221–230 of 317 posts
I don't get it. What's the point in these systems? Genuinely. Why would I ever need this? Just like a "smart" doorbell, fridge, meter. I would love for someone to be able to explain the benefits to me over the normal, cheap, completely working "dump" version. The only "smart" device I own is a TV and it is crap, worse thing I've ever bought.
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The easy solution is to have the intelligence in the lightbulbs the way Philips, Osram and IKEA did on their Zigbee based systems. I have all lights (100+) in the house on Zigbee but without changing any wiring. Only non standard is that I replaced all the wall switches with a variant that's electrically "always on" and sends a Zigbee command when pressed (and can be pulled out to access a traditional physical switch…
What Zigbee switches are you using?
Everything is controlled via Homeassistant+Deconz and a Phoscon Zigbee Dongle.
It's even possible to hack the IKEA switches into the danish wall switches.
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1970s technology appears to be 3 times the price of a WiFi switch though :) (...not including 16USD delivery...) Do clappers hear through doors and across different floors? E.g. in bed upstairs and light is on downstairs? Plus would one clap not turnnoff everything that hears a clap, and not just the thing you want off but leave other things on? And can it auto clap itself off/on at certain times when you are asleep/…
You might be amused to know my car is a 1972 Dodge.
I’ll stick to my physical dimmer switches, and “dim to warm” LEDs
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Here in The Netherlands and probably other parts of Europe, you are not allowed to run electricity and network or phone cables through the same tubes. Also the number of wires allowed in a single tube is limited. Many houses have concrete walls, floors and ceilings, so you don't run extra tubes easily... Reconfiguring switches is next to impossible and via existing switch wires you can dim/switch the lights but not c…
> Here in The Netherlands and probably other parts of Europe, you are not allowed to run electricity and network or phone cables through the same tubes. Presumably that is not because of interference concerns but because of the danger of mixing high voltage and low voltage circuits in the same conduit, right? As others have noted, conduit isn't usually used in houses in the west.
They are magic and don’t require a neutral cable, unlike just about every other smart dimmer, which means they can be swapped in place of literally any light switch in any home.
If the Lutron hub is unplugged, the switches continue to operate as normal light switches.
They also operate as normal light switches at all other times. So no need to teach every guest how to control the lights.
They are HomeKit compatible, so you only have to deal with Lutron’s trash app when pairing new switches with the hub.
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Crosstalk is when two wires are close together, one induces a voltage in the other (it's how transformers work). The trouble with house wiring is if you run a phone line parallel and close to an A/C line, it will induce a 60 cycle hum in the phone line, which will drive you utterly mad. The electrician was installing the cat3 phone wires in the same holes as the A/C wires. It was guaranteed to induce a hum. The corre…
> if you run a phone line parallel and close to an A/C line, it will induce a 60 cycle hum in the phone line Isn't twisting the pairs supposed to prevent that? Isn't that what makes it feasible to run telephone lines on the same poles as electricity, thus allowing the POTS system to be practical?
POTS is legacy now, so I'm not sure how much of a consideration it is for modern builds.
There are safety issues with running network and power cables close to each other, but generally on small domestic systems crosstalk between data and power shouldn't be a serious problem.
The exception is if you have a lot of hash on the power lines from USB chargers, unfiltered noisy motors, or white goods that generate both digital and analog noise.
Ferrites or other kinds of filtering can help. So can using shielded cat cable.
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The easy solution is to have the intelligence in the lightbulbs the way Philips, Osram and IKEA did on their Zigbee based systems. I have all lights (100+) in the house on Zigbee but without changing any wiring. Only non standard is that I replaced all the wall switches with a variant that's electrically "always on" and sends a Zigbee command when pressed (and can be pulled out to access a traditional physical switch…
I tried the IKEA bulbs. They have coil whine turned off any made my unable to fall asleep. Apparently it's a known issue: https://i.reddit.com/r/tradfri/comments/arlyiz/coil_whine_an... At the moment I have standalone lamps with Sonoff D1 dimmer and halogen (yes, really) bulbs that can actually be dimmed 0-100%.
It is insane how unreliable the ikea products have been and how terrible the interface is vs philips.
Does anyone here have any experience with KNX? It seems like the best wired system (without being locked into a single manufacturer), but from what I understand it's expensive and not aimed at DIYers. For context I'm in the process of building a house and like OP am considering Shelly modules, but it seems a bit silly to go wireless when I am doing everything from scratch.
It also combines various trades, lighting, heating, etc and is supported by 500 manufacturers.
Together with a friend who has more than 20 years experience, we published an ebook on how to get started without any prior knowledge. There is a free version at https://knxtutorial.com/knx
Contact me if you have any other questions.
I wouldn't buy a house with such a system in it, and I doubt anybody else will, either. Who wants to become an expert on these systems just to turn the lights on? Not a chance. I considered these systems when my house was built, and am very glad I didn't get them. I turn the switch on, the lights go on, I turn it off, the lights go off. I replace a bulb now and then. That's it! I'm very happy with it. But what I did…
Smart lighting only makes sense in niche cases. I use the same Z-wave switches in my 60s-era house for a basement guest bedroom where the light switch is bizarrely in a storage closet outside the bedroom. I have another Z-wave switch to turn on an existing front porch light at dusk. This spared me needing to install a separate photocell. The main value for smart home is in monitoring. I mostly use it for flood and do…
They are super useful for things like adding "sunrise" light in a bedroom with few windows/north facing, great for situations where you have a non ideal arrangement of light switches (one of my living room lights is on the switch circuit that my entry stairwell light is on). I also am very affected by light color temperature, so being able to easily transition lights from cool white to warm at night is very helpful for my sleep quality.