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I'm seriously considering getting rid of most of my smart home devices not because they suck but because the software to control it sucks. The Samsung Smart Thi

I'm seriously considering getting rid of most of my smart home devices not because they suck but because the software to control it sucks. The Samsung Smart Things app used to be so responsive, I could turn devices on and off without much delay. Now when I open up the app I have to restart it wait for it to connect, then wait for it to find every device, then 20 seconds later I can push a button that does something. That's unacceptable.

sithadmin 5y ago
Several of my friends that used to be on the SmartThings bandwagon have migrated to self-hosted Home Assistant and are much happier. I haven't made the jump myself yet, but plan to soon.
- belval 5y ago
  While I understand not everyone has time to tinker with it, to me Home-Assistant is really the only way to do smart homes in a way that brings value because of its flexibility with a real programmable interface. For example, I was able to code an action to start my espresso machine (which has a 20 minutes preheating time) by hooking it at the "first look at phone" event in the day. To me this is obviously something I would never agree to share with a company selling ads, but since it never leaves the premises it's pretty cool.
  - _huayra_ 5y ago
    While I'm on the HA bandwagon, I've recommended Hubitat to some less tech-tinkering-inclined family members with good success: https://hubitat.com/ https://hubitat.com/
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    Automating the coffee machine is amazing - it was my first foray into Home Automation. It saves time, it works great and can also be done before you get home at the weekends. The just-audible click at 6am followed by the sound of the boiler heating is very satisfying, even 5+ years after setting it up.
derencius 5y ago
xiaomi/aqara/yeelight gear works great most of the time, especially with Alexa integration.
madengr 5y ago
Yep, the Smart Things app has turned to shit. I’d also like to find some Zwave leak sensors that don’t arbitrarily trigger.
cdumler 5y ago
When I started my home automation, I wanted as little frustration as possible. I knew that you just can't rely on companies, so I ensured everything is controlled in-house. Use ZigBee. ZigBee devices create their own mesh network, so Wi-Fi can be down and things still work. ZigBee does use 2.4 GHz, so you may need to move your router to use a different frequency. Use a Hubitat Elevation or other dedicated server with ZigBee and a UPS power backup. Again, this means the automation logic is independent of the network. Wi-Fi and/or Internet can go down and home automation continues to work. The Hubitat has community driven package management. Once set up, it's a breeze to perform updates. If you still want to use Alexa, Google and Siri, use bridge software to the services. I use Home Bridge to give access to my Hubitat to HomeKit. Home Bridge in docker means upgrading is letting Watchtower do its thing. Home Bridge rebuilds it's plugins every start, so restarting the docker container brings everything up-to-date. The most unreliable part has been Google. I have Nest thermostats, and Google cancels the Home Bridge login token now and then. HomeKit integration is excellent, but I wish Siri wasn't so daft at times recognizing speech.
madaxe_again 5y ago
If you’re willing to take the time to set it up, openhab is actually pretty great. I’m using it here to manage a bunch of stuff, with absolute reliability. All of our stuff here is fail-stupid, so if any of the automation breaks, there failure mode is the least damaging one possible, and there always a manual override. We use it for: - PV, wind, generator, future hydro monitoring, power regulation, routing (water heaters come one when the batteries are nearly full, air rads come on when batteries are full and water is at 85. - Water management. Sensors in tanks, and river, tell us relevant levels. Pumps run when they need to to keep things topped up, but also based on power availability. - Agriculture. Got moisture and light sensors in each bed, valve on irrigation triggered by soil and sun conditions. Weather station at the house provides additional parameters. Going to add nutrients to the system in the future. - Lighting. Right now it’s just doing dimmers/LRGB for the home theatre - still can’t quite get it syncing up LRGB for ambient lighting based on display but working on it. Also, currently rigging up fairy lamps in the trees along the road to trigger based on presence.

sithadmin 5y ago

Several of my friends that used to be on the SmartThings bandwagon have migrated to self-hosted Home Assistant and are much happier. I haven't made the jump myself yet, but plan to soon.

belval 5y ago
While I understand not everyone has time to tinker with it, to me Home-Assistant is really the only way to do smart homes in a way that brings value because of its flexibility with a real programmable interface. For example, I was able to code an action to start my espresso machine (which has a 20 minutes preheating time) by hooking it at the "first look at phone" event in the day. To me this is obviously something I would never agree to share with a company selling ads, but since it never leaves the premises it's pretty cool.
- _huayra_ 5y ago
  While I'm on the HA bandwagon, I've recommended Hubitat to some less tech-tinkering-inclined family members with good success: https://hubitat.com/ https://hubitat.com/
- lostlogin 5y ago
  Automating the coffee machine is amazing - it was my first foray into Home Automation. It saves time, it works great and can also be done before you get home at the weekends. The just-audible click at 6am followed by the sound of the boiler heating is very satisfying, even 5+ years after setting it up.

derencius 5y ago

xiaomi/aqara/yeelight gear works great most of the time, especially with Alexa integration.

madengr 5y ago

Yep, the Smart Things app has turned to shit. I’d also like to find some Zwave leak sensors that don’t arbitrarily trigger.

cdumler 5y ago

When I started my home automation, I wanted as little frustration as possible. I knew that you just can't rely on companies, so I ensured everything is controlled in-house. Use ZigBee. ZigBee devices create their own mesh network, so Wi-Fi can be down and things still work. ZigBee does use 2.4 GHz, so you may need to move your router to use a different frequency. Use a Hubitat Elevation or other dedicated server with ZigBee and a UPS power backup. Again, this means the automation logic is independent of the network. Wi-Fi and/or Internet can go down and home automation continues to work. The Hubitat has community driven package management. Once set up, it's a breeze to perform updates. If you still want to use Alexa, Google and Siri, use bridge software to the services. I use Home Bridge to give access to my Hubitat to HomeKit. Home Bridge in docker means upgrading is letting Watchtower do its thing. Home Bridge rebuilds it's plugins every start, so restarting the docker container brings everything up-to-date. The most unreliable part has been Google. I have Nest thermostats, and Google cancels the Home Bridge login token now and then. HomeKit integration is excellent, but I wish Siri wasn't so daft at times recognizing speech.

madaxe_again 5y ago

If you’re willing to take the time to set it up, openhab is actually pretty great. I’m using it here to manage a bunch of stuff, with absolute reliability. All of our stuff here is fail-stupid, so if any of the automation breaks, there failure mode is the least damaging one possible, and there always a manual override. We use it for: - PV, wind, generator, future hydro monitoring, power regulation, routing (water heaters come one when the batteries are nearly full, air rads come on when batteries are full and water is at 85. - Water management. Sensors in tanks, and river, tell us relevant levels. Pumps run when they need to to keep things topped up, but also based on power availability. - Agriculture. Got moisture and light sensors in each bed, valve on irrigation triggered by soil and sun conditions. Weather station at the house provides additional parameters. Going to add nutrients to the system in the future. - Lighting. Right now it’s just doing dimmers/LRGB for the home theatre - still can’t quite get it syncing up LRGB for ambient lighting based on display but working on it. Also, currently rigging up fairy lamps in the trees along the road to trigger based on presence.