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Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

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Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#101

Post by jwr »

upofadown wrote: post #79

I've been into the home automation thing since before forever. There have been many periods of excitement over the years. They come and go. As a result I have to admit to a high level of skepticism about the current period. The companies that generate and are influenced by this excitement tend to make two main errors. 1. They don't understand that without an open standard for controls and sensors they are just foolin…

> 2. They don't understand that people don't want to control everything ... they instead want to not have to control everything. Being able to control a light from your phone is not really any better than being able to do it from the light switch.

This. I keep seeing devices that make me do more manual work to control things around me. These devices make my world more complex, while I need it to be simpler.

It's why I started working on my own system to control lighting at home.

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#102

Post by thret »

When you use a smart phone as a remote control, it's just a slow and inconvenient remote control device. If the lights don't dim by voice command, it should be by your regular smart remote or the switch.

"I unlocked my phone. I found the right home screen. I opened the Wink app. I navigated to the Lights section. I toggled over to the sets of light bulbs that I'd painstakingly grouped and labeled. I tapped "Living Room"—this was it—and the icon went from bright to dark. (Okay, so that was like six taps.)"

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#103

Post by marcosdumay »

hueving wrote: post #23
Shivetya wrote: post #4

Having each light bulb intelligent seems like overkill, I can see a per circuit setup where you replace the light switch. First off its not going to go bad like a bulb which will be replaced eventually; even LEDs which still die too soon. Really, who came up with this light bulb idea...its just daft. Security motion detectors can be used to double effect here as well, you would naturally have them facing doors so the…

Well Phillips pushing the Hue is pretty far from daft in their perspective. Get people to shell out hundreds to replace bulbs instead of a 1/10th of that. Remember, Phillips is the reason incandescent bulbs had their lifespans intentionally cut in half for planned obsolescence.[1] 1. http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/history/the-great-lightbu...

You know, the hotter incandescent bulbs consume less energy, saving much more than their more usual replacement cost. Added to that, they are cheaper to make. But let's not disrupt a good conspiracy theory (who was Philips conspiring with, by the way?).

If Philips simply launched a bulb that lasted less, with no advantages, people would buy from other manufacturer, and Philips wouldn't be here anymore. They even took a huge risk launching it, because despite it being cheaper to use, people do not like changing bulbs.

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#104

Post by x1798DE »

upofadown wrote: post #79

I've been into the home automation thing since before forever. There have been many periods of excitement over the years. They come and go. As a result I have to admit to a high level of skepticism about the current period. The companies that generate and are influenced by this excitement tend to make two main errors. 1. They don't understand that without an open standard for controls and sensors they are just foolin…

One of my biggest problems is the all-too-pervasive attitude that #2 means that users shouldn't be able to control things that "do the right thing", rather than that the device defaults to doing the right thing. I find myself all too often in "edge case" situations that would be very easy to fix manually if I could dig around in some settings panel, but modern design philosophy seems to consider including a setting like that to be a design failure in some way.

One example is a lack of any kind of manual focus on any phone cameras. If I'm taking a picture of a person or a cat or something the autofocus does the job right almost every time, but try taking a picture of a small shiny button or something - it's a nightmare. If I could press up-down-up-down-A-B-A-B-start-select and get a manual focus slider, I'd be happy all the time, but instead my few salient memories of fighting with the autofocus have soured me on the whole experience.

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#105

Post by Spooky23 »

fuligo wrote: post #57
jmuguy wrote: post #28

Sounds like my experience with Nest last summer. Got the thermostat, can't get it connected to my wireless. Support basically tells me to get bent until I go into full IT guy mode and prove its an issue with the unit. Replacement unit comes, doesn't work at all (first one was at least a nice looking thermostat with no connected features). Third unit comes and it's been fine ever since. For some reason I thought it wo…

Dumb detectors can have the same problems. I'm not sure if they get contaminated or suffer some kind of other breakdown, but I had to switch out two smoke detectors in recent time due to their propensity for going off on a whim. Of course, normal smoke detectors don't come with the Nest's hefty price tag...

There are different detectors for different applications. Usually the issue with false alarms is the wrong alarm + poor placement.

Ionization smoke detectors have a high false-positive rate in areas like kitchens where you have a lot of particulate matter. Use a photoelectric there.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/co-and-smoke-alarms/buyin...

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#106

Post by TACIXAT »

Home security too. Finding an HD, outdoor camera system that has smartphone and web functionality is very difficult. All the NVRs are horribly insecure. It's strange that a (physical) security product completely neglects software security. The more modern companies seem focused on indoor cameras with only one or two variants and not much by ways of optical zoom lenses.

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#107

Post by click170 »

upofadown wrote: post #79

I've been into the home automation thing since before forever. There have been many periods of excitement over the years. They come and go. As a result I have to admit to a high level of skepticism about the current period. The companies that generate and are influenced by this excitement tend to make two main errors. 1. They don't understand that without an open standard for controls and sensors they are just foolin…

#3 Home automation devices that require communication with the vendor's servers in order to setup and or operate.

Vendors come and go, but if I've bought a product, I expect it to work until the product dies. And I don't consider the vendor going out of business to be a valid product death. Not to mention if I'm paying a one-time-fee, and this thing requires communication with vendor servers, that's a service. Who's paying for the servers?

I agree, current user interfaces suck, but I think at least for some vendors that may miss the point. If they publish a full-featured API you could write your own interface, and or integrate it with your home automation control system. I agree, standards need to exist, but I try to reward the vendors who provide an API over the ones who don't cause at least I can work with an API.

And honestly, looking at the result of vendors trying to produce "smart" TVs, I don't want them writing the software that runs my home automation system. I'd prefer a FOSS home automation solution over a vendor one any day, and wouldn't buy one that didn't at a minimum include the source code.

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#108

Post by theandrewbailey »

lylebarrere wrote: post #14

What is the power limit of POE? I don't see a reason to try to dim LEDs on AC or a reason to keep converting DC/AC/DC/AC so often. Wouldn't POE or a similar standard be better?

USB might be a good alternative if the data bandwidth of Ethernet isn't required. 60W limit for 12 volts, 100W at 20 volts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#USB_Power...

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#109

Post by spiritplumber »

patrickk wrote: post #86
spiritplumber wrote: post #31

I have had auto blinders, lights, and day alarm (courtesy of an old projector) for years. It's all controlled by some random netbook I got for $30, picaxe micros, and xbees (the xbees are admittedly overkill). This is the sort of thing you build, rather than buy, since it will only ever fit the person who designed it.

I'd love to read a blog post about this. Some dream features I'd like personally in a smart home: * TV-aware lights - lights dim/turn off according to a preset pattern when the tv comes on * Voice control - saying "Bed time" would turn off all lights & heating, other commands off the top of my head- "I'm home" (turn on hall lights & heating if its below a certain temperature) or "leaving home"- turn off everything *…

Agreed on convenience!

The way it works is, it's all xbee based (largely because I had a bunch of short-range xbees around when Serious Business decided to get longer range ones).

There's a remote that's a picaxe 28 (remember those?), plus a xbee, plus buttons.

There's an old netbook that also runs my projector, mostly netflix/youtube. It has a xbee and a few lines of python.

There's the light controllers which are just a USB charger, a relay, a picaxe 8, and a xbee.

The blinds have a tamiya motor and a L298 instead of the relay.

Both the remote and the laptop get to send commands to the other nodes, the remote also turns the projector on and off (by serial port).

Nothing to write home about really. It mostly got done because there was an excess of xbees.

The "serial protocol" is just sending two characters (0-9 digits) to address the picaxe, and then a one-letter command.

Doesn't seem to bother wifi any.

Re: Why Is My Smart Home So Dumb?

#110

Post by eitally »

mrweasel wrote: post #32

Maybe I'm just not getting it, but why would I want a "Smart Home"? It seems to be a little like a Smart TV, everyone wants more features, but really they're newer going to use the built in voice control or install any apps. We need a few basic feature and the rest just sits their, unused, contributing to the complexity of the device. I have yet to see an intelligent house feature I would like. I understand that some…

I think those aren't the killer use cases driving this. We've had a rash of home burglaries and car break-ins around the surrounding neighborhoods over the past few months, including burglaries where the thieves first broke into a car and then used the garage door opener to get into the house. I am planning an HA system that includes alerting when doors are opened, as well as motion cameras ... being able to also turn on lights and execute IFTTT/Tasker jobs is icing on the cake, but secondary to my primary goal of knowing who's moving around my house and getting them on camera. ADT/CPI type active monitoring services are largely useless in preventing typically break-ins, and the monthly service fees mount quickly.
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