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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?

#81

Post by Washuu »

0culus wrote: post #67
junkcollector wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fire code requires that fire alarms be networked to alert people in all rooms in the event of a fire. Older un-networked units are grandfathers until you begin replacement. Wifi networking is allowed by the code, but for obvious reasons, the inspector has to verify that it works and is set up correctly which requires running wifi. Personally I would not purchase a home that was configured with nest or other home auto…

Fire code where? Requirement to be networked is a new thing to me, at least as far as single family dwellings go.

Networked isn't really the right term. Hardwired fire alarms are the new requirement. They just have AC power with battery backup and an additional wire that triggers all the wired alarms to go off when one goes off.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#82

Post by mcguire »

subway wrote: post #42
pavel_lishin wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A bit of a faff - and possibly annoying to the new occupiers to not be able to easily set the heating until they've moved in, configured the WiFi, and registered for an account. I would argue that that's a failure of the thermostat. It absolutely needs to have a dumber fallback mechanism, not just for new residents, but for the current ones. (What if my internet goes down? What if the cat pees on my router?)

You should probably start by changing the litterbox... More seriously though, this is a major pet peeve of mine. Many of these devices will also become completely unusable when the manufacturer decides to terminate the service. This is a big reason why I hesitate to pay for products that don't adhere to open standards, and allow for local/offline use as a primary mode.

I was just reading a review of a sous vide stick the other day that mentioned that issue. Fortunately, it supported Bluetooth...

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#83

Post by stevekemp »

vincentkriek wrote: post #40
ashark wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We may be listing ours soon, and if we do I'm even swapping the LED bulbs for whatever's cheapest at the store. They're only about a year old and the house will sell for zero more dollars if I leave them up.

Is leaving lights in the house you sell an American thing? Unless it's built in lights like spots, all the bulbs and even fixtures usually move with the person where I'm from (the Netherlands).

Finland here - rented one flat, bought two more. In all cases light-bulbs were absent, as were light _fittings_.

All we had were some sockets in the ceiling into which you'll fasten your own bulb-holders/shades, and then your own bulbs.

The only lighting present by default was that above the bathroom mirror(s).

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#84

Post by mcguire »

commandar wrote: post #73
Silhouette wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The not adding value to the house bit is important. Nobody really knows about or cares enough about home automation to justify an added expense on the cost of the home. I'd actually go further. I do care about home automation, because it is almost certainly a negative and possibly a deal-breaker for me to put any offer in to buy a place. If it has anything installed that has any form of off-site access or any depende…

The interesting legacy corollary here is that it's completely bog standard for home security systems to be left in place when a house is sold. I say this because the systems that ADT, etc sell these days are largely made up of white labeled COTS Z-Wave sensors with the security panel just being a hub and interface to the Z-Wave network. The house I moved into this past year is covered by sensors for an old ADT system…

Do you have any links to information about standards based products? I haven't run across any casually, which is why i haven't looked.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#85

Post by dylan-m »

gwbas1c wrote: post #17

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 insp…

Out of curiosity: are these running their own wifi mesh network, or do they actually rely on a working wifi router?

Do … do people realize that power cuts occasionally coincide with house fires?

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#86

Post by mcguire »

Freak_NL wrote: post #70
vincentkriek wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is leaving lights in the house you sell an American thing? Unless it's built in lights like spots, all the bulbs and even fixtures usually move with the person where I'm from (the Netherlands).

Common enough here in the Netherlands if you're buying a house. Expensive or heirloom fixtures may have been replaced with cheap IKEA fixtures, but houses generally don't show up on the market without lighting and a working thermostat. Perhaps you are thinking of rent?

That would tend to make the inspection difficult.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#87

Post by gwbas1c »

dylan-m wrote: post #85
gwbas1c wrote: post #17

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 insp…

Out of curiosity: are these running their own wifi mesh network, or do they actually rely on a working wifi router? Do … do people realize that power cuts occasionally coincide with house fires?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I thought they had a backup mesh network. I bought them because they speak in English instead of making a series of nonsense beeps; they're easy to silence when you burn something in your kitchen; they send a push alert when they need batteries instead of needing to chase down a random beep in the house; ect, ect.

I really don't care about a backup mesh network as long as they are loud enough when there is no network.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#88

Post by gwbas1c »

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…

That's why I haven't bought smart switches. I bought one "smart" lamp timer, and my experience is so bad that I'll never buy another one.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#89

Post by commandar »

mcguire wrote: post #84
commandar wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interesting legacy corollary here is that it's completely bog standard for home security systems to be left in place when a house is sold. I say this because the systems that ADT, etc sell these days are largely made up of white labeled COTS Z-Wave sensors with the security panel just being a hub and interface to the Z-Wave network. The house I moved into this past year is covered by sensors for an old ADT system…

Do you have any links to information about standards based products? I haven't run across any casually, which is why i haven't looked.

Most whitelabel home automation stuff runs on the Z-Wave protocol.

Zigbee is also fairly popular for some applications; it's what e.g., Philips Hue runs on.

Devices using either of these will generally pair with any hub with the appropriate radios like Smart Things.

There's additionally a class of home automation stuff that runs over WiFi; they more generally have proprietary communication protocols and I personally avoid them for the most part.

Re: How do you move out of a smarthome?

#90

Post by dylan-m »

gwbas1c wrote: post #87
dylan-m wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity: are these running their own wifi mesh network, or do they actually rely on a working wifi router? Do … do people realize that power cuts occasionally coincide with house fires?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I thought they had a backup mesh network. I bought them because they speak in English instead of making a series of nonsense beeps; they're easy to silence when you burn something in your kitchen; they send a push alert when they need batteries instead of needing to chase down a random beep in the house; ect, ect. I really don't care about a backup mesh network as long as they are loud enough…

Ah, looked it up, and it seems they must have a separate protocol that they use for interconnect: https://nest.com/support/article/Are-my-Nest-Protects-still-.... And apparently it's even sort of a standard. Nifty :) Your comment about requiring wifi frightened me somewhat, but I guess they wanted to check Nest-specific things or something?
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