how smart has your home gone?

So far this year I’ve installed a hive heating /hot water thermostat. Hive had a sale on over Xmas so bought 6 gu10 led bulbs and I bought one of those fancy changing colour lights for my front room. And also the echo from amazon as well.

So far that’s about all I’ve done, everything is controlled via the hive app/Alexa and it all works flawlessly. Lights automatically come on when it starts getting dark. I’ll probably add more lights in the next few weeks or so.

Only issue I have is my mum, who has no end of trouble using the app and it’s various functions lol. But she’s likes Alexa so just talks to it and does what she has to do. Missus thinks it’s all a waste of money but that’s because it isn’t shoes or handbags:p

Joking aside I love the whole smart home aspect myself.
 
SoliD said:
Surprised to see the amount of bulbs etc people have bought yet in the 18 months or so I've had hue stuff the price has barely budged!

My house is
Google Home Hub
Google Home
Google Home Mini
Hue Lightstrip + Extension (need another 2M...)
4x Hue Ambiance
4x Innr
Hue Hub
Smartthings Hub
Smartthings Door Sensor x2
Smartthings Motion Sensor x2
Smartthings Fob
Aqara Motion Sensor x2
Aqara Temp + Humidity Sensor

Not using all of my sensors currently though so they're sat waiting to be put into a loop.
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High five to the fellow smartthings user :)
 
Marvt74 said:
Think Monthly cost is around the same but if you have additional ring devices it's then capped whereas Nest charge per device so starts getting expensive.

It does need power but then so do the better Ring cameras.
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I personally question why folks need all this security stuff, surely it makes you paranoid?

I use my doorbell exclusively to tell me someone is at the door and most specifically to tell my Amazon guy he's going to need to leave whatever in the shed, that's about it..

I've also used it to find where my bin went once and got a hilarious clip of the binman walking into a lamppost but I only saw that because it was new and I was watching.. after that, I couldn't give a stuff if it was 1080p/720p whether it told me about motion outside because it's outside of course there's motion etc etc.

Even the fact they sell them based off the security aspect.. we're in britain for gods sake, it's really not that bad and if you're in a place where it is you've got bigger issues than your doorbell, like moving pronto.

IMO of course :)
 
matt100 said:
To be fair it has a higher ticket price, higher monthly cost and requires power no?
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The Ring Pro also needs power.

The Ring Pro is $3/month whereas the Nest was $5/month (it might be different as I have other Nest products). The extra $2 is more than worth it IMO. The Nest Hello is $30 more than the Ring 2 and $20 cheaper than the Ring Pro. Not sure what the UK prices are.
 
Yes but ALL nest devices require power. The Ring I have outside just needs charging, I don't have power to the door and adding it would create a lot of mess and cost a load of money is my point.
 
Hi wondered if anyone can help me with a small issue I have with my home mini, basically my son was nagging me for one for in his room, I already have Lenovo Smart Display downstairs which I can play music no problem with from spotify but when I try and tell the mini to play the same songs etc it gives me a message that I can only play songs with spotify premium account something I never get on the Lenovo Display? Any ideas?
 
So my wifi must have stopped working the other night, and Alexa decided to announce loudly that it could not connect and 4am and Hue turned on all the lights in the house -_-
 
Fireskull said:
So my wifi must have stopped working the other night, and Alexa decided to announce loudly that it could not connect and 4am and Hue turned on all the lights in the house -_-
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Hah yeah I've had that with a powercut... there is a setting in the hue app for them to remember their last state.. irritatingly it only works on hue original bulbs.
 
Probably asked a million times.
Suggestions for smart heating Alexa compatible?
Think we were set on Tado, but reviews now suggest geofencing is a subscription cost.
Drayton Wiser is cheaper but geofencing is down through IFTT through applets.
We're also wanting individual radiator thermostats to create basic room/zones.
 
Before October I had no smart stuff other than some yeelight bulbs which I was just using for their scheduling ... now though things have changed ...

Hive heating
1x Echo Dot
1x Echo Plus
1x Amazon plug
1x Hue bulb (controlled directly be the Echo Plus)
4x Chinese GU10 spot bulbs
3x Yeelight bulbs (in Ikea Not uplighters)
6x Chinese candle smart bulbs

To be honest I'm not doing anything complicated with it but it is convenient to be able to ask Alexa to get Hive to "boost" the heating if its getting a bit cold and for the voice control of the lights.
 
I've got Nest heating, and ordered some Alexa dots when they were on sale for £29 (due for delivery early March).

I'm not interested in going OTT with the smart home thing, unless it brings major benefits, but would quite like to wire in some lamps for a) timer and b) voice control.

Is the sonoff basic the best option? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283071517875

Is it best to replace the inline switch on the lamp?
 
jellybeard999 said:
I've got Nest heating, and ordered some Alexa dots when they were on sale for £29 (due for delivery early March).

I'm not interested in going OTT with the smart home thing, unless it brings major benefits, but would quite like to wire in some lamps for a) timer and b) voice control.

Is the sonoff basic the best option? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283071517875

Is it best to replace the inline switch on the lamp?
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Be careful using Sonoff. Most of their stuff isn’t actually CE marked (even though they use the logo) and there is plenty of reports on the web of these units overheating and melting. Just use a decent smart plug, if budget is an issue Ikea sell their own brand Tradfri at £9 each.
 
SimonR said:
Be careful using Sonoff. Most of their stuff isn’t actually CE marked (even though they use the logo) and there is plenty of reports on the web of these units overheating and melting. Just use a decent smart plug, if budget is an issue Ikea sell their own brand Tradfri at £9 each.
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Thanks. I thought the sonoff seemed a more elegant solution, but obviously it's a no go if it's going to be dangerous!

I've read a couple of reports of them melting, but mainly seemingly when plugged into heaters and other high power devices.
 
Mines got nothing, i don't like the idea of 'stuff' controlling my house. I do have lamp switches for turning on/off multiple lamps at the same time though

If someone invented a 'smart' iron that would be a 100% purchase from me
 
Can anyone tell me if its possible for IFTTT to be set up so that it has 2 conditions? I want to set it so that it will bring on the driveway lights via geofencing but only when its dark so wanted it to link into a weather app too possibly? Thanks
 
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