Soldato
I have a two zone heating system.
how smart has your home gone?
- Thread starter utajoker
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Soldato
Every light bulb in the house is Hue (26 lights, 4x motion sensors, 5x switches)
Nest thermostat
Several Amazon Echo devices
4x wifi plugs powering various things
Smart meter monitor thing (it's not really smart, just makes you go WTF is using all the electricity?! Then you remember the above haha)
Then the usual stuff, Unifi network, Chromecast, Network amp with Spotify, etc.
Nest thermostat
Several Amazon Echo devices
4x wifi plugs powering various things
Smart meter monitor thing (it's not really smart, just makes you go WTF is using all the electricity?! Then you remember the above haha)
Then the usual stuff, Unifi network, Chromecast, Network amp with Spotify, etc.
Soldato
Amazon Echo
Hue light bulbs.
Nest thermostat.
Hue light bulbs.
Nest thermostat.
Soldato
Im looking at some inline smart switches and wondered if anyone has any of the Sonoff ones? Ive read mixed reports from them working great to burning down your house in an instant due to them being made in China. Ive also read about them not having an earth which I know isnt ideal but can look to add that in if need be.
Are there any others that are worth looking at? Im looking to power some lamps and some LED strip as well as possibly a water feature for the garden (will be in a suitable IP box but need to test wifi signal etc first).
Thanks
Are there any others that are worth looking at? Im looking to power some lamps and some LED strip as well as possibly a water feature for the garden (will be in a suitable IP box but need to test wifi signal etc first).
Thanks
Sonoff now do very cheap smart plugs, much better than the inline switches (although I still use lots on low powered things like lamps)
Soldato
Why does a smoke/carbon monoxide detector have to be smart, in this case the Nest device, at around £85, that just seems bonkers.
Nothing HAS to be smart.
In this instance the smartness is that it can tell you this has happened even if you're not there, watch temperatures, acts as a night light etc etc..
Nothing major but if you go into this thinking why am I paying more you're goign to have a shock when you get to bulbs and plugs and allsorts.
I have no smart home technology and don't want any!
It drives me up the wall when I visit people and they sit about barking orders to some gadget which can't understand them in a vain attempt to do mundane things like adjusting the temperature by 1 degree or dimming a light. Just get off your backside and do it yourself!
It drives me up the wall when I visit people and they sit about barking orders to some gadget which can't understand them in a vain attempt to do mundane things like adjusting the temperature by 1 degree or dimming a light. Just get off your backside and do it yourself!
Soldato
Yeah the price is pretty daft but they're good if you have any Nest cameras. Whenever mine goes off it pulls up a snapshot of all my cameras and saves a recording so I can see what's going on and go back to it to see what's happened. You can turn it off from your phone too which is helpful if you're good at burning food like I am. I only have one because I found it reduced from $125 to $30.
Oh and it's very polite and warns you that it's going to be very loud right before it goes off and when it's about to run a test.
Man of Honour
Nothing, because none of it justifes the premium. Pretty much all of it falls under "solution in search of a problem". I don't have smart lights because I have hands that work. I can see that they might be useful to disabled people though. I don't need a smart thermostat because it's not really any better than a dumb one. Etc. And that's before we get onto the woeful security or every smart gadget. Or smart locks that can be bricked by the manufacturer without you knowing. For example.
Take a look at the Gledopto controller. Someone over on the hue thread made some hue strips with them.
I can agree a bit on the voice control, but smart tech is much more than that. Try doing what you're suggested whilst you're not at home.
Soldato
Do you feel the same about things like dishwashers or washing machines?
My smart thermostats save me a lot of money each month. My smart cameras let me keep an eye on things around the house when I’m not there. A lot of it is so I don’t have to get up when I’m watching TV, yeah. It’s nice that all my lights turn on at sunset, it’s nice that I can dim them when I put a movie on, it’s nice that I can see if I’ve left any lights on or the garage open and then turn them off or close it.
But yes, the one in my office is because I’m lazy and cant be bothered to get up to turn on or off the light
Couple of folks in the wrong thread
It's horses for courses, if you like it then it's great, if you don't see the need.. like with a gaming PC or a fast car then it's clearly not for you.
I love my lights turning themselves on and off based on movement and time, I like having a smart thermostat so I don't have to fight with god awful timer controls on them, I like having spotify multiroom with my echos and I like being able to be lazy and turn lights on and off without having to move, especially when I'm in bed
I think so too.
To give some context around my 'smart' orders (I don't like this term)...
Nest thermostat - my first internet connected device. I needed a new one as my old one wasn't programmable and I wanted different temperatures at different times. A decent normal thermostat with fitting was more expensive.
Sonos 1 - I wanted a radio and to be able to play Spotify. I ended up with quite a few after the first as I enjoyed them and so is the most expensive part of my smart collection.
Hue lightbulbs - it annoyed me that my bedside lamps didn't go on together and it was annoying getting into bed to realise the main light was on. In addition I wanted to wake up gently in the morning to increasing brightness. Hue fitted these requirements perfectly and they kind of spread everywhere as I saw value in them and it is nice watching a film with a dim orange glow to the room.
Smart utilities meter. I like to pay for what I use each month but I got bored with supplying meter readings. It was free.
Nest doorbell. I had some interesting visitors that I'd have preferred to not see in person at the door. Also it is useful accepting deliveries remotely.
Nest fire alarm. I spec'ed these for the parents as they had an extension that was quite distant to where they slept at night and I liked how they looked compared to my old one. In addition, my old one had to be physically removed from the house to make it shut up and would go far too long between being removed and me reinstating it.
To give some context around my 'smart' orders (I don't like this term)...
Nest thermostat - my first internet connected device. I needed a new one as my old one wasn't programmable and I wanted different temperatures at different times. A decent normal thermostat with fitting was more expensive.
Sonos 1 - I wanted a radio and to be able to play Spotify. I ended up with quite a few after the first as I enjoyed them and so is the most expensive part of my smart collection.
Hue lightbulbs - it annoyed me that my bedside lamps didn't go on together and it was annoying getting into bed to realise the main light was on. In addition I wanted to wake up gently in the morning to increasing brightness. Hue fitted these requirements perfectly and they kind of spread everywhere as I saw value in them and it is nice watching a film with a dim orange glow to the room.
Smart utilities meter. I like to pay for what I use each month but I got bored with supplying meter readings. It was free.
Nest doorbell. I had some interesting visitors that I'd have preferred to not see in person at the door. Also it is useful accepting deliveries remotely.
Nest fire alarm. I spec'ed these for the parents as they had an extension that was quite distant to where they slept at night and I liked how they looked compared to my old one. In addition, my old one had to be physically removed from the house to make it shut up and would go far too long between being removed and me reinstating it.
Do you feel the same about things like dishwashers or washing machines?
My smart thermostats save me a lot of money each month. My smart cameras let me keep an eye on things around the house when I’m not there. A lot of it is so I don’t have to get up when I’m watching TV, yeah. It’s nice that all my lights turn on at sunset, it’s nice that I can dim them when I put a movie on, it’s nice that I can see if I’ve left any lights on or the garage open and then turn them off or close it.
But yes, the one in my office is because I’m lazy and cant be bothered to get up to turn on or off the light
That is an interesting statement, as I have heard from very many people who have moved over to smart thermostats, that it actually increases costs, because they are far more adjustable, and far easier to adjust, (via app), they find they use the heating far more than they used to prior so costs actually go up.
Associate
Most of my friends have smart thermostats and none of their energy bills have gone up through increased energy usage. Mine have gone down, my mums has gone down, my friends have gone down. I work from home and even still we use less energy. Being able to turn it up easily also means that you can turn it down just as easily.
So, people use it to increase their comfort? Sounds good to me!
Soldato
We definitely change ours more than we did with the dumb thermostats but the weather where I am means I usually have AC or heat running all the time anyway and the Nest thermostats have features built in to make that a lot more efficient. Our bills are considerably cheaper than our neighbours who have almost identical houses.
The dumb thermostats they put in all the houses in my neighbourhood aren't programmable so unless you change the temperature before you leave the house your AC or heat will be running while you aren't home. I work from home so we don't really take advantage of the away feature on the thermostats but that alone would save us an absolute fortune.
We have a few of the Nest Temperature sensors too so the house heats/cools to the temp in different rooms too instead of the pokey hallway and landing the thermostats are on right now and we found that they made it so we didn't have to change the temp on the thermostat as much.
I wish the Nest thermostats supported multiple zones as I'd like to get all the rooms set up independently but at $250 for each thermostat it'll be a little expensive. Maybe there'll be an update in the future to make it so you can use the sensors to control zones from one thermostat.
We've got hue bulbs in the living room x3 lamps and no traditional pendant anywhere to be seen when we re did the living room we asked the plasterer just to put it into the ceiling void. Will have to get it back through if we ever move but i don't foresee that.
Plus we have a hue bulb in the bathroom with a motion sensor that works out great because our daughter is forever leaving lights on.
For media i have a logitech smart hub and remote i keep all the media components in the understair cupboard and the remote works without issue. Saves having all the untidy stuff out on show.
Plus we have a hue bulb in the bathroom with a motion sensor that works out great because our daughter is forever leaving lights on.
For media i have a logitech smart hub and remote i keep all the media components in the understair cupboard and the remote works without issue. Saves having all the untidy stuff out on show.
Caporegime
How well does Alexa integrate with FireTV? Can you get by without using the remote at all?