3 ms·

A lot of intelligent lighting solutions still give you physical switches, although that can create some annoying behaviours when recovering from power loss unle

A lot of intelligent lighting solutions still give you physical switches, although that can create some annoying behaviours when recovering from power loss unless the devices also had some solid state memory of their last on/off state.

stdbrouw 4y ago
Yeah, a lot is possible with current tech (e.g. you can tell Hue lights what to do after power is restored) and I think my own home automation gets pretty close, but I guess I was hoping to see a blog post from someone who had really thought it through and had come up with some "slightly intelligent" home automation do's and don'ts re: graceful degradation, avoiding lock-in, ease of use for other people in the home who may hate the idea of home automation, security, how to deal with hardware that fails, what automations are likely to be brittle and need frequent reconfiguration vs. what'll just keep on working, when to go with proprietary vs. DIY, how to document things etc.
tlavoie 4y ago
Really, that recovery after power loss is one of those minor-but-irritating things that seems to come up often. Couple examples: I bought a "smart" power bar, mostly for shits 'n giggles. Other than being able to control it with an app, and I don't, it could be any power bar. Except when we get a power blip, and every outlet returns to the default state of OFF when it comes back. An LED light fixture came with a remote. OK, fine, I don't really care. Our bedroom has four hard-wired multi-way switches, so I can turn it on or off from any doorway and beside the bed. The only problem is that while the fixture has controllable brightness and white balance, its default power-on setting is full brightness, "daylight" white balance. The only way to turn the light off and get it straight back to the desired settings is to do so solely via the little remote.

3 ms·

A lot of intelligent lighting solutions still give you physical switches, although that can create some annoying behaviours when recovering from power loss unle

by cbsmith 4y ago

stdbrouw 4y ago
Yeah, a lot is possible with current tech (e.g. you can tell Hue lights what to do after power is restored) and I think my own home automation gets pretty close, but I guess I was hoping to see a blog post from someone who had really thought it through and had come up with some "slightly intelligent" home automation do's and don'ts re: graceful degradation, avoiding lock-in, ease of use for other people in the home who may hate the idea of home automation, security, how to deal with hardware that fails, what automations are likely to be brittle and need frequent reconfiguration vs. what'll just keep on working, when to go with proprietary vs. DIY, how to document things etc.
tlavoie 4y ago
Really, that recovery after power loss is one of those minor-but-irritating things that seems to come up often. Couple examples: I bought a "smart" power bar, mostly for shits 'n giggles. Other than being able to control it with an app, and I don't, it could be any power bar. Except when we get a power blip, and every outlet returns to the default state of OFF when it comes back. An LED light fixture came with a remote. OK, fine, I don't really care. Our bedroom has four hard-wired multi-way switches, so I can turn it on or off from any doorway and beside the bed. The only problem is that while the fixture has controllable brightness and white balance, its default power-on setting is full brightness, "daylight" white balance. The only way to turn the light off and get it straight back to the desired settings is to do so solely via the little remote.