this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Home Automation

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Discussion about general home automation ideas and projects, home automation protocols like Z-wave, Zigbee, Matter, etc, and home automation software and hubs like HomeSeer, Home Assistant, OpenHAB, Homey.

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'Dumb' automation via clocks and timing? (lemmy.fmhy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I like automation, but I prefer things to run independently if possible.

One way to do this is via clocks and timers.

  1. what is this type of automation called? What keywords can I combine to find these tools?

  2. if I want power to be cut by time automatically, is there a gang extension cable I can get to do this?

  3. I want to set my lights to a timer. I couldn't find a manual timer, so I had to get an IoT timer instead. Since I cheaped out with some rubbish Chinese switch, it was a pain to setup. Anything easier to set a 24hr cycle for?

Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/noma-24-hour-outdoor-mechanical-timer-24-programmable-settings-2-grounded-outlets-black-0529204p.0529204.html?loc=plp

Sounds like if you want to just turn outlets on or off based on a 24 hr cycle this is what you'd want.

This was a very popular mechanism for turning Xmas lights on/off back in the day

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd go for a more advanced system, at least if it's a little more than an outlet or two. It can still run offline. O ce installed, you can deny HomeSeer or Home Assistant access to the internett.

Much easier to handleand easier to expand.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I also would go for a more advanced system.... But OP seems to be explicitly saying they want to avoid that.

And although it isn't MY preferred approach, I can respect that they want to go in another direction. I'm not stackOverflow

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, I agree with you. Your solution answers OPs question. However, sometimes the question does not cover the problem completely.

As long people know what they want, it's easier. But that's not always the case.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I have a bunch of these in my house: Kasa Smart Plug Mini 15A: https://a.co/d/iLhmDDu

Their app is really simple. Each switch has independent schedule and timer options. You connect via WiFi.

I also control them with HomeAssistant if I want more coordinated control, and you can do that at the same time as using the native app to manage them, so free to use whatever works best for you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I really don’t understand much of what you’re trying to say, but

  • try searching for “programmable switches”. I have several in my house, where you can set a timer on the switch and it’s all self-contained.

  • maybe you’re thinking of “automation” wrongly. I agree that things should still work locally as expected but there’s plenty of opportunity to add automation

For example, I believe there are programmable smart switches that do keep their schedule locally but you can much more easily configure it from your phone or computer, plus synch time, plus the extra capabilities of automation