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I’ve been getting into home automation recently and I’ve given myself a rule: nothing cloud connected. If I can’t run it off my local server, I don’t want it. I

I’ve been getting into home automation recently and I’ve given myself a rule: nothing cloud connected. If I can’t run it off my local server, I don’t want it. I have much more motivation to secure my home than any company ever will.

germinalphrase 7y ago
Have you found a smart lock that meets your test?
- bbmario 7y ago
  Curious about this too. I want a smart lock, but don't want it on someone else's cloud.
- josephwegner 7y ago
  Schlage Connect. I have the same rule in my house. Everything is Z-Wave.
- thedanbob 7y ago
  I suppose a z-wave lock could pass muster, but that’s one area that I don’t really want to automate anyway. An unconnected electronic lock meets my needs and is no more vulnerable to hacking than a physical lock.
charles_f 7y ago
That's awesome! Are you using any video surveillance? What about alarm system? Been looking for that for a while but no way I ever trust a cloud connected one anf everything passable connects to cloud.
- Jonnax 7y ago
  Ubiquiti Networks have a product which allows you to set up your own controller and storage. Cloud features are optional. https://www.ui.com/unifi-video/unifi-video-camera-g3/ https://www.ui.com/unifi-video/unifi-video-camera-g3/
  - thedanbob 7y ago
    You know, I already have a bunch of Ubiquiti network gear but it hadn't even occurred to me to look at their security cameras. Not in the budget yet but once it is that's probably what I'll go with!
jedberg 7y ago
After my internet was cut for five days and my smart house became super dumb, I adopted that rule too. I'd love to know what products you are using.
- ars 7y ago
  Hubitat Elevation: https://hubitat.com/ https://hubitat.com/ It runs entirely locally.
- thedanbob 7y ago
  I don't have a lot hooked up yet, mostly just the software infrastructure. I'm building it all around Home Assistant. That integrates nicely with my Unifi network controller, which gives me presence detection (phones connecting / disconnecting). I have one Sonoff wifi switch which I reflashed to work with MQTT, mostly as a proof of concept, but now that I know it works I'll probably get a pile more. And I have a Honeywell T6 Pro thermostat (z-wave) on the way.
- erinnh 7y ago
  I have lots of Tradfri Ikea products. They are officially designed to work offline. Otherwise zigbee and z-wave products mostly work completely offline. Some Xiaomi products (you need to be careful, as not all work offline) work offline and can be connected to local servers. For shutters I use products by Rademacher. Its yet another base station (by now I have 4...), but they can be connected over http locally.
TylerE 7y ago
I can think of obvious reasons you'd want at least some devices cloud connected - for one, if some sort of disaster (fire, tornado, etc) hits your home, you probably want your surveillance getting off-site in realtime.
- thedanbob 7y ago
  Fair point. I suppose I should have said "nothing someone-else's-cloud connected". I'm actually considering setting up remote access on my system, but if I do it will be through a server I control.
stiray 7y ago
Exactly. I have hard time finding automated vacuum cleaner that doesnt connect to cloud, do you have some suggestion for vacuum cleaner that doesnt suffer on features?
- erinnh 7y ago
  Afaik, the Roomba can be used totally offline with Home Assistant and the like. Not sure if all versions can be made to do this or just some.
- srnvs 7y ago
  There are lot of robotic vacuum cleaners that do not need to be connected to the Wi-Fi. Eufy 11S by Anker is one example
zw123456 7y ago
Yup, totally agree. One thing I have found is that many of these devices use the venerable and cheap ESP8266 chip which is extraordinarily easy to hack. It can't really be factory flashed so the programming pins are almost always padded out on the PCB. So I get WeMo or cheap knock offs for example, and reflash 'em with my own code so it basically is only on my wifi network.
- thedanbob 7y ago
  Yup, that’s what’s in my Sonoff switch. I love the ESP8266, it’s the reason I got a serial programming cable in the first place, long before I was interested in home automation.
  - StavrosK 7y ago
    I pretty much based my home automation on Sonoff devices. I use Espurna and it's fantastic, and I wrote a small server for updates. I compile my custom firmware (so I don't have to set up new devices all the time, I just flash and they're ready), drop it on a directory on my NAS and all the devices in the house automatically update themselves.

germinalphrase 7y ago

Have you found a smart lock that meets your test?

bbmario 7y ago
Curious about this too. I want a smart lock, but don't want it on someone else's cloud.
josephwegner 7y ago
Schlage Connect. I have the same rule in my house. Everything is Z-Wave.
thedanbob 7y ago
I suppose a z-wave lock could pass muster, but that’s one area that I don’t really want to automate anyway. An unconnected electronic lock meets my needs and is no more vulnerable to hacking than a physical lock.

charles_f 7y ago

That's awesome! Are you using any video surveillance? What about alarm system? Been looking for that for a while but no way I ever trust a cloud connected one anf everything passable connects to cloud.

Jonnax 7y ago
Ubiquiti Networks have a product which allows you to set up your own controller and storage. Cloud features are optional. https://www.ui.com/unifi-video/unifi-video-camera-g3/ https://www.ui.com/unifi-video/unifi-video-camera-g3/
- thedanbob 7y ago
  You know, I already have a bunch of Ubiquiti network gear but it hadn't even occurred to me to look at their security cameras. Not in the budget yet but once it is that's probably what I'll go with!

jedberg 7y ago

After my internet was cut for five days and my smart house became super dumb, I adopted that rule too. I'd love to know what products you are using.

ars 7y ago
Hubitat Elevation: https://hubitat.com/ https://hubitat.com/ It runs entirely locally.
thedanbob 7y ago
I don't have a lot hooked up yet, mostly just the software infrastructure. I'm building it all around Home Assistant. That integrates nicely with my Unifi network controller, which gives me presence detection (phones connecting / disconnecting). I have one Sonoff wifi switch which I reflashed to work with MQTT, mostly as a proof of concept, but now that I know it works I'll probably get a pile more. And I have a Honeywell T6 Pro thermostat (z-wave) on the way.
erinnh 7y ago
I have lots of Tradfri Ikea products. They are officially designed to work offline. Otherwise zigbee and z-wave products mostly work completely offline. Some Xiaomi products (you need to be careful, as not all work offline) work offline and can be connected to local servers. For shutters I use products by Rademacher. Its yet another base station (by now I have 4...), but they can be connected over http locally.

TylerE 7y ago

I can think of obvious reasons you'd want at least some devices cloud connected - for one, if some sort of disaster (fire, tornado, etc) hits your home, you probably want your surveillance getting off-site in realtime.

thedanbob 7y ago
Fair point. I suppose I should have said "nothing someone-else's-cloud connected". I'm actually considering setting up remote access on my system, but if I do it will be through a server I control.

stiray 7y ago

Exactly. I have hard time finding automated vacuum cleaner that doesnt connect to cloud, do you have some suggestion for vacuum cleaner that doesnt suffer on features?

erinnh 7y ago
Afaik, the Roomba can be used totally offline with Home Assistant and the like. Not sure if all versions can be made to do this or just some.
srnvs 7y ago
There are lot of robotic vacuum cleaners that do not need to be connected to the Wi-Fi. Eufy 11S by Anker is one example

zw123456 7y ago

Yup, totally agree. One thing I have found is that many of these devices use the venerable and cheap ESP8266 chip which is extraordinarily easy to hack. It can't really be factory flashed so the programming pins are almost always padded out on the PCB. So I get WeMo or cheap knock offs for example, and reflash 'em with my own code so it basically is only on my wifi network.

thedanbob 7y ago
Yup, that’s what’s in my Sonoff switch. I love the ESP8266, it’s the reason I got a serial programming cable in the first place, long before I was interested in home automation.
- StavrosK 7y ago
  I pretty much based my home automation on Sonoff devices. I use Espurna and it's fantastic, and I wrote a small server for updates. I compile my custom firmware (so I don't have to set up new devices all the time, I just flash and they're ready), drop it on a directory on my NAS and all the devices in the house automatically update themselves.