3 ms·

I love how much of "smart home" stuff is so objectively stupid on the face of it. "the ability to schedule everything!" but no one lives by such a tightly defin

I love how much of "smart home" stuff is so objectively stupid on the face of it. "the ability to schedule everything!" but no one lives by such a tightly defined schedule, nor wants to. "Remote control!" which is rarely needed and often overbalanced by the unauthorized access risks. "Monitoring / data generation" which no one ever wants for any good reason: see also "unauthorized access". Anything that actually needs controls is having those removed from the consumer facing parts: What can you make your "smart TV" do vs what the manufacturer can modify? how about your "smart" phone? Anyone think the "internet enabled appliances" aren't going the same way?

silvestrov 4y ago
> tightly defined schedule I really miss the ability to say "turn on lights 15 minutes before sun sets", i.e. a time that is relative to the time of year (and your location).
- h2odragon 4y ago
  Control the light with a slightly shaded photocell. The simple analog solution beats the complicated calculations; and as a bonus is weather sensitive etc.
- bouke 4y ago
  HomeKit can actually do this.
- gruturo 4y ago
  I know Homeassistant can be somewhat polarizing, but this is (once you're familiar with its syntax) fairly trivial. For example, a condition triggering when the sun is 10 degrees over the horizon: trigger: - platform: numeric_state entity_id: sun.sun attribute: elevation below: '10' (I hope this doesn't get mangled by the HN parser)
isitmadeofglass 4y ago
> "the ability to schedule everything!" but no one lives by such a tightly defined schedule We schedule the dishwasher and washer. We have solar panels so we run them I the middle of the day when we aren’t home but the sun is at its peak. We schedule the lights to turn on in the morning because we have a schedule for when we get up due to work. We schedule the radiators because we know we aren’t home midday, but still want it warm in the evening when we arrive home. None of this feels like “a tightly defined schedule” it’s just set to some reasonable assumptions when we set stuff up. And If myself or my SO works from home it’s just two taps in the app to keep the hearing going, if we have a weekday off and want to sleep in, it’s two taps as well. None of that is overly complicated and I’d compare it to what you used to need to do with your “dump alarmclock” or manually controlled “dumb radiator”, now it’s just an app.
- antiquark 4y ago
  > We schedule the dishwasher An old dishwasher repairman once told me you shouldn't run the dishwasher when you're not home, because sometimes the valve sticks open and floods the kitchen (which he had seen).
  - doubled112 4y ago
    I try not to leave mine unattended either. My dishwasher will unload water onto the floor if you put items in the wrong place. A friend's dishwasher will unload enough water to fill a 24" planter on certain cycles, under conditions he's not figured out yet. They're terrible. I'm not asking for a lot. Clean dishes, water stays in. At least they have WiFi now /s. Priorities!
  - nixgeek 4y ago
    Having seen the effects of floods from appliances and plumbing, deploying sensors for water leaks is very high on my list of recommended “smarts” for home owners. Sinks. Toilets. Dishwashers. Washing machines. Being aware of leaks and catching them early can save >$10000 (or a significant insurance claim). Just being home isn’t necessarily enough - you’re working from an office upstairs, are you going to notice a leak? Or will it leak for 3 hours until you notice, at which point it’s equivalent to running it when you’re out of the home?
    - Arrath 4y ago
      For real. A co-worker went home last week to find water pouring out of his front door. Cause? The toilet feed line had failed sometime during the day. His entire apartment was ankle deep or more. I could see some form of sensors plus a solenoid driven valve on the water main being infinitely valuable to help limit the extent of the damage in such a case.
      - h2odragon 4y ago
        whole house cutoff valve right near floor level with a float valve arrangement. if the float rises the valve shuts off. simple. analog. all that's required is that the valve be able to actuate after N+ years of disuse, which is actually a tall order.
bdcravens 4y ago
The last 6 months or so I've been fighting our home's Nest. It'll randomly jack up the temperature according to whatever bizarre learning algorithm it supposedly has.
- IshKebab 4y ago
  You know you can just turn the learning algorithm off? I pretty much use it as an easy to program dumb thermostat, with the added nice ability to change the temperature remotely (good when coming home from holiday and you want the house warm) or via voice assistant (great if you're in bed or whatever).
  - bdcravens 4y ago
    I've looked throughout their interface, and I can't seem to find that option. What you describe is exactly what I want. I'll give it another look.
    - IshKebab 4y ago
      In the app go to settings, then select your thermostats at the bottom, then turn Auto-Schedule off (and maybe some of the other smart options).
silisili 4y ago
Just bought a Samsung appliance set...and the range apparently works with smartthings. Wasn't a deciding factor, but just decided to play with it because I thought there may be some value in being able to make sure the oven is off from afar. So, the only thing you can actually do is preheat the oven, and flick the oven light off and on. Can't turn it off if it's already on, can't turn burners off if they're on. I have zero idea why you'd ever want to control the light from afar. So essentially, it's 'smart abilities' are mind bogglingly useless. Oh well.

silvestrov 4y ago

> tightly defined schedule I really miss the ability to say "turn on lights 15 minutes before sun sets", i.e. a time that is relative to the time of year (and your location).

h2odragon 4y ago
Control the light with a slightly shaded photocell. The simple analog solution beats the complicated calculations; and as a bonus is weather sensitive etc.
bouke 4y ago
HomeKit can actually do this.
gruturo 4y ago
I know Homeassistant can be somewhat polarizing, but this is (once you're familiar with its syntax) fairly trivial. For example, a condition triggering when the sun is 10 degrees over the horizon: trigger: - platform: numeric_state entity_id: sun.sun attribute: elevation below: '10' (I hope this doesn't get mangled by the HN parser)

isitmadeofglass 4y ago

> "the ability to schedule everything!" but no one lives by such a tightly defined schedule We schedule the dishwasher and washer. We have solar panels so we run them I the middle of the day when we aren’t home but the sun is at its peak. We schedule the lights to turn on in the morning because we have a schedule for when we get up due to work. We schedule the radiators because we know we aren’t home midday, but still want it warm in the evening when we arrive home. None of this feels like “a tightly defined schedule” it’s just set to some reasonable assumptions when we set stuff up. And If myself or my SO works from home it’s just two taps in the app to keep the hearing going, if we have a weekday off and want to sleep in, it’s two taps as well. None of that is overly complicated and I’d compare it to what you used to need to do with your “dump alarmclock” or manually controlled “dumb radiator”, now it’s just an app.

antiquark 4y ago
> We schedule the dishwasher An old dishwasher repairman once told me you shouldn't run the dishwasher when you're not home, because sometimes the valve sticks open and floods the kitchen (which he had seen).
- doubled112 4y ago
  I try not to leave mine unattended either. My dishwasher will unload water onto the floor if you put items in the wrong place. A friend's dishwasher will unload enough water to fill a 24" planter on certain cycles, under conditions he's not figured out yet. They're terrible. I'm not asking for a lot. Clean dishes, water stays in. At least they have WiFi now /s. Priorities!
- nixgeek 4y ago
  Having seen the effects of floods from appliances and plumbing, deploying sensors for water leaks is very high on my list of recommended “smarts” for home owners. Sinks. Toilets. Dishwashers. Washing machines. Being aware of leaks and catching them early can save >$10000 (or a significant insurance claim). Just being home isn’t necessarily enough - you’re working from an office upstairs, are you going to notice a leak? Or will it leak for 3 hours until you notice, at which point it’s equivalent to running it when you’re out of the home?
  - Arrath 4y ago
    For real. A co-worker went home last week to find water pouring out of his front door. Cause? The toilet feed line had failed sometime during the day. His entire apartment was ankle deep or more. I could see some form of sensors plus a solenoid driven valve on the water main being infinitely valuable to help limit the extent of the damage in such a case.
    - h2odragon 4y ago
      whole house cutoff valve right near floor level with a float valve arrangement. if the float rises the valve shuts off. simple. analog. all that's required is that the valve be able to actuate after N+ years of disuse, which is actually a tall order.

bdcravens 4y ago

The last 6 months or so I've been fighting our home's Nest. It'll randomly jack up the temperature according to whatever bizarre learning algorithm it supposedly has.

IshKebab 4y ago
You know you can just turn the learning algorithm off? I pretty much use it as an easy to program dumb thermostat, with the added nice ability to change the temperature remotely (good when coming home from holiday and you want the house warm) or via voice assistant (great if you're in bed or whatever).
- bdcravens 4y ago
  I've looked throughout their interface, and I can't seem to find that option. What you describe is exactly what I want. I'll give it another look.
  - IshKebab 4y ago
    In the app go to settings, then select your thermostats at the bottom, then turn Auto-Schedule off (and maybe some of the other smart options).

silisili 4y ago

Just bought a Samsung appliance set...and the range apparently works with smartthings. Wasn't a deciding factor, but just decided to play with it because I thought there may be some value in being able to make sure the oven is off from afar. So, the only thing you can actually do is preheat the oven, and flick the oven light off and on. Can't turn it off if it's already on, can't turn burners off if they're on. I have zero idea why you'd ever want to control the light from afar. So essentially, it's 'smart abilities' are mind bogglingly useless. Oh well.