81–90 of 140 posts
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/google-soli-atap-research-2022/
It appears we're doing "smart home" again, so its time for my regular plea to stop calling shitty light switches automation. Automation is when you don't have to think about what state devices are in, and while it takes some tinkering can be achieved using something like Home Assistant to bridge various different devices together. Each room in my house has Hue bulbs in all the light sockets, and sensors which can det…
It's all great. My wife and I almost never have to pick up my phone (app) or whatever and things just happen the way we want, just by walking around the house and going through our normal activities.
Until... We're about to get a guest for a few months. Now, suddenly, everyone in the house won't be going to bed at the same time, or coming and going at the same time... I've had to make sure at least one room is "dumb" and I'll need to add a button or two. I'd heard of big "guest mode" switches, and now I'm going to need to develop one.
The best controller for lighting by far is the light switch. "Smart lightbulbs" behind dumb switches might seem like an easy solution, but it makes everything dumber (If you have a light switch you must not switch off because then you can't turn the "smart" light on, then you have a dumber house not a smarter one). Smart switches which fall back to regular switches if they malfunction is fantastic. Add some scenarios…
I personally like the Shelly switches. They're just WiFi relays, so you can control them remotely, but also use a normal wall switch to control them.
The best controller for lighting by far is the light switch. "Smart lightbulbs" behind dumb switches might seem like an easy solution, but it makes everything dumber (If you have a light switch you must not switch off because then you can't turn the "smart" light on, then you have a dumber house not a smarter one). Smart switches which fall back to regular switches if they malfunction is fantastic. Add some scenarios…
I know There are some that might work on a small current (so they ‘on’ all the time) but most do not.
Just one thing to look out with in switch v bulbs debates.
It appears we're doing "smart home" again, so its time for my regular plea to stop calling shitty light switches automation. Automation is when you don't have to think about what state devices are in, and while it takes some tinkering can be achieved using something like Home Assistant to bridge various different devices together. Each room in my house has Hue bulbs in all the light sockets, and sensors which can det…
The best controller for lighting by far is the light switch. "Smart lightbulbs" behind dumb switches might seem like an easy solution, but it makes everything dumber (If you have a light switch you must not switch off because then you can't turn the "smart" light on, then you have a dumber house not a smarter one). Smart switches which fall back to regular switches if they malfunction is fantastic. Add some scenarios…
I would love to use smart switches, but the house does not have a 3rd return neutral because of age. I know There are some that might work on a small current (so they ‘on’ all the time) but most do not. Just one thing to look out with in switch v bulbs debates.
Why voice? It is such a bad interface. I have a Shelly I4 with 4 (physical) buttons that trigger different automations in home assistant on my server, e.g. "Switch off everything" -> HASS -> Connects via Ethernet/Wifi to 6 Shelly Plug S in the room and switches those off. The Shelly Plug S use 0.5 Watt and I have Wifi anyway, so why another device or transmission standard?
I think voice is a fine interface for a lot of smart home things. If I'm watching TV and want the lights on/off, I don't want: * To have to reach for my phone * To have a tablet mounted within reach (that's more clutter) * To have to get up to the light switch/nearest controller. This sounds lazy but that is literally the point of all this stuff - to make things convenient. Likewise, if I'm in the kitchen and want to…
I had to turn off Echo integration altogether for the same reason. Took them 2 minutes to figure out they could command Alexa to turn off the lights in someone else's room. Even though Alexa recognizes them as different people and has the room lights assigned to their respective room.
I wonder if Amazon has fixed that yet. Haven't tried in a couple years.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Homebridge plus Apple Home in my opinion is much better than home assistant. If you’re android based or have really complicated automations I could see why home assistant would be better. Home assistant’s lack of compatibility with quite a few brands made me run Homebridge and home assistant together which defeats the purpose of HA.
100% local control rules out any android or especially apple devices