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>As for switches, it's a digital system, if the switch breaks you are carrying a device capable of fulfilling the same function in your pocket If the service/a

>As for switches, it's a digital system, if the switch breaks you are carrying a device capable of fulfilling the same function in your pocket If the service/app is still around. And your IoT system? Is it compatible with the latest ver of android or iPhone? Many of these companies come and go very quickly. Pretty much as soon as the VC funding runs out, or they want to go play with 'their newest stack'. Then you get to spend another 200 bucks for a new 'hub' so the app can work again. Then hope the new hub can interpolate with the old gear. Else you get to update that too. Home IoT gets one thing very wrong and it is why many do not want it. Timeframes are measured in 1-3 years instead of 1-3 decades. I know what timeframes I expect different parts of my system to work in. Short timeframes for toggle switches feels wrong. Because I can spend 3 bucks and have a switch that lasts decades with nearly zero upkeep and little to no ongoing monetary cost. Also support is kind of random. Take for example Linus tech tips. He went full on into home automation. Yet even being a decent name in tech, the company that sold him his switches could not give him the right thing. He has a good chunk of his switches that may or may not do what he needs. Firmware update would fix it. But to do that he has to buy random update stations that may or may not come with the firmware. That is 1 toggle switch with a motion sensor. Stack all of that together and you get random 'well this bit does not work right'. I really do not want random when I walk into a room if the light will turn on and stay on. Then do what it says on the tin and turn off when I leave. If Linus can not get these companies to do the right thing what hope do I have? Home automation for me is in that uncanny valley of frustration and magical. I used to write industrial ones. My timeframe of 'it has to work for a long time' is very jaded by that. I can see you and I are optimizing for different results. I am optimizing for 'do not have to mess with it again or as little as possible' and you are optimizing for 'check out what my house does'. Both are worthy goals.

dotnet00 4y ago
>If the service/app is still around. And your IoT system? Is it compatible with the latest ver of android or iPhone? Many of these companies come and go very quickly. Pretty much as soon as the VC funding runs out, or they want to go play with 'their newest stack'. Then you get to spend another 200 bucks for a new 'hub' so the app can work again. Then hope the new hub can interpolate with the old gear. Else you get to update that too. My 'service/app' is an open source program (Home Assistant and Zigbee2MQTT, although previously I have used NodeRed instead to provide the browser based control panel), the hub is an old server with a usb dongle with open source firmware. While there is an app available, there doesn't have to be one as there is also a browser based interface (which doesn't have to be exposed to the internet). The bulbs are a mix of various cheap brands off Amazon which are popular enough to have good support. Sure, I have the benefit that as a techy I can handle (and to an extent enjoy) maintaining this, but that's mostly a matter of proper packaging, as it isn't a particularly complex thing to set up and is pretty close to zero maintenance.

dotnet00 4y ago

>If the service/app is still around. And your IoT system? Is it compatible with the latest ver of android or iPhone? Many of these companies come and go very quickly. Pretty much as soon as the VC funding runs out, or they want to go play with 'their newest stack'. Then you get to spend another 200 bucks for a new 'hub' so the app can work again. Then hope the new hub can interpolate with the old gear. Else you get to update that too. My 'service/app' is an open source program (Home Assistant and Zigbee2MQTT, although previously I have used NodeRed instead to provide the browser based control panel), the hub is an old server with a usb dongle with open source firmware. While there is an app available, there doesn't have to be one as there is also a browser based interface (which doesn't have to be exposed to the internet). The bulbs are a mix of various cheap brands off Amazon which are popular enough to have good support. Sure, I have the benefit that as a techy I can handle (and to an extent enjoy) maintaining this, but that's mostly a matter of proper packaging, as it isn't a particularly complex thing to set up and is pretty close to zero maintenance.