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This is why I set a few "ground rules" before I started adding home automation stuff to my house. 1. Everything must be reversible, preferably within a short p

This is why I set a few "ground rules" before I started adding home automation stuff to my house. 1. Everything must be reversible, preferably within a short period of time. If I replace the doorbell or locks with smart ones, I keep the old ones in storage. If I replace light switches, I make sure to document the way the wiring worked before I touched it, and keep everything so I can put it back if/when I move. I had a house with 14 light switches, 2 door locks, a garage door opener, 3 cameras, 7 door and window sensors, like 4 or 5 outlet controllers, and a thermostat all upgraded to "smart devices" in my house, and it took me about 5 hours to set everything back to the way it was before i added anything. 2. Everything should work exactly the same as it did before being "smart-ified", and should never stop working because of a network being down, or a power outage reset it. This means light switches still need to look and act like light switches, in 100% of cases. A thermostat should still work without WiFi, the TV remote should always be able to control the TV, the door should be able to be opened with a key, etc... When my nephew comes over and likes to switch the lights on and off really fast when he can sneak over to it, I shouldn't need to "reset" anything or have it be in a weird state because of that. 3. Rely on external servers as little as possible. If the internet is down, but my local network is up, my whole system should run at least 90% as well as it does with the internet. Following those few ground rules meant that it cost more to do the whole system, and there were some things I could not upgrade to "smart devices", but it made the whole process much more fullproof, and it was significantly easier when we went to leave (just had to mention that the smart home stuff was not included in the sale of the house). Light switches were "automated" by putting small z-wave switches in the electrical box of each switch (leaving the original switch showing and acting the same way it always did), z-wave plugs and power strips were used to turn on/off various things if needed, smart lightbulbs were avoided at all costs, the thermostat was reliant on a 3rd party network for the remote switching, but still worked 100% of the time by adjusting it on the wall. Door locks, garage door controllers, doorbell, etc... They all worked completely on their own, and then had the extra "smart" functionality layered on top. I hear the sentiment that all IoT stuff is garbage, and I have to completely disagree. The cheapest item in the category is probably garbage, but that's common with just about every other area. If you spend the money, if you actually do a little research, there are many options out there which are secure, reliable, and actually built to last.

ttflee 9y ago
So, Liskov substitution principle does apply to intelligent stuff.
- Klathmon 9y ago
  That's a very interesting way of looking at it. I never thought about it that way before, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. For example, I have a google home. Google home relies on an external server to work, but that's okay, since it's not really "replacing" anything, only adding a new "class" of device. But it's not okay for a door lock to not take a standard key (or in my case, the door lock needed a number pad), just to get "smart" functionality.
daemin 9y ago
Essentially the house should function regardless if the Internet is connected or some random server is reachable.
- Klathmon 9y ago
  And I shouldn't have to "teach" anyone how to use it. My mother-in-law (a self described "technophobe") should be able to use everything in the house the same way she uses those items in her house. I've seen so many people (like in the linked blog) have to describe to guests which switches they can use, or how to install the app to control the lights. Even if that was 100% local, it's still not okay in my book.
ocdtrekkie 9y ago
This is pretty much my hard requirements as well. It's why I have smart light switches instead of smart bulbs, for example. The controls are intelligent, but they also work the way even I use them most of the time: Hitting the switch as I enter or exit a room. The requirement I add to yours is that none of my devices are permitted to talk to the Internet except my PC. That means no Wi-Fi devices, for the most part. (I do have some IP cameras, but my network disables their ability to talk externally.) Any communication between my house and the outside world goes through a single network device which I can depend on to implement reasonable security practices.

ttflee 9y ago

So, Liskov substitution principle does apply to intelligent stuff.

Klathmon 9y ago
That's a very interesting way of looking at it. I never thought about it that way before, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. For example, I have a google home. Google home relies on an external server to work, but that's okay, since it's not really "replacing" anything, only adding a new "class" of device. But it's not okay for a door lock to not take a standard key (or in my case, the door lock needed a number pad), just to get "smart" functionality.

daemin 9y ago

Essentially the house should function regardless if the Internet is connected or some random server is reachable.

Klathmon 9y ago
And I shouldn't have to "teach" anyone how to use it. My mother-in-law (a self described "technophobe") should be able to use everything in the house the same way she uses those items in her house. I've seen so many people (like in the linked blog) have to describe to guests which switches they can use, or how to install the app to control the lights. Even if that was 100% local, it's still not okay in my book.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago

This is pretty much my hard requirements as well. It's why I have smart light switches instead of smart bulbs, for example. The controls are intelligent, but they also work the way even I use them most of the time: Hitting the switch as I enter or exit a room. The requirement I add to yours is that none of my devices are permitted to talk to the Internet except my PC. That means no Wi-Fi devices, for the most part. (I do have some IP cameras, but my network disables their ability to talk externally.) Any communication between my house and the outside world goes through a single network device which I can depend on to implement reasonable security practices.