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I've ranted about this and the IoT and how we've came to it. IoT is awesome, and super, as long as you don't buy products that require to beg for your data fro

by kefka 11y ago

I've ranted about this and the IoT and how we've came to it. IoT is awesome, and super, as long as you don't buy products that require to beg for your data from some website API. What makes more sense? Local device ->Internet ->Someone else's server(cloud) ->API ->Your cell/computer -or- Local Device ->Local controller I extensively use Node-Red and Apache NiFi both. Node-Red is built on Node.js and is a graphical flowchart programming in the browser. It makes chaining together complex interactions easy and also makes many things no-code at all. I use Node-Red for my home automation. It's open source, it works, and just makes sense. Now, what should you use for the light bulbs? Unfortunately not Phillips Hue. This however opens up the market for others to come in and snipe business away. And that's a good thing. And whatever takes away the power of "other peoples' servers" cloud-crap, the better. It's just used as a way to control and extract more money.

femto113 11y ago
Hue's hub works both ways, locally Smartphone -> Hub over WiFi (via a shared LAN connection, the Hub isn't it's own WAP), or remotely Smartphone -> Hue.com -> Hub over the internet. The remote mode has profoundly more lag, but also means you can turn on your lights from anywhere. The connection from Hub to the bulbs is always Zigbee. Unless/until Zigbee is built into smartphones this seems like a nearly ideal set up.
- kefka 11y ago
  Zigbee isn't hard to implement within a Node-Red network. You can use an Arduino-Zigbee bridge to talk on that network, and then control the lights however you wish. In that case, it opens up using all the lights you choose from the cheaper_than_phillips category. I also use Node-red on a Raspberry Pi. It's slim and as small as a base station. I also have Bluetooth, wifi, and nRF24L01+ boards on it, talking all those protocols. No reason for Zigbee, but it would be doable for $15 (I assume the price). I've found the "from anywhere", at least for Node-Red is to use a static IP. If you dont have that, a dynamic one will work. If that doesn't work, a ToR hidden service works well. My control over my hardware is always advantageous over control by a 3rd party entity.
  - WorldMaker 11y ago
    If you are building your own Zigbee bridge you could use Phillips and Cheaper than Phillips lights all together. The change here is that Phillips has declared that the Hue bridge is not intended to be a generic Zigbee bridge and is focused on Hue (and friends) lights.

by kefka 11y ago

femto113 11y ago

Hue's hub works both ways, locally Smartphone -> Hub over WiFi (via a shared LAN connection, the Hub isn't it's own WAP), or remotely Smartphone -> Hue.com -> Hub over the internet. The remote mode has profoundly more lag, but also means you can turn on your lights from anywhere. The connection from Hub to the bulbs is always Zigbee. Unless/until Zigbee is built into smartphones this seems like a nearly ideal set up.

kefka 11y ago
Zigbee isn't hard to implement within a Node-Red network. You can use an Arduino-Zigbee bridge to talk on that network, and then control the lights however you wish. In that case, it opens up using all the lights you choose from the cheaper_than_phillips category. I also use Node-red on a Raspberry Pi. It's slim and as small as a base station. I also have Bluetooth, wifi, and nRF24L01+ boards on it, talking all those protocols. No reason for Zigbee, but it would be doable for $15 (I assume the price). I've found the "from anywhere", at least for Node-Red is to use a static IP. If you dont have that, a dynamic one will work. If that doesn't work, a ToR hidden service works well. My control over my hardware is always advantageous over control by a 3rd party entity.
- WorldMaker 11y ago
  If you are building your own Zigbee bridge you could use Phillips and Cheaper than Phillips lights all together. The change here is that Phillips has declared that the Hue bridge is not intended to be a generic Zigbee bridge and is focused on Hue (and friends) lights.