DON'T TEMPT ME FRODO
Their offer is worded oddly. "Buy 3 get one free". Like you say, it's actually buy 2 get 1 free.
Haha yeah I’m the same meant to be saving to upgrade my cpu mobo and ram on payday
Are you doing anything with Hue?
- Thread starter CapitalOne
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Haha yeah I’m the same meant to be saving to upgrade my cpu mobo and ram on payday
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I want to use a limited hue setup instead of installing dimmer switches downstairs. Are the white Hue lights all dimmable? The Ikea ones too?
I'm pretty sure all Philips hue lights are dimmable as well as the IKEA ones.
Very late to the thread, but no thanks. I refuse to use any of these home automation things that do not work on an open protocol. Nor any that require an internet connection to work.
There are options for the open protocol, I haven't looked into it too much yet, but I'm probably going to go very much DIY on the software side of things.
I do have several RGB table lamps which I can make do some wonderfully bizarre and pretty things.
I also have ESP8266 and RaspberryPI based sensors for temperature, pressure, humidity around the house and a custom built data logger hub and display in the living room. It also monitors my solar panel and displays/logs the data. When I move to non-rented accomodation (buy a house) this year I will extend this system to control the heating/lights etc.
There are options for the open protocol, I haven't looked into it too much yet, but I'm probably going to go very much DIY on the software side of things.
I do have several RGB table lamps which I can make do some wonderfully bizarre and pretty things.
I also have ESP8266 and RaspberryPI based sensors for temperature, pressure, humidity around the house and a custom built data logger hub and display in the living room. It also monitors my solar panel and displays/logs the data. When I move to non-rented accomodation (buy a house) this year I will extend this system to control the heating/lights etc.
I don't have the guide to hand but Google it. You have to add them to smartthings but it's quite easy.
Why would you make your own life so much more complicated? I mean if it's a functionality thing then fine, I get that.. I've built PCs in the past to have exactly what I want but not to avoid being in the clutches of anyone.. life's to short to worry about that sort of thing.
I believe they show up in the app or you use their device handlers or something.. given the pricing of the proper stuff though I just figure again, life's too short.. go with the stuff that's guaranteed to work.
Times gone by I would have gone to any level of messing with this just to be bloody minded with the half excuse of using the cheaper items but really I just wanted to tinker.
Now I just want to have stuff come out of the box and work and I don't mind paying a small premium for that..
Because the ones that need an internet connection to work in particular, do NOT need an internet connection to work. They need an internet connection to log, analyse and sell you activity. Also, requiring the internet service means none of it works when the Internet is down and when they decide tomorrow to switch the service off or not support your devices anymore your products are all bricked instantly. It has happened before many times and will happen again.
On open protocol. A lot of the devices work on a "boxing in" strategy. So you buy a Honeywell system and the only sensors or devices it will work with are Honeywell and cost 10 times more than they should. In fact honeywell can charge whatever they like and you wlil have no choice but to buy them. When you don't like their LED lamps, you buy Ikea ones, but they need Ikea apps and hubs, so you end up with a bunch of different hubs, controllers and apps.
I want open protocol so I can choose what I want to use, when and where and have a single central control point which is fully under my control and works without the Internet being required.
I admire your dedication... the level of learning required to bust out of ecosystem lock in and then generally the less elegant solution you get in exchange isn't worth it in my opinion.
You get locked into ios or android or windows or macos and I'm locked into various other beautiful prisons like spotify, prime etc but I get something in exchange so I'm fine with it.
And honeywell and ikea example is also an odd one.. honeywell are just about in this game but they've got nothing to do with lights and the lights are largely controlled by common light bulb fittings so for example I can use hue or INNR or Ikea bulbs with a hue hub, or have the lights controlled by smartthings, TP link, belkin or lightwave setups.. there's a lot of flexibility that doesn't involve the level of complexity you've gone for to avoid closed systems.
All that said, fair play to you, if it's possible and you want it then why not. I must admit your point on requiring an internet connection to turn your lights on and off is a fair one. I don't understand why smartthings going offline stops all the local devices working.
But you've gone too far for me on the logging and selling information.. for starters I couldn't care less if someone knows how I use this sort of equipment because that normally leads to better working equipment and given the amount of info we all leak every minute of every day via cookies, ANPR, CCTV and god knows what else I figure so long as I don't do the big no no and commentate on my life via facebook the rest is an acceptable trade off for me.
Regarding complexity the analogy I would use is like driver discs that come with PCs or worse, printers. These go in the bin, but if you are silly enough to double click the installer you get all manor of junk, advertising, bells, whistles, the kitchen sink and the family wedding gift list. 90% of it you will not use.
Proprietary automation hubs are usually similar, they have 100 different features because a part of their market requested it, or someone in a suit decided it was a good idea.
When I install a printer I install the bare minimum driver that I need to print and leave the rest unless I have a defacto use case for it.
To give you a little more insight to how I work with complexity, I don't use a Linux distro. I use a meta-distro, gentoo. The reason is that I can make my linux as complex as I need it to be, which is probably about 1/100th as complex as something like Ubuntu, because I don't need support for a three handled family gredunza and I don't like green eggs and ham, so I don't compile support for them. So my system is small, lean, fast and simple to fix. Which in my view is worth the pain that sometimes comes when things don't work.
In terms of my current home automation system it might surprise you to know it involves about 100 lines of python code to send and receive every and any sensor in the house, log it to a database (fixed size) and display it on a Raspberry PI with an LCD screen. Simply because it's simple. The advantage I have is that I do this kind of thing for a day job. I also have been an electronic's hobbyist for a while, so making things like Wifi relays or RGB addressable lighting is easy.
When I want to control my heating, a small python script will consume the current and/or historic data from the hub, check it in reference to layered schedules and update a value for the heating back into the hub database. A simple Wifi relay will poll that value and switch the heating accordingly.
Proprietary automation hubs are usually similar, they have 100 different features because a part of their market requested it, or someone in a suit decided it was a good idea.
When I install a printer I install the bare minimum driver that I need to print and leave the rest unless I have a defacto use case for it.
To give you a little more insight to how I work with complexity, I don't use a Linux distro. I use a meta-distro, gentoo. The reason is that I can make my linux as complex as I need it to be, which is probably about 1/100th as complex as something like Ubuntu, because I don't need support for a three handled family gredunza and I don't like green eggs and ham, so I don't compile support for them. So my system is small, lean, fast and simple to fix. Which in my view is worth the pain that sometimes comes when things don't work.
In terms of my current home automation system it might surprise you to know it involves about 100 lines of python code to send and receive every and any sensor in the house, log it to a database (fixed size) and display it on a Raspberry PI with an LCD screen. Simply because it's simple. The advantage I have is that I do this kind of thing for a day job. I also have been an electronic's hobbyist for a while, so making things like Wifi relays or RGB addressable lighting is easy.
When I want to control my heating, a small python script will consume the current and/or historic data from the hub, check it in reference to layered schedules and update a value for the heating back into the hub database. A simple Wifi relay will poll that value and switch the heating accordingly.
I see the point you're making and it seems simple to you but for most I'd say that was all about as far away from simple as you can get...
The speed and scale of adoption should tell you what you need to know about how simple these things are to use and again whilst I see the point you're making on printers and crapware that's just not what you're dealing with here.
But either way, you've gone your own way and it works for you, the thread never said how mass market smart is your house!
Have you or anyone else done anything with the Lux sensor in the newer Xiaomi sensors? I'm trying to create a flow to turn on lights when the lux sensor in a certain area drops below a certain point. Due to having a town house, it can be quite dark when the sun isn't especially strong, but I can't find a way to enable them to trigger a flow or set a mode that will then work with Stringify.
Just a thought... I'm in a town house and use 3 motion sensors.. then with the smartthings app I just set it so between certain times of the day they stay on for different lengths of time/combinations.
I thought it would be overkill during the day but with the bulbs set to about 40% anyway I barely notice during the day and never think about it at night and they always go off behind me.. perfect.
I did set off trying to do dusk till dawn stuff but then realised firstly I don't want the lights on just because it's dark.. I want the ones near me to know that and secondly.. it's a town house.. its always dark enough in the middle that a bit of extra light is a problem.
I have similar, but sometimes when you're in during the day unexpectedly or at weekends it won't turn on out of those times, and it's a bit of a waste of the whole smart thing in my experience. I think I may have an idea, but just got to try to set it up when I'm back home.
You mean with motion sensors? Mine always go off to some extent because it's either dark enough to need it or bright enough so you don't notice.. works for me
Quick question regarding the motion sensor for Philips Hue...
Can I set it up outside my front door and have a Philips Hue bulb slowly fade up when it senses motion?
I understand the whole purpose of the motion sensor is to turn the bulb on, but I want to know if you can set it up to fade in rather than just turn on?
Can I set it up outside my front door and have a Philips Hue bulb slowly fade up when it senses motion?
I understand the whole purpose of the motion sensor is to turn the bulb on, but I want to know if you can set it up to fade in rather than just turn on?
When I turn my lights on with Alexa they fade on and off,I'm pretty sure they fade rather than just turn on.
Do you guys prefer Amazon Echo or Google Home for voice control? I've got an Echo Dot and finding the setup a pain in the butt compared to GH. Not helped by the fact the Alexa app doesn't work on my phone running Android 9 beta.
I wanted to try it as I hear good things but compare to setup of GH its putting me off.
I wanted to try it as I hear good things but compare to setup of GH its putting me off.