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The problem with home automation is that it is so expensive just from a hardware standpoint (you’re talking $50 light switches instead of $2 light switches) tha
by exelius 9y ago
The problem with home automation is that it is so expensive just from a hardware standpoint (you’re talking $50 light switches instead of $2 light switches) that most folks willing to pay for it are already served by existing home automation vendors (most of whom are independent contractors).
You’re not going to convince your average homeowner to replace $100 of mechanical light switches that last forever with $3000 of IoT switches that have to be replaced every 10 years or so. You’re really not going to convince them to drop another $2000 on configuration.
By far the biggest use case is in home theaters, which is already a well-served market. Pro-level home theater installers have been putting in these systems for 20 years; they’ve just become cheaper. The pros definitely use this stuff too; open source is pure margin on an install versus a commercial solution.
- lorenzhs 9y agoYes, most of the ready-to-use solutions like Philips Hue are very expensive. But there are cheaper options if you're willing to tinker a little bit (and wait a month for things to arrive from China), like $13 smart light switches (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sonoff-Touch/32808809484.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sonoff-Touch/32808809484.htm...) etc. I'm still looking for a solution that's inexpensive and gets out of my way (i.e., is aware of what's going on) without phoning home to some server ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- exelius 9y agoReliability is a big question here. I don't want to deal with replacing failures, and the risk of fire can be high (a lot of these chinese electronics don't use adequate gague wires or have legible datasheets to even be able to plan current draw). And even with all that, I'm just not sure that a fully-automated home provides enough benefit to be worth the headache for the majority of folks. I'm in the top 1% of income, I set up my own system and it's nice; but even I don't think it's worth what I paid for it.
- krastanov 9y agoIkea has great cheap home automation product line that has impressed the developers of Home Assistant. See https://home-assistant.io/blog/2017/04/17/ikea-tradfri-internet-of-things-done-right/ https://home-assistant.io/blog/2017/04/17/ikea-tradfri-inter...
- wlesieutre 9y agoPrevious discussions of Tradfri on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14069975 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14069975 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14077614 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14077614 I have some hue bulbs right now, but if I ever need more I'd definitely consider a Tradfri hub too to away from the Hue's internet connected stuff.
- josteink 9y agoJust FYI: it’s trådfri, which is a (quirky?) way of writing “wireless” in Swedish.