The Smart Home is the ultimate triumph of capitalism. A product that nobody needs who's biggest value is mining user's data in order to sell that user more shit they don't need.
I built an offline smart home
41–50 of 192 posts
Re: I built an offline smart home
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you please elaborate? It works when the internet is down?
Yes, if you have a home hub (an Apple TV or a HomePod¹). https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT207057 Homebridge is a great addition to a HomeKit setup, too. https://homebridge.io/ ¹ EDIT: Removed iPad mention, since as @js2 notes, "iPad as a home hub" support is being deprecated.
That's interesting. I have not looked into using the Apple ecosystem, but just assumed it was all centered around the HomePod. Not needing the Homepod now makes me more interested
Re: I built an offline smart home
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's actually easier now then ever before. Buy smart bulbs for cheap off of temu. They all integrate with alexa or google home automagically. I now never touch a light switch. "Computer dim lights to 40%." I never bother touching a light switch. This guys set up is too complicated. The easy way to do it nowadays is to buy smart devices that integrate with the google or alexa echo system and you just talk to alexa or…
Alexa and Google Home are literally microphones with connections into the cloud
I'm always amazed that everyone seems okay with this, and will even say so when pressed on it. But those same people will get a look in their eyes as if they're going to shit their pants, if someone else picks up their unlocked iPhone and starts scrolling.
Re: I built an offline smart home
#44I keep trying to talk myself out of wanting to do this. I live in a very small studio-style home with a total of four lightbulbs in it. It takes fewer than 20 steps to get from any one corner of the house to any other. But every time I read an article like this, I can't help but think how cool I would feel if my house could tell I was coming and turned my lights on and my heat up, or dimmed and then turned everything…
Next thing you know, you're learning how to flash ESP firmware and how Zigbee protocols work. The cool factor is maybe 25% of it for me. It's mainly an obsessive hobby.
I'm not a fan of Smart Homes, but I can appreciate this take on it. Making it all work is the cool part - everything else is just a side effect.
Re: I built an offline smart home
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, if you have a home hub (an Apple TV or a HomePod¹). https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT207057 Homebridge is a great addition to a HomeKit setup, too. https://homebridge.io/ ¹ EDIT: Removed iPad mention, since as @js2 notes, "iPad as a home hub" support is being deprecated.
That's interesting. I have not looked into using the Apple ecosystem, but just assumed it was all centered around the HomePod. Not needing the Homepod now makes me more interested
You need an AppleTV or HomePod to act as the hub. Without that, you get no automation nor ability to control devices from outside your home. An AppleTV is also needed for Thread support. Using an iPad for a hub is deprecated and not supported in the new architecture.
You can of course use HomeKit devices with Home Assistant in both directions. HA can obviously serve as the automation hub for HK devices ("accessories" in HK parlance) and HA can expose itself to HK so you can control HA devices through an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Re: I built an offline smart home
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you please elaborate? It works when the internet is down?
Yes, if you have a home hub (an Apple TV or a HomePod¹). https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT207057 Homebridge is a great addition to a HomeKit setup, too. https://homebridge.io/ ¹ EDIT: Removed iPad mention, since as @js2 notes, "iPad as a home hub" support is being deprecated.
iPads are deprecated as hubs and not supported in the new architecture. HomePods are notoriously unreliable as hubs, but that may be due to folks who have spotty WiFi in their homes. It's best to have a wired AppleTV to act as a hub.
Re: I built an offline smart home
#47I went with the Apple HomeKit compatible camp, because it does indeed all work locally across your local LAN without a network connection - its not foolproof, but it mostly just works, and works well at that - and more importantly works when the internet is out. The biggest thing with Apple is they get that houses have more than one person living in them, and provided everyone has an Apple device, it all just works.
I've been pretty happy with HK augmented by Homebridge. However, I'd go out of my mind if it weren't for the Controller for HomeKit app[^1] to allow backup and restore, and it's still not perfect due to Apple restrictions on how third-party apps are allowed to interact with HK. Controller also is the only way to access more advanced automation options that are impossible to do through the Home app.
Just the other day after a power outage, three Nanoleaf bulbs in my home refused to rejoin HK and I had to repair them. That meant deleting them from HK first. Fortunately I was able to use Controller to restore most of the scenes/automations that involved those bulbs. But it was tedious and didn't restore everything.
At this point I'm seriously considering switching to Home Assistant to act as my HK automation hub. That would give me the best of everything: local control, HA for programming, and using my Apple devices to turn things on and off.
Re: I built an offline smart home
#48Smart Home has kind of been my hobby for the last 7-8 years. I have well over 100 devices controlled by my smart home setup. Before I installed the first smart device in my home, however, I had a single requirement: EVERYTHING MUST FAIL NORMAL. By this I mean that if the internet went out or a vendor went out of business or I rage quit a vendor, then the device in question had to act like it was a normal non-smart de…
> For this reasons I have no smart light bulbs in my house.
hmm... wonder why bulbs can't fail normal.
maybe they should make bulbs with a deadman switch. If they don't get a "ping" from a controller in a certain amount of time, they revert to normal light bulbs?
or yeah... smart switches.
Re: I built an offline smart home
#49I am planning to do this soon(TM).
Probably starting with ESPHome to control my heat pumps over IR.
The remote works but I forget to turn it off when not in one of the rooms, and it can't do smarts like keeping temperatures in desired bounds.
An ESP32 running ESPHome with high power IR LED, a presence sensor, temperature sensor, and some pre-built library to control heat pumps[1]. it looks like it should be fairly simple to implement with Home assistant.
Now if I could only disable the beep from the heat pumps receiving commands.
I would like to do smarter lighting, but the lack of decent smart light switches that support local control and are also licenced for use in AU are a blocker there.
[1] https://github.com/crankyoldgit/IRremoteESP8266/wiki#ir-send...
Re: I built an offline smart home
#50The futuristic idea of a smart home is that you can talk to your smart home. "Computer, dim lights by 30%" "Computer, open curtains." "Computer, vacuum the floor." "Computer, play some jazz" All of these are phrases are actual literal phrases that I use in my home, some on a daily basis. It can only be done, with current consumer tech, through the internet. All you need is a roomba, some 4$ smart bulbs, a spotify acc…
Modern phones could easily handle every example you just gave. Heck, even the most recent Apple Watch could.