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Ok question - I have an elderly relative whose caretaker wants to have a camera on her so that if the caretaker is out at the store or something, he can use his phone to drop in on the camera and check on her - the elderly woman isn't mobile and is always in a stationary position Would a video doorbell be the best way to do this? That way the caretaker can drop in via phone and speak to the elderly woman The caretaker suggested FaceTime, but can it be made so that the caretaker's call via phone automatically gets answered by the elderly woman's iPad that would be positioned facing her? Or would the woman have to manually answer the call? I'm open to any other suggestions
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May 10, 2018 04:24
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A video doorbell seems like a bad choice since the relative would have to be outside to talk? There are plenty of cameras with two-way talk that range from $100-200.
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May 10, 2018 05:47
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This actually seems like a good use case for one of Amazon's creepy cams.
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May 10, 2018 07:08
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Rick posted:This actually seems like a good use case for one of Amazon's creepy cams. The reviews say that their iPhone app isn't compatible with the 2-way audio, but otherwise that looks great Pants Donkey posted:A video doorbell seems like a bad choice since the relative would have to be outside to talk? I meant if you installed it inside the house instead
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May 10, 2018 13:38
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EugeneJ posted:Ok question - I have an elderly relative whose caretaker wants to have a camera on her so that if the caretaker is out at the store or something, he can use his phone to drop in on the camera and check on her - the elderly woman isn't mobile and is always in a stationary position FaceTime don't support no 'auto-answer' on ANY device. Here's a suggestion: WyzeCam for $20 bucks. It comes with a magnetic mount/wall mount and actually has a microphone/speaker so you can carry on a (loud) conversation with whomever is in front of the camera. Even has night vision. Has an iOS/Android app that goes straight to the camera once it's all set up. Only caveats are: Conversations can only be initiated by iOS/Android app checking in, camera can't call out; volume is not adjustable on camera's tiny little speaker, sound quality for two-way convo is akin to a cheap toy walkie-talkie at full volume, squelchy and sometimes distorted, and a 2.4 GHz wireless router and internet have to be already set up. Also need an AC outlet less than 5 feet from where you want to place the camera, unless you want to buy a long 20ft cable that costs as much as the camera itself. Binary Badger fucked around with this message at 13:57 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 13:55
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EugeneJ posted:Ok question - I have an elderly relative whose caretaker wants to have a camera on her so that if the caretaker is out at the store or something, he can use his phone to drop in on the camera and check on her - the elderly woman isn't mobile and is always in a stationary position Regular NEST camera
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May 10, 2018 14:02
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How about one of the Amazon Echo's which have video?
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May 10, 2018 14:39
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Slash posted:How about one of the Amazon Echo's which have video? Thats what I though. Either an Echo and enable drop in which gives you audio any time, or an echo show (not sure if you can enable auto dropin on that or it has to be confirmed by the recipient).
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May 10, 2018 16:08
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Binary Badger posted:Here's a suggestion: WyzeCam for $20 bucks. It comes with a magnetic mount/wall mount and actually has a microphone/speaker so you can carry on a (loud) conversation with whomever is in front of the camera. Even has night vision. Has an iOS/Android app that goes straight to the camera once it's all set up. Amazon reviews say this thing traffics data to China and Russia, so I'm thinking "no" - but great price!
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May 10, 2018 16:28
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EugeneJ posted:Amazon reviews say this thing traffics data to China and Russia, so I'm thinking "no" - but great price! Firewall it. In fact you shouldn't be running an IoT setup that doesn't involve a firewall and preferably a segregated VLAN for your devices.
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May 10, 2018 16:37
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bobfather posted:Firewall it. In fact you shouldn't be running an IoT setup that doesn't involve a firewall and preferably a segregated VLAN for your devices. +1. I'm planning on running a separate 2.4Ghz wireless network on a segregated VLAN for all my smart home stuff when we move into the new place. Locking it all down might be a pain though since everything seems to have to talk to a server somewhere. Just got new Samsung laundry units, last night couldn't set them up on my wife's iPhone because the Samsung servers were not responding.
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May 10, 2018 16:43
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So are there cool things that can be done with wifi-enabled appliances? So far the only thing I've been able to think of is "send me a text/email/whatever when the washer/dryer is done". Wifi on fridge would probably be totally useless.
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May 11, 2018 19:30
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enraged_camel posted:So are there cool things that can be done with wifi-enabled appliances? Depends on what info you can get out of the wifi. My water heater has wifi and I like to be able to see how often it kicks on and how much money we're spending on electricity for it. I might automate it to switch between eco and high demand modes during times of the day when we're all wanting showers. On a fridge, I'd like to see the same info. Maybe get info about how long the door is open and its effect on temperature and electricity usage.
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May 11, 2018 19:37
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enraged_camel posted:So are there cool things that can be done with wifi-enabled appliances? Nothing really worth paying a big premium for IMHO. The app has notifications and shows the status of the washer or dryer. It'll pop a notification box when a cycle is finished. You can ask Alexa things like "ask Samsung what is the remaining time on my dryer?" The biggest thing we'll use it for, is you can put clothes in the washer in the morning, and then start the cycle at like 4:30PM so they're finishing up when you get home from work and can put them straight into the dryer. Saves a little bit of time, and you don't have wet clothes sitting in the washer all day. It's funny though, I work from home, I can do laundry all day while I work if I need to. Honestly it's just a feature that came with the fancy Samsung Flexwash system we wanted. I could totally live without it. We're purchasing a Samsung FamilyHub fridge in July, my wife and kids are enamored with the drat thing. I'm all like "I can just put a touchscreen computer on the counter that does all that and more for less money and it won't be obsolete in 8 months", but I have a feeling I won't win that one. It does seem pretty neat though. You can get a picture of whats in the fridge remotely, you can sync a shopping list, mirror whats on your Samsung TV onto the display, control Spotify/<music> , sync calendars. I won't replace the non smart appliances that are coming with the house with smart ones though (dishwasher and wall ovens). I've looked into Samsung products mostly. You can have Alexa preheat the smart oven, you can have it start the dishwasher or tell you how long it has left. There's a range that talks to the hood via bluetooth so when you turn a burner on it automatically turns the hood on (questionable utility with that one). So nothing really cool or life changing tbh.
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May 11, 2018 19:50
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I've started down the home automation/security rabbit hole. I picked up a Nest Protect to replace a basic smoke detector (that didn't detect CO either, so bonus double upgrade!) and installed a Lutron Caseta dimmer switch (and accompanying hub) for the main kitchen light so I can use the pico remote as a second light switch on the other side of the kitchen. The most irritating thing has been finding bulbs that work properly. Lowe's recently (as in within the past week, apparently) switched to selling only GE bulbs and the only one I could find there that was on the "approved" list from Lutron was the 100w equivalent. That's after trying a Feit from Ace that dimmed fine but wouldn't turn off all the way. I'm already planning out what switches I want to "smarten" next and my wife is super interested in the idea of having some cameras to check on the cats  when we're out. We also want to install one of those Dome water shutoffs which of course means getting a z-wave hub. And I might as well set up a Logitech Harmony system for the living room...This... is gonna get expensive... 
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May 11, 2018 19:53
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enraged_camel posted:So are there cool things that can be done with wifi-enabled appliances? If the fridge has a camera in it I wouldn't mind being able to check if I really am out of turkey or something while at the grocery store. Or maybe have Google Home/Alex/Siri built in so I can turn on/off lights, do cooking unit conversions, get recipes, etc. while in the kitchen without using up counter space on another device. Maybe even make the fridge able to be queried by Google Home/Alex/Siri so I can change the temps, check the water filter, check the ice bin, etc. whenever.
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May 11, 2018 19:53
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What's the best solution for ceiling fans and smart homes? We jumped the gun and bought 7 fans for the new house while they were on sale at Costco, but once I started looking at the install requirements I was surprised. Granted I haven't bought fans in over 8 years, but a lot of the new ones seem to be designed to be remotely controlled. I have the house wired for 2 switches at every fan location, but these fans we bought only use one of them, and expects the power to be on 100% of the time and for it to be controlled 100% of the time with the remote. You can't even wire them to the dual switches if you wanted to. I really don't want to keep track of the fan remotes either. I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest. I saw a device called BOND can control them via RF and integrate with Alexa. They're Hunter fans though, and installing 7 of them looks like it's going to cause problems. (no dip switches like hamtpon bay), and if one gets messed up you have to do some weird remote learning dance 12 times to clear things out. I'm leaning towards returning them and getting standard non remote ceiling fans and then getting GE zigbee switches. I think that might be easier in the long run. HD has a couple of Wink enabled fans, Hunter has this weird bluetooth simpleconnect system unless you buy one of their 400 dollar fans that has wifi. I'm planning on an Amazon Echo/Alexa environment with a smartthings hub (or Wink, don't have a preference at this point).
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May 11, 2018 20:01
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You sure the Hunter doesn't have a blue wire? The fans that operate with a remote typically have a controller at the fan that has black and white providing power to the controller and a shared white (neutral), black to control the light & dimmer, and blue to control the fan & speed. As for the "best" way to control lights and fans--I've been using the GE Z-Wave switches with great success. Seven fans with seven pairs of switches, plus addon switches if you have three way light switches, is going to get costly... I have no experience with the Enerwave controller, but it seems like this would work with plain old light switch and simply replace the remote controller inside the fan: https://smile.amazon.com/Enerwave-Z-Wave-Switch-Module-Convert/dp/B01CPO2D3K Half the cost but without a phone/alexa/etc you can only control on/off of the entire unit.
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May 11, 2018 20:40
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I’m going to stop by storage this afternoon and open one of them up to see. The instructions make it seem like you can’t wire them without the receiver, but there is a blue wire it looks like. I’m not sure if I’m going to do all the rooms or not. Definitely the living room, game room and master. The other rooms are up in the air Cost is a factor but it’s secondary to getting a functional system that won’t frustrate the family. If paying for the ge switches is the most solid way to do it, I will.
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May 11, 2018 20:58
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There's this ceiling fan controller which is constantly in and out of stock at Home Depot. It says Wink, but it's Z-Wave, so it'll work with whatever. I haven't used it (yet), but it's recommended on the SmartThings forum. Thermopyle fucked around with this message at 21:58 on May 11, 2018 |
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May 11, 2018 21:51
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Thermopyle posted:There's this ceiling fan controller which is constantly in and out of stock at Home Depot. Does this thing go into the fan, and work on those fans that have pull chains? I want to automate my fans as well, but I have to pull a chain to change speeds. They don't have remote controls.
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May 12, 2018 00:36
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IUG posted:Does this thing go into the fan, and work on those fans that have pull chains? I want to automate my fans as well, but I have to pull a chain to change speeds. They don't have remote controls. Yeah, as long as its the type with a canopy against the ceiling that has room for the controller part to fit inside. Or at least that's the idea I think...like I said I don't have one, but that's what I've read on the smartthings forums. You turn the fan speed chain to high and the light on and then remove the chains so people aren't pulling them. Then all the control is done from the remote or whatever zwave control you got going on. The white part against the ceiling in this hastily-googled image: 
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May 12, 2018 00:55
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Thermopyle posted:Yeah, as long as its the type with a canopy against the ceiling that has room for the controller part to fit inside. Or at least that's the idea I think...like I said I don't have one, but that's what I've read on the smartthings forums. You turn the fan speed chain to high and the light on and then remove the chains so people aren't pulling them. Then all the control is done from the remote or whatever zwave control you got going on. Ah, mine did have that shaft, but I didn't use that as I'm a taller guy. I'm already able to hit the chains if I stand up perfectly straight, so I mounted mine flush.
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May 12, 2018 12:44
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Thermopyle posted:Yeah, as long as its the type with a canopy against the ceiling that has room for the controller part to fit inside. Or at least that's the idea I think...like I said I don't have one, but that's what I've read on the smartthings forums. You turn the fan speed chain to high and the light on and then remove the chains so people aren't pulling them. Then all the control is done from the remote or whatever zwave control you got going on. You can also mount them in the housing below (and may have to if you want to control the lights as well)
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May 12, 2018 13:02
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IUG posted:Ah, mine did have that shaft, but I didn't use that as I'm a taller guy. I'm already able to hit the chains if I stand up perfectly straight, so I mounted mine flush. Well, it's not the downrod thats important, it's the canopy right against the ceiling. Many ceiling fans can be installed with or without the shaft but keep the canopy part. Hubis posted:You can also mount them in the housing below (and may have to if you want to control the lights as well) Really? I'm not doubting you, I just never ran across the situation where there was just power in the canopy as every ceiling fan I've seen has a hot line at top so you can wire it up to use separate switch for light and fan if you want. I used to be an electrician and I've installed probably 200 ceiling fans, but that was just in midwest, USA...who knows what they do elsewhere.
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May 12, 2018 17:13
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Thermopyle posted:Well, it's not the downrod thats important, it's the canopy right against the ceiling. Many ceiling fans can be installed with or without the shaft but keep the canopy part. Mine was probably an edge case, but I was replacing a set of very old Casablanca controllers that communicated over the power supply line. The receiver (?) Was in the cowling, and controlled both the light and fan motor. So it was Hot + Neutral into the controller in the housing, then a little circuit board there with some relays going to Light+N and Fan+N. E: these! https://community.smartthings.com/t/casablanca-inteli-touch-switch-w-11/13062 Hubis fucked around with this message at 19:15 on May 12, 2018 |
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May 12, 2018 19:11
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I figure this will be the best place to ask: The nest cam I got outside of my garage has some spotty coverage, even after moving the wifi closer. When I say spotty I don't mean its on/off constantly, it'll work flawlessly for a few days then randomly for a few hours it'll constantly disconnect. I just need a tiny boost to the wifi range, I'm using a Asus RT-N66U. Is there some antennas that I can buy and replace on the modem to give me some extra range? Again, I don't need a lot of it, just like a few extra feet's worth. E: I should note the wifi is basically as close at it can be, and if I were to buy a range extender/repeater I'd be placing it maybe 8 feet away from the wifi. I feel that'd be too expensive and extra range from an extender/repeater would be wasted. Its really a small house, we just need to get the signal a little bit stronger in front of the garage. Leal fucked around with this message at 13:36 on May 13, 2018 |
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May 13, 2018 13:31
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Leal posted:I figure this will be the best place to ask: The nest cam I got outside of my garage has some spotty coverage, even after moving the wifi closer. When I say spotty I don't mean its on/off constantly, it'll work flawlessly for a few days then randomly for a few hours it'll constantly disconnect. I just need a tiny boost to the wifi range, I'm using a Asus RT-N66U. Is there some antennas that I can buy and replace on the modem to give me some extra range? Again, I don't need a lot of it, just like a few extra feet's worth. You could try making one of the antennas more directional towards the camera with some papercraft and aluminum foil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAuWu9DAvk4 No idea if this will solve your problem for good but it can be effective and is cheap.
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May 13, 2018 22:09
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Leal posted:I figure this will be the best place to ask: The nest cam I got outside of my garage has some spotty coverage, even after moving the wifi closer. When I say spotty I don't mean its on/off constantly, it'll work flawlessly for a few days then randomly for a few hours it'll constantly disconnect. I just need a tiny boost to the wifi range, I'm using a Asus RT-N66U. Is there some antennas that I can buy and replace on the modem to give me some extra range? Again, I don't need a lot of it, just like a few extra feet's worth. Don't mess with extenders, you'll be fussing with them until the end of time. Just buy a small spool of cat6 and run a line to the camera and fix it permanently.
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May 16, 2018 16:18
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uPen posted:Don't mess with extenders, you'll be fussing with them until the end of time. Just buy a small spool of cat6 and run a line to the camera and fix it permanently. Re-arrange/add a new AP nearby or go 'real' mesh.
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May 16, 2018 17:17
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Agreed, WDS repeaters are bad. They work by switching one radio back and forth as it forwards packets along, so best case your bandwidth gets halved with every hop and in the real world it's worse. Adding another hard-wired AP is always the best option, especially if you're running something like UniFi that can make them actually work together rather than just existing in the same space. A modern "mesh" system with separate radios for backhaul versus user-facing on the remote units is tolerable if wiring it is not an option.
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May 16, 2018 18:14
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Magnus Praeda posted:This... is gonna get expensive... Yessir, I believe I initially planned to spend maybe $300...I will not add up what I have actually spent so far, but suffice to say it is a much larger number. Totally worth it though. Robots clean my floors, my door automatically locks behind me, I don't need a key, my lights turn on when I get within a block of my house, and I can tell an AI to shut everything off and set my alarm at night. I live in the Jetsons and it owns.
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May 17, 2018 01:20
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wolrah posted:Agreed, WDS repeaters are bad. They work by switching one radio back and forth as it forwards packets along, so best case your bandwidth gets halved with every hop and in the real world it's worse. Eh, it's only "bad" if you need the throughput. You are trading peak performance for convenience, and I'd wager most consumers probably wouldn't notice. I wouldn't use one, but there are certainly use cases where they are a perfectly fine solution. That said, I agree with all the rest of this, and hooking up nest cams is probably exactly the type of case you'd want to avoid then for because they are already going to load your network.
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May 17, 2018 14:38
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I still remember when 802.11b was new, things have certainly changed.
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May 17, 2018 14:42
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Hubis posted:Eh, it's only "bad" if you need the throughput. You are trading peak performance for convenience, and I'd wager most consumers probably wouldn't notice. I wouldn't use one, but there are certainly use cases where they are a perfectly fine solution. In my experience reliability takes a significant hit too.
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May 17, 2018 16:10
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phongn posted:Nest Cam is wifi-only. Wait what? That's insane.
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May 17, 2018 17:35
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uPen posted:Wait what? That's insane.
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May 17, 2018 19:08
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paternity suitor posted:Yessir, I believe I initially planned to spend maybe $300...I will not add up what I have actually spent so far, but suffice to say it is a much larger number. Totally worth it though. Robots clean my floors, my door automatically locks behind me, I don't need a key, my lights turn on when I get within a block of my house, and I can tell an AI to shut everything off and set my alarm at night. I live in the Jetsons and it owns. Oh gently caress. I hadn't even thought about integration with Roombas or equivalent but it totally makes sense. My wife has wanted a robot vacuum for a while now and I was thinking about getting one for her birthday or xmas. Now I'll have to consider the integration question as wall. What model(s) do you use and do you like it? Wibla posted:I still remember when 802.11b was new, things have certainly changed. I actually found my old D-Link DL-514 in a box while doing some cleaning the other day. Bought it so I could use my Snow iBook G3 with the blazing fast ADSL we had at the time.
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May 17, 2018 21:20
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uPen posted:Wait what? That's insane. Can't have that small svelte camera if you've got to jam a big honking RJ45 port on there and now also remain upright in spite of some stiff-rear end Cat 5/5e/6 cabling. (Also wired Ethernet never really caught on in the consumer space, what with all the blowing holes in walls and structure.)
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May 18, 2018 06:41
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So none of the windows in my house have blinds or curtains so far. I feel like this gives me a nice blank slate in terms of home automation. However, I can't find any automated blinds/curtains that are compatible with, say, SmartThings. Or even Alexa. Is this just not a thing? I basically want to configure curtains/blinds to automatically open/close depending on time of day and the weather outside, and I specifically want to configure the ones in my bedroom to slowly open in the morning to simulate sunrise.
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May 18, 2018 07:18
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