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Thermopyle posted:Am I alone in thinking these smart switches, receptacles, light bulbs are just too expensive? Lightbulbs, yes, the Hue color changing light bulbs in my opinion are horrendously overpriced as far as the utility goes. The dimmers? I dunno, a Leviton dimmer will set you back $20 and for the utility it seems very worth it to me. My house is plugged into in-wall touch screens, Google Home and my smartphone, don't underestimate how nice it is to come home and hit one button and all the lights in your house turn off or go to bed and say "Hey Google, turn my house off" and have all the lights in your house turn off only to wake you in the morning automatically.
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Feb 3, 2017 02:51
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Seriously. Telling my Echo "turn on night mode”, which turns off all my lights, sets my AC to cool to 72, and sets my bedroom into a tropical sunset theme that dims to 30% brightness over 15 minutes is boss. Don’t even use an alarm to wake up because the house knows what my schedule is and dims my lights on from 0-100% over 15 minutes, modeled after a sunrise. Every light that matters is on a motion sensor. I haven’t touched a light switch in a really long time. If you have the expendable income to blow on it, it’s just nice creature comforts.
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Feb 3, 2017 04:08
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bobfather posted:I just picked up 4 Osram Lightify bulbs that connect to SmartThings and can dim and be remote controlled for $32 total, or $8 a bulb. Three Olives posted:I dunno, a Leviton dimmer will set you back $20 and for the utility it seems very worth it to me. Am I missing something or are you guys using like Xmas sale/eBay/guy in a van prices? Both of these prices seem to be below half of their everyday price.
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Feb 3, 2017 04:09
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Am I missing something or are you guys using like Xmas sale/eBay/guy in a van prices? Both of these prices seem to be below half of their everyday price. I bought mine retail from Lowes. Paired a sale on the bulbs with a $15 off $50 coupon. Who pays MSRP on anything in this day?
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Feb 3, 2017 04:14
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Am I missing something or are you guys using like Xmas sale/eBay/guy in a van prices? Both of these prices seem to be below half of their everyday price. I mean a Z-Wave dimmer will cost you $40-$50 but what the hell is $20-$30 on a long term investment in your house? I haven't done a complete breakdown but I know I have spent less making my house smart on everything from a Nest Protect to light switches, touch screens, Google Homes and Google Audios than I have on bar tabs. Like a lot less but I'm also kind of a lush. But honestly I'm under $1,500. My project will be complete with another <$200 in light switches to control little used lights and the only reason I haven't finished yet is Z-Wave light switches are kind of a pain in the rear end to install in my small gang boxes.
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Feb 3, 2017 04:27
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What does Z-wave licensing cost?
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Feb 3, 2017 04:28
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Not MSRP, I was looking at current prices at Lowes/HD/Amazon, etc. For instance, the cheapest Lightify bulb on lowes.com right now shows $15.
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Feb 3, 2017 04:29
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I bought a couple more Hue stuff today including a light strip. I was debating where I wanted to use it and ended up doing a portion of my bed platform. Looks really drat nice but now I need to buy some extensions to the rest. It's going to be loving awesome once I finish it up. I need an additional pair of flood lights for the hallway, 2 bulbs for my office and that should cover what I can use Hue on. The rest would require me changing the fixtures for something more Hue friendly or would need to go another route (light switches, probably elgato or lutron). Or go for a poo poo ton more light strips but gently caress me those are expensive. That said, the one thing I really, really, really want to see is HomeKit for MacOS. The fact I can't use my iMac to act as my hub or manage / set up automation is loving ridiculous. (also I'm bitter they got rid of automation for the 3rd gen apple tv)
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Feb 3, 2017 04:41
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So I just bought a house, and I'd like to dip my foot into smart homing. Looking at the thread I think I need to do this: 1) Buy a Google Home (already done) 2) Buy a Smartthings Hub (working on that now) 3) Get a couple Kevo 2nd Gens (for my front and side doors) 4) Get some Osify Light Bulbs 5) Get some Z-wave switches and outlets 6) Get a Nest Thermostat 7) Sign up for Hyundai Blue link (already done) 8) Get a Logitech Harmony remove (already have the simple remote and Hub) 9) Get a Chromecast or Nvidia Shield With all this, I can control it via voice, my Pixel, wife's iPhone. Seems like a pretty straight forward purchasing path, I can pick up something each month for the next few months, and build it all out real nice.
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Feb 3, 2017 23:03
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Don't buy a Nest. That entire division is a shithole. Go for Ecobee.
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Feb 4, 2017 17:19
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Ecobee is cool and good. That said I've never found a concrete answer: what's the delay on the motion sensors to give out a clear/unoccupied reading?
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Feb 4, 2017 17:21
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Cool. I already have a nest but I haven't opened it yet. I'm heading to Lowe's now so I'll return it and get an ecobee. Otherwise my plan is solid?
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Feb 4, 2017 18:07
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Three Olives posted:Lightbulbs, yes, the Hue color changing light bulbs in my opinion are horrendously overpriced as far as the utility goes. The dimmers? I dunno, a Leviton dimmer will set you back $20 and for the utility it seems very worth it to me. My house is plugged into in-wall touch screens, Google Home and my smartphone, don't underestimate how nice it is to come home and hit one button and all the lights in your house turn off or go to bed and say "Hey Google, turn my house off" and have all the lights in your house turn off only to wake you in the morning automatically. Yes, I understand its worth it to us. I asked about whether the market will expand beyond those like us at the current prices. I don't think so.
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Feb 4, 2017 18:14
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As of now, harmony doesn't link with Google home. I'm sure there's future plans but right now echo does harmony but home doesn't. But if you just want harmony for control and not voice, this doesn't matter to you.
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Feb 4, 2017 18:17
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RevKrule posted:As of now, harmony doesn't link with Google home. I'm sure there's future plans but right now echo does harmony but home doesn't. But if you just want harmony for control and not voice, this doesn't matter to you. I haven't done it but I'd swear I've seen YT videos of people using the Home with Harmony. Maybe through IFTT?
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Feb 4, 2017 18:19
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Thermopyle posted:I haven't done it but I'd swear I've seen YT videos of people using the Home with Harmony. Maybe through IFTT? Yeah, you can IFTT it but you it doesn't do an out of box type deal like the Echo skill. If you're willing to put in the work for the recipe it can be serviceable though. However, an advantage of the Home over the Echo is if you have chromecasts in your house. You can automatically cast shows from Netflix with Home and it'll do pause/resume functions which has been super handy.
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Feb 4, 2017 18:56
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Thermopyle posted:Yes, I understand its worth it to us. I asked about whether the market will expand beyond those like us at the current prices. I don't think so. I guess I have to question the "like us" part. Who are you defining as "like us"? AMX, Crestron and Control4 have made quite a business automating homes for years for rich and often not particularly tech savvy people. I'm tech savvy and an early adopter but hardly a nerd, my primary computer is a Chromebook. I've invested under $2k in my home automation system which I get is a not insignificant amount of money but it is also isn't a hardship for a middle class person, especially as it was spent a few hundred dollars at a time. Home automation is a critical mass problem, you don't know how much better it will make your life until you really see how it works and I mean really works in a real home. I woke up this morning and said "Hey Google, All On" and all my lights turned on after I slept in, then I said "Hey Google, Play Pandora on Home Speakers" and my favorite songs started playing all throughout my house. That is the future of living that has been promised to us for literally decades and it is every bit as glorious as imagined for the price of a sofa.
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Feb 4, 2017 22:33
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Three Olives posted:I guess I have to question the "like us" part. Who are you defining as "like us"? AMX, Crestron and Control4 have made quite a business automating homes for years for rich and often not particularly tech savvy people. I'm tech savvy and an early adopter but hardly a nerd, my primary computer is a Chromebook. I've invested under $2k in my home automation system which I get is a not insignificant amount of money but it is also isn't a hardship for a middle class person, especially as it was spent a few hundred dollars at a time. I think you are simultaneously underestimating the nerdiness of people "like us" and overestimating the technical ability and patience to learn of those not "like us". I think automation is amazing and having been gifted an Echo, I dove in and read and read and got a Harmony Ultimate and added dimmer switches, etc, etc. I would guess that the average person that received an Echo for Xmas does nothing more with it than asks "Alexa, what's the temperature outside" or "play jazz music". They might hire someone to install a nest but even then they aren't going to delve into setting up advanced macros to do multiple different things based upon time of day or proximity, etc. It's just too difficult right now for someone that isn't technically savvy to begin with and it is very time consuming figuring it all out. They'll eventually get to where it's much much easier for the average person and then it will start taking off even more than it is now. It really is in it's infancy.
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Feb 4, 2017 22:55
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The first time I installed a custom Smartthings automation, and had to copy/paste code from github was when I realized that home automation isn't QUITE ready for the mass market, yet...
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Feb 4, 2017 23:03
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Three Olives posted:I guess I have to question the "like us" part. Who are you defining as "like us"? AMX, Crestron and Control4 have made quite a business automating homes for years for rich and often not particularly tech savvy people. I'm tech savvy and an early adopter but hardly a nerd, my primary computer is a Chromebook. I've invested under $2k in my home automation system which I get is a not insignificant amount of money but it is also isn't a hardship for a middle class person, especially as it was spent a few hundred dollars at a time. You're still missing the point of my question/assertion. I'm not saying that home automation isn't cool and good, I'm saying it's a problem getting people to try it out and see how cool it is when a switch costs $40 instead of $2. Also, you're quite out of touch if you think $2k is not a barrier to your average middle class person.
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Feb 4, 2017 23:08
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After spending well over an hour having to redo just about my entire Wink/GE Link bulb setup again because it lost connection with everything, I've done more research and think I have a plan together on upgrading. My main goal is to move to something that is simple to setup and maintain, uses HomeKit, and can be controlled with the iOS 10 Home app. Native platform integration and Siri control sounds really nice. Lutro Caseta Smart Bridge Hub (http://a.co/4L5npjd) Lutro Caseta In-Wall Switches (http://a.co/7rbiMGn) Lutro Caseta Plug-In Dimmers (http://a.co/coT3GA2) Apple TV Gen 4 for remote access (already have) I originally thought the Lutro switches would work with HomeKit using the AppleTV as the hub, but that doesn't appear to be the case and I'll need a Lutro Smart Bridge hub for it to work with my phone. It looks like depending on the product, other items might require their own hubs too so in theory I could have several home automation hubs stacked next to my router to power everything? (Like if I wanted to also use some Hue bulbs that require their own hub?) It looks like the Lutro switches are compatible with a lot of systems so I'm not totally locked in, which is nice if Apple kills HomeKit or something. It also seems like everything is a lot faster than what I'm currently used to. With my current setup lights take at least a couple seconds to change, which I've gotten used to but is annoying. It also seems like sharing is pretty robust in the iOS Home app so that'll be nice for other members of my family. (My current Wink hub requires everyone use the same login info to see devices, which makes geofencing useless.) My only concern is the 30 foot range. I don't have a huge house but 30 feet doesn't seem like much, but I haven't read any complaints about it. Pricing is expensive ($60 per switch) but I'll be doing this conversion over time so it won't feel so bad. Lutro sells a kit (http://a.co/bRnV9KI) with the hub, two plug-in dimmers, and two remotes (which I'll mount in wall plates) for $175 which will take care of two rooms for me. If it all works out well, I guess I'll upgrade a room a month until I get everything switched over to the new system. Any faults with what I'm going to do? Like "Oh poo poo dawg, Lutro isn't worth it!" or "You really need the Smart Bridge Pro hub for future expandability!" Violator fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Feb 5, 2017 |
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Feb 5, 2017 00:11
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Lutron.
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Feb 5, 2017 00:23
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If you're planning to use Hue bulbs the the switches are kinda redundant. But yeah each system generally uses its own bridge. I'm almost done with my Hue upgrades. The remaining non-Hue lights are 2 fans and 1 chandelier which I'll have to go for smart switches to control (because  HomeKit fans are expensive and silly)Closets and laundry room I just opted for motion sensor switches with poo poo off timers, no need to get fancy for those rooms. The only fun thing I've done is swap the night lamp on my night stand for light strips on the bed. I think they look sweet and I have them to turn on (after sunset) once my ecobee senses I'm in the room 
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Feb 5, 2017 00:26
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Kalman posted:Lutron. God damnit.  I'm S-M-R-T.
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Feb 5, 2017 00:33
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:If you're planning to use Hue bulbs the the switches are kinda redundant. But yeah each system generally uses its own bridge. My thought for mixing in Hue lights was because I have a few rooms where the lights aren't controlled by wall switches. Like in my bedroom, I have a table lamp on each side of my bed. It would require a $60 plug-in dimmer on each side because you can't control different devices on a single dimmer, everything you plug into a dimmer is controlled as one. But if I used Hue bulbs in those situations, it would only cost $15 for the white bulb per side. (Outside the cost of the Hue hub, but you can get a starter kit with two bulbs for $70 which isn't the end of the world.)
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Feb 5, 2017 01:42
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:I just opted for motion sensor switches with poo poo off timers, I love this typo.
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Feb 5, 2017 02:33
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:I bought a couple more Hue stuff today including a light strip. I was debating where I wanted to use it and ended up doing a portion of my bed platform. Looks really drat nice but now I need to buy some extensions to the rest. It's going to be loving awesome once I finish it up. I really wanted the hue light strip, but what ultimately has made it kind of useless for me is the giant plug made it hard for me to get it where I wanted it, and I don't want to just mount it somewhere else just to mount it. I figure if I'm ever an actual home owner I can probably install it more discretely somewhere. As of now, I just have it loosely coiled on the bottom empty shelf of my entertainment stand. I've been thinking about maybe putting some translucent fabric over the shelf to make into a sort of cheap lightbox but haven't gotten around to it yet.
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Feb 5, 2017 06:17
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Dumb question, but if have a smart bulb on a dumb old switch and I have the build turned off via the smart control can I still turn it on with the switch? The switch would have to be on, but I guess if I toggled the switch off/on it would remove power from the bulb and then sort of reboot it? Also if I got a google home how could I talk toy ceiling fans? Are there smart fan remotes that install inside the fan box like a regular remote? Would I need a smartthings hub to tie it all together?
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Feb 5, 2017 06:43
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Dumb question, but if have a smart bulb on a dumb old switch and I have the build turned off via the smart control can I still turn it on with the switch? The switch would have to be on, but I guess if I toggled the switch off/on it would remove power from the bulb and then sort of reboot it? I can only speak for Hue, but if you turn those off and on with a dumb switch, they reset to their initial "100% intensity white light" state no problem.
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Feb 5, 2017 09:25
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Well the GE Z-Wave switch I bought doesn't work with my home wiring. I tried to figure out for 3 hours yesterday and threw in the towel. House built in 2007, so the wiring should be kinda current. Two switches, the "hot" wire wrapped around the pole on the switch I was replacing (and went to the second switch). The ground wires were not being used, 4 of them twisted together and shoved to the back of the box. I had no "neutral" wire and both wires I did have were black (no white wire). Was loving confusing. I did use one of the bare copper ground wires, but the switch never worked. Tried everything, no dice. Damnit. Guess I need to hire an electrician to run a neutral wire? Nah, not that important.  Edit: all the wires were black. The white-ish appearance is just paint overspray from construction. hotsauce fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Feb 5, 2017 |
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Feb 5, 2017 23:47
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If there are a bunch tied together in the back and not being used I'm willing to put money on those being the neutral, and the two black cables being line and load. I'd pick up a cheap multimeter if you don't already have one to verify. Edit: Just saw the obvious grounds in the pic. So weird a house from 2007 has no neutral. McPhearson fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Feb 6, 2017 |
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Feb 6, 2017 00:08
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:Ecobee is cool and good. That said I've never found a concrete answer: what's the delay on the motion sensors to give out a clear/unoccupied reading? Just got and hooked up en Ecobee. Seems pretty nice. I have a Google Home, so I need to get a smart things hub to integrate, but I was planning on that anyways.
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Feb 6, 2017 00:37
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hotsauce posted:Well the GE Z-Wave switch I bought doesn't work with my home wiring. I tried to figure out for 3 hours yesterday and threw in the towel. Those white wires are likely neutral. The two blacks on the switch are a line and load. The neutral from the light fixture is tied straight to the neutral from the electrical source. The line from the light fixture comes to the switch and the other side of the switch goes to the electrical source. Obviously, I'm not there to verify any of this, but it's a pretty common way for it to be wired.
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Feb 6, 2017 00:41
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Thanks guys. I think I have a multimeter somewhere in the garage, I'll try that. Clearly I know jack poo poo about electricity, but I've changed switches many times in the past but this GE switch is different than a "dumb" one. Just trying not to burn my house down I guess.
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Feb 6, 2017 01:36
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So I was looking at learning a little automation system programming and incorporating it at my home. I learn best when I have skin in the game. So I was seriously looking at Control 4 programming and getting an EA-1 or 3, then a coworker handed me a used Universal Remote (URC). Some here have poopoo'd (without specifics) on the URC and suggested Pro Control instead. So I have a decent URC, possibility of vendor discount on a C4, and suggestions to go with a Pro Control. What say yunz? edited for confusing too-little-caffeine sentence. Fog Tripper fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Feb 9, 2017 |
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Feb 6, 2017 21:16
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(Hue) So do I need a separate app to do color / music synching for the color lights?
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Feb 6, 2017 21:23
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I'm reading up on smart locks, what's the best one? I have a Google Home, ecobee thermostat, and that it's. I'd like to get a Smartthings hub, and then something that can be locked via voice, like I tell the Google Home "Lock my doors" and it does it. Also I like the Kevo touch to lock, but I don't think it has any integration right?
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Feb 8, 2017 15:53
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Violator posted:After spending well over an hour having to redo just about my entire Wink/GE Link bulb setup again because it lost connection with everything, I've done more research and think I have a plan together on upgrading. My main goal is to move to something that is simple to setup and maintain, uses HomeKit, and can be controlled with the iOS 10 Home app. Native platform integration and Siri control sounds really nice. I'm doing this as well, though after my last experience with smarthome stuff I'm doing switches only (anything that doesn't fail gracefully to "as good as normal" gets frustrating fast). I got my first test in-wall switch wired last night and it's loving fantastic with the Echo, and I'm doing a bunch more tonight. My one issue is that Lutro seems to not be great at three-way switches (circuits where you have two switches in different places controlling the lights) - all the instructions I'm finding tell me, in essence, "just deactivate one of the switches and replace it with a remote to the other switch!" which I'm not interested in doing (because of the whole failing gracefully thing). And since my house already has a number of those, I'm looking to make it work with what's already there. Anyone else solved this problem?
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Feb 8, 2017 17:01
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Bought a cheap Bluetooth door lock on a boxing day sale. Any great way to integrate it into my system? Have a smart things hub. It's this or a model similair to this: https://www.amazon.ca/MiLocks-DF-01SN-Electronic-Touchpad-Deadbolt/dp/B00NONIKPC
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Feb 8, 2017 17:13
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The linked lock doesn't appear to support Bluetooth. You sure you have the right one? (Not aware of simple ways to integrate Bluetooth into a home automation setup.)
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Feb 8, 2017 17:21
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