how smart has your home gone?

HomeSeer and Z-Wave and really don’t see any competition.

Also don’t like the limited functionality some setups introduce when they can’t dial home so keep as much in house on the network as possible.

The usual covered such as whole house audio and notification (Sonos), lighting (Z-Wave), heating (Z-Wave), motion (Z-Wave) and automated blinds (Somfy)

Homeseer controls the lot and with RFXCOM integration it means other devices such Lightwave RF can be controlled without any additional propriety kit or the need to create any more accounts. Basically bypassing.

If you are serious it’s worth a look.
 
I only have smart meters installed, if they can be classed as smart.

In today's news: You know that silly fear about Alexa recording everything and leaking it online? It just happened - The Register
US pair's private chat sent to coworker by AI bug

Updated It's time to break out your "Alexa, I Told You So" banners – because a Portland, Oregon, couple received a phone call from one of the husband's employees earlier this month, telling them she had just received a recording of them talking privately in their home.

"Unplug your Alexa devices right now," the staffer told the couple, who did not wish to be fully identified, "you're being hacked."

At first the couple thought it might be a hoax call. However, the employee – over a hundred miles away in Seattle – confirmed the leak by revealing the pair had just been talking about their hardwood floors.

The recording had been sent from the couple's Alexa-powered Amazon Echo to the employee's phone, who is in the husband's contacts list, and she forwarded the audio to the wife, Danielle, who was amazed to hear herself talking about their floors. Suffice to say, this episode was unexpected. The couple had not instructed Alexa to spill a copy of their conversation to someone else.
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Mine is pretty basic, but looking to add a doorbell next.
So far (all in the Living Room):
Alexa
Hue Bridge
2 x hue light strips (colour)
7 x hue bulbs (colour)
Sonos play bar
Sonos sub
2 x Sonos Play 3's

All work great
 
I've never understood the smart doorbells. What's wrong with a regular one? Just open the door to see who it is?...
 
Shivy011 said:
I've never understood the smart doorbells. What's wrong with a regular one? Just open the door to see who it is?...
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Good for people in the back garden, or those with bigger houses who might not hear it.
Also worth its weight for deliveries when you're out of the house and can give instruction to the driver.
 
4 x Amazon Echos
16 x Fibaro Dimmer 2
4 x Fibaro Flood Sensors
12 x Danfloss TRV
Nest Thermostat
Fibaro Home Center 2
16 x Aeotech Multisensors
4 x Fibaro Double Switch
1 x Texecom Alarm with Smart Com
4 x Nest Smoke/ Co Detectors
8 x Fibaro Universal Sensors + 8 x Thermo/ PIR Links.
6 x Door Sensors (Sensitive Strips, Aeotech)
8 x POE CCTV
5 x Sony TVs
4 x TP Link WIFI Plugs
1 x Belkin Wifi plug
4 x Fibaro Zwave plugs. Linked to washing machine, oil heaters.

Waiting for the hello doorbell and looking at some blind control... A bit of a big purchase before moving into my new home a few months back.
 
Shivy011 said:
I've never understood the smart doorbells. What's wrong with a regular one? Just open the door to see who it is?...
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Nothing is wrong with the regular doorbell, i link mine up to a fibaro universal sensor so i get a notification when it rings. when the google hello comes out i will replace the universal sensor and byron hard wired doorbell
 
Euphoria said:
Nothing is wrong with the regular doorbell, i link mine up to a fibaro universal sensor so i get a notification when it rings. when the google hello comes out i will replace the universal sensor and byron hard wired doorbell
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hello is out now.

however you need to have a wired doorbell already if buying it with installation. Otherwise you will need to get your own sparky to do the job.
 
Habakkuk said:
How many people who have addressable RGB lights installed actually use them daily?

It seems like a novelty.
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it is a novelty. they look good in a kitchen if done right nowhere else though. well maybe a kids room because novelty for kids.

they cost a lot of money. use more power. so i don't see why they are so popular on here.
 
Kind of agree, I've gone warm/cold but not RGB other than the light strip which I have no choice over and never use in colour.. although I probably will with hue entertainment should it ever just work on sky/netflix etc
 
matt100 said:
Kind of agree, I've gone warm/cold but not RGB other than the light strip which I have no choice over and never use in colour.. although I probably will with hue entertainment should it ever just work on sky/netflix etc
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that lighting effect actually detracts from the tv. if you look into BIAS lighting. it's supposed to be daylight white. nothing else. actually the colour of the wall you place your tv also has an effect on the tv. so you are supposed to use neutral colours there too. like a tv placed on a red wall isn't good for instance. if you use coloured BIAS lighting it actually effects picture quality of the tv because of the way our eyes work.

so therefore that is a complete gimmick. obviously only enthusiasts know this and the type of people using it won't be enthusiasts so they won't really care. so each to their own. however it's a definite no-no for me. i don't buy high end premium panels to then lower PQ on purpose.
 
This is like an AA meeting for me.

55 RGB Hue Bulbs (GU10, Strips, "Normal" etc.)
2 Hue motion sensors
1 Hue switch
Ring 2 HD
2 Echo dots
1 Echo
2 Echo spot
2 Echo Show
4 Kindle Fire 7's (side-loaded google app store) for controlers
8 Logitech Pop
3 Logitech Harmony
5 Sonos 1
2 Sonos 3
1 Sonos 5
1 Sonos Playbase
1 Sonos Sub
2 Nest Cam
1 Nest Thermostat
2 Nest Protect
3 MiHome ETRV
6 MiHome smart sockets
4 Smartthings motion sensors
8 Smartthings window sensors
2 Smartthings smart plugs
2 Netatmo Indoor Temp
1 Netatmo Outdoor Temp
1 Netatmo rain gauge
1 Netatmo wind gauge
1 Microbot Push
1 Arora Nanoleaf with 20 odd triangles
1 Lametric Time
2 Aeon Sirens

...all glued together with...

12 Smartthings Smartapps
160 IFTTT recipies

Yes they can all trigger eachother.

Network is 2 Asus Routers (1 in AP mode) wired together at either end of the house. 4G backup internet.

As for the Hue light strips, here are some suggestions for good placement:

* Under stairs (if you don't have a cupboard under your stairs)
* Under the bed, or behind the headboard
* Usual spots in the kitchen behind er, pelmets is it?
* Behind a big TV

They are excellent in conjunction with a motion sensor to provide unobtrusive light when you are nipping downstairs in the dark.
 
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**** yeah that's what I'm talking about!

Adding my first nest protect this weekend too :)

Interested in the backup 4g.. how does that work? Had a short power cut at about midnight last saturday and I was fast asleep when all my hue lights came on at 100% and alexa was telling me she didn't have an internet connection to turn them off lol.
 
mrbell1984 said:
Not smart at all - I'm not lazy.
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Not smart at all here either. Not really laziness or anything, I just don;t see the point in the slightest.

If I want a light switched on/off I just walk to the switch. The heating is programmed and forgotten about, and with modern heaters and homes you just pretty much have it on all the time at a decent set-poin.
I don't understand the purpose of any other smart stuff. Like the security, I mean when i lived in the US you would just enter the code when you left or came home, nothing else needed fiddling with. If the alrm went off you would get a phonecall, if you didn;t decactive it it then the police would pop round. Doesn't need to be any smarter.

It just seems like companies selling network enabled version fo every day products to some nerds who think they can live in the future. What is next, a Smart toothbrush that sends a whatsapp message once your teeth are clean?
 
matt100 said:
**** yeah that's what I'm talking about!

Adding my first nest protect this weekend too :)

Interested in the backup 4g.. how does that work? Had a short power cut at about midnight last saturday and I was fast asleep when all my hue lights came on at 100% and alexa was telling me she didn't have an internet connection to turn them off lol.
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There are 2 ways:

Easy: get a router with built in 4g backup like the tp link ac750 and the best sim deal you can get
Harder: use something like the asus 3200rt with a huawei usb dongle

Second is harder because you need to play around in the settings a bit and use a supported dongle. Obviously you need to run the router off of a power strip UPS like one of those big APC ones with the biggest battery you can find (plus you probably want another to run your hubs and 1 echo!)

I love the fact than when my netatmo detects an air temp of 0.5c (close enough to freezing for me) it can set the heating and turn my “stealth light strips” blue so when I wake up I know what I’m in for.

Another very smart thing (using smartthings) is text to speech for sonos, so you can have it say “back door opened” or the like. Useful too to check at say 9pm if any windows are open and then sonos can tell you which ones to shut before you go to bed. TBH the next thing to get is split box smart air con plus blinds.
 
D.P. said:
Not smart at all here either. Not really laziness or anything, I just don;t see the point in the slightest.

If I want a light switched on/off I just walk to the switch. The heating is programmed and forgotten about, and with modern heaters and homes you just pretty much have it on all the time at a decent set-poin.
I don't understand the purpose of any other smart stuff. Like the security, I mean when i lived in the US you would just enter the code when you left or came home, nothing else needed fiddling with. If the alrm went off you would get a phonecall, if you didn;t decactive it it then the police would pop round. Doesn't need to be any smarter.

It just seems like companies selling network enabled version fo every day products to some nerds who think they can live in the future. What is next, a Smart toothbrush that sends a whatsapp message once your teeth are clean?
Click to expand...

For me, it’s just another aspect of the general techie hobbies like crypto, PC builds or home networks etc. I find it fun, my wife not so much! She can do “alexa, trigger tv off” though.
 
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