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OR "The Internet of Things: Overclocking your Refrigerator for Fun and Profit" I'm thinking about taking my first step into the world of the connected home, and I realized we don't have a catchall thread for Internet connected home automation type devices. There is one other thread, but it's mostly focused on home security and it's pretty much dead. So use this thread to talk about any of your future-home type devices such as, but not limited to: Philips Hue, GE Link, Wink, Belkin WeMo, Nest Thermostat, Nest Protect, GE Aros, August SmartLocks, and anything else they can sell us that takes the basic formula of "everyday object + internet = awesome." For starters, I've been very interested in getting some connected lights in my apartment, and after a lot of research I think I've settled on Philips Hue. I don't exactly know if I NEED the full Hue lights or if I could go with the Lux (white only) lights, but I know if I get the Lux lights I'll regret it. Plus since the Lux lights are cheaper, it's easier to add them to my setup after the fact. Does anyone have the Hue setup and have any praise or complaints about it that I might not have seen elsewhere?
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Oct 2, 2014 02:55
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also recently invested in Philips Hue. At this time the only downside I see to the product is that if the power blinks, the bulbs return to their default state of bright white. It's an odd limitation of the technology that keeping them powered is what actually keeps them shut off. I am only using the Hue bulbs in areas of the house where sudden light in the middle of the night would not be disruptive (ie. in the basement).
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Nov 13, 2014 19:37
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The Aros sounded like a great idea for me but then I looked it up and people are saying it's the loudest air conditioner they've ever heard, it doesn't drain, it randomly changes temperatures and rain breaks it. They apparently forgot to make the air conditioner part work first.
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Nov 13, 2014 19:42
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I'm in the exact same boat, want to slowly start moving towards automation but not really sure where to go platform wise. I'm on a chilled water system at my home so air conditioning doesn't cost me anything (Well, it does but it's not based on my usage) but I get murdered on electric heat. I promised myself that I would not turn my heat on until I got a smart thermostat so after another freezing night I broke down and went to Home Depot this morning at 6 AM and bought a Nest: I really like the Hue but my major concern is it just seems stupidly complicated to deal with light switches and a smartphone app, so I've decided to start putting in dimmers whenever I have extra blow off money that I don't spend on booze or there is some sort of amazing sale. As far as platform it looks like Wink is the most widely supported user friendly system and it plays well with Nest so that factored into my decision. Assuming the reviews are decent I will pick up this:  The Wink Relay, in wall touch screen, smart buttons and Wink hub for $300. It really goes back to my feelings about Hue, I just don't want to dick with my phone/tablet to get basic stuff like lighting to work plus I want it to be super friendly to people that come to my house, maybe it will play well with dimmers. Oh, and to get back to Hue, one way I would consider it is limited use in my open dinning room/living room. The problem is I was track lighting in my living room, there is no practical way to replace it, to get extra height the concrete floor above me is just plastered, there is no way to run wire in it without building a false ceiling. The only fixtures that will hold the Hue bulbs are ugly as sin and I have small very functional GU10 fixtures which are apparently very common in Europe and rare-ish in the US. They actually sell GU10 Hue bulbs in the UK but I can't find anywhere that carries them in the US and I don't know that I really want to go to possible headache of importing them. Oh and one thing that impressed me right off the bat with the Nest, I have a wall of windows which can manage to warm my house up quite a bit during the day to the point where it is uncomfortably warm without air conditioning but where I still need heat at night, with the Nest you have the option of heat/cool and heat and cool which is loving awesome for me, you set the minimum and maximum temp and it will automatically switch back and forth between heating and cooling. It's probably not practical if you live in a large house and don't have free air conditioning but it is the amazing solution to a problem I hadn't put much thought into having. Oh a second more thing, Nests never ever ever go on sale but I had to go to the customer service desk to buy the Nest and while I was there I was like "Yeah, is there anything you can do on the price because you screwed me twice, I had to deal with a new credit card and I just got an email from you saying my email was stolen too." They took $25 off the Nest so 10% seemed like a pretty decent deal. Three Olives fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Nov 14, 2014 |
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Nov 14, 2014 18:00
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You can get the hue gu10 bulbs on Apple.com. Also for anyone thinking about getting in on Hue, Amazon has an offer for a free bulb with purchase of a starter pack thru December 30th. I got 4 bulbs + the bridge for about $180 with this deal.
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Nov 15, 2014 06:20
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heldicus posted:You can get the hue gu10 bulbs on Apple.com. That has to be semi recent, but that is only for the bulb, do I need the Hue hub or is the Wink hub interchangeable?
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Nov 15, 2014 07:04
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Three Olives posted:That has to be semi recent, but that is only for the bulb, do I need the Hue hub or is the Wink hub interchangeable? You need a hue hub. Do you have any recessed cans? You could get a br30 starter kit plus additional GU10 bulbs.
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Nov 15, 2014 07:31
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I am invested in the smart things Eco system. $100 hub with zwave zigbee and wifi. I current have: 6 hue bulbs 1 hue tap 1 sonos 1 z wave light switch 1 z wave outlet 1 z wave motion detector 2 z wave open close sensors 1 z wave leak detector 1 nest thermostat 3 nest protects 1 Kevo deadbolt (still waiting for the Internet gateway for automation, but not needing keys is great) And I have 4 GE z wave light links on the way from quirky for some out door lights. The only complaint I have about the hues is having to leave the light switch on. But in the room that I have the tap I put a child cover over the light switch and put the tap about the switch. Usages: I use the sonos to tell me the weather in the morning as well let me know if any outside doors are opened I use the leak detector in my sump pump in case the pump breaks. It will turn all hues blue, send a push alert to my phone, and sonos will alert every 3 minutes. I use the z wave outlet right now to turn on my Christmas tree at sunset and off at 11:45pm The light switch I use in a room that has two entrances but only one switch The motion detector to turn on the lights in my hall way after 6pm and stay on until no more movement detected. This is because the light switch is in a stupid spot behind the coat area. And the door sensors to send the open command to the sonos as well as turn on the above hallway light for that door(the same hallway as the motion) The next thing on my list is the MyQ garage door opener. If you guys want any advice or have question I would be happy to answer them. I love the whole IoT / smart house Dbhjed fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Dec 11, 2014 |
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Dec 11, 2014 02:54
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Can you control all of that from one source? I really want to do this stuff as well, but I don't want 3 different apps to open. I have a spare tablet that I want to dedicate to this. Keep it on our coffee table or something. I'm mostly interested in lighting and thermostat. When we buy a new (and bigger) house, I'd love to expand to some IP cameras as well. Nest will also definitely be purchased sometime after the holidays too. There's so many standards that it's confusing on where to start.
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Dec 11, 2014 03:23
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Binge posted:Can you control all of that from one source? I really want to do this stuff as well, but I don't want 3 different apps to open. I have a spare tablet that I want to dedicate to this. Keep it on our coffee table or something. Yeah. They all besides the kevo integrate through smart things. There is only one app to do it all. The only side note is as of right now the nest integration is community supported not officially supported. (They are working in getting added to the "works with nest" program). But I've been using it for 8 months no problem. http://www.smartthings.com Dbhjed fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Dec 11, 2014 |
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Dec 11, 2014 04:06
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Just invested in a set of Hue lights and an Iris for my apartment and I love them. I'm on an Android and the official Philips app seems like garbage compared to Hue Pro, with the only advantage I'm finding on the official app being that it's integrated with IFTTT while the Hue Pro's triggering options are pretty weak. Has anyone messed around with the both of these apps and found similar things? Or does the Philips app stop feeling like it sucks after a while?
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Jan 5, 2015 07:35
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I'm definitely on the low end of things in this regard, but I've just installed smart valves on my radiators, with the attendant window switches to turn down the heat whenever I'm airing out. It's only a few degrees reduction at night and when I'm at work, so I'm curious to see how much I save on my heating bill. And at least it feels good to know that I'm not needlessly wasting energy while I'm not at home anyway. The kit came with a LAN gateway, which enables a local web interface and allows me to control it all through the manufacturer's website. I'm also using their app, which is pretty neat for switching off or extending holiday mode, or for turning the heat back up if I get off work earlier than usual, so I don't get back to a cold apartment. It's pretty basic poo poo compared to whole-house automation with lighting and all that, but hey, small steps 
KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Jan 5, 2015 |
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Jan 5, 2015 11:41
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I was thinking of picking up some Hues to use as "alarms" in the morning to help me wake up. I wish I owned my house because the amount of stuff you can tie together is amazing.
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Jan 5, 2015 21:47
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My girlfriend and I got a Harmony hub setup with the more basic remote, we also got the Hue Lux kit and a few extra bulbs and are gradually easing our way in to home automation. Its really nice to be able to control things from our phone as well as the remote, and even though we can control the hue lights from the Harmony app, I tend to use the widget in the notification center of iOS. I am looking forward to adding more devices in the near future, we are going to find some dimmer/on & off electrical outlet switches to control various devices. The only thing I don't like is that Logitech doesn't just give you a list of poo poo that works with the system, instead it makes you type the manufacturer and model in to their compatibility checker website, and some of these devices it isn't exactly clear what to put in the model field. We would like to get a thermostat that works with it, but I have heard of some bad experiences with the Nest, plus we live in an apartment, so I am not sure if they will take to kindly to me replacing their thermostat with one of our own. I know there is a more basic Honeywell WIFI thermostat that I could probably use, it at least doesn't require a "C" wire like the Nest and most other smart thermostats.
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Jan 7, 2015 06:18
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Porkchop Express posted:We would like to get a thermostat that works with it, but I have heard of some bad experiences with the Nest, plus we live in an apartment, so I am not sure if they will take to kindly to me replacing their thermostat with one of our own. I know there is a more basic Honeywell WIFI thermostat that I could probably use, it at least doesn't require a "C" wire like the Nest and most other smart thermostats. Would the Honeywell Lyric work for you? http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-TH8732WF5018-Lyric-WiFi-Enabled-Thermostat/dp/B00KX3M1LA
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Jan 7, 2015 17:39
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Porkchop Express posted:We would like to get a thermostat that works with it, but I have heard of some bad experiences with the Nest, plus we live in an apartment, so I am not sure if they will take to kindly to me replacing their thermostat with one of our own. I know there is a more basic Honeywell WIFI thermostat that I could probably use, it at least doesn't require a "C" wire like the Nest and most other smart thermostats. Actually, the Nest doesn't require a C wire. I have a Nest, and no C wire. I like it, the app works well both on my iPhone and my iPad and it has saved me money. Also, if you pay for your gas or electric heat, your utility company may partner with Nest to get you a discount on it. My gas company gave me a 100 dollar rebate and did other tests to make my house more energy efficient. It installed really easily too, only took me like 15 minutes.
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Jan 7, 2015 19:41
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Word of warning, 99% of landlords are not going to give a poo poo but legally speaking changing the thermostat is an "improvement" and it has to stay when you leave. Chances are as long as you put the old one back no one will be the wiser and no one will have a problem with it but if you have an especially dickbag landlord they are legally right, it is the same with changing a light fixture or anything else attached to the structure.
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Jan 7, 2015 20:51
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The thing that worries me about the nest is that I read they ditched regular relays for some other component that has a higher failure rate, I have also read that without a c wire you have to hijack your fan control wire to keep the battery charges, which can lean to it cycling the fan on a lot, just makes me nervous that if it kills your AC best basically seems to say "welp it's your problem now!" There is a less fancy Honeywell thermostat that ditches the fancy screen in lieu of a normal "chromatic" screen that may be better. The bad thing is that I probably should check with our apartment management because they do regular checks to make sure the thermostat/air filter/smoke alarms are working, so they will see that I have swapped it out well before I move out. I may just end up waiting until we buy a house and we don't need anyone's permission at all.
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Jan 8, 2015 06:26
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I just converted my house from oil to natural gas heating, and need a new thermostat, as the old one is one you have to set manually. I orignally skipped the smart thermostats such as the Nest or Lyric as I don't know how long my iPhone would be supported (Nest), and didn't want the whole thing driven by my phone (Lyric). Now CES has gone and there seems to be a big push on home automation again. There seems to be a big drive to use the Nest as a hub for home automation, and a lot more companies trying to get into the game as well. Is there some way of looking up who works with what? I'm wondering if I should just go with a Nest anyways, hope that it gets standardized so I don't have to worry about Google having bad blood with Apple products, and then I don't loose control of the setup. That, or buying into one ecosystem of automation, and then I'm locked out of half the market of products to communicate with it.
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Jan 17, 2015 16:11
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Well, harmony is going to be releasing a hub extender that makes them compatible with stuff outside of the stuff their base hub supports, I was thinking of getting it so I can use Z Wave stuff with it, so that's always an option.
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Jan 17, 2015 16:58
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IUG posted:I don't know how long my iPhone would be supported (Nest) Forever, Google is absolutely positively not going to drop iPhone support/development, absolutely not going to happen, don't even bother considering the idea.
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Jan 17, 2015 17:16
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Porkchop Express posted:Well, harmony is going to be releasing a hub extender that makes them compatible with stuff outside of the stuff their base hub supports, I was thinking of getting it so I can use Z Wave stuff with it, so that's always an option. Three Olives posted:Forever, Google is absolutely positively not going to drop iPhone support/development, absolutely not going to happen, don't even bother considering the idea. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nest-mobile/id464988855?mt=8
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Jan 17, 2015 17:35
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IUG posted:I do already have a Harmony remote, but kindof hate the software. It's gotten a lot better, but it's still in Silverlight. Makes my Mac's fan spin up every time I use it like I'm playing Minecraft or something. I set everything up on my phone, I haven't even used the desktop app on my MacBook, it got everything set up perfectly, it was actually kind of impressive because the last time I had a harmony remote I DID have to use the desktop app and it's kind of a confusing poo poo show.
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Jan 17, 2015 18:07
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Yeah, I use the software because the remote has a USB port to update, so that rules out any kind of iOS integration. I don't even know if the myHarmony app would control the rest of their smarthome hub anyways.
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Jan 17, 2015 18:39
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I've been looking into using a bunch of wirelessly controlled lightbulbs in my bedroom to create a dawn simulator alarm clock to cure my winter morning blues. The basic premise of these is the lighting in the room gradually ramps up starting ~20 minutes before your alarm time (simulating sunrise), and you end up waking up gradually due to that instead of the jarring sounds of an alarm. I tend to struggle to get out of bed in the winter since its still dark outside when I wake up. What attracts me to wireless bulbs as opposed to an off the shelf alarm clock is that I can sync the alarm clock across multiple light sources in my bedroom and customize it to my needs. Also, I love tinkering with new gadgets. My hope would be to drive the alarm from my raspberry pi (it's used as a media center and is always on), but still be able to control the lights from a smartphone etc as well. This would be my first foray into home automation of any sort. Does anyone have an experience with using/configuration these systems (other than the hue systems, which I think are too pricy)? It seems like the other options are LimitlessLED, Milight and Lifx. Right now I'm kind of leaning towards Limitless since they appear to be the cheapest, and there appear to be some decent API's for controlling it via Python etc.
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Jan 24, 2015 22:49
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Nohearum posted:I've been looking into using a bunch of wirelessly controlled lightbulbs in my bedroom to create a dawn simulator alarm clock to cure my winter morning blues. The basic premise of these is the lighting in the room gradually ramps up starting ~20 minutes before your alarm time (simulating sunrise), and you end up waking up gradually due to that instead of the jarring sounds of an alarm. I tend to struggle to get out of bed in the winter since its still dark outside when I wake up. I would look at the Hue Lux (white only) they come in a two pack starter for 100. The hue app does just that. Lifx is 89 a bulb so don't look there. Also I believe there are RPi hue controllers.
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Jan 24, 2015 22:55
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Target had a sale, buy one Wink product, get the next 50% off. So I bought the Hub, a Quirky Sensor, and 6 light bulbs. Four light bulbs are in the kitchen fan, and two in the living room. I setup the Wink program to make it so that after 5pm if the Quirky Sensor detects motion (vibration) to turn on all 6 light bulbs. I also set it so that after midnight to turn off the lights if there is no vibration. Going to have to do some more playing around, but I should be on a start to having it so that it's no longer dark in the house when I'm coming in for the night, or if I'm spending too much time in the office after sunset.
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Mar 2, 2015 03:52
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I wish the Wink Hub would have worked on my wifi. Their tech support is pretty awful though. I ended up returning it after their Tier 1 was unable to help and the promised "within 24 hours" call didn't come after a week.
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Mar 2, 2015 13:04
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IUG posted:This is what I hope, but the iOS program also has a lot of bad reviews. It's part of the reason why I went for the Sensi originally, until my contractor said I don't have the wiring where my current (wireless) thermostat is now.
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Mar 2, 2015 15:13
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IUG posted:Target had a sale, buy one Wink product, get the next 50% off. So I bought the Hub, a Quirky Sensor, and 6 light bulbs. Four light bulbs are in the kitchen fan, and two in the living room. I setup the Wink program to make it so that after 5pm if the Quirky Sensor detects motion (vibration) to turn on all 6 light bulbs. I also set it so that after midnight to turn off the lights if there is no vibration. Going to have to do some more playing around, but I should be on a start to having it so that it's no longer dark in the house when I'm coming in for the night, or if I'm spending too much time in the office after sunset. Can someone explain to me why these light bulbs are so popular? I can't think of a situation where individual controlled light bulbs would be preferable to just replacing the light switch.
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Mar 2, 2015 17:28
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I have a ceiling fan in my kitchen as the main source of light (4 bulbs). I am also going to be working 11-8 a few more weeks as we train someone, and then it's just Fridays that I continue that schedule. I hate walking into a dark house, so this will turn on the lights in the kitchen, and two more lights in my living room before I enter the house (based on my location). And then they will power themselves off after midnight. So far using this system, I wish their "Robots" (automated actions) were a lot more dynamic. I want more complicated If-Then statements. I have looked into IFTTT, but it seems to be also limited.
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Mar 2, 2015 17:56
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Three Olives posted:Can someone explain to me why these light bulbs are so popular? I can't think of a situation where individual controlled light bulbs would be preferable to just replacing the light switch. For the most part buying smart bulbs is a bad decision and yes, you should just buy smart switches. Also doesnt the wink poo poo not work if your internet goes out, like even light switches?
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Mar 2, 2015 18:22
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That's what I read, yeah. But in the 1.5 years that I've lived at home I haven't lost the internet for more than an hour. However, I found that if you flip the light switch off and on again, it will power those bulbs back on even if they're scheduled to be turned off.
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Mar 2, 2015 21:38
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Okay, so just an update on this Wink system. I'm returning it. I've tried a few ways to make the most basic thing work (turn on the lights when I get home), and it's just not responsive. The Quirky sensor isn't picking up sound at all in the last two days, and the "motion sensing" is just vibration sensing, which it is bad at. And the Wink app is also set for geofencing to detect when I'm near home. The lights still did not go on when I got home. Tie these problems in with a serious lack of complexity in their "Robots" that are supposed to be the way to automate everything, and the fact that I have to drive everything through an iOS app (no web site or server app? Really?) means that I'm going to be taking it back to Target.
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Mar 5, 2015 03:45
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Just bought some Belkin WeMo lights. The app for them is just absolutely, positively terrible. Should I return these and get Hue lights instead?
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Mar 14, 2015 22:08
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IuniusBrutus posted:Just bought some Belkin WeMo lights. The app for them is just absolutely, positively terrible. Should I return these and get Hue lights instead? I think the Hue app is god awful too, but there are other options for Hue that are pretty solid (on Android at least)
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Mar 14, 2015 23:05
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One post above you has me talking about how lovely the Wink system is. Edit: Not the same system, nevermind.
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Mar 15, 2015 01:50
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Three Olives posted:Word of warning, 99% of landlords are not going to give a poo poo but legally speaking changing the thermostat is an "improvement" and it has to stay when you leave. Chances are as long as you put the old one back no one will be the wiser and no one will have a problem with it but if you have an especially dickbag landlord they are legally right, it is the same with changing a light fixture or anything else attached to the structure. Gotta wonder how the response would be if you just said "Oh it broke. I replaced it with a different one." This of course being a true statement and not a lie. I sought out this thread in regards to my apartment installed Nest. I was wondering if any automation systems out there integrate with it to the level that I can use the humidity readout from it. Basically I want something to turn on a power outlet (plug in type) that a humidifier is on if the humidity gets low, and to be able to turn it off when it's high enough. It's hard to tell how deep integration is with a lot of these systems. I know I could get a new humidifier with a Humidistat, but I already own a nice ultrasonic one, if I could cheaply get a hub and outlet, I could then add other neat things. I'm limited in what I can actually install, since I don't want to muck around with the actual electrical outlets.
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Mar 17, 2015 02:02
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Dbhjed posted:I am invested in the smart things Eco system. $100 hub with zwave zigbee and wifi. The thing stopping me jumping on SmartThings is the Samsung purchase of the company and the almost instant paid service that launched after it (granted that had to be planned prepurchase but likely was mentioned in negotiations. Wondering if we will see more subscription based charges coming...? Beyond that though, research also indicates it the most realistic system out there. Just hoping Samsung continue that.
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Mar 28, 2015 15:53
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Heners_UK posted:The thing stopping me jumping on SmartThings is the Samsung purchase of the company and the almost instant paid service that launched after it (granted that had to be planned prepurchase but likely was mentioned in negotiations. Wondering if we will see more subscription based charges coming...? Smart things doesn't have a paid service yet. The future one to come will be if something happens they will call the cops, plumber, family members, ect (stuff that you need to pay a person to do) also they hinted at paid storage of video from cams(every one charges for data storage) Other than those two things the service is going to remain free post purchase as it is today.
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Mar 30, 2015 22:24
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