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Specialized IoT controllers are massively oversold. Most people don't need one, including hobbyists and HN commentors. I've developed this opinion after several

Specialized IoT controllers are massively oversold. Most people don't need one, including hobbyists and HN commentors. I've developed this opinion after several years of work in IoT. At the link layer, just use WiFi. If power is an issue, there's 802.15.4 and 6LoWPAN (bridged to WiFi). At the network layer, it's a regular LAN. Lastly, at the application layer, most devices stand on their own. 90% of the value in a smart doorbell is derived from its connection to your smartphone, not whether it can talk to your thermostat or smoke detector. To evaluate the truth of this statement, walk down Home Depot's "Smart Home" aisle and count products which support complex multi-device interactions, or advertise these interactions as core features.

gerdesj 5y ago
You forgot to mention the most important thing. If it is important then it should work despite the internet and ideally, despite the LAN/WLAN. My home doorbell triggers a battery backed chime as well as all the other funky stuff. The chime is always first before our phones and the Sonos thingies go berserk. I monitor the battery on the chime too because the Home Assistant tells me to on a schedule. I use my multimeter. If I am down the garden, I can't hear the chime but I have a phone on me normally and the lights on the summer house blinking in morse is a give away if the mower is drowning out the phone. Tools for the job. ... Yes I do have quite a lot of time on my hands ...
bluGill 5y ago
Home assistant said this better than you from the start: https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/01/19/perfect-home-automation/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/01/19/perfect-home-a... Once you realize where you are right and where you are wrong you can start asking if and how automation might help you personally.
novok 5y ago
So what would you recommend as a wifi item? A lot of them seem to be crap, and don't you get issues with having +30 low frequency, low bandwidth wifi items added to your home network, along with the 30 other ones at your home already? How about remote exploits of those devices? The fact that wifi 'can't handle a 100 small devices well' was sold to me as a reason to go z-wave 5 years ago.

gerdesj 5y ago

You forgot to mention the most important thing. If it is important then it should work despite the internet and ideally, despite the LAN/WLAN. My home doorbell triggers a battery backed chime as well as all the other funky stuff. The chime is always first before our phones and the Sonos thingies go berserk. I monitor the battery on the chime too because the Home Assistant tells me to on a schedule. I use my multimeter. If I am down the garden, I can't hear the chime but I have a phone on me normally and the lights on the summer house blinking in morse is a give away if the mower is drowning out the phone. Tools for the job. ... Yes I do have quite a lot of time on my hands ...

bluGill 5y ago

Home assistant said this better than you from the start: https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/01/19/perfect-home-automation/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/01/19/perfect-home-a... Once you realize where you are right and where you are wrong you can start asking if and how automation might help you personally.

novok 5y ago

So what would you recommend as a wifi item? A lot of them seem to be crap, and don't you get issues with having +30 low frequency, low bandwidth wifi items added to your home network, along with the 30 other ones at your home already? How about remote exploits of those devices? The fact that wifi 'can't handle a 100 small devices well' was sold to me as a reason to go z-wave 5 years ago.