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ClassActionFursuit
Mar 15, 2006

While it varies by location, I'm fairly sure that by code you need it to have a switch.

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TacoHavoc
Dec 31, 2007
It's taco-y and havoc-y...at the same time!

Lawen posted:

Thanks, that’s pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

I’d like to be able to use the Maestro switches since they’re more like standard switches but I don’t know that it’s worth the RA2 Select premium. Especially now that I realize the Maestro don’t actually “click” on/off like a Diva switch and instead just kinda press in and return to neutral position like a button.
It also looks like there’s a line of blinds that work with Caseta but not RA2, which seems odd to me.

I totally agree that their stuff feels kinda dated. I guess that’s part of why it’s so dependable but you’d think they’d want to make things at least a bit more customizable, especially for the DIY-friendly Casetta line.

Maestros are weird until you "get" them: Single tap to last light level, single tap to off. Double tap at any time for 100% on. I like them more than caseta just for the LED "nightlight" effect.

Lutron has a weird situation where they're trying to keep a bunch of people with different interests happy: Big box retail (Caseta), wholesale electrical and small AV (RA2 select/some RA2), and custom ultra high end guys (Homeworks). It can lead to weird glass walls and limitations in the product lines as the representatives for those platforms go back and forth on what should be where. The reason stuff is less customizable is in the interest of "it just works". The mindset is you're selling to people who are willing to pay a premium for things to just work perfectly, feel good, and last a long time. A small subset wants to customize, but it's not really for them.

It looks like maybe Caseta does some home assistant stuff now? I'm not a big integration guy so I haven't looked that way at all.

TacoHavoc
Dec 31, 2007
It's taco-y and havoc-y...at the same time!

FISHMANPET posted:

How concerned should I be that something like this doesn't have any kind of UL or ETL listing? Especially if I'm going to be putting it in my porch ceiling, to control a fixture there.

I've got a light that has an integrated LED light (so no bulbs) that I want directly connected to power without a switch, and the ability to make it smart, without a physical switch on a wall. I've found something like that, but the only other thing I can think of doing is just getting the cheapest UL listed wifi-switch and wiring it in and just pushing it up through a hole in the ceiling into the porch where I never see the actual physical switch, but can still control it via wifi (or Zwave, or Zigbee, or something).

Don't put a non safety listed, line voltage product in your house. It's terrifying what can happen to electrical devices when even relatively benign power issues happen.

FISHMANPET
Mar 3, 2007

Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams
Hmm, that's a good point. It's a porch light, which is controlled by a switch inside the house. But we went a little wild and did some more work on the porch fed from that wire, so now that switch controls power to the porch light, 2 fans on the porch, and some outlets.

I keep getting braver and braver with my wiring ability, so maybe I'll pull some more wire and get things put on some switches... somewhere.

xgalaxy
Jan 27, 2004
i write code
I’m moving into a new home (new construction) soon that uses Legrand Netatmo switches in a few select places. Does anyone know anything about these? I’ve read on other sites that these are Zigbee but I actually can’t find any info on Legrand site that actually says this. Are they compatible with other Zigbee devices?

They’ve only got a few of them. In the master bedroom, kitchen, and living room.

This is the switch:
https://www.legrand.us/wiring-devices/smart-lighting/connect-directly-with-netatmo/smart-switch-with-netatmo/p/wnrl10wh

xgalaxy fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Aug 31, 2021

Lawen
Aug 7, 2000

TacoHavoc posted:

Maestros are weird until you "get" them: Single tap to last light level, single tap to off. Double tap at any time for 100% on. I like them more than caseta just for the LED "nightlight" effect.

That's actually really useful info. I messed with a display setup at Lowe's the other day and didn't immediately realize Maestro had the double tap functionality. Which means my parents wouldn't either if they were visiting. But also means there's more functionality for my partner and my own day-to-day use than I realized.

quote:

It looks like maybe Caseta does some home assistant stuff now? I'm not a big integration guy so I haven't looked that way at all.

Yep, Caseta and RA2 Select seem to get equal compatibility with home assistant and it seems pretty comprehensive .

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.

FISHMANPET posted:

Hmm, that's a good point. It's a porch light, which is controlled by a switch inside the house. But we went a little wild and did some more work on the porch fed from that wire, so now that switch controls power to the porch light, 2 fans on the porch, and some outlets.

I keep getting braver and braver with my wiring ability, so maybe I'll pull some more wire and get things put on some switches... somewhere.

Future you is going to hate that all those devices are on a single switch, particularly the outlets. (edit: well, looks like current you hates it. There's a reason smart home stuff is popular, it gets you that level of control without having to re-wire everything whenever you want a change).

I would concur: at minimum, don't connect anything to mains unless it's NRTL listed. Maybe if it was on the other side of a transformer (i.e. low voltage/landscape stuff), but straight 120V no way. There are exceptions sometimes where things on the secondary of a transformer don't have to be listed, but it's very specific circumstances and I'm not sure I'd want to do that in my home.

Also the connection method looks janky as hell. I doubt it'll fit in a standard ceiling junction box, so you'd either need to buy a big box to mount somewhere or just leave it out in the open with wires flying around. Pretty sure the latter option is not to code.

DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 12:49 on Aug 31, 2021

FISHMANPET
Mar 3, 2007

Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams
Yup, currently the light, the 2 fans (that each have their own light) and all the outlets are controlled by that specific switch. And yeah it sucks, but it was the easiest way to do it when we did the work last week. I'd also thought we'd purchased a porch light that took lightbulbs, so my plan was to just leave the switch on, get smart light bulbs for that fixture, and smart controllers for the fans. And 2 of the outlets are for string lights around the porch, so smart plug controllers for those as well. This is all for a covered and screened-in porch.

Then as we were installing the fixture we realized it was an integrated LED so no ability to make it smart inside. Well, ok, on the inside you can see the LED controller so in theory I could snip those wires and put in a low voltage version of what I found above, but that seems filled with even more unknowns.

We had the house rewired last month, so I know exactly how the porch is wired, from the exposed basement, up a hole in the wall, into an outlet box, then up to the ceiling. Where there are 5 holes in the ceiling that were used to pull the wire across the ceiling out into the porch. I'm pretty confident I can use that path to pull a new wire out onto porch. So I did some thinking last night and this morning about what I actually want out there.

First, I want all illumination to be "smart" in that I can control it with Google Home or Home Assistant. For example, "hey google, light up the porch" or if there's motion detected inside the porch, or someone rings the doorbell, Turn everything on. As much voice/app control of everything else is good as well - I don't think I want any switches actually out there on the porch. But we always have our phones, and frequently when we sit out there, we bring a battery-powered Google Home, so that kind of access is always available to us.

So now what I'm thinking. Leave the simple porch light on the current switch (but replace it with some kind of smart switch). Bring up a new romex cable to the porch (possibly on its own circuit) to bring power to the outlets and the fans. I might run that as a brand new circuit all the way back to the breaker, in which case the breaker would be the only switch on that circuit. Or if I tie it into the existing circuit, maybe just stick a switch in the basement to cut power if I need to, without killing all the lights inside the house. And I may or may not move the porch light from the "inside lights" circuit to the "porch" circuit if I do put in a new circuit. The outlets and the fan would just always be powered. I'd get this smart controller for the fans, so there would be physical remotes as well as integration with all sorts of smart stuff. The string lights would be plugged into smart outlets to control their power (lol, I got some Wyze outlets and just discovered they're not supported with Home Assistant).

That doesn't require burrowing any new holes in my walls or installing new switches, but still leaves that one light switched.

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.
I don't know if it's necessarily illegal to wire a light straight to a breaker without a switch, but it's a Very Bad Idea. Again, think of future you. One day you'll be kicking yourself. And to be sure, breakers are NOT switches. If this light is going to be switched for any non-maintenance reason, and not just on all the time like a security light or something, then you need a switch.

Also, are the outlets switched because you WANT them switched, or because that's how they got wired?

In any case, ultimately your best bet is to just wire it all normally and use other methods for control. A smart switch/dimmer, or a smart bulb, is a way better option for the lights.

IMO the way you would WANT to wire this is a switch for porch lights, 2 switches for each fan (light/fan on separate switches), and 1 switch per receptacle (or just don't switch the outlets if that's an option). I guess I'm not understanding why, if you just rewired everything, it all has to be on 1 switch. If you've already opened everything up and rewired everything, why wouldn't you run separate runs for all those things?

movax
Aug 30, 2008

DaveSauce posted:

I don't know if it's necessarily illegal to wire a light straight to a breaker without a switch, but it's a Very Bad Idea. Again, think of future you. One day you'll be kicking yourself. And to be sure, breakers are NOT switches. If this light is going to be switched for any non-maintenance reason, and not just on all the time like a security light or something, then you need a switch.

Also, are the outlets switched because you WANT them switched, or because that's how they got wired?

In any case, ultimately your best bet is to just wire it all normally and use other methods for control. A smart switch/dimmer, or a smart bulb, is a way better option for the lights.

IMO the way you would WANT to wire this is a switch for porch lights, 2 switches for each fan (light/fan on separate switches), and 1 switch per receptacle (or just don't switch the outlets if that's an option). I guess I'm not understanding why, if you just rewired everything, it all has to be on 1 switch. If you've already opened everything up and rewired everything, why wouldn't you run separate runs for all those things?

This triggered me... it is kosher to go breaker -> wall timer -> loads, right? I was going to reuse the Caseta, but upon reflection, the Intermatic Ascent, while being yet another new IoT device / ecosystem, is rated for 15 A whereas Casetas are not. This circuit only feeds my outdoor lights / fixed installations (no receptacles), but the timer certainly acts as a switch if you want it too.

I am also entertaining the idea of killing the lovely photocells that keep failing outside and replacing them with these Intermatics, but I'll need to really think about sealing / outdoor rating -- they are under eaves, so it's probably a damp location, not necessarily a wet location? I can put one of those outdoor weatherproof covers over it, but this is probably more a Wiring thread question.

FISHMANPET
Mar 3, 2007

Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams
The electricians rewired the porch light (we previously had knob & tube so they redid everything). Then last week my FIL and I did a bunch of work, and just pigtailed off the wire feeding the porch light, and used that to feed everything else on the porch (the fans and the outlets, in addition to the existing porch light). Things aren't wide open currently, so I have the ability with fish tapes and existing openings to run some things, but it's not like I've currently got wide open bare stud walls that I can easily do anything in.

Because the fans will have a smart controller in them, I don't really want them switched in the traditional sense. If the light switch is off, then the smart control won't work, and that means I can't have my goal of "automation can turn on every light if needed." I could wire just the lights to smart switches, but then I'm running a bunch more cable to new switches and new holes in the wall (and because of the number of existing switches and location of the porch light switch, the fan switches would probably be in a completely different location) and spending money on switches, when I'm already planning on buying a remote that includes the ability to control the lights. I'd probably mount the remotes in the same place as I'd put a switch so it's functionally the same to me. I can't find anything, code or otherwise, that says a ceiling fan/light combo requires a switch, especially when there's already an existing switched fixture in the space (but if I'm wrong about that I'll want to do something different). I will say though, your insistence that I install a switch is really making me think. Also making me think: that wifi controller I was looking at is rated for indoor use only (not damp locations, which a screened-in porch technically is, even if the odds of water getting up there are virtually zero). And the instructions recommend installing it on a switched fan anyway.

This is what I love about SA, everybody is happy to call you a dumbass when you're being a dumbass. I'll need to do some more thinking, and talk with the spouse some more about what we want to do out there. Maybe the smart stuff is making things needlessly complicated, and I should just run some more wire through the existing conduit (once you're on the porch itself nearly everything is run in conduit) and just put a couple of dumb switches outside in some in-use boxes.

Does anyone by chance have experience with Caseta switches in cold climates? Technically they're rated down to 32 F, but I live in Minnesota where it can get much colder. I've seen a few reports of people saying they've put them in garages in such in similar cold climates, and in fact our electrician installed one in our back porch, so maybe they'll still work as it gets colder.

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.
Anyone used the Home Assistant Blue at all?

https://www.home-assistant.io/blue/

I just heard of this. I'm currently running HA on a Pi, and I've been thinking of swapping over to a NUC or some other mini PC so I can 1) repurpose the Pi for another project I have in mind, 2) get some slightly better performance, but mainly 3) stop worrying about the SD making GBS threads the bed. The plan was to one day add cameras and Blue Iris to the NUC, but that's a ways off.

So this seems like a pretty good intermediate step to get me a little closer to where I'm going, and a whole lot cheaper than a NUC.


I mean, the thing you want to think about is what happens if you have to gut the automation?

I won't say automation is going away, but it'll certainly look different in 10 years. I'm not sure I'd want to base permanent wiring off of what I think it should be, and then be stuck with a questionable setup if everything changes. I'd personally stick with a much more traditional setup and then automate from there. It may cost a bit more in equipment, but it'll be more versatile and you can do it piecemeal as needed.

For the fans at least, you don't NEED 2 switches. You can control ceiling fans with a single switch, but it's nicer to have a separate switch for the fan.

Regarding switching smart lights off, there are a couple ways around that problem:

https://www.lutron.com/en-US/products/pages/standalonecontrols/dimmers-switches/smartbulbdimmer/overview.aspx
https://www.philips-hue.com/en-us/p/hue-philips-hue-wall-switch-module/046677571160#overview

Gives you both local and automated control without having to worry about guests loving things up by flipping random switches.

fletcher
Jun 27, 2003

ken park is my favorite movie

Cybernetic Crumb

DaveSauce posted:

Anyone used the Home Assistant Blue at all?

https://www.home-assistant.io/blue/

I just heard of this. I'm currently running HA on a Pi, and I've been thinking of swapping over to a NUC or some other mini PC so I can 1) repurpose the Pi for another project I have in mind, 2) get some slightly better performance, but mainly 3) stop worrying about the SD making GBS threads the bed. The plan was to one day add cameras and Blue Iris to the NUC, but that's a ways off.

So this seems like a pretty good intermediate step to get me a little closer to where I'm going, and a whole lot cheaper than a NUC.

Never heard of it until your post. I went the route of using a M.2 USB enclosure to avoid SD cards since I had a spare M.2 for it, seemed a bit overkill though

Looking at what I paid for my Home Assistant hardware I've got:
* Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2019 $56
* Power Adapter $7
* Flirc Raspberry Pi 4 Case $16
* Micro HDMI to HDMI adapter $6
* M.2 USB enclosure $19
* Spare M.2 SSD $0

Comes out to $104, ignoring the cost of the SSD. My setup is admittedly ugly, with the big M.2 enclosure stuck to the tiny Pi case.

ameridroid shows the Blue costing $165. So definitely not the cheapest solution, but it certainly looks nicer. I'd probably be tempted to Blue myself if I had to do it all over again.

azurite
Jul 25, 2010

Strange, isn't it?!


I'd be worried about that eMMC making GBS threads the bed unless they've made default logging more reasonable recently.

TacoHavoc
Dec 31, 2007
It's taco-y and havoc-y...at the same time!

FISHMANPET posted:

Does anyone by chance have experience with Caseta switches in cold climates? Technically they're rated down to 32 F, but I live in Minnesota where it can get much colder. I've seen a few reports of people saying they've put them in garages in such in similar cold climates, and in fact our electrician installed one in our back porch, so maybe they'll still work as it gets colder.

I put two caseta switches in my parent's unheated, detached garage in Maine. Zero problems and we're on year 3. Lutron is conservative with ratings.

And to all your other musings: please put switches in. Smart ones if you want, but physical devices. For guests, for babysitters, for the next people that own the house. Counting on headless app-based smart stuff to be the only controlling mechanism is the path to madness.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

TacoHavoc posted:

And to all your other musings: please put switches in. Smart ones if you want, but physical devices

This. I've been saying it in the thread forever. But you need to think about how you control things is you rip out your smart hub/HA/whatever. If you can't meaningfully do the things you need to do in your house without the automation you've done automation "upgrades" wrong.

azurite
Jul 25, 2010

Strange, isn't it?!


My parents moved into a house with some old automation wired in a few years ago and they're just now starting to figure out why lights are turning on and off. Switches good.

Wibla
Feb 16, 2011

Get a used Lenovo tiny / hp prodesk/elitedesk or similar, they're cheap as chips and more than powerful enough to do what you need.

Pro tip: use proxmox and setup proxmox backup server :v:

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.

fletcher posted:

Never heard of it until your post. I went the route of using a M.2 USB enclosure to avoid SD cards since I had a spare M.2 for it, seemed a bit overkill though

Looking at what I paid for my Home Assistant hardware I've got:
* Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2019 $56
* Power Adapter $7
* Flirc Raspberry Pi 4 Case $16
* Micro HDMI to HDMI adapter $6
* M.2 USB enclosure $19
* Spare M.2 SSD $0

Comes out to $104, ignoring the cost of the SSD. My setup is admittedly ugly, with the big M.2 enclosure stuck to the tiny Pi case.

ameridroid shows the Blue costing $165. So definitely not the cheapest solution, but it certainly looks nicer. I'd probably be tempted to Blue myself if I had to do it all over again.

Is the Pi/HA better supporting of USB storage these days? Last I checked, it was still sketchy and kind of a hack to make it work properly and boot from USB. My head is long out of screwing with linux/whatever systems, so I'd have to have a pretty dummy-proof process to follow.

But if so, I've been thinking about going that route. Should be way cheaper to get a M.2/enclosure than to upgrade to the Blue.

I'd like a faster/more reliable system, but honestly the biggest concern is frying the SD and having to reload everything. I mean, I know I'm supposed to make periodic backups, but restoring is a process and so is maintaining a current SD image, so I'd rather avoid that all together if possible.

azurite posted:

I'd be worried about that eMMC making GBS threads the bed unless they've made default logging more reasonable recently.

Is this an issue? From what I've been reading, the eMMC is supposed to help alleviate the problem of destroying the disk. I guess functionally it's still solid state memory, but I was under the impression that eMMC was way more robust than an SD card.

FISHMANPET
Mar 3, 2007

Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams
I think even without the "smart" stuff, the porch light would still be controllable by the standard existing switch, and the fans would be controllable by the "dumb" remotes that come with the "smart" controller, and also without all those, they would still have pull cords. But I think you've both talked me into putting a couple of switches into the porch, one for each fan. For now, just doing a dumb single pole switch for each, but putting in wire and conduit and boxes such that if I wanted to put in distinct smart switches for each light and each fan in the future I could do that.

E: When Motronic tells you you've hosed up, you know you've hosed up.

FISHMANPET fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Sep 1, 2021

azurite
Jul 25, 2010

Strange, isn't it?!


DaveSauce posted:

Is this an issue? From what I've been reading, the eMMC is supposed to help alleviate the problem of destroying the disk. I guess functionally it's still solid state memory, but I was under the impression that eMMC was way more robust than an SD card.

I always thought eMMC was roughly equivalent to a soldered-in SD card.

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.

azurite posted:

I always thought eMMC was roughly equivalent to a soldered-in SD card.

I have literally no idea. HA seems to be trying to sell eMMC as more reliable than SD cards, at least. I mean, at the basic level, all EEPROM has the same core issue in that it can only handle so many write cycles before a location is dead. This affects SD cards, eMMC, and SSDs alike... just a fundamental limitation of solid state memory technology right now.

I was under the assumption that there was some other issue with SD cards that caused them to die in HA installations. Quick googling says that SD cards don't perform wear leveling, whereas eMMC does, but I dunno how true that actually is. If so, then I would expect eMMC to be significantly more reliable in that respect, since it would take longer to encounter, and this also implies that there's some effort to combat that shortcoming, which opens the door to identifying and remapping bad spots (like any modern SSD would).

But I'm making some wild assumptions because all I know about eMMC is the scant few things I've learned in the past 24 hours, so :shrug:

DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Sep 1, 2021

azurite
Jul 25, 2010

Strange, isn't it?!


The bigger issue is whether HA is still configured to obliterate it with writes by default.

wolrah
May 8, 2006
what?
eMMC is the embedded form of MultiMediaCard, which was also the basis for SD so the two share enough common ground that for the most part eMMC modules can be used in SD/MMC readers with an adapter.

There is no difference in the quality of flash inherent to the interface, but eMMC modules tend to be made for appliance use and the ones sold to the DIY market cost what they cost where SD cards are generally built for the price-focused consumer market so the odds of a given product being high quality are significantly higher with eMMC. Think of it kind of like buying SAS hard drives instead of SATA for your home server. There may not be a performance difference, but there will probably (though not always) be a quality difference.

Also of course some of the issues with SD cards in Pis and similar SBC platforms come from the physical connectivity and/or power delivery in the slot itself, which eMMC also avoids by using more complicated but secure connectors (which bring their own disadvantages, but as long as you're not swapping flash regularly you probably won't care).

FISHMANPET
Mar 3, 2007

Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams
The SD standard now includes an Application Performance Class, the HA docs recommend an A2 card. Looking at my local Microcenter they only have 3 A2 cards vs the sea of non-application cards they have. Looking at the description of Application Performance Class, it's not clear that an A2 rated card will handle the volume of writes vs it just being about random read/write throughput.

https://www.sdcard.org/developers/sd-standard-overview/application-performance-class/

wolrah
May 8, 2006
what?

FISHMANPET posted:

The SD standard now includes an Application Performance Class, the HA docs recommend an A2 card. Looking at my local Microcenter they only have 3 A2 cards vs the sea of non-application cards they have. Looking at the description of Application Performance Class, it's not clear that an A2 rated card will handle the volume of writes vs it just being about random read/write throughput.

https://www.sdcard.org/developers/sd-standard-overview/application-performance-class/

Yeah, that's about immediate performance and being able to judge whether a given SD card will be suitable for use for a given role in the short term. Previously they had raw speed classes that were good for cameras and similar use cases where sequential performance is all that matters, the application classes combine midrange sequential performance requirements with IOPS requirements. The SD Association doesn't have any official standards for durability of the actual flash, it's not clear they even care about long term reliability. The card works until it doesn't, then you throw it out and get a new one.

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.
So I mean ultimately all flash memory has the same issue. They handle it to different degrees, and based on what I've read and the discussion here it seems that SD has zero handling of it, eMMC has some handling of it, but how much is a question mark and there's not much reason to assume that it does a good job.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is: Is there any reason to assume that HA won't trash the "Blue" storage, using default settings, in any appreciable time frame? Or should I just get a SSD and be done with it? Like I said, HA seems to be hinting that the "Blue" does way better, but if it's a matter of 1 year with an SD card and 2 years with Blue, then I could spend less money on a SSD.

Let's assume that I like the default recorder settings, and that I have no interest in combing through every single item and maintaining meticulous control over what is or is not recorded, and then remembering to do that every single time I add something.

The performance boost would be great, but my understanding is it's kind of trivial so my focus is on reducing the risk of an SD card dying on me.

Quixzlizx
Jan 7, 2007
I have a Philips Hue bridge that has been installing a firmware update since 3 PM (it is currently 10:30 PM). Also, my bedroom lights are on.

1. -What are the chances that the update is actually done and/or failed, but the phone app is being non-responsive?

2. Will turning the lights off affect the update?

Henrik Zetterberg
Dec 7, 2007

Quixzlizx posted:

I have a Philips Hue bridge that has been installing a firmware update since 3 PM (it is currently 10:30 PM). Also, my bedroom lights are on.

1. -What are the chances that the update is actually done and/or failed, but the phone app is being non-responsive?

2. Will turning the lights off affect the update?

My lights are all showing up to date. Is this a new light or a new firmware update?

It’s probably safe to turn them off via voice or through the app, but I’d probably leave the switch on overnight just in case.

Quixzlizx
Jan 7, 2007

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

My lights are all showing up to date. Is this a new light or a new firmware update?

It’s probably safe to turn them off via voice or through the app, but I’d probably leave the switch on overnight just in case.

My bridge had been offline for months due to the ethernet connection to my basement being out. I just got the bridge hooked back up yesterday. According to the app, it was a bridge update and not a light update, but it also said the update was only going to take about 10 minutes.

Edit: The update is still supposedly going according to the app, but I'm able to turn the lights on/off with Google Home.

Quixzlizx fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Sep 4, 2021

Mr. Crow
May 22, 2008

Snap City mayor for life
Can anyone point me towards a privacy friendly /focused dumb baby monitor? I'm not afraid to DIY but if there is something already that doesn't demand cloud integration that I can just firewall and use that would be great.

BigFactory
Sep 17, 2002

Mr. Crow posted:

Can anyone point me towards a privacy friendly /focused dumb baby monitor? I'm not afraid to DIY but if there is something already that doesn't demand cloud integration that I can just firewall and use that would be great.

Do you need it to be on your phone? There are a million rf baby monitors

DaveSauce
Feb 15, 2004

Oh, how awkward.

Mr. Crow posted:

Can anyone point me towards a privacy friendly /focused dumb baby monitor? I'm not afraid to DIY but if there is something already that doesn't demand cloud integration that I can just firewall and use that would be great.

If you just need a dumb audio monitor, we're using this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DY6B8G4

Works great for us. Claims 1000' range unobstructed, in practice we can get about 200-250' away from the house before we start to have issues.

The price seems... high. I just checked and we paid like $72 for it. So might be subject to the current "all electronics are turbofucked" supply chain thing.

Henrik Zetterberg
Dec 7, 2007

Eufy2K Indoor cam works great for me, especially with the auto-follow options and people/crying detection. You can load an SD card in it, so I don't know if it actually stores anything in the cloud unless you pay for their cloud service.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0856W45VL

My toddlers can now crawl out of their cribs and like to throw toys at the "robot," so I have to mount it on the wall soon :v:

Mr. Crow
May 22, 2008

Snap City mayor for life

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Eufy2K Indoor cam works great for me, especially with the auto-follow options and people/crying detection. You can load an SD card in it, so I don't know if it actually stores anything in the cloud unless you pay for their cloud service.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0856W45VL

My toddlers can now crawl out of their cribs and like to throw toys at the "robot," so I have to mount it on the wall soon :v:

I actually saw this and was looking at it but it wasn't clear to me how you can view it? Is there just a URL you would go to that hosts the video feed?

FunOne
Aug 20, 2000
I am a slimey vat of concentrated stupidity

Fun Shoe

Mr. Crow posted:

I actually saw this and was looking at it but it wasn't clear to me how you can view it? Is there just a URL you would go to that hosts the video feed?

I did something similar. You can view lots of these cameras via "RTSP" which works with dedicated camera apps and via good-ol-fashioned VLC. Just block the chinese cam at your firewall from talking to the internet and you're good.

Thwomp
Apr 10, 2003

BA-DUHHH

Grimey Drawer
Anyone else use an ecobee thermostat and been having connection issues recently?

I’m using it via HomeKit if that makes a difference. Still works, for the most part, using the ecobee app.

Just seems like the unit throws up a lot of No Response messages in my Home app.

priznat
Jul 7, 2009

Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

Thwomp posted:

Anyone else use an ecobee thermostat and been having connection issues recently?

I’m using it via HomeKit if that makes a difference. Still works, for the most part, using the ecobee app.

Just seems like the unit throws up a lot of No Response messages in my Home app.

A lot of my Homekit stuff have been doing that too (all ikea tradfri bulbs) but they still turn on/off, it’s kind of annoying.

It comes and goes though like right now they are all happily showing up.

Less Fat Luke
May 23, 2003

Exciting Lemon

Thwomp posted:

Anyone else use an ecobee thermostat and been having connection issues recently?

I’m using it via HomeKit if that makes a difference. Still works, for the most part, using the ecobee app.

Just seems like the unit throws up a lot of No Response messages in my Home app.

There's a ton of people on Reddit complaining that the latest version of firmware breaks HomeKit connections; you can ask support to roll yours back by complaining to them about it.

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movax
Aug 30, 2008

So I installed two of the Intermatic Ascend timers I posted about to replace a dead photocell outside, and also our shared condo driveway lights that burn a fuckton of power when they're all on (100 W continuous, peaks at 300 W or so on motion trigger). The photocell was only running like 14 W of LED bulbs outside, so it'll take quite literally 3 years to pay off the cost of the timer, but gently caress it, it's the right thing to do + expensing to the HOA anyways.

The app sucks and setup is... clunky, but that's par for the course for IoT poo poo. You connect to its Wi-Fi network, launch app, enter PIN (sane at least) and then do the whole network switcharoo so it gets online. It's clunky as poo poo -- I think every request goes phone -> cloud -> local, but there is a local mode you can choose for FW upgrades and things like that. I also think there is a HomeBridge plugin for it.

My main reasoning for WiFi was that I don't want to set schedules on a tiny timer screen / poo poo UI -- granted, these schedules will probably never change (on at dusk + 15 minutes, off at dawn - 30 minutes, programmed in latitude + longitude + time), but it's nice to have a screen. I suspect these WiFi ones even are not smart enough (which is REALLY STUPID) to use NTP to keep their time-synced, but time will tell.

I chose these over tossing in one of my Caseta spares because they're rated for the full 15 A -- the driveway lights ran right off a breaker, so I added a new junction box for that.

Debating how to roll these out to the rest of the HOA (I don't like wasting power / generating entropy for no good reason)... I don't want to commit to my WiFi covering them all, but I also don't want to program each one individually with no Wi-Fi. Maybe I'll just ask each person if they want a non-WiFi one to beep and boop in person, or if they want a WiFi one to attach to their network.

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