Anyone into home automation?

[Starsky]

I'm in the middle of a kitchen remodel and other work on the house for the DW and I first decided to add some automated lights to the kitchen. I'm one of those who rarely can just dip their toe into something, so after becoming fascinated with the research, I've moved on to setting up the whole house with the latest in home automation.

So far I only have one smart light/video camera (Kuna) at the front door and my Nexx wi-fi garage door controller hooked up. As the kitchen and other things get completed I will ultimately have a host of other systems coming online including lots of audio, more security, thermostat/smoke alarm, smart irrigation controller, locks and lighting all hooked up to a smart hub and controlled via my home network.

So far, with only the two things that are hooked up, I have a lot of new, useful functionality. My garage door actually opens when I drive up. No hands required - I already feel like Batman! I can't wait for it all to be finished!

The technology finally seems well-thought-out and very easy to use. The systems are all modular, but integrate seamlessly through a smart hub. Control is via iPhone or via Alexa, so my wife will be able to turn on her kitchen lighting, stereo and stove hood; and set timers, convert measurements and make shopping lists all without touching a thing - at least that's the goal. I've read these systems are helping the physically handicapped and I imagine will be equally helpful for seniors as well. They should also help us save money on water, gas and electricity.

Has anyone taken the plunge or done research on setting up their home? What has been your experience so far? Any unanticipated benefits/pitfalls? I can tell you that I am already getting a lot more notifications on my iPhone.

FWIW, I had an Amazon consultant come out for free - I just set an appointment online - to answer my questions and talk about the different Alexa-compatible home automation products. It's an amazing service, although the techs are also still learning about all the many different products and their capabilities.

 

[Scuba]

We put in Nest smoke alarms and thermostat. Absolutely love controlling thermostat remotely from my phone. However the smoke alarms had to be returned. A couple of them regularly had false alarms. We tried just swapping them out but no luck. After multiple times being awakened at 2 am, we had to take them all out and get something else. New ones aren't "smart" or as cool looking as the Nests were but at least no false alarms.

 

[Fedup]

Nothing except the fireplace can be turn on and off with a remove control. I don't want anymore device to spy on me. Even though, I'm not doing anything wrong. I just don't like the idea.

 

[mh]

Nothing except the fireplace can be turn on and off with a remove control. I don't want anymore device to spy on me. Even though, I'm not doing anything wrong. I just don't like the idea.

If you have a microwave they already know what you're doing [emoji849]

 

[Fedup]

If you have a microwave they already know what you're doing [emoji849]

That's it. I'm bringing my sledge hammer.

 

[NW-Bound]

I remember now back in 1986 reading an article about a woman CEO of a tech company who wanted to automate her house. She had a few guys running wires from all over the house to a central control station consisting of 2 IBM AT 286. Now, back then the AT PCs were a big deal. She then had programmers writing software for her.

Maybe the software was buggy. Maybe the hardware was glitchy. But the results were that her lights turned on/off randomly, and a lot of things did not work as planned. The article ended by saying she was still trying.

I now recall reading that in Byte Magazine.


PS. Just recall my niece gave me a Nest thermostat last Christmas. Darn, where did I put it? I am going looking for it.

PPS. Found it! Or rather, my wife just pointed to the corner of the room, and there was where I put it. Darn, she's got better memory than mine.

 

[Starsky]

We put in Nest smoke alarms and thermostat. Absolutely love controlling thermostat remotely from my phone. However the smoke alarms had to be returned. A couple of them regularly had false alarms. We tried just swapping them out but no luck. After multiple times being awakened at 2 am, we had to take them all out and get something else. New ones aren't "smart" or as cool looking as the Nests were but at least no false alarms.

Interesting, I'll have to watch out for that. I'm not excited about 2AM false alarms...

I'm not too worried about Big Brother anymore. My only illegal habit is legal now in CA. If he wants me, he already knows where to find me. One major purpose of all this is to be able to watch and control my house while I'm traveling Down Under.

 

[Alan]

Thanks to Birthday and Christmas gifts from my daughter this past 3 years I have installed a few smart devices and enjoy using and having them.

Nest don't support thermostats that need anything other than 24v and since we have an instant hot water and heating system than requires a 240v thermostat we switched it out for a Hive when we moved to England. Similar to Nest but has some nice additional features such that it can send you an alert if you leave the house without turning down the heating. We also have it set to send an alert when we are returning home and from 20 miles out it suggests we may want to turn the heating on.

We also have Hue smart lights, Nest webcams and Nest smoke and CO alarms plus an Amazon Echo to voice control them.

The cameras automatically switch on when we both leave the house and send alerts and emails when sound or activity is detected, plus after sunset they also turn on lights when they detect something, and also turn the lights on and off randomly after sunset when we are away.

Our house does not have a convenient switch inside the front door so I have the hall light set to come on automatically as we arrive after sunset.

The ability to know when it is sunset is very useful, no need to be changing timers on a regular basis.

 

[Philliefan33]

I've dabbled a bit. The Honeywell thermostat at our weekend house can be controlled by smartphone app or Alexa. That's very useful-- it's nice to turn the heat up as we leave the main house and walk into a warm house when we get to the mountains. We also have a Swann video security system there to monitor the outside via smartphone app.

I have a couple of WeMo outlets at the main home that I use with Alexa to control lamps. I bought another with the intent of using it at the mountain house, but found out that I can't use the same WeMo account to control devices on two different networks. The WeMo "FAQ" indicated they were working on adding that capability. (It's been a few months, time to check and see if it's ready yet).

 

[marko]

As we winter in FL, at our house up north, we have 4 cameras monitoring different rooms/basement, a Schlage wireless cellar door lock (in case we need someone to go in the house we can unlock from anywhere), a remote temperature monitor with 3 sensors (one on the hot tub, one in the dining room, one near the furnace) and a few lights that can be turned on/off remotely.
Oh! and a Roomba to vacuum our floors on a set schedule.

Nothing except the fireplace can be turn on and off with a remove control. I don't want anymore device to spy on me. Even though, I'm not doing anything wrong. I just don't like the idea.

Not sure if this has happened to you: We have a gas log with remote. One day, all on it's own the log started up. Something, somehow sent a signal (a plane flying by? the town doing a drive-by to read our water meters?) and pop! the fire started. We disconnected the remote after that. Lucky we were home.

 

[target2019]

I use an old X-10 system in my home office. There are several lights and fans which I have control over via hardware remote.

The new Hvac systems have Rheem echonet WiFi. That has been the most successful attempt.

There is one auto infrared wall switch that senses when you enter the utility room. That has been a winner. Some sensors did not work well, being affected by mirroring of external light.

Because I've worked with hardware and software tech for so long, I'm reluctant to be a tester.

I one had a brief role working with a few engineers who were funded by a wealthy individual to make a better automation product. Too many variables!

I like the convenience of simple tech. What happens in storm, power goes out, you're in the driveway? Did you remember to bring a key for front door?

 

[Greencheese]

If you have a microwave they already know what you're doing [emoji849]

The CIA has weaponized Lean Cuisines...

 

[Ronstar]

We have 3 ip cameras that I monitor remotely. I recently installed a smart garage door opener, but haven't set it up yet for remote access. Looking into controlling sprinkling system, driveway gate, lights, thermostat, and door locks.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

The Honeywell wifi thermostat is wonderful. Alexa is great. My NAS (Network Attached Storage) is accessible from anywhere. Have a few wifi cameras that we fire up when we leave for extended periods. Have an Acu-Rite wifi weather station that is hooked up to Weather Underground.

Would like more, but I am hesitant because: 1) a communication protocol shakeout needs to happen. For example, my Acu-Rite weather station does not connect directly to wifi. It needs a proprietary hub ($60). Many home devices use different communication protocols (whatever that means?) - Zigbee, Z-wave, etc. 2) Most of these devices will not work unless the devices are remotely connected to the manufacturer's servers. 3) The apps or software supporting some of the devices are not ready for prime time.

 

[donheff]

I had two Honeywell Wifi thermostats in my weekend house but they would regularly go offline so I couldn't turn the heat pumps up or down when I was heading down there. I could call the ISP and have them remotely reboot the router and often the thermostat would reconnect but what a PITA. I coded the MAC addresses into the router which seemed to help briefly but the problem returned. I am interested in hooking up a wifi enabled cam to my front door so I can check out who is knocking late at night.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

8, maybe 9?, years ago, I looked into audio for the house. Yamaha had a server/stereo. You could buy wall mounted devices that looked like intercom controls. You could have preset play lists - Joe's music or Outlaws, or whatever. This was going to be thousands.

Now, I have Echo Dot ($40), bluetooth receiver ($15) and some old computer speakers ($10). Plus a Pandora subscription - $40 a year.

Point is that early adapters sometimes get burned. OTOH, wait forever and you pay zero, but get no functionality. In some cases, I have jumped in. Others I have waited.

 

[ERD50]

I've dipped my toe into this, more at the hobbyist level. I found these:

https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Version-NodeMCU-Internet-Development/dp/B010O1G1ES

< $9 and it has built in wi-fi, 1MB read/write non-volatile memory, input-output pins to interface to 'things', and I load it with a version of the Python programming language:

Overview — MicroPython 1.8.7 documentation

I have one of these connected to my well pump to record the on/off times, and it uploads these to my computer once an hour. Years ago, I had a leak underground, and the pump ran continuously to maintain pressure, unknown to me until it just couldn't keep up anymore.

I used an old phone charger, connected it to the 220V that runs the pump, and ran the 5V output through a a voltage divider (a couple resistors, and an LED indicator) into the 3.3V logic pins on this board. The board is powered through a separate 5V charger to its USB input.

I wrote the code to get time from the internet on boot-up, monitor the inputs, record the time and length of any changes from ON/OFF and OFF/ON to it's local flash memory, and to upload these on the hour. It starts a new file each day, and deletes files older than two days. It's working very well. Even though I have only very limited error checking/correcting (one of the hardest part of programming), I've only had a couple hiccups over several months, requiring a re-boot, and it's run for over 6 weeks now w/o an error. I actually think those errors may have been me shutting down my computer in the middle of an upload, something I didn't write error handling for.

I bought two more, so I could experiment w/o taking it off line. I have a few little improvements to make to the code, and then on the computer side, I want to have the receiving program look for any readings outside pre-set limits (On too long, or too short, too many cycles in a day), and email me an alert, plus a daily email if all is OK (so I know it's running).

I plan to connect these to my sump pump, and maybe a few other appliances. Mostly hobby based, but practical, and I'm fascinated by how cheap and capable this technology has become.

On a technical note, I chose the MicroPython language, as Python is actually used by programmers today, and many of the other languages for little devices like this are unique - I wanted to refresh myself on some language that would be transferable. It also means I can (and do) use Python to script the computer side, so my mind is in the same place when working on either side. This helps if I decide to write any little programs on my computer.

-ERD50

 

[athena53]

Right now only my thermostat would qualify- the electric company offered us one for free if we'd agree to let them cycle our A/C on and off at 15-minute periods during times of peak demand. As others said, it's great to turn the heat or A/C down to minimal levels during long absences and turn up again using a smartphone so it's comfortable when you get home.

I'm a bit edgy about doing much else- partly privacy concerns, partly concerns about what happens if the Internet is down (and I want to get into the garage, for example). I also wonder what happens when you switch providers. I'm planning on moving to Google Fiber in the near future so now I need to make sure that it works not only with my computers but with MagicJack, my wireless printer, my two Roku boxes AND my thermostat! Would love to be able to control the sprinkler system remotely, though, based on what rainfall there is back home.

 

[euro]

If you have a microwave they already know what you're doing [emoji849]

That's right!

I'm often tempted to look into automation but always come back to deciding it is not worth the effort for me. Example, I have had fully programmable thermostats in my house for 20 years. They are ALWAYS locked at the same temperature which is changed in the Spring (when cooling starts) and in the Fall (when heating starts). If I bother programming work/sleep/weekend, etc (although "work" is no longer needed, luckily ), it gets overridden with a "lock" within a few days. I gave up the struggle a long time ago....

 

[NW-Bound]

I have that gifted Nest, and it is still in shrinkwrap after 3 months.

And just now, learned that even sex toys are connected to the Web. Good grief!

See: Sex toy owners receive $10,000 each for having their privacy breached.

I've dipped my toe into this, more at the hobbyist level. I found these:

https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Version-NodeMCU-Internet-Development/dp/B010O1G1ES

< $9 and it has built in wi-fi, 1MB read/write non-volatile memory, input-output pins to interface to 'things', and I load it with a version of the Python programming language:

Overview — MicroPython 1.8.7 documentation...

Wow! Amazingly cheap. Maybe I should get into this.

 

[harley]

I've dabbled in it, with wifi cameras and leak detectors and thermostats. But I think the tech isn't there yet to go whole hog. Too buggy, too undependable, too many "standards", and way too little security. I might try a keypad door lock, but I think that's about it until the units start playing together more nicely, and the developers have time to secure the devices instead of just blasting them into the market as soon as the code works once in a test.

However, mechanical timers. I use the heck out of them. Both for a semblance of security, as well as convenience. Set it and forget it. That's my kind of automation.

 

[LiveBelowMeans]

I have two homes and wanted to get some security device to allow monitoring when away. Have been extremely happy with Canary. For a one time purchase of approx. $170 and with wifi in house, you are protected. It provides a notice on your phone if it detects motion and you can see stored video or a live feed. Lets you monitor temp, humidity. If you see a problem with intruders you can push a button and activate an alarm or call police. Even has night vision. No ongoing fees. Been using for about a year and love it. JMHO

 

[Midpack]

I tend to be an early adopter with technology, but I am also very wary of privacy issues. Take Google Home for example, sounds mildly useful, but it listens 24/7 - pretty sure we don't want that. Probably 98% of our [-]private conversations[/-] audio content are harmless/of no consequence, but there may be some small percentage we'd like to keep private. Who should decide, you or Google? So far at least, Siri only listens when summoned.

Google Home is always listening for the phrase, "OK, Google" so it can take its instructions.

The issue that has some people concerned is the phrase "always listening."

Since Google collects information about what users are searching for online, what phrases they're using in their email, what directions they want in Maps and where they are day to day, what more information could it be collecting about what users are doing in their own homes?

Could the new data being collected be even more personal?

"There are plenty of privacy issues with this type of always listening technology," said Dan Olds, an analyst with OrionX, a technology analyst firm. "It's obvious that any device that is always listening could also be always storing and always analyzing anything that is within earshot of the receiver."

Olds added that Google Home could help Google amass a whole new range of information about people.

"It could give Google a hell of a lot more personal data about users than they get now," he said. "That microphone will be a witness to every verbal interaction in the home. It will also know what you watch on TV, what you listen to, and, obviously, when there's no one home."

Of course Google says 'we won't store your data.' That's what they said about search early on, no longer true at all! They store and monetize more and more every year. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Google, however, told Computerworld that user privacy was foremost in designers' minds when they developed the device.

"All the devices that come with the Google Assistant are designed with privacy in mind," said a Google spokesperson in an email. "We only process speech after the hotword "OK Google" is detected. If the hotword is not heard, the audio snippet stays local on the device and is discarded."

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...ogle-homes-always-on-will-affect-privacy.html

 

[HFWR]

if you have a microwave they already know what you're doing [emoji849]

 

[bingybear]

I just haven't bought into the high tech house yet. I have a friend that has and I just look at what he has.. I just think most of it is fluff.
I can't convince myself that $250 for a nest thermostat was going to have that much payback in utility costs. I had no problem spending extra on a multi-stage high efficiency furnace or a high efficiency tankless water heater.

Most of what is discussed here would be easy to design. For me I don't see the need. I'd rather spend my $ elsewhere.
All this wifi security sounds great until someone cuts your cable line. Unless you have a wireless (cell) internet backup you have little to protect yourself. And many of these devices provide another place for people to hack.

At this point I don't find most of this compelling. Maybe some day.