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How do you move out of a smarthome?

shkspr.mobi

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Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#11

Post by Klathmon »

ttflee wrote: post #8
Klathmon wrote: post #5

This is why I set a few "ground rules" before I started adding home automation stuff to my house. 1. Everything must be reversible, preferably within a short period of time. If I replace the doorbell or locks with smart ones, I keep the old ones in storage. If I replace light switches, I make sure to document the way the wiring worked before I touched it, and keep everything so I can put it back if/when I move. I had…

So, Liskov substitution principle does apply to intelligent stuff.

That's a very interesting way of looking at it. I never thought about it that way before, but that's exactly what I'm talking about.

For example, I have a google home. Google home relies on an external server to work, but that's okay, since it's not really "replacing" anything, only adding a new "class" of device.

But it's not okay for a door lock to not take a standard key (or in my case, the door lock needed a number pad), just to get "smart" functionality.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#13

Post by maxerickson »

mcculley wrote: post #7

I am dealing with this right now. I am fixing up my house to sell. I moved out of it into a new home a month ago. I disconnected the Internet connection at the house I am trying to sell. I have a Wink Relay there and I deleted my account from it before disconnecting the Internet. Now I can't use the physical switches to control the lights they are connected to. The designers of these devices are not thinking at all a…

Counterpoint is that buyers aren't either.

I think the underlying issue is that people don't see a huge amount of value in a little bit of automation and balk at the prices, so the market consists mostly of buyers that really want to be able to do various automations.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#14

Post by daemin »

Klathmon wrote: post #5

This is why I set a few "ground rules" before I started adding home automation stuff to my house. 1. Everything must be reversible, preferably within a short period of time. If I replace the doorbell or locks with smart ones, I keep the old ones in storage. If I replace light switches, I make sure to document the way the wiring worked before I touched it, and keep everything so I can put it back if/when I move. I had…

Essentially the house should function regardless if the Internet is connected or some random server is reachable.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#15

Post by huhtenberg »

erikb wrote: post #10

Answer: Open suitcase. Insert 5 t-shirts, 2 trousers, 7 units of underwear of preference, 7 pairs of socks. Close suitcase. Repeat the same with laptop into backpack. Open door. Move out. Done.

You should try getting a cloud-connected suitcase and some underware with its own app, then we'll talk.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#16

Post by Klathmon »

daemin wrote: post #14
Klathmon wrote: post #5

This is why I set a few "ground rules" before I started adding home automation stuff to my house. 1. Everything must be reversible, preferably within a short period of time. If I replace the doorbell or locks with smart ones, I keep the old ones in storage. If I replace light switches, I make sure to document the way the wiring worked before I touched it, and keep everything so I can put it back if/when I move. I had…

Essentially the house should function regardless if the Internet is connected or some random server is reachable.

And I shouldn't have to "teach" anyone how to use it. My mother-in-law (a self described "technophobe") should be able to use everything in the house the same way she uses those items in her house.

I've seen so many people (like in the linked blog) have to describe to guests which switches they can use, or how to install the app to control the lights.

Even if that was 100% local, it's still not okay in my book.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#17

Post by gwbas1c »

I recently sold my home. I didn't take the plunge with smart switches, but I had Nest thermostats and Nest smoke alarms.

I wish I either removed everything before putting my house on the market, or excluded them all from the sale. The buyer was confused, and the Nest smoke alarms needed to be replaced prior to closing.

The Nest smoke alarms were fine, but due to local fire codes, I needed to have wifi running at inspection time and all of my smoke alarms had to be Nest. I was replacing one a year and still had a few "dumb" smoke alarms in the mix. Unfortunately, my realtor advised me poorly in this situation when I told him my plan was to take the smoke alarms and thermostats with me.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#18

Post by jasonkostempski »

nathantotten wrote: post #2

I recently moved and took everything with me. This included replacing z-wave light switches and outlets with normal ones. I swapped everything out before we listed the house. The reality is that most people will just be confused by this sort of stuff and you aren’t going to get any extra money when you sell your house. It’s a pain, but assuming you don’t move very often it’s worth it. Now I have all the things in my…

I would consider it to devalue the home. I don't ever want that kind of thing in my house but, even if I did, I'm not going to trust anyone to properly transfer whatever cloud access they have to things in my home, so it will all have to be removed anyway.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#19

Post by mikeash »

tantalor wrote: post #4
joekrill wrote: post #3

Is this really a huge problem? How is this any different then, say, disconnecting your utilities? What's the big deal with factory resetting everything you're leaving behind?

> do I want to spend the first day looking up manuals online I don't see how this is different than learning how your 10-year-old garage door opener or 20-year-old furnace works.

The garage door opener works when you push a button. The furnace works when you change the little numbers on the thermostat. If it doesn't work, you call a garage door or HVAC company and they fix it. I think most people are barely aware that these things even have manuals, let alone actually sit down and read them.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#20

Post by wyldfire »

> do we hand over all the cloud passwords as well? Or do we factory reset everything and let them go through the dull process of setting up new accounts?

Wow, I hope this is rhetorical. No, you never give anyone your password for anything. Yes, you absolutely let them go through the dull process of setting up new accounts.

> When I move into a house, do I want to spend the first day looking up manuals online to try and work out which buttons to hold down in order to claim the devices as my own?

shrug, yeah, why not? That's the kind of stuff I would do anyways. Moving into a new home requires all kinds of "oh, ok, that's how that works" kind of discoveries. "Hmm, the breaker panel says '#5: kitchen' but that one also apparently has the garage lights. But not the garage door opener, for some reason."

> not be able to easily set the heating until they've moved in ... the epitome of "first-world problems"

I will concede that this is truly a PITA and a drawback of modern life.

Computers are so cheap that we can "afford" to put them everywhere. Hopefully the next generation of these devices will have sane fallback/factory reset modes that behave like their ancestor devices until they've been setup/enabled.

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