I’ve had Lutron with motion incorporated in all bathrooms, and it was the most contested ‘automation’ implemented. Works for moving around in the bath but not shower. I only have those now in the secondary baths that have no showers. For those with showers and tubs I have two motion sensors one in the shower for motion and humidity reading that also turns on the fan.
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You need to move more.
Updated the list to include Locks, Echo, Harmony and window coverings.
I’m in deep, this past year in my new house we started updating everything. I think my wife let me get away with it as a hobby and she liked some of the convenience. Now she expects it. Almost out of things to do.
I have also been fairly lucky and rarely have issues with ST acting up. Although my Alarm did not turn off at the set time this morning. When my wife left to walk the dog all the lights turned on. Thankfully the Siren was not added to SHM. For me the security aspect is a value add to home automation.
Edit: 115 items in ST. Have about 5-10 more to install (in boxes on counter).
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Ok, garage door opener for water sensor and smart vents for window coverings. Although the latter has been on my to do list since day one, but it seems like I always find something else to spend the money on. What do you use?
Well, my little adventure started with an Amazon echo… And I quickly took a rocket trip down the rabbit hole!
I have three echoes in the house along with a voice for tv stick and remote control of echo from my phone’s. To me, a smart home is ask about voice control and since I’m in this for the smart home, not the home automation, I jumped in deep in that part.
I got a great deal on a smart switch at Lowe’s one day, so I bought somewhere around fifty of them… About 8.00 a piece. So every switch in the house is connected (almost- I’ve got some smart bulbs too and those stay on regular switches).
I use the Phillips bridge with the Phillips bulbs. I just really like the stability of it and I feel the light experience is a very high quality when compared to others. I think I have around 25 bulbs and light strips.
I didn’t jump on the motion sensor train, at first. I really didn’t think I would use it that much… Boy was I wrong! I have 12 in the house with at least that many more to install. I really love the iris devices from Lowe’s. They are small, fast, and cheap.
I also recently bought the harmony hub and remote at BestBuy for 99.00 on sale (btw, I never buy anything at retail). It’s heat but I haven’t had time to fully explore the options with it. Mostly I got it so I can tell Alexa to turn on the tv our cartoons when my hands are full with the baby.
I have not bought any locks yet… My wife is completely against them… ST is really going to have to step up their games on reliability before I trust then to security. Though I do have a garage door controller… But it is only opened automatically after several layers of fail safes… Never had a misfire there.
I haven’t jumped into the window coverings yet, but they are on the radar. I plan to build my own motors and use the boards from GE link bulbs to run them… They are already programmed!
I have some good automations built into everything… Though it’s all very subtle.
My advice… Start with a couple of cheaper smart bulbs (but remember that the switches are your goal) along with some contact sensors and motion sensors.
You can use your phone for presence… Just go with a 3rd like life360 for reliability.
An example of an automaton that uses my phone, one contact sensor, a smart switch, and a couple of smart bulbs… (total costs is about $90.00)
- At sunset the porch lights turn on.
- At 10 pm they turn off.
- When you open the front door anytime of the day, the foyer lights turn on. They go off 3 minutes later.
- when you open the front between 10 pm and sunrise, the foyer lights come on for 5 minutes and the porch lights come on for 10 minutes.
- when you arrive home after 10 pm, the porch lights come on, and as you walk in the front door the foyer lights up for you.
And that’s just scratching the surface!
I’ve got 137 devices correctly installed and approximately 50 sitting in a box in the garage waiting to find a home.
It’s addictive!
Oh, and the reason I say start small… Get a feel for how the family is going to react to it… And get then in on the ideas from the start… It just makes life easier when you can say, but honey, it’s for the kids!
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Just a reminder that the staying connected problems with the GE link bulbs that keep them off the official “works with SmartThings” list will also turn up when you use those boards to run your window coverings. So make sure you have a easy way to reset each individual one as needed.
Also, zigbee can be tricky for window coverings since they are fixed location devices. You can’t just shift them 6 inches to the right if you’re in a zone of Wi-Fi interference.
Not saying you can’t do it, but it’s definitely more difficult than a zwave placement.
Hey, good point! Guess I’ll have to use the Phillips bulbs… I’ll have to look into that.
Philips are still zigbee…
but they don’t drop off the network like the GE’s do.
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I use myQ for garage. So far the ‘unoffical’ works just fine. For Window blinds its Bali with Somfy power/zwave. Got them through Costco.
Think once I finish up the next few items left to install, I am going to focus on another hobby for a few months.
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Here is something that might be of interest
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Sorry, i am a little late to this thread… But my wife asked me the other day to draw her a picture of all the thing that are connected in our home because she wanted to understand herself. I thought I should share because this may give you some ideas.
(The “what do these things do and how do they interact” was another discussion…)
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@pizzinini How is your water heater connected to smartthings?
I have an electric water heater tied into an elk relay plugged into a zigbee appliance module.
I see. So that just turns it off, cannot set temperature for say, 30 degrees lower during the workday.
Yep for me its in a vacation home so I’m either there or not there nothing more granular than that. Pretty sure you’d need a “smart” water heater for anything more than that. I do think there are a few out there.
I have a Whirlpool unit that came from Lowes. There is a home automation module they sell at Lowes for it, but nobody has developed a device handler for it, and I don’t have IRIS.
Here is the post:
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