Home Automation
Discussion
m30dus said:
Got Lutron for lights
Pulse-Eight for HDMI video switching
Sonos for sound
Heatmiser for heating
Synology for file sharing and CCTV recording
DoorBird for doorbell
HikVision for CCTV
Thanks we have some of that already but is there a solution to bring them all under one tablet/software rather than having multiple apps for everything?Pulse-Eight for HDMI video switching
Sonos for sound
Heatmiser for heating
Synology for file sharing and CCTV recording
DoorBird for doorbell
HikVision for CCTV
It really all depends on what you want to do. If it's just some lights, doorbells etc then the Amazon ecosystem with zigbee devices etc. If you want a more complete system, depending on your technical ability (or willingness to learn) you could go something like Home Assistant (hosted on a PC, RPI, or one of the all in one solutions) or Hubitat.
I use both HA (security cams, contact sensors, temperature / humidity monitoring, central heating with relevant automations) and Hubitat (for Zwave devices and control in an outside garage).
Hardware wise the world is your oyster....
I use both HA (security cams, contact sensors, temperature / humidity monitoring, central heating with relevant automations) and Hubitat (for Zwave devices and control in an outside garage).
Hardware wise the world is your oyster....
We recently purchased a house with an old Nikko system & have updated everything to Control 4. It controls: Sound systems, cctv, lighting, tv's, alarm, garage doors, gates & heating.
It was expensive but we had no choice being unable to source parts for the Nikko system ( all of our light switches were wired with CAT 5 cable & quite a few were faulty). I really like the Control 4 system as it enables you to program the lighting any way you like through scenes or timers. You can program a switch in your bedroom that will turn on the hallway light & kitchen lights at low levels for when you go down for your morning coffee or a switch for the ensuite at a low level for when you need the bathroom during the night. I also have the system set up that if the alarm goes off all outside & inside lights come on & the whole place lights up. You can configure most things through the app but I just call my installer & he does it remotely because I haven't got a clue.
It was expensive but we had no choice being unable to source parts for the Nikko system ( all of our light switches were wired with CAT 5 cable & quite a few were faulty). I really like the Control 4 system as it enables you to program the lighting any way you like through scenes or timers. You can program a switch in your bedroom that will turn on the hallway light & kitchen lights at low levels for when you go down for your morning coffee or a switch for the ensuite at a low level for when you need the bathroom during the night. I also have the system set up that if the alarm goes off all outside & inside lights come on & the whole place lights up. You can configure most things through the app but I just call my installer & he does it remotely because I haven't got a clue.
Sarnie said:
We are currently looking into this sort of thing, what have you guys got?
What do you have running of it currently?
What systems are recommended?
Any to avoid?
Any recommended supplier/installers in the midlands?
Thanks guys!!
What are your requirements?What do you have running of it currently?
What systems are recommended?
Any to avoid?
Any recommended supplier/installers in the midlands?
Thanks guys!!
What are you nice to haves?
What don’t you need?
What constraints do you have?
What’s the budget?
How hands on do you expect to be?
Sarnie said:
Thanks we have some of that already but is there a solution to bring them all under one tablet/software rather than having multiple apps for everything?
The Lutron RA2 allows you to add Sonos control switches alongside the light switches and these can be allocated to zones so that they are room specific.Everything except the CCTV can be controlled through Amazon Alexa and you can setup specific series of commands such as to close blinds, set a specific lighting scene and switch the HDMI source to a specific input, if you want. In practice the only Alexa command we use frequently is “All Lights Off” at the end of the day.
These days I have a home assistant setup. I have plenty of lights and plugs. Temperature monitoring and heating control mostly by home made wifi kit. I also have zigbee door sensors which allows an alarm setup. A weather station monitoring the weather.
With home assistant you can really automate everything. it will handle your music, radio and TV, anything is possible but as with anything this versatile there will be a certain amount of learning and setup, if you think home automation is shouting at Alexa to turn a light on then home assistant is not for you.
For instance I have a shelly button, if I press it once ( or shout a command at google) it checks what time of day it is and switches stuff on depending on time of day, whether it is night or day, who is home, what day it is and whether we have visitors. then depending on the results from that it will turn on lights, turn on radio on multiple speaker around the house, switch on my PC, turn on TV. If you double click this button it will check all those things again and turn of whatever is on and last thing at night it will turn everything off except one bedroom light to allow me to get to bed then 3 minutes later turn that light off.
This is just one example of how I use it.
With home assistant you can really automate everything. it will handle your music, radio and TV, anything is possible but as with anything this versatile there will be a certain amount of learning and setup, if you think home automation is shouting at Alexa to turn a light on then home assistant is not for you.
For instance I have a shelly button, if I press it once ( or shout a command at google) it checks what time of day it is and switches stuff on depending on time of day, whether it is night or day, who is home, what day it is and whether we have visitors. then depending on the results from that it will turn on lights, turn on radio on multiple speaker around the house, switch on my PC, turn on TV. If you double click this button it will check all those things again and turn of whatever is on and last thing at night it will turn everything off except one bedroom light to allow me to get to bed then 3 minutes later turn that light off.
This is just one example of how I use it.
Samsung smartthings hub as the core.
Smartthings compatible power sockets, light switches, motion sensors etc (ZigBee or zwave).
Logitech harmony for home cinema
Hive for heating
Amazon robovac
Amazon echos all over for voice control of everything above.
Pros / cons / facts
- Smart things is rather simple at 1st but incredibly powerful - gazillions of plugins , many user created.
- almost limitless automation possibilities
- cheap - pretty much everything with either zwave or zigbee support works - I just added a 4 gang power strip with independently addressable ports for under £20
- Full Alexa plug in support, same with heating, robo vac etc.
- Alexa, turn on the lounge lights, or, bed time (turns everything off inc. tv, turns on bed lights etc), "turn off TV" ()more involved that you think as that is also amp, etc), "ask robovac to start cleaning", etc etc
- I have custom routines, so in my workshop, two power outlets have timers on them. When I switch one on "Alexa, turn on teh soldering iron", it will turn the power outlet back OFF after 2 hours - so I can't forget and leave my iron on (I work in there every day). Same with glue gun on 1 hour timer).
- Motion sensor in my external mail room tells me, via voice on alexa, when post man has been. (I despatch a LOT of parcels, and receive lots, for my business)
- Alexa will run voice commands for all Harmony scenes, so "watch movie on the projector" will fire up the home cinema, on all the right outputs, and lower the screen.
- Alexa, set the thermostat to 20 (turns the heating on at 20 degrees).
- Loads more stuff I just can't remember!
Cons -
SmatrThings can be a little slow at times. Sometimes it's instant, sometimes there is a big delay, almost exclusively with the lighting.
SmartThings is very dependent on having an active internet connection. Lose the net and you lose control of all lighting.
I forgot to add, the BIG advantage of using smartthings is the end devices are generic and cheap. You don't need expensive light bulbs etc. You just look for anything with ZigBee or zwave support. Zwave daisy chains tooz so each device also acts as a repeater / range extender. They create their own mesh so each time you add a wall light switch, or a plug in power outlet, you expand the mesh.
Smartthings compatible power sockets, light switches, motion sensors etc (ZigBee or zwave).
Logitech harmony for home cinema
Hive for heating
Amazon robovac
Amazon echos all over for voice control of everything above.
Pros / cons / facts
- Smart things is rather simple at 1st but incredibly powerful - gazillions of plugins , many user created.
- almost limitless automation possibilities
- cheap - pretty much everything with either zwave or zigbee support works - I just added a 4 gang power strip with independently addressable ports for under £20
- Full Alexa plug in support, same with heating, robo vac etc.
- Alexa, turn on the lounge lights, or, bed time (turns everything off inc. tv, turns on bed lights etc), "turn off TV" ()more involved that you think as that is also amp, etc), "ask robovac to start cleaning", etc etc
- I have custom routines, so in my workshop, two power outlets have timers on them. When I switch one on "Alexa, turn on teh soldering iron", it will turn the power outlet back OFF after 2 hours - so I can't forget and leave my iron on (I work in there every day). Same with glue gun on 1 hour timer).
- Motion sensor in my external mail room tells me, via voice on alexa, when post man has been. (I despatch a LOT of parcels, and receive lots, for my business)
- Alexa will run voice commands for all Harmony scenes, so "watch movie on the projector" will fire up the home cinema, on all the right outputs, and lower the screen.
- Alexa, set the thermostat to 20 (turns the heating on at 20 degrees).
- Loads more stuff I just can't remember!
Cons -
SmatrThings can be a little slow at times. Sometimes it's instant, sometimes there is a big delay, almost exclusively with the lighting.
SmartThings is very dependent on having an active internet connection. Lose the net and you lose control of all lighting.
I forgot to add, the BIG advantage of using smartthings is the end devices are generic and cheap. You don't need expensive light bulbs etc. You just look for anything with ZigBee or zwave support. Zwave daisy chains tooz so each device also acts as a repeater / range extender. They create their own mesh so each time you add a wall light switch, or a plug in power outlet, you expand the mesh.
Edited by Griffith4ever on Saturday 23 July 09:02
Edited by Griffith4ever on Saturday 23 July 09:05
Edited by Griffith4ever on Sunday 24th July 08:34
Started out with a load of generic Chinese smart plugs for Christmas lights which worked great.
Now I have:
4x Netatmo Presence security camera/light systems - external
3x Netatmo Indoor cameras
x20 smart plugs (TCP) for all non-hardwired lights, fish tank, etc.
x4 curtain creepers for the living room / kitchen / master bedroom / daughters bedroom
Adapter for the electric garage door
Adapter to make the hot-tub smart
4x AppleTV in all the main rooms (as hubs)
1x iMac Pro (as hub)
4x Google Home Hub screens (as hubs)
3x Amazon Eero 6 mesh router/access-points (which replaced my BT FTTP HomeHub that was rubbish as the smart home stuff with it all mostly operating on 2.4ghz)
I have a load of 'scenes' created for different times of the day/week/month/year based on light levels and who is home.
It was really important to me that the camera/floodlights were accessible by both GoogleHome Hubs and AppleTVs as these are the main monitoring devices whilst at home (app when away)
I wanted all local storage rather than cloud based too.
It all works really together and whilst its not the cheapest (or most expensive) setup its been quite intuitive. My only comment would be that I have numbered all my smart plugs with a sharpie so I know which goes where if/when they are unplugged etc.
The next on the list is the doorbell but im yet to sort this.
Now I have:
4x Netatmo Presence security camera/light systems - external
3x Netatmo Indoor cameras
x20 smart plugs (TCP) for all non-hardwired lights, fish tank, etc.
x4 curtain creepers for the living room / kitchen / master bedroom / daughters bedroom
Adapter for the electric garage door
Adapter to make the hot-tub smart
4x AppleTV in all the main rooms (as hubs)
1x iMac Pro (as hub)
4x Google Home Hub screens (as hubs)
3x Amazon Eero 6 mesh router/access-points (which replaced my BT FTTP HomeHub that was rubbish as the smart home stuff with it all mostly operating on 2.4ghz)
I have a load of 'scenes' created for different times of the day/week/month/year based on light levels and who is home.
It was really important to me that the camera/floodlights were accessible by both GoogleHome Hubs and AppleTVs as these are the main monitoring devices whilst at home (app when away)
I wanted all local storage rather than cloud based too.
It all works really together and whilst its not the cheapest (or most expensive) setup its been quite intuitive. My only comment would be that I have numbered all my smart plugs with a sharpie so I know which goes where if/when they are unplugged etc.
The next on the list is the doorbell but im yet to sort this.
Slightly controversial view, but all the stuff you can buy off the shelf is compromised and expensive. You'll spend a fortune and eventually you'll end up with some obsolescence because software isn't kept up to date and you'll come up with loads of really obvious things you should be able to do but can't. Then you'll get companies turning their cloud servers off because they're not making any money.
Far better to run one of the Open Source home automation servers and learn how to connect everything into that and have your own control over the software side. Stuff like OpenHAB is developed by people that want this stuff to work which is much better than it being developed by people whose only interest is in selling you some kit, taking the money and moving on to the next thing.
Far better to run one of the Open Source home automation servers and learn how to connect everything into that and have your own control over the software side. Stuff like OpenHAB is developed by people that want this stuff to work which is much better than it being developed by people whose only interest is in selling you some kit, taking the money and moving on to the next thing.
paulrockliffe said:
Slightly controversial view, but all the stuff you can buy off the shelf is compromised and expensive. You'll spend a fortune and eventually you'll end up with some obsolescence because software isn't kept up to date and you'll come up with loads of really obvious things you should be able to do but can't. Then you'll get companies turning their cloud servers off because they're not making any money.
Far better to run one of the Open Source home automation servers and learn how to connect everything into that and have your own control over the software side. Stuff like OpenHAB is developed by people that want this stuff to work which is much better than it being developed by people whose only interest is in selling you some kit, taking the money and moving on to the next thing.
The main reason I'm running home assistant, removed the connection to external servers,Far better to run one of the Open Source home automation servers and learn how to connect everything into that and have your own control over the software side. Stuff like OpenHAB is developed by people that want this stuff to work which is much better than it being developed by people whose only interest is in selling you some kit, taking the money and moving on to the next thing.
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