Home Automation

Right now it looks like this community is nothing more than alien.top bots reposting Reddit threads. I get that this place needs content, but this is absolutely not the content that I am looking for. Are these posts mod approved (aka can I go ahead and add this community to my block list) or are the mods unaware that literally all of the content here is being copied word for word from Reddit?

Edit: Just saw the mod here is the same guy who set up this abysmal experiment. Looks like I’ll be adding this one to my blocklist after all. Oh well, nothing of value was lost.

They all seem to be using Tuya app and TT lock which seem to have a good reputation, so I was wondering about other software /physical vulnerabilities after watching the LawPickingLawyer unlock Yale / Nest brand by slapping them iirc.

I forgot the cat's bed has an IP Address. It runs Tasmota.

https://preview.redd.it/w53dihvnorxb1.png?width=1354&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e34fa27a2bd9333056002e46368c72fc900fa62

I'm going to turn into an old cat lady. What's the man equivalent?

Anyway. I'm serious! I'm going to automate it. It's only 11W and it only runs 25% of the time while on....but. I have discovered if I put a Zigbee push switch under it and let the cat use it, I can see the patches of "events" on the push button when the mat is in use.

I thought of a gimmick thing that allows her to turn it on and off, but... it's cat, not a crow.

The logic is simple. Button event/* = cat bed heater on for 10 minutes.

10 minutes expires and no events, cat bed heater off.

I have a Heat and Glo SL5 installed in 2019. Currently it has a RCT-MLT /-II remote control, which is not working. A service call is between $100 and $350, a replacement remote is also $300+. Making a replacement with a smart one appealing.

Oh and the fireplace works, I can switch the remote to on and it lights etc.

I want to convert this to a smart application, we use google home. Does anyone know what sort of controller/remote I need to replace it with?

Thanks

I’m looking to install a distributed audio system with architectural speakers. I don’t want speakers on tables or shelves. So I don’t want Sonos units or alexas. I’ve been looking around and found these :

• Soundavo WS66i
• Juke 8
• OSD Audio Multi-Room Audio System Package
• Dayton dax88

Anyone have strong options or experience with these? Also, I’m leaning towards the Soundavo since it has both an app and keypads.

For my house we have a mid of iPhones and android and we listen on Amazon music.

I’m also looking for a good architectural speaker recommendation.

Thanks!

So, I've got one of those "glass touch" (from Livolo) wall switches (kitchen, so actually does make cleaning easy). But I've some trouble wiring it into a Shelly 1PM Mini.

The wall switch has no neutral, and since it has electronics, it needs power always. So I thought that perhaps I could wire in one of those so-called "bypasses". I've got one from Livolo, which contains a MOSFET and some electronics. And I got the Shelly bypass, which contains some, to me unidentifyible, electronics as well. But no luck.

This is the situation:

https://preview.redd.it/lhdjz3auywxb1.png?width=695&format=png&auto=webp&s=62e85412541774aa4a3f9d14e14127e2f346c49b

Wiring in the Livolo bypass between SW and N, does power the switch all continuously, but the Shelly doesn't respond to it being switched ON/OFF (yes, the shelly is in "normal switch mode").

Also tried wiring the Shelly bypass between SW and N and O and N. Neither power the Livolo, and neither do anything.

Any advice for me?

A dumb led chain with a smart plug would be fine but we can run electrical to that area.

What would you do in this situation?

Would really appreciate some help and advice please. If I connected an echo/Alexa compatible bluetooth speaker placed in the ceiling in my bathroom to an echo dot which would be placed in the kitchen and fixed a compatible motion sensor on the door of the bathroom, then set up a routine with Alexa to play a Spotify playlist each time someone opened the door to go to the bathroom, would that work? My electricians don’t seem to know how to make this work for me. I just want to automate the music when someone walks into the bathroom.

Edit. I’m clutching at straws with this because each time I chat with my electrician he keeps saying ‘I’ll look into it’ and then doesn’t. I’m coming to the end of our House build so don’t really want to be changing the company who’s doing the electrics for it at this late stage. Just trying to figure out how we can do it in a simple way. TIA

I previously tried switching from the hue hub to conbee zha and found that experience subpar, I even updated the stick to the latest firmware which did help, but it still was not nearly as good hue hub. The main downsides were occasionally a button didnt work, but also the popcorn effect were you turn on a group of lights and they dont all turn on at once, like one or two may turn on a bit later etc. Groups of lights did not behave well and also the hue motion sensors did not work quite as well then with hue, I even tried the blueprint someone made for zha which helps, but still not as good. Ive heard the sonoff p dongle i think it was with zibgee2mqtt is a better experience, is that solid? any experiences with that? did buttons work consistently? do groups of lights behave well?

Hi all, looking for an alternative to lightwave switches in the UK, they are just too expensive!

I have 3 lights that are each controlled by separate 1 gang switches. I want to replace all of these switches for 3 gang switches, but not add any additional wiring. So each switch is only wired to 1 light but wirelessly linked to the others.

Any suggestions? I have natural wires at the switches if it helps.

I live in NYC and can have my heat either blazing hot or off. Trying to figure a way to turn the right knob to the right twice or the left twice to turn off and on. Any suggestions?

Looking for a recommendation:

1. Locksmith is trying to talk me into the Yale Assure Lock Touchscreen with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth - the original 1st generation because they said it's built better than the Assure Lock 2. Any thoughts on this? Which would you recommend?

2. I see Mul T Lock makes a cylinder (KW-KIDYRL) for Yale Smart Locks. Would this fit the 1st gen Assure Lock, as well as Assure Lock 2? Has anyone tried replacing the cylinder with this on either lock?

3. Other smart lock I was considering is the Schlage Encode Plus.

Thanks!

Hey everybody,

I'm renting in an old european apartment, with electricity prices going up in the past months, I've been trying to update appliances here and there to be more power efficient. The easiest upgrade, light bulbs, I kept pushing off because my landlord was thinking about doing a renovation that he ultimately didn't go through with.

I was gifted a set of Philips Hue light bulbs and a bridge. I procedeed to install them, but now I'm wondering: I know for a fact, being LEDs make them way more efficient than my old ones, however, the light switch must always be on. Will this set-up end in me paying more in electricity than my old ones?

I just purchased my new home and i need robot vacuum and mopping cleaner. I am going back and forth between S7 maxV ultra and newer S8 pro ultra. Reviews are making it even harder to decide between the two :/ On my main floor and have mostly hardwood floor, except one (office/child play) room. So i was wondering which one would you recommend? And yes, probably worth mentioning. I have a 6mo old baby, so there probably will be a lot of toys (obstacles to avoid)

I'm fairly new to homesteading so I want to monitor some of my animal shelters a bit more. I would at a minimum like to know what temperatures they drop to.

What's a good smart temperature sensor? I do have wifi on most of my property.

I saw some weather stations can handle this, and it would be nice to have a nice weather station but I wasn't sure which one was recommended and if the range of sensors can be extended, most seemed to be around 300ft.

Any suggestions?

Hello,

I would like to start working with home automation/ smart home. I have not yet worked with smart home.

I would like to do without all products that have a cloud connection or must be connected to the Internet. I would like to have all network components in a separate subnet that would only be accessible via a secure VPN connection.

Do you think this is possible?

Do you have any product recommendations software/hardware?

or any tips or sources where I can learn more about this topic?

Im sure this is a really dumb question but I can’t for the life of me figure it out, I have my hues all set tonight on their Halloween scene but as a little extra fun I set a routine with Alexa so that everytime someone rings the doorbell they flash red however I can’t get them to go back to their Halloween scene after the doorbell is pressed, I swear I’ve seen on Alexa routines the option to have your lights do something for a duration of time only but I’m not seeing it am I missing something ? Help!

What mean is a device that will let me cache a value and then recall it later in an automation?

As an simple example, I have a room light on a smart switch and in that room I also have a lamp plugged in to a smart outlet. I want to be able to use the smart switch to toggle through both lighs, but only if both lights are off when i press the switch. If one lamp is on already, it should start by turning it off. If neither is on, start by turning on the room light, and on the second press turn on the lamp and on third turn off the room etc.

(I know there are multiple ways to do this, but for sake of example)

My thought is that I could check my cache state and if it is "0" AND all lamps are off then I would turn on the first one in the series and set this cache to "1" with a timer to set it back to "0" in 10 seconds. As long as the value is "1" the switch would cycle through lamp/light combos, but once that cached value is back at 0, the switch defaults back to turn lights.

I know I could probably make something work with a hidden rgb light, but I wondered if there was something more elegant

I have a cheap, old Williams wall furnace that is controlled with a 2-wire millivolt thermostat. It doesn't look like any of the normal IoT vendors make a smart thermostat for it. I've seen some people get success by hooking up a 24V thermostat with an external power supply, but I'd rather not go down that route if at all possible, both for aesthetics and jankiness reasons. I could hook up a relay with a fully-custom controller, but then I'd have to worry about the temperature control logic, power management, and the possibility of freezing my pipes if anything I do breaks.

Is there anything made by a reputable vendor that I can connect to HA?

I bought 2 chamberlain smart garage controls (one for myself, one for my parents) and I'm having the worst time setting it up

I go through the app instructions, flashing blue light, connect to Bluetooth, connect the wifi (full bars practically a foot away from the router) and it gives me the spinning connecting for 2-3 minutes then tells me it was connected to the internet but unable to add the device to my account and I have a solid green light.

To confirm some details: 2.4ghz App is up to date Tried with Samsung phone, and Google phone Tried at my house, tried at my parents house Tried both devices separately same issue on both

I contacted support and they had me go through the accessory option, select an internet device, input the serial number, and same thing, doesn't work.

At first I thought it might be the device, but I've tried two completely different devices, I thought the wifi, but tried it at 2 different houses, and then I thought maybe it was my phone, but I also tried 2 completely different phones so I'm out of ideas

Anyone experienced this before? Were you able to get it fixed, and if so, how?

I've been looking into the various options and don't know which one to pick. Home Assistant seems like the popular choice but it seems really complicated for what I want. Smartthings is interesting because I sort of use the app for my Samsung devices but it's also not available on Amazon or other sites right now.

I've looked into Google and Amazon's hubs but they also don't seem like popular choices.

I'm probably going to keep it simple with on and off commands pretty much being the most complicated thing I'm doing. Is there a straight to the point device I should go with?