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CopperHound posted:My AliExpress order showed up! The noise is the gain control being turned up. Generally at night you try to get as much contrast as possible so greater levels of noise are considered acceptable.
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Nov 21, 2017 20:26
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People complaining about ceiling fans: this seems like it would do the trick. You will likely have to open up your fan housing to install it, but that's the same as the "simple-RF" controllers you can buy as well.
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Nov 21, 2017 20:43
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With the holidays (and crappy weather) approaching, I'm very much in the market for a smart thermostat. Anyone have any anecdotes about the Nest E vs. Ecobee 4? My original plan was to jump on the Nest as soon as it dropped to a decent price, but then I heard about Ecobee's multi-sensor feature and I was intrigued. Either way, my current thermostat isn't even programmable (and has occasional fits of wonkiness) so anything is an upgrade. There's a somewhat significant temperature difference between the two floors of my house, and no easy way to address that aside from converting to a multi-zone HVAC system which is cost-prohibitive. (It's also not THAT big a problem, especially since it's not a huge house.) So I really like the idea of having an extra temperature sensor to alleviate some of that. In pretty much every other way, I'm more predisposed toward the Nest E -- I actually prefer the less fancy design, I don't really care about smart speaker type stuff, and I'm more of a Google guy in general. But if the price is right, the extra sensor might win me over, all else being equal. (I already checked that they're both compatible with my home.)
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Nov 21, 2017 20:52
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Sir Lemming posted:With the holidays (and crappy weather) approaching, I'm very much in the market for a smart thermostat. Anyone have any anecdotes about the Nest E vs. Ecobee 4? My original plan was to jump on the Nest as soon as it dropped to a decent price, but then I heard about Ecobee's multi-sensor feature and I was intrigued. Either way, my current thermostat isn't even programmable (and has occasional fits of wonkiness) so anything is an upgrade. I went from having two nests (one on each floor, two hvac systems, large home) to having two ecobee's (v3) in a smaller 2 floor condo with a single hvac system. I much preferred the ecobee, mainly due to the multiple sensors. I really like the presence detection for determining what room to pay attention to the temperature in. Ecobee is also compatible with smart vents, which further increases the value of the above IMO.
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Nov 21, 2017 21:05
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*snip* not sure how I double posted, only clicked the button once
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Nov 21, 2017 21:05
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Also ecobee sensors now have full homekit integration. They’re not great but hey it’s there. Speaking of ecobee, I was just e-mailed to (maybe) join their pilot program on their upcoming smart switches (Switch+). It’s a smart light switch, temperature/motion/occupancy sensor (that integrates with the thermostat), and also has Alexa voice integration so you can use it for voice control. Sounds pretty good on paper but I’ll have to wait and see just how silly and expensive these things are. And I still need to buy the smart vents at some point but turns out I need to buy a new air conditioning unit so I should probably save for that first.
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Nov 21, 2017 21:22
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PBS posted:I went from having two nests (one on each floor, two hvac systems, large home) to having two ecobee's (v3) in a smaller 2 floor condo with a single hvac system. Thanks for pointing out the Ecobee 3! I was considering picking up a Nest E during Black Friday but the Ecobee's support for room sensors seems like a potential fix for times when our AC running but the room I'm currently in is actually too cold for my liking. If those sensors work as advertised this seems like a no-brainer. On that note, my interest in Z-Wave is for the potential to assemble a home automation setup that won't phone home to a  . My ultimate goal is to use Home Assistant to control everything so that I'm not leaking my personal schedule to a bunch of third-parties. Is such a thing currently possible? Or are we not there yet? Maybe I should be considering an alternative to a Nest or an Ecobee?
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Nov 21, 2017 23:19
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CopperHound posted:Night mode without IR illumination:
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Nov 22, 2017 00:20
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IAmKale posted:Thanks for pointing out the Ecobee 3! I use home assistant for quite a few things, it's a great tool with a lot of functionality. I'm sure it's possible, but not with a solution like the nest or ecobee. I'd love for the ecobee to be fully on-prem but it's just not. Here's a thread from reddit that discusses zwave, non-cloud only thermostats. May have some useful info for you. I agree that's really the way to go whenever possible. I don't like the idea of bricked devices because the company decides to go out of business or stop supporting the product. I also don't like the lost privacy. https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/6m8efx/best_smart_thermostat_for_local_control_and_ha/ PBS fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Nov 22, 2017 |
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Nov 22, 2017 01:24
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I had one of the “Cloud-less” z-wave CT80 thermostats. It was pretty miserable having to manually schedule temperatures with Vera then later Home Assistant. It was such a pain I eventually just treated it like a dumb tstat and I was worse off than when I had a cheap programmable unit. Nest just works and I don’t have to micromanage it. The fact that my power company pays me to use it is icing on top.
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Nov 22, 2017 03:19
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I wish I could get more devices that offered both. I don't care if the device has cloud features as long as those things make sense. With the Nest example, I don't mind that it looks up weather data from a cloud service. That makes sense. I don't mind that it connects their app to the device through their cloud service when I'm on the go. That makes sense. It's a lot more secure than having every idiot opening ports on their router to their thermostat and simpler than setting up dynamic DNS. What I don't like is when there's no alternative for local control. I should be able to set the temperature on my Nest from a device on the same LAN without that message having to bounce off a remote server. This is not just for privacy reasons, this is for longevity. If Alphabet gets bored of Nest and kills the cloud servers it effectively becomes a pure dumb thermostat with no remote control capability at all. I don't like the idea that a perfectly good device should lose features it can easily support itself just because a remote service was shut down. Hell, if my internet goes down there's no good reason I shouldn't still be able to tweak my thermostat from downstairs.
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Nov 22, 2017 05:46
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Crosspost because I forgot this was the thread people were asking about Google Homes. Dunno if anyone is interested but you can get a full sized Google Home for $65 on eBay for like another two hours.
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Nov 23, 2017 01:03
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In that vein, Verizon is selling Home minis this weekend, starting Thursday, for $30 plus you get a $10 “prepaid card” whatever that is.
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Nov 23, 2017 01:48
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I’m hoping to snag some Home Minis tomorrow after dinner but I’m not actually going to wait by a door for it. Don’t think I’ve seen any good BF deals for Hue lights.
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Nov 23, 2017 01:57
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Amazon has the TP-Link smart plus for $17 when you order with Alexa https://www.amazon.com/b?node=16924218011
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Nov 23, 2017 04:06
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Walmart Google deals are live, just ordered the two max for the $25 coupon.
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Nov 23, 2017 07:27
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Any opinions on Abode for security? We've had some thefts in the neighborhood and a shooting next door, and I've been looking to see what options are out there. I was originally just looking at the smart locks so I could make sure the doors get deadbolted, but I saw that Abode is supposed to have a pretty decent discount on their starter kit for Black Friday, and looks like this ties with the smart locks. I'm currently thinking of getting the starter kit with enough sensors for all the doors, then looking to swap out the locks for smart locks down the road.
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Nov 23, 2017 16:21
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What do you want the security system to do for you? It won’t keep thieves out or stop bullets.
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Nov 23, 2017 16:24
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Looking at deploying a new system from scratch. 1) I got on this because I picked up a SmartThings adapter for my shield. Having read this thread, though, I think Home assist is really up my alley. Being cloudless is a big appeal to me (privacy, reliability, response time?) And it seems like there's a lot of room for feeling out with it, and it seems really well supported. Not being as plug-n-play isn't a problem for me as long as HA isn't buggy and annoying to even get working, and it seems like HA has a decent breadth of support. I am a profe computer plumber and am super fluent in YAML so this isn't an obstacle. Anything else I should consider between the two? I do have an existing Nest/Nest protect setup that I'd like to interface if possible. 2) I'm looking at the HomeSwwr Z-Wave+ switches. The Dimmers look like they are only $5 more than the basic switches. Is there any good reason not to just use dimmers everywhere (besides dimmer capacity and bulb compatibility)? 3) Most or my switch locations would be already wired. However, for areas I'd like to add new ones, are there good options for wireless Z-Wave wall controllers? I assume the answer is yes, I'm just a little overwhelmed with options. E: does anyone have thoughts on the Ubiquiti camera stuff? I'm looking at redoing all the wired networking in the house as well and was thinking about a Ubiquiti PoE setup. The cameras would be a cool addition (and justify me upgrading the switch). Actually, does anyone know if there's an adapter to run a Raspberry Pi over PoE? Seems like an obvious use case. Hubis fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Nov 23, 2017 |
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Nov 23, 2017 16:39
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Subjunctive posted:What do you want the security system to do for you? It won’t keep thieves out or stop bullets. Yeah sorry, I guess I should have included more detail. Really my primary goal was to make it harder for people to get in the house. I was looking at the smart locks because there have been times where family has left the deadbolts unlocked when they leave or at night, and I was looking for a good way of making sure those were secure. That led me looking into home automation in general and it seemed like the Abode system might be a good base to then add the smart locks to.
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Nov 23, 2017 16:46
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I have a whole house fan that uses an electronic timer/coundown switch. It has settings of 1hr - 8hr. Is there a WiFi/ Smart Switch that can replicate timer functionality via app and on the device? I would like to set the switch to run for 2 hours or so from my phone, but also allow by mother-in-law without a smart phone to be able to do the same from the wall.
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Nov 23, 2017 16:57
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FCKGW posted:I have a whole house fan that uses an electronic timer/coundown switch. It has settings of 1hr - 8hr. If you used one of the multi-tap compatible switches like the HomeSeer, you could set up an event so a single/double/triple up tap turns it on for 1/4/8 hours and a down-tap turns it off. That would take a bit of software setup and there's no explicit app support, but it would do what you are looking for I think
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Nov 23, 2017 17:27
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Frohike999 posted:Yeah sorry, I guess I should have included more detail. Really my primary goal was to make it harder for people to get in the house. I was looking at the smart locks because there have been times where family has left the deadbolts unlocked when they leave or at night, and I was looking for a good way of making sure those were secure. That led me looking into home automation in general and it seemed like the Abode system might be a good base to then add the smart locks to. I don’t know anything about Abode (is it Z-wave?), but indeed it won’t do much for you until you get the locks hooked in. What do you want to happen in response to the Abode system’s sensors tripping? Push alert? Contact monitoring service? Klaxon?
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Nov 23, 2017 17:30
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Subjunctive posted:I don’t know anything about Abode (is it Z-wave?), but indeed it won’t do much for you until you get the locks hooked in. My understanding is the Abode hub supports Z-wave. The priority for me is to make sure deadbolts get locked around the house, and the ability to lock/unlock them from my phone would be great. Assuming a sensor does trip, I'd like a push notification to my phone, but where the deadbolts are my main concern, maybe I'd be better off just looking at a hub that supports the locks and not bother with the Abode stuff? Really I was looking for something that would handle the locks now, but also support other automation stuff down the road if I decide to add to it, but maybe I'm looking at too much at once?
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Nov 23, 2017 17:42
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Hubis posted:E: does anyone have thoughts on the Ubiquiti camera stuff? I'm looking at redoing all the wired networking in the house as well and was thinking about a Ubiquiti PoE setup. The cameras would be a cool addition (and justify me upgrading the switch). Actually, does anyone know if there's an adapter to run a Raspberry Pi over PoE? Seems like an obvious use case. I'd still consider them for point to point wireless. I've heard nothing but good things about those products.
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Nov 23, 2017 18:04
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Going along with the above, I would like to install smart locks also but am not thrilled about having to buy a new hub for every device I get. Ive looked at the august locks in the past. If i was to get an echo plus does its hub functionality mean O wouldnt have to buy the extra hub from august? I like the idea of the echo plus but I havent had any luck finding a list of what items its compatible with. The two main things I want do do next is a garage door opener and a smart lock. The chamberlain myq hub looks good to me as does the august locks, but given that my two main priorities are alexa and homekit compatibility is there anything I should consider?
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Nov 23, 2017 18:07
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CopperHound posted:I can't remember the details from when I looked into them, but I seem to recall seeing that they use a proprietary PoE implementation and are not ONVIF compliant. Seemed like vendor lock to me so I ran away. We use these at work and I'm really happy with them. You're right, the PoE isn't standard, so they won't work with another brand PoE switch, but you can either buy the Ubiquiti PoE switch or use the PoE adapters for each camera. We ended up using the Ubiquiti switch, which supports both the PoE standard and PoE+ that the cameras use, so if you plan on mixing other devices they would work with the switch. I'm really happy with the quality of all the Ubiquiti products we've used, and in the two instances where we've had to RMA a device, their support has been great about getting us a replacement.
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Nov 23, 2017 18:16
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At this point even Ubiquiti recommends using the 802.3af adapters with their non-standard hardware anyways. They are not going to be supporting passive PoE on future products in the UniFi line.
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Nov 23, 2017 18:41
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Keystoned posted:Going along with the above, I would like to install smart locks also but am not thrilled about having to buy a new hub for every device I get. Those August things look very proprietary and uni-task-y Wherever possible I’d get devices based on a common standard like z-wave so you’re not beholden to APIs or locked into one hub. Same for the garage door. Love my Kwikset z-wave deadbolts fwiw. When I changed hub ecosystems, it was as simple as re-pairing. edit: those August things have z-wave AND their own goofy WiFi bridge? eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Nov 23, 2017 |
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Nov 23, 2017 18:59
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CopperHound posted:I can't remember the details from when I looked into them, but I seem to recall seeing that they use a proprietary PoE implementation and are not ONVIF compliant. Seemed like vendor lock to me so I ran away. They do have RTSP streaming support for third party stuff. It got re-added back in a few firmware revisions back. Just about every VMS should add it in that way and you just use server side motion detection rather than camera side. And in the DIY space, I'd ignore ONVIF support. There are a ton of cameras out there claiming ONVIF compliance that have never been submitted to ONVIF for testing. And the ONVIF group is pretty toothless when it comes to going after people who claim compliance and don't have it. Blue Iris for instance has no ONVIF support listed but it does fine enough for the home user. At the Enterprise level it's a little more important, but most of the time you'd select the native driver for it in the VMS. For a lot of cameras you'll see them do the minimum required support for Profile S which doesn't include any metadata like motion events as a trigger for recording. The spec allows for it, but it's not always a given.
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Nov 23, 2017 19:11
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CopperHound posted:I can't remember the details from when I looked into them, but I seem to recall seeing that they use a proprietary PoE implementation and are not ONVIF compliant. Seemed like vendor lock to me so I ran away. Frohike999 posted:We use these at work and I'm really happy with them. You're right, the PoE isn't standard, so they won't work with another brand PoE switch, but you can either buy the Ubiquiti PoE switch or use the PoE adapters for each camera. We ended up using the Ubiquiti switch, which supports both the PoE standard and PoE+ that the cameras use, so if you plan on mixing other devices they would work with the switch. wolrah posted:At this point even Ubiquiti recommends using the 802.3af adapters with their non-standard hardware anyways. They are not going to be supporting passive PoE on future products in the UniFi line. Yeah I believe this was the case with the previous generation, but their new products are all 802.3af standard.
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Nov 23, 2017 19:22
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Cameras are still mostly using 24v but all the UAP models have been updated to support 802.3af. I wish they'd get around to updating the cameras.
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Nov 23, 2017 19:28
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wolrah posted:At this point even Ubiquiti recommends using the 802.3af adapters with their non-standard hardware anyways. They are not going to be supporting passive PoE on future products in the UniFi line. There’s already at least one product (the Ethernet wallplates with builtin wifi AP) that wants 3af, and doesn’t work with EdgeRouter. I was overjoyed.
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Nov 23, 2017 21:28
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Subjunctive posted:There’s already at least one product (the Ethernet wallplates with builtin wifi AP) that wants 3af, and doesn’t work with EdgeRouter. I was overjoyed. The AC Pro and AC HD/SHD models too, as well as the outdoor variant of the Pro. The upcoming UniFi XG models actually don't even support any current production UniFi switches no matter what, as they require 802.3bt PoE due to their four radios and 10GBaseT uplink. I've always wondered why the AC Pro lists 802.3at and af support, what good would .3at support do if they run off .3af... I don't have a .3at switch but I can't say I noticed any difference in performance when I switched it from the bundled injector to a .3af switch. wolrah fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Nov 23, 2017 |
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Nov 23, 2017 22:59
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Best Buy has mountains of Homes and Minis which is nice. I was worried for a dumb second I wasn’t going to get one.
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Nov 24, 2017 00:44
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Kwikset looks neat. Is there a version that would work with alexa and homekit? Also would i need to get a seperate hub if i got an echo plus?
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Nov 24, 2017 00:55
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So I have my home minis mostly setup. I had some issues with the app refreshing slowly and me messing up leading to accidentally creating two kitchen and living rooms. Took a bit to actually move the lights to the proper room and getting rid of the duplicates but now everything looks good in home control. Except the minis still see multiple of those rooms so if I try to say turn off kitchen it replies it doesn’t know which kitchen I mean. I’ve tried rebooting the devices with no luck so anyone know how I can force them to refresh their home data? EDIT: Unlinking Hue and a Factory Reset of the Minis didn't help either. So this is off to a lovely start EDIT: This is starting to annoy me and is just showing yet another aspect I loving HATE: Apple and Google forcing to manage this poo poo entirely through a phone or tablet. Let me use a loving computer to set and manage this poo poo, it'd be a million times easier and not as clunky. I had to reset to creating two new rooms because "Kitchen" and "Living Room" have a hidden ghost duplicate that prevents me from using any commands tied to either of those rooms. There doesn't appear a way to reset your Home Control data on google and unlinking/resetting stuff doesn't actually get rid of the data so I'm hosed for now until this decides to update itself. Happy Noodle Boy fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Nov 24, 2017 |
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Nov 24, 2017 04:03
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:So I have my home minis mostly setup. I had some issues with the app refreshing slowly and me messing up leading to accidentally creating two kitchen and living rooms. Took a bit to actually move the lights to the proper room and getting rid of the duplicates but now everything looks good in home control. Check to see if there's an API you can use to list rooms and update or delete. Google it to see if anyone's talked about public/private APIs on blogs, or run a proxy to see what calls the app makes. Edit: not reverse PBS fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Nov 25, 2017 |
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Nov 24, 2017 15:16
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I received my two minis from Walmart and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by the sound quality, absolutely perfect for the bathroom and completely serviceable for the bedroom where there is already a Tivoli Model 2 with a Chromecast Audio for music when the stereo is off. Apparently the $29 discount is still valid until the end of the year, pretty sure I'm going to pick two more up for the office and den so I can go completely overkill and have a Google Home and Chromecast Audio for every room in the house.
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Nov 26, 2017 03:11
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Not entirely automation related but if I can somehow figure out how to sync my work exchange calendar to google so I can get those heads up through the Home in the morning, it'd be perfect.
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Nov 26, 2017 03:35
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