OT - Smart Home discussion
We built our new house and moved in last year. Since moving in we've slowly been implementing some smart home technology. I'm interested in what others have done, how they implemented it, and their experience with its performance. Here's what we have so far
Hubs: Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings
Bulbs: Philips Hue for 60% of bulbs inside the house
Switches: Several Wemo Switches controlling entire rooms down to just single plugs
Assistants: Google Home
Sensors: motion and connection to trigger lights based on doors opening/closing or movement in areas. Water in trigger areas like basement, water heater pan, under sinks.
I'm looking into moving more toward one lighting solution which is likely to be Hue all around. When they go on sale I grab some stuff to swap out other things. My end goal is to get geofenced automation. I already have a little but haven't messed too much with it yet.
Home: Nest thermostat and camera, Ring doorbell, several Wemo switches. For TVs we have several Chromecasts and a Google Mini. Our sump is connected to PumpSpy that tracks usage and gallons pumped as well as monitors water level. No smart lighting yet.
Cottage: Nest thermostat, camera, and Hello doorbell. No smart lighting or home assistant, but two Chromecasts for the TVs.
... and two vicious attack cats that travel with us between places.
I forgot about Nest. It really doesn't play well with any other integration other than voice activation so I always forget about it.
Gonna try one more time to install a Nest in rental home in Florida. Got it to work the furnace but it just won't kick on the AC. Think I'll need them to walk me through it or get an electrician.
Tried Nest about a year, or so, ago. Never could get the thing to work right. Spent several days on the phone with their tech support folks. They confirmed everything was hooked up correctly and set right. The stupid thing kept thinking that I wasn't home and kept dropping down to the "away from home" default settings. We tried everything. A beautiful looking piece of junk. Returned it to Amazon. Finally switched to a Sensi unit by Emerson. A lot cheaper, not as sexy looking, but works just fine.
We have 2 Ecobee 4 thermostats with Alexa integration, although it doesn't look like you're an Amazon guy. They are compatible with Samsung SmartThings.
They work great for us and install was pretty straightforward using the Power Extender Kit since we don't have c-wires.
FYI, I got them last Black Friday for about $26 each after tax, rebates, cashback, and discounts. Nest was nowhere close. Original price was $249 each, discounts included:
- $50 off each for black friday from Ecobee
- $35 cash back from RetailMeNot for Lowe's purchases over $300 (I think)
- 11% cashback from Lowe's (store gift card, which we've already used)
- $50 rebate per thermostat from our gas utility
- $99 rebate per thermostat from our electric utility
My best black friday deal ever.
Sweet - so I can hack in and turn on your bedroom lights at 2AM. Plus, I can turn up the temp in your fridge and freezer to ruin all of your food! No doubt I'll find a calendar to tell me when you'll be away from the house, and for relatively how long. Lots we can do once hacked in...
My point - be sure to setup the strongest password/encryption/security you can with these devices, because they often are not equipped for viable cyber security. Any hacker worth his salt can get past a generic 8-bit password. It is also true that most hackers worthy of exploiting these devices won't do so to enable petty theft. And your basic home burglarizer generally isn't tech savvy enough to figure it all out. So you're safe based on the law of averages!!
Cautionary tales aside, I like the idea of motion (de-)activated lighting (my wife only knows how to turn lights on). The rest of it I just don't get, though. I haven't yet figured out why I'd want an app for the fridge, or the ability to talk to the water heater drip pan. Remote alarms and sensor seem good enough for that type of stuff...
I use a password generator and utilize a password manager. Someone would have to do a lot of work to get into my accounts.
My fridge isn't smart, my washer and dryer I guess are. They notify my wife when the load is done in case she didn't hear the 5 minute damn song that plays when it's done. The water sensors are strictly sensors that text, email, and push a notification to our phones. So if something happens, we're notified right away via our phones. The light switch thing is nice. Only problem now is whenever we go somewhere without smart technology we end up leaving the lights on or trying to talk to the walls.
I was at CES last year and some of the smart fridges were pretty sweet. Things like barcode scanners for when you load your groceries and the fridge can recommend recipes for you based on what you have in it.
Or, you can log into your fridge's app remotely when you're at the grocery store and view internal facing cameras to see what's in there. God knows I've done that 100 times ...go to the grocery store with a list or recipe and then ask myself "hm...do I have ________? I forgot to look." or "I didn't check to see how much of _______ was left in the container."
I don't get excited abut things like digital calendar on my fridge. My expectation for smart fridges is that they eventually become the smart hub for the home. Not necessarily for it's own functionality...but what better place to have your modem, router, cloud storage hubs, etc. than built in to a generally immovable, centrally located, giant appliance that has its own cooling mechanisms?
So what happens when you get the five items that are refrigerated and forget about the five items that are not refrigerated when you're at the store? Is the smart refrigerator able to inventory non-refrigerated items? If not, it's what I'd call a half-ass solution.
Do you not also have smart cabinets? This is awkward.
It tracks whatever is scanned into it's database via barcode. So technically if you scan every grocery item in it'll reflect in the database. The problem is that it's still a human interaction and if you don't scan things out when you use them, then your data set is going to be trash and trash in is trash out. So you have to be on top of your game to make it feasible.
The primary use is so they can record and sell your conversation interests in speech to text as well as your habits across the house.
If you dont buy this do the math on free alexa's, and products with no real funtionality being heavily advertised and subsidized.
Nest is different because it was a real product for years first before buyout.
This is a jaded point of view. My Smart Speakers (Echo family of devices) provide a ton of utility in my house, from smart home controls, to access to entertainment, to shopping. To say they don't have real functionality weakens your argument. You could say the functionality is not worth the risk that one day these companies will start selling the data for advertising purposes. And note, it is a risk vs. reality as currently the information is not used for advertising. .
This isn't correct. These products would never pass a privacy review if they recorded your conversation without your permission.
The reason that the pricing is so aggressive is that tech companies are in a land grab for the next computing medium
That's the same equivocation zuck stated to Congress, etc that they don't record conversations, that bandwith issues make it nonviable. Totally ignoring my post and in his case a companys tech he paid billions for (speech to text). I'm not going to bring personal knowledge of this teck here for nda reasons.
On subsidizing new tech to gain share. Lol.
Is that why 4k uhd tvs are super cheap at 3k for a 65 inch? Even when the tech is available to every player (situation w/ 4k tvs and the scenario with the best chance to have low prices) it nowhere approaches cost to production.
Buying a text to speech company that has tons of other legal use purposes (which are properly disclosed through a privacy notice) does not mean they are surreptitiously recording your conversations and using them for nondisclosed reasons, and completely ignores legal requirements that impact this hypothetical tech in other jurisdictions (e.g., GDPR and eventually CCPA).
By all means, be suspect about technology and I certainly suggest strong privacy and security practices related to smart home activities, but your post is fearmongering.
I work in tech and I stay far, far away from smart home devices like Echo and switches. Security on these things are laughable and expose your most private information to public. It will be a long long time before I jump in.
Its cute you think anything you do is private because you don't have these devices
I tell people this all the time. If you're truly worried about privacy you need to throw out your phone and computer.
Yes phones/computers have better security than a smart light bulb. But they aren't impenetrable, especially to giant tech companies.
Thermostat: iComfort
Light Switches:Caseta Wireless (controlled by Amazon Echo) and several motion sensor switches (my wife refuses to turn off lights)
Plugs: Caseta Wireless
Door Lock: August (updated)
TVs: All 4K Smart TVs
Projector: JVS rs420 (connected to Oppo 203)
Streaming: Roku Ultras, Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast Audio
Assistants: Google Home Mini (several), Amazon Echo (two)
Remotes: Harmony (whole house control)
Hub: Lutron, Amazon, Google
Security Cameras: Chinese manufactured cams (same manufacturers that Nest/Ring use)
I forgot about door lock also. Have a Schlage Touchscreen Camelot lock connected with notifications so I know who unlocks the door.
What did you use for the motion sensor switches?
I used the Samsung SmartThings motion sensor. They regularly are on sale for 10 off.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-smartthings-motion-sensor-white/4481806.p?skuId=4481806
Rachio wifi sprinkler system has been a great purchase. Control zones from your smart device. Delays sprinkling based on feedback from the weather system. Saves a bit of money. Convenience is the big thing.
Love the hue lighting. Need more. I only have two rooms now.
I went with the ecobee thermostat. The remote sensors have helped regulate the temp throughout the house without multiple zones. Don't ask me how.
Nest just released remote sensors. I haven't bought one yet, but it's on my list. I was jealous with the Ecobees for that feature.
That's great nest released the remote sensors. My kids rooms were like 61 the first winter. They hold about two degrees colder than the room with the thermostat now.
was thinking about the Rachio - is it definitely worth it? How was the install compared to say a nest? I did the nest no problem and in theory I know its the same, just feels different to me
I used Rachio for about a year. Worked well, but the wi-fi connection is through their home office. Last year, there were some storms in that area, and wi-fi connectivity was disrupted for a number of days. Also, local control through the garage wall unit was not very easy to understand or use. Switched about 2 months ago to a RainMachine unit. A little more expensive, especially if you get the larger garage base. But the wi-fi connection is direct from your cell phone to your RainMachine unit (no middle man). With the larger unit, much better direct base unit control should wi-fi go out for any reason. Delighted with the increased functionality. You might want to check out RainMachine before you spring for a Rachio. They're both available from Amazon.
thanks very helpful! For a cottage so not sure if the connection direct from cell phone would work if I lost power? But worth investigating.
thanks!
I bought a new sprinkler controller from opensprinkler. Allows control / programming all over the internet.
Anyone know a good garage door solution that 1) identifies if door is up and 2) allows to close door remotely?
Chamberlain and Genie both make garage door controllers. Genie is used only with Genie door openers from what I know but Chamberlain can work with any. There are 3rd party ones but I don't know much about them. Both Genie and Chamberlain have limitations. Both will natively notify you based on how you configure it if a door is open, closed or open for a certain amount of time. Both have apps that you can remotely open or close them. Chamberlain integrates with voice assistants, but it costs to use. Genie does not integrate with anything else including SmartThings.
The rachio is awesome. I installed it in a half hour. That was replacing a hardwired irrigation controller. It can be set up to automate which areas need water and when or you can set it up with your own schedule. The best part is running all of it from your phone rather than going to the garage to turn zones on or skip cycles. I would always forget to turn it off or on and then leave for a few days. Not a problem anymore. I have a greener lawn at a lower cost now. I use my own schedule today. I'm moving to the automated approach soon. I've heard that works great. I think you will be happy with the $200 spent.
Huge fan of Nest and all things Googled
I'm sure your garage door has an app, but we use the Chamberlain wifi door and app as well
I like my Nest (and all things Google) but the "learning" was driving me nuts. Maybe my schedule is too varied as I either work from home or travel depending on day/week, but ultimately turned off many of the features for now. The utility for me is basically using phone as UI.
I just leave everything in in my trailer when I'm away. Ain't got to turn anything on when I get home.
I've done a couple of whole house Z-Wave installs and became a certified Z-Wave installer to get discounts on purchases. I did this with friends when we built homes. In smaller homes, things work well. One install was on a very large home and while I was able to reach the furthest ends of the home with signals, in reality, things didn't work too well. I then set up three separate networks which worked much better. It's cutesy stuff to be sure but beyond home security with video cameras and info about water leakage, in my opinion, it is mostly fluff. I used Leviton and have always used Leviton when available.
I did a couple of X-10 installs with friends and converted X-10 to other powerline systems. X-10 has largely and thanfkully marched into the dustbin of history.
One area where I like various home automation systems is with respect to exterior lighting where you can either use a central means of controlling exterior lighting using latitude and longitude-based clocks, or get switches where the same technology is built in.
I think there's an MGoSponsor that does work related to this. But I don't remember who they are.
You better hope the Russians don't hack your house!
They are listening.
If you're really serious about it, I would recommend a z-wave hub like the SmartThings. It works with a wide variety of products, including the Hue lights. The benefit to this is every single device doesn't need to connect to WiFi. For example, Wemo switches don't require a hub because they individually connect to WiFi. This is great if you just want a couple things, but if you have a ton of smart devices it can bog down your network. In comparison, a z-wave hub uses, you guessed it, z-wave to communicate with the smart devices. So only the hub is connected to the internet.
If you can get everything on a Z-wave setup going to a central hub it is a big deal because otherwise programming a system with many nodes can become a big PITA.
Do you actually change the color of the light bulbs? We have:
- Security cameras that can be viewed on my phone
- Smart water sensors (for the HVAC in the attic and HVAC in the basement)
- Wemo's on the exterior lighting
- 3 zoned Receiver that can be controlled through my phone
I'd like a smart doorbell (e.g. Ring) because the package delivery guys ring the bell, but I don't need to actually open the door for them, but end up running downstairs anyway. I'd also like a wifi thermostat, but due to a heat pump and backup, can't use the nest
What do you use for your water sensors?
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-smartthings-water-leak-sensor-white/4481807.p?skuId=4481807
I installed a Nest thermostat in my main home. Don’t need much help there.
For my beach house, I put in a Nest thermostat and 3 GE smart timers for lights using the Avi-on app and Remote Access Bridge to control them. We have frequent power failures at that house, so conventional light timers were often hours skewed from actual time. With this setup, the RAB will resync the smart timers when power is restored. Problem solved. I also get notifications when power has failed and can remotely access the switches to control them. Finally, I have a Nest web cam and an older Samsung web cam. The Nest web cam watches the main entrances to the home from the inside and will record anything that moves...including a spider that dropped in front of the cam one night. The older Samsung web cam is pointed outside at the beach so I can get a few moments of beach zen whenever I need it. I also get to watch the crazy fall storms that produce big waves on Lake Huron.
Planning on adding a Hello doorbell in the future.
Thermostat: Ecobee
Garage Door: NexxGarage
Door Lock: Schlage Camelot
Light bulb: One Osram Lightify bulb
Light switches: TP-Link smart switches controlling three banks of lights: outdoor backyard, indoor bedroom, outdoor front porch/garage.
Security system: currently Alarm.com, but I will be canceling that soon and likely going with Abode.
Home assistant: Google Home
I also have a number of tasks/automated things running on IFTTT and Stringify.
Question for those with smart bulbs: why did you go with bulbs instead of switches? I started down the path of bulbs, then realized for about the same cost as one smart light bulb, I can get a switch that can control multiple bulbs. Plus, eventually the bulbs will burn out and need to be replaced; no such replacement cost for a switch. At this point, I don't plan on buying any more smart bulbs, and will slowly add more switches. I'm curious if anyone has a counter to this line of thinking.
I went with bulbs because messing with electricity scares the crap out of me. Figured it was safer to replace a bulb then mess around with wiring.
Does NexxGarage know whether the garage door is opened or closed? If so, how? Is there some kind of sensor? It's not like my garage door opener has a different button for open or close so the remotes dont know the difference.