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Is anyone else here completely confused at how much hype there is around automated light management systems? I don’t get it. Is it really that hard to turn on a

Is anyone else here completely confused at how much hype there is around automated light management systems? I don’t get it. Is it really that hard to turn on and off lights manually that people really need all this stuff? What am I not getting?

kabes 9y ago
Lots of time I'm lying in bed, almost falling asleep and suddenly realizing I left the kitchen light on. In fact, I'm not sure I did. But it doesn't allow me to sleep, so now I need to wake up, check the kitchen for a light that might not even be on. At that moment I'd be willing to pay a lot for a button on my phone to turn off all the lights.
- cardmagic 9y ago
  I have a Roomba and if I don't close my bathroom door at night, it always gets stuck in the bathroom when it goes off in the morning. So every night, I make sure the bathroom door is closed before I go to bed. I would not pay anything for an app that closed my bathroom door. I just make sure I check at night. It still doesn't make sense to me. Roomba makes sense to me. Sweeping is hard and takes a significant amount of time. Flipping a switch is not hard and takes no time at all.
  - trumpeta 9y ago
    One use I like is having the lamp come on gradually about 20 minutes before my alarm in the morning.
    - cardmagic 9y ago
      That's cool, I like that one, except the sun does that for me in my case. But if I needed to wake up earlier than the sun, I could see that being useful.
    - gulperxcx 9y ago
      That is a pretty cool use case
dbm5 9y ago
While I understand your skepticism, there are a few use cases for which I use HA which would be either painful manually, or would require alternate devices such as timers/etc: 1 - outside lights - various lights which light our home's pathway or areas we prefer to have lit at night come on automatically at sundown and turn off at sun-up. 2 - scenes; with HA, we can click one button - a switch with scene control in our case - and have the lights in the room go to a specific set point, receiver come on, select sonos, and tune in to a particular station - an activity which would conventionally require several manual steps with various input devices. 3 - notifications; with HA, I get notifications when the front door or garage doors are opened/closed. There are several things I plan to implement: 1 - using presence detection and adjusting temps/lights/etc based upon that 2 - fan control; we are heavy users of ceiling fans, and integrating them into home automation would be a significant upgrade. Haven't found a replacement for our Minka controllers which supports zwave (or anything else). All of this has been possible for years - usually with single vendor solutions which are very costly; HA integrates nearly all automation platforms into a single system allowing each platform's features to work together relatively seamlessly. It's a moving target, but has become very stable/reliable with recent releases.
- cardmagic 9y ago
  My Kuna security cameras turn lights on at night and off at sun-up. My Nest already has presence detection and adjusts temps based on that. More importantly, I didn't buy a Kuna for lights on and off with the sun, nor a Nest for presence detection, so I still don't see these functions as killer apps for HA.
  - semi-extrinsic 9y ago
    My $8 "dumb" LED outdoor bulbs have sunrise/sunset sensors built in...
    - oh_sigh 9y ago
      Can you have them turn on 30 mins before sunset?
spaginal 9y ago
I installed extra lighting temporarily in the corner of my garage/shop. By using a zwave outlet controller, zwave light switch, and Home assistant, in about 10 minutes I could turn those lights on or off with the main lights without having to rewire my garage. When I’m done with my project I can simply take the lights down or move them around the garage without changing any wiring. It’s simple and convenient.
foobarbecue 9y ago
I don't get why people are all excited about pushing buttons on a machine to write. Is it so hard to carve stuff into a stone tablet? Help me out here. (Seriously, I use a nanoleaf aurora to make a nice sunrise to wake up to, and it also acts as a clock and part of it lights up red if any of my servers are down. I'm pretty excited about open HA.)
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
mike-cardwell 9y ago
Cron job on my home server starts sending commands over zwave at 6am for about half an hour to slowly increase the brightness of my master bedroom light from 0% to 100% at 1% increments. So when I get up, it's not pitch black, and I don't go from zero to blinding light in one moment. Probably my favourite thing I've done with home automation so far.
- vonseel 9y ago
  Built into the Hue app, but I bet it was fun to code :)
  - mike-cardwell 9y ago
    Some basic bash scripting and a cron job. Can I control a Hue light bulb with some basic bash scripting and a cron job? Can I do it without calling out to some Internet based web service?
    - a254613e 9y ago
      Yes. curl --request PUT --data '{"on":true}' http://<local bridge ip address>/api/<your api key>/lights/<light id>/state https://developers.meethue.com/documentation/getting-started https://developers.meethue.com/documentation/getting-started
      - mike-cardwell 9y ago
        That's good. Does it generate any Internet traffic it all, or is it entirely local? One thing I noticed from your command: No authentication. Looks like any software on any device on the LAN can control the light. Is that really true?
        wrboyce 9y ago
        You were being offered a slightly simplified example, the Hue bridge does indeed require authentication. To answer your other question, the bridge can be accessible via the online “meethue” portal for things like easy remote access but I think this is optional. EDIT: oh, and it’ll generate internet traffic for firmware updates I suppose!
nitrogen 9y ago
Is your first reaction to anything you don't understand to question its existence? Maybe try to find the value others see first, then you will be better prepared to weigh that value against your own values.
- danellis 9y ago
  > Maybe try to find the value others see first That is exactly what he's doing.
  - nitrogen 9y ago
    No, the questions in the original comment were posed in a clearly dismissive way, in a way trying to get others to join in the dismissal ("Does anybody else..." isn't an honest question, it's a call to action).
travmatt 9y ago
What am I not getting? How lazy I am once in bed.
escapologybb 9y ago
I don't mean this to sound snarky, I really don't so please don't take it as such but yes, it is really hard to turn light switches on and off when you are quadriplegic. This software solves that problem completely. Again, I am not trying to flame you, just telling you how I use it and giving you my reason for using the software. Have a nice day! :-)
iakh 9y ago
Another benefit not already mentioned is home security. Getting some cheap zigbee window/door/presence senors, I was able to completely set up a home security system for < $200 by myself. That's about an order of magnitude less than existing solutions. Granted its a self-monitored solution, you could just as easily pay for a monitoring service afterwards.
verylittlemeat 9y ago
This might sound crazy but my remote dimming hue lightbulb is probably my favorite purchase all year - more than my 55" 4k tv and new gaming computer. Light dimming alone is a huge improvement but the ability to start a movie or go to sleep without needing to get up to turn off the light is really great. Believe me I was just as skeptical as many people here. All the other options I tried before the (admittedly more expensive) hue bulb were either clunky/big or unreliable.
Programmatic 9y ago
I think light switches are an absolutely fantastic UI. You can look at them to determine state, you an interact with them without unlocking a device and when they're placed well you can just "wave your hand" and lights come on. However, when the light switches aren't well placed it is nice to add a layer of software abstraction between the switch and the light to be able to rearrange existing switches in your home without having to pull new wiring. So you can essentially just keep what you are already doing but make the existing, mature UI even more suited to your needs even if you're skeptical of all of the rest of it.

kabes 9y ago

Lots of time I'm lying in bed, almost falling asleep and suddenly realizing I left the kitchen light on. In fact, I'm not sure I did. But it doesn't allow me to sleep, so now I need to wake up, check the kitchen for a light that might not even be on. At that moment I'd be willing to pay a lot for a button on my phone to turn off all the lights.

cardmagic 9y ago
I have a Roomba and if I don't close my bathroom door at night, it always gets stuck in the bathroom when it goes off in the morning. So every night, I make sure the bathroom door is closed before I go to bed. I would not pay anything for an app that closed my bathroom door. I just make sure I check at night. It still doesn't make sense to me. Roomba makes sense to me. Sweeping is hard and takes a significant amount of time. Flipping a switch is not hard and takes no time at all.
- trumpeta 9y ago
  One use I like is having the lamp come on gradually about 20 minutes before my alarm in the morning.
  - cardmagic 9y ago
    That's cool, I like that one, except the sun does that for me in my case. But if I needed to wake up earlier than the sun, I could see that being useful.
  - gulperxcx 9y ago
    That is a pretty cool use case

dbm5 9y ago

While I understand your skepticism, there are a few use cases for which I use HA which would be either painful manually, or would require alternate devices such as timers/etc: 1 - outside lights - various lights which light our home's pathway or areas we prefer to have lit at night come on automatically at sundown and turn off at sun-up. 2 - scenes; with HA, we can click one button - a switch with scene control in our case - and have the lights in the room go to a specific set point, receiver come on, select sonos, and tune in to a particular station - an activity which would conventionally require several manual steps with various input devices. 3 - notifications; with HA, I get notifications when the front door or garage doors are opened/closed. There are several things I plan to implement: 1 - using presence detection and adjusting temps/lights/etc based upon that 2 - fan control; we are heavy users of ceiling fans, and integrating them into home automation would be a significant upgrade. Haven't found a replacement for our Minka controllers which supports zwave (or anything else). All of this has been possible for years - usually with single vendor solutions which are very costly; HA integrates nearly all automation platforms into a single system allowing each platform's features to work together relatively seamlessly. It's a moving target, but has become very stable/reliable with recent releases.

cardmagic 9y ago
My Kuna security cameras turn lights on at night and off at sun-up. My Nest already has presence detection and adjusts temps based on that. More importantly, I didn't buy a Kuna for lights on and off with the sun, nor a Nest for presence detection, so I still don't see these functions as killer apps for HA.
- semi-extrinsic 9y ago
  My $8 "dumb" LED outdoor bulbs have sunrise/sunset sensors built in...
  - oh_sigh 9y ago
    Can you have them turn on 30 mins before sunset?

spaginal 9y ago

I installed extra lighting temporarily in the corner of my garage/shop. By using a zwave outlet controller, zwave light switch, and Home assistant, in about 10 minutes I could turn those lights on or off with the main lights without having to rewire my garage. When I’m done with my project I can simply take the lights down or move them around the garage without changing any wiring. It’s simple and convenient.

foobarbecue 9y ago

I don't get why people are all excited about pushing buttons on a machine to write. Is it so hard to carve stuff into a stone tablet? Help me out here. (Seriously, I use a nanoleaf aurora to make a nice sunrise to wake up to, and it also acts as a clock and part of it lights up red if any of my servers are down. I'm pretty excited about open HA.)

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

mike-cardwell 9y ago

Cron job on my home server starts sending commands over zwave at 6am for about half an hour to slowly increase the brightness of my master bedroom light from 0% to 100% at 1% increments. So when I get up, it's not pitch black, and I don't go from zero to blinding light in one moment. Probably my favourite thing I've done with home automation so far.

vonseel 9y ago
Built into the Hue app, but I bet it was fun to code :)
- mike-cardwell 9y ago
  Some basic bash scripting and a cron job. Can I control a Hue light bulb with some basic bash scripting and a cron job? Can I do it without calling out to some Internet based web service?
  - a254613e 9y ago
    Yes. curl --request PUT --data '{"on":true}' http://<local bridge ip address>/api/<your api key>/lights/<light id>/state https://developers.meethue.com/documentation/getting-started https://developers.meethue.com/documentation/getting-started
    - mike-cardwell 9y ago
      That's good. Does it generate any Internet traffic it all, or is it entirely local? One thing I noticed from your command: No authentication. Looks like any software on any device on the LAN can control the light. Is that really true?
      - wrboyce 9y ago
        You were being offered a slightly simplified example, the Hue bridge does indeed require authentication. To answer your other question, the bridge can be accessible via the online “meethue” portal for things like easy remote access but I think this is optional. EDIT: oh, and it’ll generate internet traffic for firmware updates I suppose!

nitrogen 9y ago

Is your first reaction to anything you don't understand to question its existence? Maybe try to find the value others see first, then you will be better prepared to weigh that value against your own values.

danellis 9y ago
> Maybe try to find the value others see first That is exactly what he's doing.
- nitrogen 9y ago
  No, the questions in the original comment were posed in a clearly dismissive way, in a way trying to get others to join in the dismissal ("Does anybody else..." isn't an honest question, it's a call to action).

travmatt 9y ago

What am I not getting? How lazy I am once in bed.

escapologybb 9y ago

I don't mean this to sound snarky, I really don't so please don't take it as such but yes, it is really hard to turn light switches on and off when you are quadriplegic. This software solves that problem completely. Again, I am not trying to flame you, just telling you how I use it and giving you my reason for using the software. Have a nice day! :-)

iakh 9y ago

Another benefit not already mentioned is home security. Getting some cheap zigbee window/door/presence senors, I was able to completely set up a home security system for < $200 by myself. That's about an order of magnitude less than existing solutions. Granted its a self-monitored solution, you could just as easily pay for a monitoring service afterwards.

verylittlemeat 9y ago

This might sound crazy but my remote dimming hue lightbulb is probably my favorite purchase all year - more than my 55" 4k tv and new gaming computer. Light dimming alone is a huge improvement but the ability to start a movie or go to sleep without needing to get up to turn off the light is really great. Believe me I was just as skeptical as many people here. All the other options I tried before the (admittedly more expensive) hue bulb were either clunky/big or unreliable.

Programmatic 9y ago

I think light switches are an absolutely fantastic UI. You can look at them to determine state, you an interact with them without unlocking a device and when they're placed well you can just "wave your hand" and lights come on. However, when the light switches aren't well placed it is nice to add a layer of software abstraction between the switch and the light to be able to rearrange existing switches in your home without having to pull new wiring. So you can essentially just keep what you are already doing but make the existing, mature UI even more suited to your needs even if you're skeptical of all of the rest of it.