problems in my cottage are now out the way I'm now looking at setting up some HA. Only have a couple of google speakers at the moment and thats just so the wife can have music on demand. Have recently set up a new QNAP NAS which has the option of running instances or home assistant or open hab. Anyone have any experience of either of those or should I look at a hub solution?? or just go with Google home assistant which I've not looked into yet

I think for Phase 1 I would be looking at motion detection with some smart lighting to kick things off but I would want to add bits and bobs on once it was up and running.

Also I have a 1800's cottage with some thick walls - I assume I need to worry about placement of hubs etc. For example I have a 3 disc home home wifi mesh to cover the house due to this

I preferred Home Assistant over openHab purely because there's a bigger development community behind HA. Whilst openHab does look more of a polished product, it was severely lacking in integration support.

In a nutshell running a HA hub opens up a world of things you can do to help automate your home. However these are not "plug and play" solutions, so unless you're happy to research and learn and have a tinker, then they'll just cause you more hassle.

Google ~~home~~ Assistant does work in a similar way to HA/openHab although you're fairly limited in terms of what you can do.

Regarding your thick walls, one of the major protocols in smart tech is Zigbee, and it operates very similarly to a mesh network. But it isn't compatible with your mesh network, so will rely on its own nodes in order to pass its signals. For this you probably just need to experiment a bit in terms of how far you can stretch it before needing to place more devices. If you're looking to install smart bulbs in every room of your house for example, then it's probably less of an issue.

katie279 · 19 Jan 2020 at 16:19

Goodness

50+ hue lights
Tados on all the radiators to control room by room
Nest protect X 3
Lightwave RF controls for bathroom lighting/fans etc
Automatic toilet seat/cleaner (

)
Dyson link heaters in some rooms
Gogogate garage controls
Google Homes throughout (Nest hub max in kitchen, bedroom etc - great for recipes, timers, temp conversions etc)
Smart withings scales
Synology NAS running everything
Two robo hoovers (Rooma 980 and a Deebot)
Home assistant with Fire 8 wall panels to control

Loads of other bits (eg octoprint to monitor 3d printers), but that's the flavour!

The home's getting smarter pretty quickly!

413x · 22 Jan 2020 at 18:13

Won't be making new house very smart. I don't even like things like hive. I just don't see the point. Hive and nest seem really popular but I just don't get it .
Can't see me needing a smart washing machine or fridge etc.

Just reading about the sonos stuff on BBC news too.