Home Automation and Security Systems

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Home Automation and Security Systems

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Anyone have experience with Ethernet over Coax adapters (specifically PoE)? The place I bought has very old coaxial-cable powered cameras and I have some nicer PoE ones. This converter seems like it should do the trick?

# ¿ Mar 2, 2021 01:31

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 16:41

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Oh okay thanks, I'm going to try to drag and replace the coaxial first so no worries about the shipping - thanks though!

# ¿ Mar 2, 2021 23:55

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Whoah I didn't know passive sensors like that existed, that is very cool.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2021 20:08

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

I have a Roborock and it's great, does multiple maps with no problem. I've never rooted it since it's on an isolated network and maybe uses a kilobyte of data per cleaning. Cool project though!

Mopping isn't too bad, you fill it once and let it go to town. It's not a full substitute for periodic actual mopping though sadly.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2021 17:31

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Imagine a Robovac that emptied into a central vacuum port

# ¿ Apr 1, 2021 18:55

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

That's a lot of questions, I don't know about the Nest stuff but just check the Integrations on the site for what systems work.

For the VM stuff yes, HA works great in a VM or as a Docker image. It's very low on resource usage (I've been running it on a 2GB Raspberry Pi for a while).

The HA interface has the concept of people and you can connect presence detecting systems to the people for the automations around leaving and coming home and it works really well. I'm currently using a Unifi integration so HA notices when our phones connect or disconnect from home. You can also use the HA iOS/Android apps and the location tracking in them to detect presence as well as a ton of other methods.

As for voice I've never done it but HA offers a cloud feature with a small monthly price that will integrate with voice assistant systems like Alexa. I would recommend trying HA first and seeing if that's worth it (it probably is).

# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 14:26

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Their cameras are fine hardware-wise but I found the Protect software absolutely garbage. Like you can't get notifications for a specific zone of motion (where packages would get delivered) or anything like that. I ended up switching to Blue Iris which is way more packed with features - the Ubiquiti cameras fortunately work with it but in hindsight I'm glad I kept most of the analog cameras and only got the UI doorbell.

Obviously having something to run BI is the far end of the spectrum so I would just say if you are cloud-comfortable you can do much better than Ubiquiti's.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2021 03:35

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Oh yeah perfect, a NUC is great for Blue Iris. There's a zillion reasonably priced RTSP/ONVIF cameras that would work just fine with it.

The cameras in the place I moved into were all analog Coax/BNC (except the aforementioned doorbell) and I grabbed a cheap 8-port capture card off of eBay and Blue Iris handles running motion detection across 5 cameras on a loving ancient 3770. It's very resource-friendly.

Less Fat Luke fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Apr 20, 2021

# ¿ Apr 20, 2021 03:40

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Nah I ordered some Unifi G4s and cancelled when I found that the generic analog ones already installed worked fine.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2021 20:26

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Yep also using ZWaveJS with the recommended zwavejs2mqtt docker container and it all seems rock solid.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2021 19:19

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

I bought an AverMedia NV5000 off eBay to do analog capture for like 40$. It's not bad, the drivers seem to work with Windows 10 64-bit and Blue Iris works with all 4 of my analogs. But the capture card is super, super old and unsupported so your mileage may vary. Also it's PCI non-express so keep that in mind.

# ¿ May 7, 2021 16:25

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Lysandus posted:

Anyone tired Ubiquiti cameras and video recorder? The price is up there.

Yeah it's not really worth the price. The software features are very bare bones and the smart detection of people is awful (mine constantly detects birds and squirrels as people). I ended up using Blue Iris in a Windows VM and relay the cameras to that for better alerting, motion detection etc. so I'd recommend if you're comfortable with setting up some software go for cheap IP cameras compatible with BI (Reolink for example).

# ¿ Jul 6, 2021 22:38

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Just don't rely on smart detection for the "people" category in a yard

Also the doorbell shows a doorbell ring event from a couple hours ago still in progress, that happens once in a while and then doorbell notifications don't work until a reboot. The chime still works though at least.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2021 18:56

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Running your own Blue Iris server with off the shelf IP cameras is probably the cheapest and most flexible non-cloud solution.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2021 20:33

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Gyshall posted:

Anyone using Flair smart vents? I have a perfect use case for one, but am using nest and the temp sensors it uses aren't great for my room and rest of house.

Yep a whole bunch, really helped even out the rooms at my place. Everything closest to the HVAC system gets colder much more quickly so the Flair connected to Ecobee room sensors works great for me. You can also buy the Flair sensors if the Nest ones aren't working for you.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2021 22:57

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Yeah I cannot stress enough how great they are. Of all the nice-to-have automations and devices I've played with, the vents are the ones that feel most like a game-changer.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2021 02:44

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

The flairs don�t beep in my experience, not even during the setup phase. That�s a cool solution though!

# ¿ Jul 31, 2021 12:19

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Oh yeah gotcha. Mine are working with the ecobee sensors which were really cheap on sale at least.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2021 16:17

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

drat, he's huge!

# ¿ Aug 13, 2021 02:53

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Inovelli makes nice looking dimmer switches that work with ZWave (and hence HA):
https://www.amazon.ca/Inovelli-Monitoring-Technology-Notifications-Indicator/dp/B07S1BMMGH

FWIW though the Lutron hub connects just fine to HA as well, and I've only used the Lutron app to add new lights.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2021 15:32

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.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2021 22:45

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

The Lutron Caseta line has low voltage dimmers that should do the trick (with neutral required), PD-5NE-WH with a 10w minimum as well:

https://www.amazon.ca/Lutron-Caseta-Wireless-Electronic-Wall/dp/B01M22SK1W

Edit: beaten but yeah the low voltage ones seem to be what you want to prevent flickering.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2021 21:31

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Hmm, I guess I assumed that ELV was for low voltage stuff like LV under-cabinet lighting. I didn't realize it was able to be used on lower-wattage 120V loads.

And holy wowzers, $175!

Yeah I had a bunch of bookmarks for Black Friday sales on the ELV stuff and nothing went on sale here

# ¿ Dec 14, 2021 22:42

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

I just now realized you linked me to Canadian Amazon and it�s �only� $120 in the US. Goddamn, I thought $60 was a lot for a switch.

LOL sorry about that

# ¿ Dec 15, 2021 12:09

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

You'll need a Lutron hub; there are often starter kits that include one for a good deal.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2021 15:31

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

TraderStav posted:

Thanks, will it contribute to building out the Zwave mesh in my home or operate on its own and just interface with it?

The latter, it's on a separate network entirely. It's very solid though, the hub in my place is in the basement and it works instantly with lights that are super far away.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2021 15:52

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Nice! Keep in mind there's also dimmer switches that are Z-Wave natively too if you don't want to have a separate Lutron hub, like:
https://inovelli.com/red-series-dimmer-switch-z-wave/

# ¿ Dec 19, 2021 16:15

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Goddamn, even with the Caseta PD-5NE ELV+ dimmer my lights still buzz like crazy, even after setting it to ELV vs MLV with 2x 5.5W E12 LEDs from their compatibility tool.

Driving me batty!

Have you tried a few different low voltage lights? I found that the compatibility matrix has some that still flicker. I settled on some Philips MR16s that finally have no flicker. Alternatively the transformer running the lights could be the culprit, I have no idea how easy it is to swap and what a good one would be though.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2021 16:26

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

The transformers I've seen (with very limited experience) are in electric boxes behind blank plates above the wall switches where they connect to.

edit: like this

Also there is one switch I have driving low voltage lights with one of these blanks above that opens to just the space behind the drywall, and I have no idea where that transformer would be :| One would hope that electric code says that they have to be accessible like in this picture though.

Less Fat Luke fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Dec 19, 2021

# ¿ Dec 19, 2021 18:17

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Create a new SSID and link it to a secure VLAN, and have only that doorbell camera connect to the new SSID. Just be make sure the new wireless SSID is 2.4GHZ if your APs are in the house.

e,fb

# ¿ Dec 23, 2021 18:24

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

TraderStav posted:

questions

Not sure about #1 but for the dumb switch, you'll have to do some wiring work in the connected switch where the traveller goes. I haven't seen the Innovelli docs but Lutron has very good documentation on how to wire the 3-ways:

https://www.casetawireless.com/Documents/0301710%20-%203-way.pdf

But check the Innovelli site first.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2021 00:56

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Also for gods sake use a non-voltage contact tester when you're working with the traveller box cause the other switches in it might be on another breaker in your panel.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2021 01:40

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Just lol if you don't keep night-vision goggles next to bed for midnight bathroom runs

# ¿ Jan 14, 2022 17:12

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Yeah I don't see prices anywhere to directly buy the RA2/3 stuff. It looks nice but I'm the Caseta stuff looks great for the price, seems like an "integrators" wet dream for people with too much money.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2022 00:52

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

TraderStav posted:

Curious to hear what the current hive-mind endorsed NVR is. I'm looking to replace my Nest Cams with something self hosted. I have the ability to run cable as needed for POE so also in the market for cameras that work best with whichever the NVR solution is. From a feature set, whatever is closest to the Nest works for me (detection of people/motion/zones) and ability to remotely view footage.

I have an Unraid server with tons of space and a UniFi dream machine Pro (also separate VLAN for Cameras), not sure if using UniFi's solution is an easy button or not. Not opposed to picking up a dedicated NUC or something to drive the NVR though. Solid camera recommendations for this would be sweet also. Curious to hear any thoughts as this space always seems to be changing, thanks!

If you already have a UDM Pro the Unifi cameras are a no-brainer (IMHO). They're reasonably priced, don't communicate with any cloud poo poo and can be used with other NVR platforms if you want to migrate away.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2023 16:43

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

TraderStav posted:

Thanks for that, can I use my UnraId to store the footage or do I just need to drop a big 18TB drive into the UDM Pro and just use that?

It does not support external storage on a NAS or whatever so yeah throw a drive in the UDM Pro and initialize it there.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2023 16:46

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Inept posted:

So by paying for a robot, you can know in the middle of your vacation that your house is destroyed, instead of after you get back? That sounds worse

I get it, I definitely would be on top of my basement flooding and have people to call with keys and the plumbers number and poo poo for remote emergencies.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2023 03:32

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

My ecobee is set to ignore the temp on the thermostat and has been for three years now, I�m not sure when they added that feature but it definitely works.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2023 17:19

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 16:41

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

For me the account was worth having to use Beestat, super handy information to have.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2024 00:49

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Home Automation and Security Systems