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How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

arstechnica.com

121–130 of 140 posts

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#121

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 sounds like OP already has this implemented, but Adaptive Lighting is one of the best parts of my Home Assistant setup. Adaptive Lighting automatically changes your lights brightness and color temp (for capable bulbs), from full brightness and daylight colors during the day, down to a relaxing dim and warm colors at night. It does this so smoothly you don't notice it's happening. That, combined with motion sensors, means I walk into a room and the lights automatically turn on to a comfortable level, then turn off when I leave the room. Adaptive Lighting also has a night mode that dims your bulbs to just bright enough to walk around at night without killing your night vision.

It's taken an investment in time to get everything set up in a way that works for both me and my fiance, but now we hate traveling and spending the night anywhere without self dimming lights, motion sensors, and a button beside my bed that can kill all the lights in the house with a single press.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#122
My bright idea was to find 48v lightbulbs and run everything off power over ethernet. Mainly because POE switches are pretty easy to get, and the switch interface usually works much better than the bullshit cloud only interface that usually comes with "smart" lights.

I never actually did it. But still think it would work.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#123
post #5

The battery issue with tablets is for sure a problem. Phones too. I had a test bank of 10 devices with openSTF (smartphone test farm) and 3 phones cracked open from bloated batteries within the year. What I do now is open up old tablets, remove the battery and replace it with a DC-DC converter. Because tablets and phones won't turn on without seeing a battery, you can't power them though USB with the battery removed.…

>n from bloated batteries within the year. Is this from the battery being on the charger constantly? I remember having a similar problem years ago. I thought most devices now would manage charging by letting it drain a bit automatically. At the time though they didn't so I for my continually connected devices I just used simple plug timers that cut it off for a few hours a couple times a day.

There's also the possibility of using Advanced Charging Controller - though it requires root. Essentially you can set it up so when the battery reaches eg. 100% it stops charging, and resumes only once it reaches eg. 15%. Surprisingly the Android devices that I have still don't ever stop charging on their own, constantly keeping 100%.

[Advanced Charging Controller (ACC)](https://github.com/VR-25/acc)

[BU-808: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries](https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-...)

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#124
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious which devices you have that are supported by home bridge but not home assistant. I've had nothing but success using home assistant.

This was over a year ago. Wyze and HA were having spats over API access. Unifi did not have a plug-in and I ended up having to install Homebridge.

Can't speak for Unifi but the Wyze support is pretty dreadful. That's entirely on Wyze though and the price you pay for buying the cheapest option. Personally I'm going to replace all my Wyze hardware over time and kick them to the curb.

I'm starting with my Garage Door opener: I built one myself and connected it to Home Assistant which is connected to Google. Now I can open the door using Google Assistant, something I can't do with Wyze. I also don't have to open up their stupid app and wait for it to establish a video connection before I can tell it to open up the door.

Wyze is cheap and easy, but it's also hot garbage.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#125
post #71
post #47

Ikea Tradfri buttons/switches have been a gamechanger for me. They're zigbee, very well built, well supported and cheap. Have a nice solid feel with proper mounts that are magnetic, Have mounted them in place of regular switches around the house and they just work, no user training required (although I use with homeassistnat which is still very hobbish on the setup side) but my wife can use it all without needing to…

I have the opposite experience. I also run home assistant, and have added the Tradfri hub to my "Home" on iOS. I can count on one hand the amount of times I adjust the one Tradfri bulb I own in the Home app - and it has actually done anything. The only way I have consistently managed to change the bulb's brightness or on/off state is through the official Ikea app - which makes it entirely useless - as I can't automat…

I've only used the switches so, but also I connect them directly to the Home Assistant box which I've got a zigbee dongle attached to (using the ZHA zigbee integration) rather than via the ikea hub. Might be something to consider?

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#126

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.

You can still use smart switches AND smart bulbs. Wire the fixture as always on or and program the switch to never cut power. GE and Lifx switch/bulb combos will still give you the best of both worlds. And the lifx switches can act as giant homekit buttons, with single click, click and hold etc performing different functions.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>n from bloated batteries within the year. Is this from the battery being on the charger constantly? I remember having a similar problem years ago. I thought most devices now would manage charging by letting it drain a bit automatically. At the time though they didn't so I for my continually connected devices I just used simple plug timers that cut it off for a few hours a couple times a day.

There's also the possibility of using Advanced Charging Controller - though it requires root. Essentially you can set it up so when the battery reaches eg. 100% it stops charging, and resumes only once it reaches eg. 15%. Surprisingly the Android devices that I have still don't ever stop charging on their own, constantly keeping 100%. [Advanced Charging Controller (ACC)]( https://github.com/VR-25/acc ) [BU-808: How t…

I do this with my tablet: It is running Fully Kiosk Browser, reporting to Home Assistant. When device reaches 20%, it turns on Oneplug usb relay and turns it off at 80%.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want a dimmable light in a room, you're going to have to buy a light that supports dimming. That's true for a smart bulb or a dumb bulb.

Yeah, and if you already have dumb LED lights in your apartment that are not dimmable? Now you have to swap out the switches and the lights. With this hassle, you might as well just skip swapping the switches and just jump to smart lights directly.

Smart switch + smart bulb > Dumb switch + smart bulb. With a smart switch you can send various commands to the bulbs walking by with a tap.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#129

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…

The smart switch is a great controller. But so is the smart watch. Allows you to do all sorts of things quietly without getting up or finding your phone that you left on a counter at the beginning of a movie. I also like saying "turn off the lights" into the tv remote once I sit down, cuz its already in my hands and I don't have to shout to a speaker/mic across the room.

Re: How to control your smart home without yelling at a dumb voice assistant

#130
post #5

The battery issue with tablets is for sure a problem. Phones too. I had a test bank of 10 devices with openSTF (smartphone test farm) and 3 phones cracked open from bloated batteries within the year. What I do now is open up old tablets, remove the battery and replace it with a DC-DC converter. Because tablets and phones won't turn on without seeing a battery, you can't power them though USB with the battery removed.…

>n from bloated batteries within the year. Is this from the battery being on the charger constantly? I remember having a similar problem years ago. I thought most devices now would manage charging by letting it drain a bit automatically. At the time though they didn't so I for my continually connected devices I just used simple plug timers that cut it off for a few hours a couple times a day.

Yes, and yes laptops prevent this now. My lenovo thinkpad actually stops charging and lets itself discharge all the way to 20% before charging again.

Mobiles and tablets generally don't do this because they are almost always used in a mobile manner. With the exception of the special battery protection in iOS that was mentioned in the article.

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