Home Automation

photoshop

photoshop

photoshop

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Stockton on Tees
Ok guys. Im looking at moving away from the past and going into the future with home automation tech.

Here is what i want to achive:

- Control my heating via Hive via voice

- Control majority of lights (Hue or similiar) in the home (needs to be future proof so that i can eventually replace all lights for smart ones)

- BT/Wifi speakers in each room to play music - Like Sonos

- To be able to turn on/off living room devices via voice (smart 4K TV, Amp, Virgin, PS4 etc)

- Motion sensor lights which come on with movement (i.e. when someone enters the living room at night the lights come on etc etc)

- Smart doorbell ??! (so it alerts you on your phone etc)

- Smart fire detector - Nest?

- Indoor security camera - ?!?

Thats the requirements.
Can be either controlled via Amazon Alexa or Google Home. I use a lot of Google services (Gmail, Calender, GMusic) but i know Alexa is a little better for home automation.

Now, is Philips Hue the best option for the lights? Not really bothered about colours- just want dimmable white light. Does this require any tinkering to the actual on/off wall light switch??

Would a Smarthings Hub be required to control all these via Google Home/Alex?

What are my options?
 
If you're thinking of using nest protects then go with a Nest thermostat rather than hive as the Nest products will talk to each other. For example the Thermostat will use the motion sensors in the Protects to determine whether you are in the house. I believe the Nest security cameras also do this.

I'd move away from Hue and go with smart switches instead. That will probably be significantly cheaper than individual smart bulbs and you'll be able to control more than just the type of light bulbs Hue has.

Have a look at SmartThings, which is what I use. Out of that list you should be able to control and attach lights, motion sensors and doorbells, it also works with Sonos. Nest has its own system which I don't believe works with others, but I think there is some jigging that can be done to make it partly work with ST. Logitech is probably your best bet for dealing with your media devices, look into the Harmony Hub, which can automate them, and it works with SmartThings as well. Not sure about the voice control though - I guess Alexa or similar, but not sure what systems they work with.

You can also look into remote closing blinds as well.

With the SmartThings I'm going to have it set up (haven't got the media part yet) so I can press a single button and it'll turn on the TV to the right input, turn on my Fire TV (for films), dim lights and close the blinds (as an example).
 
I have only done a small bit of these but this is what I have currently in my Living Room.

Echo Dot
Harmony Ultimate with Hub
1 White Hive Light
1 Colour Hive Light

The harmony is configured for my different activities and I can ask Alexa to ask Harmony to turn on Sky, Roku, PS3 etc and it turns on the TV, the Amp and the device, I can ask it to pause, play, change volume, mute, I can ask Alexa to ask Plex to play The Matrix and it will start playing it. I can say Alexa lamp on and the colour bulb turns, on, or I can say living room on and the white bulb in the ceiling rose comes on. I can then dim the lights by saying Alexa dim lamp/living room or change the colour of the lamp by saying Alexa change lamp to purple.

I have Prime so can ask Alexa to play music and it automatically plays something from Prime, I have it paired to my amp so can ask alexa to ask harmony to turn on bluetooth and when it does the Echo connects automatically, giving me better sound for my music. I have also found that the ot works perfectly powered by a USB socket on a wall outlet, no need to use an actual plug socket.

I am sure as time goes on I will slowly add, but not bad considering I only got the Echo dot on Wednesday.
 
Amp34 said:
I'd move away from Hue and go with smart switches instead. That will probably be significantly cheaper than individual smart bulbs and you'll be able to control more than just the type of light bulbs Hue has.

You can also look into remote closing blinds as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

What are these switches you speak of?
I take it they can talk to smart things hub and inturn be controlled via Alexa?

I guess in the same way Sonos speakers can be controlled via ST hub and then use IFTT to control via Alexa?

Didn't know about the blinds! Did this require a mechanical device or rail to be able to do this?
 
This is where my location causes problems. Not sure exactly what is available in the UK for switches and blinds. Best bet is to look on the SmartThings forums and see what is recommended. But yes, they would be able to connect directly to the SmartThings hub and then you can control them any way you can control anything associated with the hub.
 
Amp34 said:
This is where my location causes problems. Not sure exactly what is available in the UK for switches and blinds. Best bet is to look on the SmartThings forums and see what is recommended. But yes, they would be able to connect directly to the SmartThings hub and then you can control them any way you can control anything associated with the hub.
Click to expand...

As of yet, I don't think there are any light switches in the UK that you soak of. In the us the are a few like Zig.b etc but the UK is lacking.
 
Yeah, unfortunately this tech is still early stages and the UK is about a year behind North America in this. I can't see it being very long before proper switches are available in the UK. That said people are using Fibaro dimmers at the moment. May be worth looking into?

Either way if you're not interested in colour and you have a fair number of lights to control (for example a dozen potlights) then switches are going to be a lot cheaper - if you can find a solution.

For the blinds Somfy have just released a motor that works directly with SmartThings here. It runs off battery so I can't see why they won't be updating their existing stuff in the UK shortly.
 
pepp77 said:
I have only done a small bit of these but this is what I have currently in my Living Room.

Echo Dot
Harmony Ultimate with Hub
1 White Hive Light
1 Colour Hive Light

The harmony is configured for my different activities and I can ask Alexa to ask Harmony to turn on Sky, Roku, PS3 etc and it turns on the TV, the Amp and the device, I can ask it to pause, play, change volume, mute, I can ask Alexa to ask Plex to play The Matrix and it will start playing it. I can say Alexa lamp on and the colour bulb turns, on, or I can say living room on and the white bulb in the ceiling rose comes on. I can then dim the lights by saying Alexa dim lamp/living room or change the colour of the lamp by saying Alexa change lamp to purple.

I have Prime so can ask Alexa to play music and it automatically plays something from Prime, I have it paired to my amp so can ask alexa to ask harmony to turn on bluetooth and when it does the Echo connects automatically, giving me better sound for my music. I have also found that the ot works perfectly powered by a USB socket on a wall outlet, no need to use an actual plug socket.

I am sure as time goes on I will slowly add, but not bad considering I only got the Echo dot on Wednesday.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a nice solution...but the money is increasing. I think at this rate i'll end up spending several thousand just so i can sit on my bottom rather than get up and do things.
But it is the way things are going so might aswell embrace it.

My only worry is that standard bulbs and switches are future proofed already as they have been round decades but with the new automation tech its getting updated every year so these devices will become obscelete quickly and you will need to upgrade after a few years to better hardware.

Im thinking an Alexa in the living room, bedroom and kitchen and the rest of the rooms kitted out with echo dots.

But wont having Sonos speakers and Alexa devices in the same room be kind of overkill as both are smart speakers which play music?!
Hopefully in the future Alexa will be on the same par as Sonos music quality but as of yet it isnt.
 
I have 3 dots,6 Philips hue lights and just about to get some tp link smart plugs so i can turn the kettle on when I'm just getting out of bed :)
 
Schizo said:
I have 3 dots,6 Philips hue lights and just about to get some tp link smart plugs so i can turn the kettle on when I'm just getting out of bed :)
Click to expand...

Lol that is ultimate laziness.
But what if the kettle have no water in it ?

Am i right in thinking the Hue bulbs need the light switch to be on the ON position at all times? How does this affect the circuitary and the electricty?
 
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I have my hue lights in lamps,yes they are always switched on and I control them via voice control.

They are LEDs so cheap to run.
 
Do the Hues put out descent light?
Max I can find is they do 10W and around 1000 lumen'ish - equivelant to around 60/75W bulbs.
Will 2 be enough for a large 6m long x 5m wide lounge?

I tend to go for 100W bulbs as I like it bright with the option to dim at will when in a movie mode.
 
Everyone has different preferences to light,I live in a one bedroom flat and hardly put the big lights on,in winter my hue lights are the only lights on,when they are white they are pretty bright though.
 
photoshop said:
Lol that is ultimate laziness.
But what if the kettle have no water in it ?
Click to expand...
I have one of those one cup kettles,I'll prepare the cup before bed,when I wake up I'll turn it on from the bedroom and once I get up it would have brewed just nicely :)
 
Schizo said:
I have one of those one cup kettles,I'll prepare the cup before bed,when I wake up I'll turn it on from the bedroom and once I get up it would have brewed just nicely :)
Click to expand...
What a time we live in. Surely a 1 cup kettle would be boiled by the time you sort the mug and coffee/tea materials out if you turned it on as you went into the kitchen anyway..
 
As above Hue can be an expensive outlay to get up and running, I think I have around 25 Hue bulbs around the house but all purchased when the various sites (BT/Argos/Amazon) have had deals on. Couple of benefits of installing Hue verses other lighting systems:-
  • No need to change light switches/cabling, assuming standard on/off switches installed; Although I had a number of IR touch dimmers that I had to swap out to use Hue.
  • Easy to uninstall, if you are moving just pop cheap standard bulbs back in and you can take your investment with you (more effort if you need to take out wall switches etc).
  • It's sooooo easy to setup and use
 
Schizo said:
Yes it would but what better way to make a cup of tea :)
Click to expand...

Come to think of it my kettle is automated already. I just speak teh command to my wife and she makes it :)

Are the Hue GU spot light bulbs any good?
Thinking of the bathroom and toilets (2 spot light bulbs each) and the kitchen....

Also, whats the best way to get music in the shower and bathroom? Wouldnt mind adding Sonos but how do you go about connecting them to power as power sockets in wet rooms are a no-no?
 
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I personally think all the hue range is good and would have them all in my flat but as there are 15 spot lights ill leave them for now.

As i live on my own i have a 2.1 speaker set in the hallway connected to a dot and put on of the speakers in the door way :)
 
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