smartening up my home

[chedder]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Is the time to temp setting on? (ie: Does it attempt to slowly warm to temp to save energy vs going full bore until you hit the temp ASAP).



Temp reading off is odd. No idea. Bad unit maybe?

Thanks. It's just the cheap basic one. It says time to temp is always on. Can't seem to change that.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by chedder

Thanks. It's just the cheap basic one. It says time to temp is always on. Can't seem to change that.

So it's the Nest lite?

I wonder if it is better to get a full featured Nest, Honeywell Lyric or full featured Ecobee if it's a commercial building?

That or have the schedule kick in an hour or two earlier (before anyone arrives) and also set the temperature setting a few degrees higher?

[chedder]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

So it's the Nest lite?



I wonder if it is better to get a full featured Nest, Honeywell Lyric or full featured Ecobee if it's a commercial building?



That or have the schedule kick in an hour or two earlier (before anyone arrives) and also set the temperature setting a few degrees higher?

Yeah. Just says Nest on the box but its the $150 one. I'm thinking that might be smart to upgrade. I may have figured out the wrong temp reading as the hole where the wires come out of the wall has a draft. I moved the thermostat and am going to fill the hole and see. Thanks for the help.

[CaptainCrunch]

lol a key point is the voice recognition. I was in a zoom meeting and one of the participants saw my Smart hub and started shouting commands through the meeting and turned on my music which started playing ABBA.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

I never cared about smart home, but I wanted to be able to close my garage door, or at least check to make sure it closed from anywhere. But I bought a google nest mini on a whim cause they were like $30 at costco. Then I got some Wifi plug-ins. A month later I basically never have to flick a light switch or turn on a lamp like some kind of peasant again

My biggest complaint is when the nest confirms my command by repeating it back to me. "....Ok, turning off two plug-ins called Christmas Tree"

Surprisingly, when fireplace shopping none of the four places we went had smart models that could be controlled by Google, Alexa, etc

I stumbled upon this today.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07WJSYBMK?...ngadgetusca-20

[CaptainCrunch]

I think that google broke my system, I came home tonight and my Hubs and nest don't recognize any of my light commands at all. Everything else works. I've reset the hubs, rebotted them and nothing. Everything else works though. Lots of complaints about this tonight on the google nest forums.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I think that google broke my system, I came home tonight and my Hubs and nest don't recognize any of my light commands at all. Everything else works. I've reset the hubs, rebotted them and nothing. Everything else works though. Lots of complaints about this tonight on the google nest forums.

This is why I'll never go for a cloud control option for my primary automation system. HomeAssistant is great in that you can connect it to a cloud service to access it from anywhere, but all commands are still sent from the local server. The only components that are still cloud controlled for me are my Wyze cameras, and that's enough of a PITA. The day that Ubiquiti releases wifi cameras on par with them they're all getting ripped out

[iggyntangs]

Looking for recommendations in either products or services for someone to do this.

About to move into a place that has Control4 wiring/stack equipment and speakers throughout the house. Not sure of what other infrastructure is there beyond that.

Getting Shaw 750 Fibre+ internet as well.

Looking to see what are the best options I have to make the home smart/automate.

I don't have much experience in any of this, it's a 4-level house (including basement and rooftop patio). Would love strong internet speeds every level plus outside in the yard. In the past for a smaller home I used an eero which I've never had issues with but would need more I assume.

And then with regards to the Control4, is it worth going down this route? I have no idea on cost and such but would be nice to use that infrastructure to create automation throughout the home.

I don't need everything at once but some immediate items would be:

1. Fast internet throughout the house/levels/outside
2. Voice and remote activating TV's, lights, thermostat and security camera (garage door opener would be nice to have)

Any thoughts/suggestions again on hardware, services to help do this would be greatly appreciated!

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

This is why I'll never go for a cloud control option for my primary automation system. HomeAssistant is great in that you can connect it to a cloud service to access it from anywhere, but all commands are still sent from the local server. The only components that are still cloud controlled for me are my Wyze cameras, and that's enough of a PITA. The day that Ubiquiti releases wifi cameras on par with them they're all getting ripped out

+1

HomeAssistant is my choice as well...but I'm no coder, so it's been a REAL grind trying to learn to do things with it. The default UI is OK...but I have very specific needs being on a rural property and it's proving difficult to overcome some of these.

Oh...and I have a wife who'd prefer a "dumb" home.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

This is why I'll never go for a cloud control option for my primary automation system. HomeAssistant is great in that you can connect it to a cloud service to access it from anywhere, but all commands are still sent from the local server. The only components that are still cloud controlled for me are my Wyze cameras, and that's enough of a PITA. The day that Ubiquiti releases wifi cameras on par with them they're all getting ripped out

I am a big fan of my Reolinks.

As far as local automation, I've been slowly working on switching my house over from SmartThings to Hubitat. The app sucks compared to SmartThings, but SmartThings sucks compared to SmartThings Classic, so whatever. As long as I can control stuff.

[iggyntangs]

I've just updated my house to use Sengled Hub and associated bulbs and a handful of Smart Life oulets and a Refoss Garage Door Opener so far connected to Alexa and Google Assistant.

I'm in the market for a: smart thermostat, doorbell/outdoor cameras and the right hub.

Originally I was considering the Google Nest Max hub but heard it's surprisingly limited on features.

I read some interesting things on the Aeotech Smart Home Hub which uses Smart Things.

But I'd love to hear others thoughts on this as before getting those things I'd love to know what's compatible with the right hub and all.

Also bonus is I have Control4 wiring and speakers in the house, I don't want to get a Control4 systems but ideas on what to get to allow me to control audio with a system and associated receiver/equipment would be great too!

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Home Assistant is the king in terms of features and compatibility with other systems, including Control4. It takes a bit more setup as you have to configure your own server, which can be something simple like a Raspberri Pi, but once it's up and running you can do pretty much whatever you want with it. The two areas of limitations I've found is that if you want to integrate Google stuff you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get all the permissions setup, I just use the Google Home app to control my thermostat instead of Home Assistant. And 2nd, your camera integrations within HA will vary wildly depending on the type of cameras you get. Google will require a lot of extra work as mentioned, Ring is supported but with limited functionality, Arlo is fully supported, Wyze has no official support but there is a user made mod that allows some functions

[iggyntangs]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Home Assistant is the king in terms of features and compatibility with other systems, including Control4. It takes a bit more setup as you have to configure your own server, which can be something simple like a Raspberri Pi, but once it's up and running you can do pretty much whatever you want with it. The two areas of limitations I've found is that if you want to integrate Google stuff you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get all the permissions setup, I just use the Google Home app to control my thermostat instead of Home Assistant. And 2nd, your camera integrations within HA will vary wildly depending on the type of cameras you get. Google will require a lot of extra work as mentioned, Ring is supported but with limited functionality, Arlo is fully supported, Wyze has no official support but there is a user made mod that allows some functions

This is what my research found as well that HA would be great. That being said, I'm quite iliterate to do what I'm reading is required to set this up. a server and the idea of 'jumping through hoops' and having to go thru mods is daunting.

I guess my next dumb question would be IF I were to go down this route, are there services in Calgary as to someone who would set this up for me? I'm more than happy to look into and provide the equipment and guidance and all.

[CaptainReboot]

Originally Posted by iggyntangs

This is what my research found as well that HA would be great. That being said, I'm quite iliterate to do what I'm reading is required to set this up. a server and the idea of 'jumping through hoops' and having to go thru mods is daunting.

I guess my next dumb question would be IF I were to go down this route, are there services in Calgary as to someone who would set this up for me? I'm more than happy to look into and provide the equipment and guidance and all.

I moved over to HA from SmartThings after my ST Hub broke. I had an old Raspberry Pi laying around so I just installed the software on it. It is a bit of a learning curve to get setup, but it wasn't as difficult as I initially thought it would be. I found it to be faster in it's response time compared to ST.