5 ms·

I'm curious what the state of the home automation installation/service market is these days; I do home renovation professionally and have a programming hobby so

I'm curious what the state of the home automation installation/service market is these days; I do home renovation professionally and have a programming hobby so this seems like a fun area to get into.

OJFord 7y ago
Extremely expensive proprietary kit, obsolete (or requiring expensive upgrade) after a fairly short lifespan. But of course the market for it doesn't care, and can pay for it. I've thought about it similarly to you, but because of the labour cost of installation, it's an expensive job whatever the cost of the hardware/software, so there's not really a reason for installers to use HomeAssistant, OpenHAB, and the like. The difference will be thousands for hardware, on top of tens of thousands for the whole install job.
- lgunsch 7y ago
  I work with Levven Controls, and what they offer to home builders is smart home controls on every switch and light in the entire home during construction, but for less cost than traditional wiring. There are no wires going to switch boxes, so that labour and material cost savings is enough to offset the cost of smart controls.
  - CrazyStat 7y ago
    I assume no wires means battery powered. How long do the batteries last? Will I need to replace the batteries in all my light switches every couple years?
    - ghaff 7y ago
      They claim 10+ years. https://levven.com/products/consumer-wireless-switch-controls/ https://levven.com/products/consumer-wireless-switch-control... but I don't have any personal experience. I know a couple of wireless X-10 switches I used to own lasted for a very long time. I'm not sure I ever replaced the batteries.
    - Symbiote 7y ago
      I have a similar system in my rented apartment, and there's no issue with batteries after 4 years so far. I wouldn't choose it. Every ten pushes of the switch, nothing happens, and there's no visible / feelable state of the position of a switch.
      - lgunsch 7y ago
        The tactile feedback part of the switch is definitely an area we have tagged for improvement.
    - lgunsch 7y ago
      Batteries last 10 - 15 years with regular usage (30 on/offs a day). They use just a regular button cell battery.
      - CrazyStat 7y ago
        Thanks! That seems pretty reasonable.
    - MarioMan 7y ago
      Some wireless switches use the force of flipping the switch itself to power the transmission: kinetic light switches. That means you need to press a bit harder, but there’s no need to replace batteries.
- Havoc 7y ago
  It's all stupid walled gardens from all the usual suspects. The alternative is a self hosted server like haome assistant. That works but requires tinkering
baseballMan 7y ago
I think it's at a pretty good state right now. A lot of the things you'll need aren't exactly cheap (in my opinion) but you can definitely automate a lot nowadays. Check out hassio if you're interested in this sorta stuff! https://www.home-assistant.io/hassio/ https://www.home-assistant.io/hassio/
- ghaff 7y ago
  I guess my perspective is pretty different. I have some basic monitoring but most of the things I could easily automate don't rise anywhere near the top of the list of things I care about. Turning lights on and off is basically something I don't even think about. It's cleaning, organizing, laundry, washing dishes, etc. that I'd really prefer not to do and--major appliances (and/or hiring someone) aside--there's no way to automate all that.
  - baseballMan 7y ago
    Yeah I think that it's more of a hobby for a lot of people than something that significantly improves their daily lives.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
t34543 7y ago
It’s lucrative. I work with URC. It’s more about integration and working around bugs/limitations. Programming isn’t so difficult compared to learning quirks of hardware. Knowing what receiver models work with a broken ARC implementation for example is something you learn on the job.

OJFord 7y ago

Extremely expensive proprietary kit, obsolete (or requiring expensive upgrade) after a fairly short lifespan. But of course the market for it doesn't care, and can pay for it. I've thought about it similarly to you, but because of the labour cost of installation, it's an expensive job whatever the cost of the hardware/software, so there's not really a reason for installers to use HomeAssistant, OpenHAB, and the like. The difference will be thousands for hardware, on top of tens of thousands for the whole install job.

lgunsch 7y ago
I work with Levven Controls, and what they offer to home builders is smart home controls on every switch and light in the entire home during construction, but for less cost than traditional wiring. There are no wires going to switch boxes, so that labour and material cost savings is enough to offset the cost of smart controls.
- CrazyStat 7y ago
  I assume no wires means battery powered. How long do the batteries last? Will I need to replace the batteries in all my light switches every couple years?
  - ghaff 7y ago
    They claim 10+ years. https://levven.com/products/consumer-wireless-switch-controls/ https://levven.com/products/consumer-wireless-switch-control... but I don't have any personal experience. I know a couple of wireless X-10 switches I used to own lasted for a very long time. I'm not sure I ever replaced the batteries.
  - Symbiote 7y ago
    I have a similar system in my rented apartment, and there's no issue with batteries after 4 years so far. I wouldn't choose it. Every ten pushes of the switch, nothing happens, and there's no visible / feelable state of the position of a switch.
    - lgunsch 7y ago
      The tactile feedback part of the switch is definitely an area we have tagged for improvement.
  - lgunsch 7y ago
    Batteries last 10 - 15 years with regular usage (30 on/offs a day). They use just a regular button cell battery.
    - CrazyStat 7y ago
      Thanks! That seems pretty reasonable.
  - MarioMan 7y ago
    Some wireless switches use the force of flipping the switch itself to power the transmission: kinetic light switches. That means you need to press a bit harder, but there’s no need to replace batteries.
Havoc 7y ago
It's all stupid walled gardens from all the usual suspects. The alternative is a self hosted server like haome assistant. That works but requires tinkering

baseballMan 7y ago

I think it's at a pretty good state right now. A lot of the things you'll need aren't exactly cheap (in my opinion) but you can definitely automate a lot nowadays. Check out hassio if you're interested in this sorta stuff! https://www.home-assistant.io/hassio/ https://www.home-assistant.io/hassio/

ghaff 7y ago
I guess my perspective is pretty different. I have some basic monitoring but most of the things I could easily automate don't rise anywhere near the top of the list of things I care about. Turning lights on and off is basically something I don't even think about. It's cleaning, organizing, laundry, washing dishes, etc. that I'd really prefer not to do and--major appliances (and/or hiring someone) aside--there's no way to automate all that.
- baseballMan 7y ago
  Yeah I think that it's more of a hobby for a lot of people than something that significantly improves their daily lives.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

t34543 7y ago

It’s lucrative. I work with URC. It’s more about integration and working around bugs/limitations. Programming isn’t so difficult compared to learning quirks of hardware. Knowing what receiver models work with a broken ARC implementation for example is something you learn on the job.