how smart has your home gone?

[Semple]

This is very much a work in progress, but I have been making a dashboard for Home Assistant at long last. Main aim is a mobile friendly interface for now, with the most useful information and controls. It's definitely a learning curve, sunk many hours into it, but everything it working on this page now. Using Node-red as the backend to handle it all. Home Assistant is incredibly powerful, when you look around on Reddit and forums to see what people are doing with it, it's absolutely mind blowing. I'm going to expand my setup slowly over the future.

Looking good, what have you got integrated so far?

I've not even looked at the front end, my focus has been more on getting a number of components working well. I guess once i've got everything integrated then i can look at how i can better display it all.

Just ordered a couple of "meross Smart Power Strips" from Amazon that are HomeKit compatible. I often wondered why there weren't any smart power strips yet.

I'll be able to consolidate a few smart plugs and they have built in USB charge ports so I can get rid of a couple of Anker USB chargers in the sitting room.

Been a meross user for a couple of years now. They've got some good kit. But they've ****** me off lately by blocking me from the meross cloud server.

 

[andy_mk3]

Looking good, what have you got integrated so far?

I've not even looked at the front end, my focus has been more on getting a number of components working well. I guess once i've got everything integrated then i can look at how i can better display it all.

Automated scenes which controls lighting, want to add a lux sensor into it too, to bring lights on when it gets dark rather than going by sunset. All my lights are hue apart from the kitchen counter lights which are controlled by sonoff basics, and an outside light controlled by a TP link smart plug. Also have kitchen lights on a motion sensor, which makes them come on at different levels depending on the active scene (they come on really dim during the night for example). Motion sensor in the bathroom lights with a door sensor that keeps the lights on as long as the door is closed. Currently playing with a Broadlink RM4 Mini IR blaster for our daughters' room, to automate her TV to turn on, cast something and turn off after an hour or however long. HA is also my doorbell, a smart button triggers a sound to play on Google home devices, also takes a snapshot from my Unifi camera and sends it along with a notification to mine and my wife's phones. We also get a phone notification when our daughters' room drops above or below a certain temperature.

Looking into other stuff too. It's endless possibilities!

I was never too fussed about the front end, but an easy to use front end comes with big WAF

 

[Semple]

We also get a phone notification when our daughters' room drops above or below a certain temperature.

I've not been able to get push notifications working on mine. I've got xiaomi temp sensors in most rooms around the house, but i was looking to set up a temperature warning in the greenhouse so i know when to open the door for some ventilation.

Interesting idea about the door sensor on the bathroom, i think i might use that as the missus is forever leaving the bathroom lights on as they're currently the only ones that aren't smart.

Next big project for next year is to look at some automated blinds/curtain solutions. I know there's Somfy and Ikea have their own versions, but they're quite pricey for what they are. A couple of guides i've looked at you should be able to pick up the motors etc for no more than £20-30, so if i can't get it working it's not a huge amount wasted.

 

[Scotteh]

What does everyone do with their light switches when using Hue bulbs?

I've got a light switch cover (Samotech SM200) over each light switch and a Hue dimmer put over the top of the actual switch but wondering if there's a better looking solution..

 

[matt100]

What does everyone do with their light switches when using Hue bulbs?

I've got a light switch cover (Samotech SM200) over each light switch and a Hue dimmer put over the top of the actual switch but wondering if there's a better looking solution..

Just leave them all on, put an echo (or your smart speaker of choice) in each room to speak to the lights and for added pro points use motion sensors in high traffic areas you don't want to be controlled with speakers

 

[Semple]

Just leave them all on, put an echo (or your smart speaker of choice) in each room to speak to the lights and for added pro points use motion sensors in high traffic areas you don't want to be controlled with speakers

You misread his question

He's after a better cosmetic solution for what to do with light switches.

I don't think I've seen a better solution for light switches that the cover that goes over them for dimmer switch/button.

I'll certainly be interested if someone has a better solution.

 

[matt100]

You misread his question

He's after a better cosmetic solution for what to do with light switches.

I don't think I've seen a better solution for light switches that the cover that goes over them for dimmer switch/button.

I'll certainly be interested if someone has a better solution.

Ah.. well I guess in my mind it's an odd question... how can I replace a light switch solution with another light switch solution? I mean, they're still there even if you've covered them with something else.

Just make sure you have half decent non offensive looking ones and then never touch them again? You just forget where they are eventually.

Why would you ever want to touch a dimmer etc if you can just ask for whatever you want?

 

[Semple]

Ah.. well I guess in my mind it's an odd question... how can I replace a light switch solution with another light switch solution? I mean, they're still there even if you've covered them with something else.

Just make sure you have half decent non offensive looking ones and then never touch them again? You just forget where they are eventually.

Why would you ever want to touch a dimmer etc if you can just ask for whatever you want?

I think it's more a case of preventing guests/anyone who doesn't regularly visit your house from switching them off by accident.

 

[BigT]

I have another problem with guests and smart lights I hadn't planned for. All our rooms are primarily voice controlled now (Echo in every room) and I didn't name some rooms sufficiently differently to not cause mayhem when my mother stayed over. She was in "guest bedroom" and we're in "bedroom". She couldn't remember anything other than the word "bedroom" so of course lit us up like a Christmas tree at 3am when she needed to get up. Not much fun for her as she stumbled around in the dark either. Lesson learned - we're now sleeping in 'Frank' which no one will say accidentally.

 

[matt100]

I have another problem with guests and smart lights I hadn't planned for. All our rooms are primarily voice controlled now (Echo in every room) and I didn't name some rooms sufficiently differently to not cause mayhem when my mother stayed over. She was in "guest bedroom" and we're in "bedroom". She couldn't remember anything other than the word "bedroom" so of course lit us up like a Christmas tree at 3am when she needed to get up. Not much fun for her as she stumbled around in the dark either. Lesson learned - we're now sleeping in 'Frank' which no one will say accidentally.

You know you can create rooms in the alexa app so you can just say lights and it knows what you're referring to?

 

[matt100]

I think it's more a case of preventing guests/anyone who doesn't regularly visit your house from switching them off by accident.

That's fair, we've had a bunch of work done in the house and the downstairs loo light keeps being switched off

 

[BigT]

You know you can create rooms in the alexa app so you can just say lights and it knows what you're referring to?

I have rooms defined but do you mean that a specific echo can be associated with a particular room's smart plugs/lights, so if I say turn on lights in Room A to an echo in Room A it'll do room A but if I say the same command to Echo B in Room B it'll turn Room B's lights on? That I didn't know, although I'd still need the ability to turn on and off all lights in any room from any Echo. e.g.

"Turn on Lights" to Echo in room A turns on all of room A's lights
"Turn on Lights" to Echo in room B turns on all of room B's lights
"Turn on Room A lights" to any echo anywhere turns on room A's lights

If that's the case I'm a numpty and better go do more research to set it up.

 

[matt100]

I have rooms defined but do you mean that a specific echo can be associated with a particular room's smart plugs/lights, so if I say turn on lights in Room A to an echo in Room A it'll do room A but if I say the same command to Echo B in Room B it'll turn Room B's lights on? That I didn't know, although I'd still need the ability to turn on and off all lights in any room from any Echo. e.g.

"Turn on Lights" to Echo in room A turns on all of room A's lights
"Turn on Lights" to Echo in room B turns on all of room B's lights
"Turn on Room A lights" to any echo anywhere turns on room A's lights

If that's the case I'm a numpty and better go do more research to set it up.

Yes exactly that. I only ever say "turn the lights on/off" and the echo knows which ones it's working with based on the room grouping it knows it's in.

 

[AndyCr15]

Same for my Google Home. If I'm in my bedroom, it only effects those lights.

 

[shiver]

Just ordered a couple of "meross Smart Power Strips" from Amazon that are HomeKit compatible. I often wondered why there weren't any smart power strips yet.

I'll be able to consolidate a few smart plugs and they have built in USB charge ports so I can get rid of a couple of Anker USB chargers in the sitting room.

Anyone looking at getting these, they seem good but a bit of a pain to get setup on HomeKit initially. The main issue is they shipped with old firmware that wasn't compatible with the HomeKit setup process in iOS 14. Luckily I had an old iPhone sitting in a drawer that did the trick.

 

[andy_mk3]

I've not been able to get push notifications working on mine. I've got xiaomi temp sensors in most rooms around the house, but i was looking to set up a temperature warning in the greenhouse so i know when to open the door for some ventilation.

Interesting idea about the door sensor on the bathroom, i think i might use that as the missus is forever leaving the bathroom lights on as they're currently the only ones that aren't smart.

Next big project for next year is to look at some automated blinds/curtain solutions. I know there's Somfy and Ikea have their own versions, but they're quite pricey for what they are. A couple of guides i've looked at you should be able to pick up the motors etc for no more than £20-30, so if i can't get it working it's not a huge amount wasted.

I'm using the notify service in Node-red, works a charm. Make sure to use high priority too, otherwise it gets delayed.

I have been looking into the blinds too, but like you say they are expensive.

 

[Cleisthenes]

Set up my Nest Thermostat E yesterday and happy how it's working, nice to be able to alter it from anywhere and the learning features should be good once it's bedded in.

 

[andy_mk3]

Set up my Nest Thermostat E yesterday and happy how it's working, nice to be able to alter it from anywhere and the learning features should be good once it's bedded in.

They are good. The self learning bit doesn't really work for our use case but it should work well if you have a regular routine.

Google have finally opened up the api for Nest again now so I'll be integrating it with home assistant shortly.

 

[FoxEye]

Those with a bunch of 'smart' stuff. How do you feel about the risk of having things being more complicated / connected to the internet? Does the risk not bother you?

Personally my viewpoint is that I don't really see the need for any of this smart stuff.

I'm more than happy to flick a light switch with my finger. And the beauty of simplicity is that there's very little to go wrong

Meanwhile, the bleddy Amazon Firestick has never worked properly from the moment I first got it. Alexa? No thanks

So yeah, there will always be 100 things I need more than a smart home.

But yeah, the (lack of) security would concern me also. A lot of these devices are riddled with exploits.

 

[Semple]

Google have finally opened up the api for Nest again now so I'll be integrating it with home assistant shortly.

Yes this was some great news to hear. Will wait for some devs to put together new integrations.

I unfortunately didn't get any nest products until after they had closed the nest Dev api for new users. I was using an integration called "Bad Nest" which mostly worked, but every so often the cookie would expire and it was a bit of a PITA to keep sorting out.

I wonder if Google backtracked on this due to the number of people complaining and either swapping their nest stuff for competition, or vowing to never buy a nest product again.