What are the best projects on SmartThings?

[shawneric]

Hey Guys! I made a topic a few weeks ago about my new YouTube Channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF88zzr90A1XsyX-Qh-MB9Q ). I want to do a video on Smart Things, but one of the things I also want to do is key in on some of the most influential and most widely used and accepted projects the Smart Things community is putting together. People have some awesome ideas out here, even if they aren’t completed or they’ve only had a little work done to them. So I’d like to showcase some of those ideas. So comment on here with a link to the topic discussed in this forum (or elsewhere) that you think showcases what Smart Things is capable of doing that might make having a Smart Home simpler or easier to manage, utilize, and/or implement.

Please remember that I’m doing this channel under the pretense that a lot of people don’t have a lot of money out there and they want a Smart House WITHOUT having to hash out a lot of big bucks. While an idea may be awesome, it costing four thousand dollars is out of the question.

Please let me know if you have an idea or someone on the community has an idea that they want showcased on a YouTube channel.

Thanks everyone! And please, PLEASE leave some criticism. I’d rather have some criticism than none, but let’s try to keep it clean and kind (I’m doing this entire project on my own and it’s going to drive bandwidth to the smart things site and community so I’d like to know that I’m doing it right).

-Eric Wright

[discordium]

Eric,

I bought a z-wave relay module (isolated contact fixture), a project box, an extension cord and was able to wire my garage door to the system. My total out-of-pocket expenses for the project was less than $75, with most of the cost going to the z-wave controller. It was fun and most people who can strip a wire should be able to complete the project and have it working with SmartThings (I had this working with v1; not sure about v2…)

Dan

[sidjohn1]

smarttiles

[tgauchat]

Thanks, Sid!

@shawneric… Drop me a line at Terry @ SmartTiles.click. I’ll arrange an overview and demo of SmartTiles and help you with questions and presentation.

Thanks!f

[ero4444]

1. The best thing I’ve seen/done yet, is to monitor my desktop PC powerstrip with a Aeon smart KW-metering plug. When the load drops to less than 13 watts after the desktop shuts down, then ST turns off the plug.

The desktop takes 2-5 minutes to shutdown so it saves me 2-5 minutes per day, pretty much every day.

2. Echo/Alexa integration beats this though. Verbal mode-starting (e.g. "Alex turn on watch TV) means I do not have to use the phone app which has been chewing up my mobile data limit and my time.

[sidjohn1]

Voice control with Siri or googlenow or Alexa

[sidjohn1]

I’ll pimp my project as well just in case your spend becomes a bit more flexible
Roomba Automation

[shawneric]

That’s pretty awesome @discordium! I personally don’t have a garage door that I could test this out on, but I’m going to look around and see if I can catch some friends who do who might be willing to let me mess around with their garage doors. I’m not so sure they would though, unless someone in this community lives close to me (I live in Fredericksburg, VA) and would like to have me over to shoot some video.

[shawneric]

Absolutely @tgauchat. I’ll shoot you an email right now

[sidjohn1]

Accelerometer based doorbell sensor:

A simple way to get alerts when your doorbell is rung

Here’s my no wiring required version: I taped a smartsence multi to my ding plate inside my doorbell. The accelerometer inside detects the vibration from the ding plate being struck by the doorbell being rung. No fuss, no muss, no wires For notifications there’s [Notify Me When… App with Button functionality][1] To turn my patio light on there’s [Lights On,On Vibration.groovy][2] Cover Off: [image] Cover On: [image] [1]: https://github.com/twack/smarthings-apps/blob/master/NotifyMeWhen.groovy [2]: https://github.com/sidjohn1/smartthings/blob/master/Lights%20On%2COn%20Vibration.groovy

Buttons!

Hack the Amazon Dash button to control a SmartThings switch

I recently bought the $5 Amazon dash button. While the thought of pushing a button and having Kraft Mac & Cheese arrive at my doorstop two days later is intriguing, I’d rather hack the button. The Dash has a wifi chip that communicates with the Amazon mobile app, but we can interrupt that final step and make it do whatever we want. First, I’ll show the video and then provide instructions to replicate this at home. Here’s how it works… Step 1: Get the MAC address of the Dash button Open up the Amazon shopping app, and configure the Dash button to work with your local network. Click Settings → Dash Devices → Manage devices. Add your SSID and network password, and watch the Dash button light up with a blue LED. Now, once you get to the screen where you need to select which item to purc…

Smart Chairs

United security pressure mat

Hi folks - has anyone tried to connect and make work the United Securities z-wave pressure mat? I would like to use this to send me a txt when someone is standing at my front door and to turn on the light when we walk downstairs. Our stairs are in the middle of our house so a motion sensor won’t work without creating a bunch of false alarms. Ken

Security

Smart Home Monitor

Flood prevention

Could Econet EBV105 water shutoff be added to the compatibility of the HUB?

[shawneric]

Thanks @sidjohn1, these really help! I’m going to have my hands full here lol

[shawneric]

@ero4444 that’s cool. I’ll definitely check this out too.

[Drewbert34]

The projects are neat.

The most recent I liked was the smart 220v outlet (for example); however, what I think would be a good starting point is “this vs. that” videos…like “smart bulbs vs. smart switches” where you can give the best application for each.

Something like the aforementioned you can then build on in a series. The next could be wiring of smart switches, branching into 2 way, 3 way, etc. and onto virtual switches and Echo integration.

Granted, these examples are more newbie oriented, and maybe not what you’re interested in doing. You can work up to more complex stages where a enthusiast could follow from simplistic to advanced.

Just a thought…

[rayzurbock]

I’ll add a shameless plug for BigTalker ( [OBSOLETE 1.1.6 5/25/16] Big Talker - Talk when events occur ). New version, 1.1.4, due out this weekend to fix the latest found bugs / issues (Current beta code here, although this branch will soon go away once the changes are integrated into the master version: https://github.com/rayzurbock/SmartThings-BigTalker/blob/GregBuild/BigTalker.groovy )

** You need a Sonos, Ubi, or computer with VLC(and the VLC Thing device type found here VLC Thing. A Poor Man's Sonos. Version 2.0 Released 12/22/2016 ).

[kewashi]

I helped get the smart chair thread started and since then I have honed this smart app to work on many use cases that are quite game changing. I use a mat in my office to flag when I am working on the computer, which changes the behavior of my lights and ignores the all things quiet flag. I also use it to flag when we are sitting on the couch watching TV. There are so many useful apps of this smart pad. I’m so glad that it is drop-dead easy to hook these pads up to an open/close door sensor. That is the magic that opens the door to all the great applications here.

[Navat604]

With an Aeon energy plug, a 5v relay, usb power plug. I hacked my remote car starter key fob. Now I can start my car with Smartthings. because we don’t get feedback from our car starter I also make the wife happy by hacking my ST presence sensor so when the car starts it notify her by turning a hue bulb green.

[prprdm]

hey i am trying to do the same. how do you get your relay to only close momentarily?