how smart has your home gone?

utajoker · 12 May 2018 at 22:46

Hi

All things going as planned, we should be moving into a new house on December and all i can do is look at stuff to buy for it. Mostly smart home stuff that works with the Amazon Echo range.

Seems you can get more and more things that now work with Alexa so i am wondering how far people have gone with it and what works well and what doesn't?

Aside from the obvious hue bulbs I've seen door locks...window blinds...kettles.

Has anyone got any of these and can offer advice on which seem to be the better options?

utajoker · 15 May 2018 at 23:15

which thermostat works better with Alexa? and does anyone use smart radiator valves aswell? do you need to?

i am def buying hue bulbs and a ring doorbell, I also plan to buy some kind of robot hoover (not sure which), though our new home will have 3 floors so 3 robots!

Not sure what to do for speakers in a few rooms, it seems sonos speakers can be used by alexa so i shall look at that.

I shall have to see how i can get wifi across 3 floors, i need to look at house plans (new build due in december) and see where ethernet cables are going etc but these mesh systems look interesting.

got 7 months till completion and lots of stuff to buy it seems, so i shall have to start saving

utajoker · 17 May 2018 at 20:17

a smart kettle could be useful to boil it before you get there but i'm not sure on appliances like washer and dishwasher other than to tell you when they are done, you need to be in front of them to load/unload them.

what do people use motion sensors for?

They turn your lights on when you enter the hall way but how long do they stay on for? Do you have one on each end to turn off as you pass it again?

utajoker · 11 Dec 2018 at 20:34

think this thread could get a poll on which you are using? amazon alexa or google home?

utajoker · 3 Feb 2020 at 14:35

Can anyone reccomend which smart thermostat to suit my needs?

I have a 3 floor house with 2 thermostats and 1 timer

Thermostat one controls:
Ground floor - garage, utility room, my man cave, bathroom
Middle floor - living room, dining room,kitchen

Thermostat two controls
Top floor - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

I want to have the top floor off in the day but on at night at a low constant temperature when we are asleep but not heat ground and middle floor. I have a 3year old and a wife who is always cold.

In morning and evening heat middle and ground floor but not top floor as we are not in those rooms.

It is a pain on one timer because I have to adjust thermostats every day to only heat the floors we are on. In an evening I have to change the top floor to not activate while we are in the living room/kitchen then at night adjust both to not heat bottom floors and keep top floor warm. In a morning I have to go down stairs in cold to set the middle floor to warm up while we get ready for work etc.

Do I replace both thermostats with smart ones. which should I look at to do what I want to do?
Also working with Alexa and controlling hot water would be great.

Thanks

utajoker · 17 May 2020 at 00:26

Anyone using hue light strips to light landing in evening?

Now my son is toilet trained he gets up in the night. I'm wanting to put 2 strips to light the floor up slightly so he doesn't bump or trip in pitch black if he gets out of bed.

Not sure how to mount and hide them. Dint just want 2 light strips stuck to the walls.

Our landing is wall on one side and baluster on other side.

Anyone got any pics or ideas for stealth mounting?

utajoker · 31 Oct 2020 at 20:16

Anyone found good automation for blinds that work with alexa and ifttt?

Would like to open close them on command but also have them close in time with sun rise/ sun down.

Don't want whole blind systems but something that can control the current blinds.

utajoker · 7 Aug 2021 at 13:54

I'm having issues with amazon alexa and phillips hue.

I have a household set up with me and my wife's amazon accounts but she is unable to control any lights and has to switch to my account to control them.
I set it up to allow her to use her own Spotify and listen to her music on the amazon units.

I've set up both our voices and was hoping it would play our own individual spotify when we ask it to.

It cant be that only 1 person can control lights through alexa in a household

utajoker · 7 Aug 2021 at 18:37

matt100 said:
Genuine question, why would you need to use 2 different accounts?

i dont like her music and she dont like mine, so when we share a spotify it messes up play lists etc. to get 2 seperate spotify accounts to work i believe you have to use the amazon household, which means 2 amazon accounts.

i think atleast, unless there is another way!

utajoker · 27 Oct 2021 at 21:04

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.

utajoker · 27 Oct 2021 at 22:30

Semple said:
Need more details.

If you use something like Home Assistant, then this would be easy. If you've only got Hue, then you'd need a switch that you can integrate with the hue bridge - again assuming you have a bridge and not just BT bulbs.

i have alexa devices and a hue bridge.

currently use the hue app to turn on a few lights in the evenings, was hoping to do the same but not have to worry about having to switch the landing light on then turn it off with the hue app to run the automation later in the evening.

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.

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.

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

utajoker · 27 Nov 2021 at 21:23

wondering if it possible to heat specific rooms at certain times.

ie. warm 2 bedrooms at 6am for x time or to x temp.
keep 1 room at x temp throughout the day.
9pm warm bedrooms
heat whole house on command.

can this be achieved with smart thermostat and smart valves or is this not possible?

i also have 2 thermostats, 1 for bottom floor and 1 for 2nd and 3rd floors. do i need 2 smart thermostats also?

thanks.