Wasn't really till seeing this home assistant demo they have (<a href="https://www.loom.com/share/18c4dbcf8db546dfb2d7f2ef018e78e4" rel="nofollow">https://www.loom.com/share/18c4dbcf8db546dfb2d7f2ef018e78e4) that the value really clicked for me.
Side note - just like most people don't need an intelligent personal assistant to manage and respond their emails and book their flights, most people also don't need smart homes. Century old toggle switches are more than enough in a 3 room apartment or 5 room house unless you have a mention.
My primary beef with smart home (having tried it) is that every person that visits your home ends up confused about some element of it. A light switch that goes up and down is universally understood.
Also a quick NFC sticker in each room taking you to a small HTML site containing settings (temp, ventilation, lights, shutters, setting a alarm by the lights) has been golden.
No one wants to: download Shelly app + AC app + look for ventilation IR controller + figure out how casting works for the TV + figure out how to use the Shelly app to turn lights into an alarm. It's too much friction for little gain. But a quick tap? Great.
But tapping your phone on a NFC sticker bringing all those controls together per room in stead of per category (all lights in Shelly app. Person in room #1 has no interests in the lights in room #4 at the same time.).
IF you tap it while not on Wifi yet it just tells you to connect to Wifi. :-)
One "all house" sticker next to the front door allows any last person leaving or first person entering to put the entire house in active / idle mode.
Works wonders. And as soon as local AI is quick enough the stickers will be a microphone!
That's clever and all - solid setup, good work. But I still think you either overestimate the average house guest or have particularly savvy/young house guests.
Zigbee, Zwave, and Bluetooth (although a bit to a lesser extent) are easy mode of you want local only. They're not IP-based networks so no Internet access to begin with.
Bluetooth--local only but setup can be a bit trickier since they don't automatically form a mesh. You may need to configure relays if your existing devices have that capability or buy dedicated relays
My primary beef with my home built in 1963 is that half of the switches aren’t wired to what you would expect and I have no attic or basement with access to make it easy to rewire. Home assistant and smart switches are a godsend because I can repurpose the existing switch boxes to actually do what I want them to do with the added bonus of being able to control them remotely from my phone.
My switches go up and down just like they always did. I can also toggle them from the app (ok so sometimes the switch is up and the thing is off but multi-way switches have been like that forever), track their on/off state, and use them as event sources to do other things.
There is a single magic switch that does "extra" stuff and that one's in the master bedroom. All of them except that one fail open and continue working like regular switches if Home Assistant is unavailable.
The livingroom has a Shelly dimmer that replaced an analogue dimmer and it also turns 2 lamps on and off.
The basement switch was wired to a single bulb and it triggers an event that powers all the smart bulbs in lamp holders spliced into arbitrary circuits on and off so all the basement lights work with the existing switch instead of just the 1 physically wired to it.
I think there's plenty of dumb things you can do with smart home tech but there's also tons of subtle and convenient enhancements as well. Phone alarm emits an event that opens the curtains and turns on a lamp is also a nice one.
Having a dashboard that shows whether (many) things are on or off and their power consumption is super handy. Dropping an Emporia circuit power monitor widget in the dashboard shows if the washer and dryer are running (a little bit of power, a lot of power, a lot of power + a little bit more power)
We have 8 light buttons in our living room/dining room/kitchen space. It is very convenient to us that we have 1 button for turning all of them on/off at the door to upstairs (at night turn off all lights and go to bed upstairs, in the morning come downstairs and turn on all lights) - but also have 1 on/off button near our back door for when we leave/come home.
Next to that: on/off toggles a schedule where the lights are bright and cold-ish by day, and low and warm by night without us having to manually adjust each light every hour or something.
Again, need is a big word. But it's very convenient and pleasant.
cfowles · · focus · HN ↗
Seems really cool.
wg0 · · focus · HN ↗
Side note - just like most people don't need an intelligent personal assistant to manage and respond their emails and book their flights, most people also don't need smart homes. Century old toggle switches are more than enough in a 3 room apartment or 5 room house unless you have a mention.
qingcharles · · focus · HN ↗
apexalpha · · focus · HN ↗
There's no reason to not do both.
Also a quick NFC sticker in each room taking you to a small HTML site containing settings (temp, ventilation, lights, shutters, setting a alarm by the lights) has been golden.
No one wants to: download Shelly app + AC app + look for ventilation IR controller + figure out how casting works for the TV + figure out how to use the Shelly app to turn lights into an alarm. It's too much friction for little gain. But a quick tap? Great.
But tapping your phone on a NFC sticker bringing all those controls together per room in stead of per category (all lights in Shelly app. Person in room #1 has no interests in the lights in room #4 at the same time.).
IF you tap it while not on Wifi yet it just tells you to connect to Wifi. :-)
One "all house" sticker next to the front door allows any last person leaving or first person entering to put the entire house in active / idle mode.
Works wonders. And as soon as local AI is quick enough the stickers will be a microphone!
throwaway314155 · · focus · HN ↗
apexalpha · · focus · HN ↗
The regular-ceiling-lights-as-alarm service gets positive feedback. Weird how smarthome companies never market that, seems easy win.
Atreiden · · focus · HN ↗
apexalpha · · focus · HN ↗
Then after 20 min an actual alarm goes off, just in case.
shifto · · focus · HN ↗
nijave · · focus · HN ↗
Bluetooth--local only but setup can be a bit trickier since they don't automatically form a mesh. You may need to configure relays if your existing devices have that capability or buy dedicated relays
rockostrich · · focus · HN ↗
nijave · · focus · HN ↗
There is a single magic switch that does "extra" stuff and that one's in the master bedroom. All of them except that one fail open and continue working like regular switches if Home Assistant is unavailable.
The livingroom has a Shelly dimmer that replaced an analogue dimmer and it also turns 2 lamps on and off.
The basement switch was wired to a single bulb and it triggers an event that powers all the smart bulbs in lamp holders spliced into arbitrary circuits on and off so all the basement lights work with the existing switch instead of just the 1 physically wired to it.
I think there's plenty of dumb things you can do with smart home tech but there's also tons of subtle and convenient enhancements as well. Phone alarm emits an event that opens the curtains and turns on a lamp is also a nice one.
Having a dashboard that shows whether (many) things are on or off and their power consumption is super handy. Dropping an Emporia circuit power monitor widget in the dashboard shows if the washer and dryer are running (a little bit of power, a lot of power, a lot of power + a little bit more power)
suprfnk · · focus · HN ↗
We have 8 light buttons in our living room/dining room/kitchen space. It is very convenient to us that we have 1 button for turning all of them on/off at the door to upstairs (at night turn off all lights and go to bed upstairs, in the morning come downstairs and turn on all lights) - but also have 1 on/off button near our back door for when we leave/come home.
Next to that: on/off toggles a schedule where the lights are bright and cold-ish by day, and low and warm by night without us having to manually adjust each light every hour or something.
Again, need is a big word. But it's very convenient and pleasant.
Semaphor · · focus · HN ↗
LeBit · · focus · HN ↗
That was my light bulb moment.