4 ms·

What kept me for the smart home train is the lack of need. I am still trying to grasp what it would improve to my life

LeafItAlone 3y ago
I was like that too, for a long time. But for me, it comes down convenience, rather than need. Some examples: 1. I have a smart lock on the front door. Now when friends/family want to visit and I’m not around, I don’t need to hide a key that they then can lose. They just get a code that I can have expire when they leave. 2. I am constantly either too hot or too cold. Being able to change the thermostat from where I am means I don’t have to interrupt whatever I’m doing and walk across the house. 3. Same with lights. I can climb into bed, tell my phone “goodnight”, and it shuts off all lights and locks the door. Again, nothing that is “necessary”, and sometimes I feel lazy because of it, but it results in fewer interruptions. The one use case I use that I can’t really replicate without smart home, is being able to remotely toggle power. Smart outlets mean I can hard reset an unresponsive server, camera, or other device.
nvy 3y ago
>I am still trying to grasp what it would improve to my life I mean yeah, once the novelty wears off of having Siri turn off your lights to impress your boomer neighbours, or whatever, there seems to be no real "killer app" for home automation. However there are a lot of small things I wouldn't mind having: - The aforementioned "hey your tree is too dry" push notifications on my phone - No need to get out of bed to check the downstairs deadbolt(s) - Automatic and/or manually-controlled activation of garden bed hoses with some kind of zigbee solenoid valve or something
- lostlogin 3y ago
  > Automatic and/or manually-controlled activation of garden bed hoses with some kind of zigbee solenoid valve or something A basic smart plug does this for me. I hooked one up to a cheap solenoid that opens a valve when powered up. It was very inexpensive and had been very reliable. It’s just on a TP-Link Kasa smart plug. It’s also in HA so that if I forget to turn it off, it turns itself off after 10 mins.
  - kevstev 3y ago
    Do you know which solenoid you used? I am not sure if our definitions of cheap are different, but I looked at this about a month ago and the options I found were fairly pricey, but would hopefully be more robust than the rainbird system I had go bust on me after three years.
    - lostlogin 3y ago
      I think it was the below - note this is in New Zealand dollars (half the value of US dollars). https://www.bunnings.co.nz/k-rain-solenoid-valve_p3120237 https://www.bunnings.co.nz/k-rain-solenoid-valve_p3120237
      - kevstev 3y ago
        Appreciate this! I did see some plastic ones around this price range, I guess it was just a bit more than I expected to pay. I noticed that this one just has leads- did you wire it into a plug yourself? Any concerns around doing that in a waterproof way? I often find that "prototyping" these types of projects is fairly easy, but making them into a "product" that looks good and will be reliable is much much more difficult.
        lostlogin 3y ago
        I found a transformer with bare wires that was the right voltage and wired it up. It was from a local electronics store (Jaycar). It’s in a dry area so getting wet isn’t an issue for me. I think I could make it quite tidy and waterproof if I needed too - the lower voltage makes me comfortable with that. It’s been in use for several years now and has been rock solid.
theshrike79 3y ago
It's the small things. 1. My hallway lights come up at the correct intensity and light temp for the day every time there is motion. They also turn off at different speeds depending on the time of day. (at night, min brightness, yellow light, turn off after 30 seconds - someone is just waddling to the bathroom. in the day, full brightness, 6500K light, turn off after 5 mins) 2. I can control my AC remotely with my phone and it automatically manages itself depending on the price of the electricity (I'm on a hourly market-rate plan). If the price is low, it'll over-cool my house at night and cost for the morning. 3. Voice-controlled profiles for complex setups. Gaming = pull down the curtain on the window that shines on the TV, turn off a few lights that glare on it. Movies = all curtains down, all lights off. Even the one from the bedroom, because it shines to the couch in full darkness. 4. Smart switches that turn off lights that don't have a direct electrical connection. 5. A switch beside the door that turns off all lights and a few appliances in the kitchen that have no business being powered when I'm not at home.
zimpenfish 3y ago
> I am still trying to grasp what it would improve to my life HomeAssistant does the following for me: + captures all the weather stuff into one page (internal + external sensors combined with "official" weather reports) + automates the little fan heater to warm up the bedroom pre-bedtime if required (also provides all the controls on a page) + captures the oven temp probes onto a page (means you don't have to walk into the kitchen to check) I can do all these individually but that'd still be a "smart home", just more faff for me.
alkonaut 3y ago
That's definitely the sound approach. But there tends to eventually be a few gadgets here and there that have clear benefits. Not the whole voice-controlled whole house lighting effect things that might be the typical showcases, but for example controlling two aircon units with different manufacturers in one place instead of having to use either to remotes or two apps. Because the smart tech tends to creep into peoples home whether they want it or not these days. Maybe the aircon comes without a remote (the app is the remote). Most obviously then use the manufcturer's default setup which is each manufacturer having their own "smart" apps for their gadgets. What's worse is that each of them tend to think that their apps and products should be at the center of the stack, so each manufacturer of window blinds, air cons or routers have their own (terrible) closed version of Home Assistant. But nothing properly integrates everything and you are left with one app to control your AC and another for some lighting and a third for your garage door. So when I use Home Assistant it's really because I want to use less smart tech. I want very few smart features but I want to use just one app for the smart features I do need, and I want to avoid using an app at all if I can help it. So I don't want to dig up and use 10 apps for gadgets around my house. I have zero interest in voice controlling anything. For example I want the lights to switch off when I leave (arm the alarm). I want anything that would be an alarm (Fridge too warm, smoke detector beeping) to also go off in my pocket. That peace of mind stuff. That's easy with HA.
PMunch 3y ago
I've been into home automation stuff for a while, and it certainly feels like this with a lot of products/services. Part of it is definitely just the feeling of living in the future. That said some stuff is really nice, but typically require more than your average "smart home". In my mind I've made a distinction between "smart home" and "convoluted home" devices. A "convoluted home" device would be something like an app controlled light. The simple one-step process of flicking a switch is now a multi-step process of unlocking your phone, finding the app, and turning it off. Sure it has more features like changing the temperature or colour of the light, but it's not "smart". The "smart" part of a system comes with interactions and logic between systems. An example that I have in my house is that my phone sends the time of the next alarm and an event whenever it is connected or disconnected from a charger. So half an hour before my alarm goes of the lights in the bedroom slowly dim up, waking me up gently. When the alarm rings it will turn on the rest of the lights in my house to full brightness and white light. Then in the evening, at a set time, the lights will start getting warmer, and then dim down helping me get sleepy before bedtime. And then when I connect my phone to my charger at night the lights in the whole house turns of. This is "smart". It means I barely if ever touch light switches any longer, don't have to remember to turn of lights at night, and that my natural day/night cycle works better. With presence detection based on whether the phone is connected to the WiFi you could also turn lights off completely while I'm gone. With controllable ovens you could extend the system to turn down the heat to save power. The list goes on and on, but the thing which makes it all possible is not so much the "smart"-ness of the individual device, but the combined "smart" of all the interconnected systems.
ianburrell 3y ago
Home automation provides lots of little advantages but it is hard to tell if it is worth the effort or cost. My first home automation was smart switch for upstairs AC so could turn it on without going into the heat. The main motivator for Home Assistant was turning on porch light from outside. Now, I mostly turn on room lights from remote switch across the room; time saved is small but it adds up. It is also handy to control things with voice. Home Assistant has enabled some automation and remote control. I have lights scheduled to turn on in evening when away. I have turned off lights from Uber on way to airport. Or turned on AC when house got super hot.

I was like that too, for a long time. But for me, it comes down convenience, rather than need. Some examples: 1. I have a smart lock on the front door. Now when friends/family want to visit and I’m not around, I don’t need to hide a key that they then can lose. They just get a code that I can have expire when they leave. 2. I am constantly either too hot or too cold. Being able to change the thermostat from where I am means I don’t have to interrupt whatever I’m doing and walk across the house. 3. Same with lights. I can climb into bed, tell my phone “goodnight”, and it shuts off all lights and locks the door. Again, nothing that is “necessary”, and sometimes I feel lazy because of it, but it results in fewer interruptions. The one use case I use that I can’t really replicate without smart home, is being able to remotely toggle power. Smart outlets mean I can hard reset an unresponsive server, camera, or other device.

nvy 3y ago

>I am still trying to grasp what it would improve to my life I mean yeah, once the novelty wears off of having Siri turn off your lights to impress your boomer neighbours, or whatever, there seems to be no real "killer app" for home automation. However there are a lot of small things I wouldn't mind having: - The aforementioned "hey your tree is too dry" push notifications on my phone - No need to get out of bed to check the downstairs deadbolt(s) - Automatic and/or manually-controlled activation of garden bed hoses with some kind of zigbee solenoid valve or something

lostlogin 3y ago
> Automatic and/or manually-controlled activation of garden bed hoses with some kind of zigbee solenoid valve or something A basic smart plug does this for me. I hooked one up to a cheap solenoid that opens a valve when powered up. It was very inexpensive and had been very reliable. It’s just on a TP-Link Kasa smart plug. It’s also in HA so that if I forget to turn it off, it turns itself off after 10 mins.
- kevstev 3y ago
  Do you know which solenoid you used? I am not sure if our definitions of cheap are different, but I looked at this about a month ago and the options I found were fairly pricey, but would hopefully be more robust than the rainbird system I had go bust on me after three years.
  - lostlogin 3y ago
    I think it was the below - note this is in New Zealand dollars (half the value of US dollars). https://www.bunnings.co.nz/k-rain-solenoid-valve_p3120237 https://www.bunnings.co.nz/k-rain-solenoid-valve_p3120237
    - kevstev 3y ago
      Appreciate this! I did see some plastic ones around this price range, I guess it was just a bit more than I expected to pay. I noticed that this one just has leads- did you wire it into a plug yourself? Any concerns around doing that in a waterproof way? I often find that "prototyping" these types of projects is fairly easy, but making them into a "product" that looks good and will be reliable is much much more difficult.
      - lostlogin 3y ago
        I found a transformer with bare wires that was the right voltage and wired it up. It was from a local electronics store (Jaycar). It’s in a dry area so getting wet isn’t an issue for me. I think I could make it quite tidy and waterproof if I needed too - the lower voltage makes me comfortable with that. It’s been in use for several years now and has been rock solid.

theshrike79 3y ago

It's the small things. 1. My hallway lights come up at the correct intensity and light temp for the day every time there is motion. They also turn off at different speeds depending on the time of day. (at night, min brightness, yellow light, turn off after 30 seconds - someone is just waddling to the bathroom. in the day, full brightness, 6500K light, turn off after 5 mins) 2. I can control my AC remotely with my phone and it automatically manages itself depending on the price of the electricity (I'm on a hourly market-rate plan). If the price is low, it'll over-cool my house at night and cost for the morning. 3. Voice-controlled profiles for complex setups. Gaming = pull down the curtain on the window that shines on the TV, turn off a few lights that glare on it. Movies = all curtains down, all lights off. Even the one from the bedroom, because it shines to the couch in full darkness. 4. Smart switches that turn off lights that don't have a direct electrical connection. 5. A switch beside the door that turns off all lights and a few appliances in the kitchen that have no business being powered when I'm not at home.

zimpenfish 3y ago

> I am still trying to grasp what it would improve to my life HomeAssistant does the following for me: + captures all the weather stuff into one page (internal + external sensors combined with "official" weather reports) + automates the little fan heater to warm up the bedroom pre-bedtime if required (also provides all the controls on a page) + captures the oven temp probes onto a page (means you don't have to walk into the kitchen to check) I can do all these individually but that'd still be a "smart home", just more faff for me.

alkonaut 3y ago

That's definitely the sound approach. But there tends to eventually be a few gadgets here and there that have clear benefits. Not the whole voice-controlled whole house lighting effect things that might be the typical showcases, but for example controlling two aircon units with different manufacturers in one place instead of having to use either to remotes or two apps. Because the smart tech tends to creep into peoples home whether they want it or not these days. Maybe the aircon comes without a remote (the app is the remote). Most obviously then use the manufcturer's default setup which is each manufacturer having their own "smart" apps for their gadgets. What's worse is that each of them tend to think that their apps and products should be at the center of the stack, so each manufacturer of window blinds, air cons or routers have their own (terrible) closed version of Home Assistant. But nothing properly integrates everything and you are left with one app to control your AC and another for some lighting and a third for your garage door. So when I use Home Assistant it's really because I want to use less smart tech. I want very few smart features but I want to use just one app for the smart features I do need, and I want to avoid using an app at all if I can help it. So I don't want to dig up and use 10 apps for gadgets around my house. I have zero interest in voice controlling anything. For example I want the lights to switch off when I leave (arm the alarm). I want anything that would be an alarm (Fridge too warm, smoke detector beeping) to also go off in my pocket. That peace of mind stuff. That's easy with HA.

PMunch 3y ago

I've been into home automation stuff for a while, and it certainly feels like this with a lot of products/services. Part of it is definitely just the feeling of living in the future. That said some stuff is really nice, but typically require more than your average "smart home". In my mind I've made a distinction between "smart home" and "convoluted home" devices. A "convoluted home" device would be something like an app controlled light. The simple one-step process of flicking a switch is now a multi-step process of unlocking your phone, finding the app, and turning it off. Sure it has more features like changing the temperature or colour of the light, but it's not "smart". The "smart" part of a system comes with interactions and logic between systems. An example that I have in my house is that my phone sends the time of the next alarm and an event whenever it is connected or disconnected from a charger. So half an hour before my alarm goes of the lights in the bedroom slowly dim up, waking me up gently. When the alarm rings it will turn on the rest of the lights in my house to full brightness and white light. Then in the evening, at a set time, the lights will start getting warmer, and then dim down helping me get sleepy before bedtime. And then when I connect my phone to my charger at night the lights in the whole house turns of. This is "smart". It means I barely if ever touch light switches any longer, don't have to remember to turn of lights at night, and that my natural day/night cycle works better. With presence detection based on whether the phone is connected to the WiFi you could also turn lights off completely while I'm gone. With controllable ovens you could extend the system to turn down the heat to save power. The list goes on and on, but the thing which makes it all possible is not so much the "smart"-ness of the individual device, but the combined "smart" of all the interconnected systems.

ianburrell 3y ago

Home automation provides lots of little advantages but it is hard to tell if it is worth the effort or cost. My first home automation was smart switch for upstairs AC so could turn it on without going into the heat. The main motivator for Home Assistant was turning on porch light from outside. Now, I mostly turn on room lights from remote switch across the room; time saved is small but it adds up. It is also handy to control things with voice. Home Assistant has enabled some automation and remote control. I have lights scheduled to turn on in evening when away. I have turned off lights from Uber on way to airport. Or turned on AC when house got super hot.