We'll Get Through This Together

We know this is a hard time for everyone.

During this time of self-isolation the way we live and work has changed in many surprising and unsuspected ways. As a community we should share what we are building in our smart homes that makes work and life in this new world just a little bit easier.

I have automated an on-air light to help my family know when I am taking video meetings

EDIT: I have found some other related posts and pulled them intot this thread.

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I usually have my Robot Vacuum run circles around the living room when everyone is out of the house and return back to the charging station when someone comes home.

I changed up my Automations so that the vacuum runs in the middle of the night and pauses if motion is detected at the top of the stairs.

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Fortunately, I am still working full-time. However, my wife has been off for a couple of weeks. SO, she has been able to document all of my smart-home processes that don’t work or sort-of work. So I have been busy wife-proofing my ST integrations.

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There are a couple of related existing threads… :sunglasses:

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Tech projects for kids stuck at home

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I’m trying to figure out the best way to put a small exhaust fan out in our shed and have it kick on based on temp/humidity. So there’s that, building shelves inside it, paving the driveway, and rebuilding the deck. And a 19 month old boy that’s wild and crazy. Life needs to return to normal before my wife takes away my debit card.

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  1. I’m working out of our guest bedroom, which stays a little cooler in the winter. So added a smart plug to the small space heater in there and automated it to come on at 7:30 each weekday morning if the ecobee room temp is below 69 and then on/off based on motion, temperature, door being open, etc. the rest of the day.

  2. added an Eria remote to control the iBlinds in the living room.

  3. removed my Noon Home switches from our master bath and replaced with some extra z-wave switches and simmer i had laying around. Then re-did our humidity, goodnight, motion off, etc automations for that room.

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My bathroom fan runs automatically if the humidity gets high. Here is an example https://www.homedepot.com/p/Aero-Pure-Slim-Fit-120-CFM-Bathroom-Fan-with-Humidity-Sensor-Ceiling-or-Wall-Mount-ENERGY-STAR-AP120H-S-OR/304492332

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Which part are you having difficulty with? There was a smartapp called Humidity Control that can trigger a switch upon reaching a giving % humidity. Then I think the same kind exists for temperature.

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Just nailing down what exactly I’m going to do and how I’m going to wire it up. If I’m going to use a fan with a built in temp/humidity thermostat, or if I’m going to wire one into a smart plug and use a sensor to automate it. It’s just one of those “do I NEED to make this smart or not” conundrums.

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I guess you would go for ST implementation only if you want to have it controlled in scenes and modes. If you don’t need that, then autonomous setup would work fine but… you’ll have it running even if you are not home etc.
There is maybe an intermediate setup: you use the autonomous fan on a smartplug so that even though you won’t be able to adjust temp and humidity triggers from ST, you’ll still enjoy power saving aspects. I generally assess need, cost, convenience before spending time and money.

Since I spend most of my life in one of two rooms, automations are always critical for me. One of my housemates is a customer service manager for a delivery service, so he’s still going into work. The other one has been laid off and is spending all of his time right now just playing video games. So it hasn’t really changed our automation requirements yet, but our household is unusual.

I’m sure there are a lot of people who will be affected, this should be a very interesting thread. :sunglasses:

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Yeah, with kids at home during the day I am walking around the house and find myself wondering why the lights come on when is so bright in the room -:slight_smile: :dark_sunglasses: Have lights adjusted for the weekend but apparently not for weekdays. LOL

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Most of mone are based on occupancy of individual rooms based on sensors so theres no modification required

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Mine too, but not on luminosity of individual rooms.

My “Save Energy” routine that stops heating from 7:15am on weekdays so we didn’t heat before leaving for school/work becane very unpopular these days when temperature dropped to 15C gradually to 11am… Had to suspend it till we get to better days.

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:sunglasses:

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Is anyone else finding new automations becoming “critical” as they spend unusual amounts of time at home during the coronavirus situation? My wife finally came on board with ordering iBlinds because we’re all at home for most of the day and a couple of the blinds on our main floor are a hassle to reach and open/close. We’re also finding the hiccups in our normal automations that we live with for the occasional holiday that need to be reevaluated when our entire routine is thrown off for a longer period.

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I am not the best at it, but many of us here (and webcore users) try to program with unusual situations in mind. It can get complicated and frustrating up front, but going back to modify something you “completed” months ago can be worse.

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With our residence and everyone staying indoors, often we find us opening doors and patios to let fresh air in. Sometimes we forget that we’ve left one open. So, using a NodeMCU with Arduino IDE and the ST_Anything handlers, I’ve attached a RGB LED that lights RED when a door has been left ajar. Automatically shuts OFF when all conditions bare met. Other Colors can be set for other warnings. Possibly a BLUE or YELLOW hue when the motion is detected in certain hours. Just a thought.

PS- Really Good Thread!

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