Hello folks, I am now in the final stages of “smartifying” my new home and wanted to share some of the pains/learnings/triumphs I’ve experienced while working on this project. I hope that by the end of this a newbie (like the one I was just a few months ago) will be able to read this thread and get a pretty good understanding of what they need to do in order to get started with designing/implementing a non-gimmicky end-to-end smart home solution.
As with any good recipe, I will start off with the ingredients list. It took me several iterations before I finally settled on this “stack” and I will detail some of the blundering that led me here in a follow up post. For now, here is the list:
The Hubs:
1 x SmartThings hub [http://a.co/bIHx3Kn]
1 x Harmony Home Control hub + remote [http://a.co/hLGFIpK]
1 x Philips Hue bridge (as needed) [http://a.co/342GwVd]
Voice Control (Alexa + Siri)
3 x Echo Dots (2nd gen) [http://a.co/6wSAviD]
1 x Echo (2nd gen) [http://a.co/ihFIVy5]
1 x Raspberry Pi 3 (to run Homebridge) [http://a.co/2G2anZU]
Light
10 x GE Z-Wave dimmers [http://a.co/d1Li074]
5 x GE Z-Wave switches [http://a.co/hCukVHL]
5 x GE matching switches [http://a.co/2ShdKzQ]
5 x Z-Wave/Zigbee light strips (e.g. Philips Hue, Aoetec, Sylvania, etc.) [http://a.co/idt9bi2]
Safety
10 x Z-Wave/Zigbee water leak detectors (e.g. SmartThings, Aoetec, etc.) [http://a.co/5PGwHn9]
5 x Z-Wave/Zigbee/Wi-Fi smoke + CO detectors (e.g. FirstAlert, Nest, etc.) [http://a.co/efYzUWX]
1 x Z-Wave Water Control Valve (e.g. Leak Intel, Fortrezz, etc.) [http://a.co/2rYzoim]
Security + Automation:
10 x Z-Wave/Zigbee motion/light/temperature/humidity sensors (e.g. SmartThings, Aeotec, Fibaro, etc.) [http://a.co/d6Nf8So]
10 x Z-Wave/Zigbee door open/close sensors (e.g. SmartThings, Aeotec, etc.) [http://a.co/5iA5RwT]
1 x Z-Wave front door lock (e.g. Schlage, Yale, etc.) [http://a.co/bhZUrX4]
1 x Z-Wave siren (e.g. Aeotec, Fortrezz, etc.) [http://a.co/a1edJdx]
2 x SmartThings arrival sensors [http://a.co/h7l22WD]
1 x GoControl/Linear garage door opener [http://a.co/0Kzr8RA]
Air quality
1 x Awair air quality monitor [http://a.co/ez6mik2]
1 x Awair Glow air quality monitor [http://a.co/g7WuHZc]
1 x Honeywell Humidifier [http://a.co/eevlTCm]
Miscellaneous (as needed)
10 x Z-Wave in-wall receptacles (e.g. GE, Leviton, HomeSeer, etc.) [http://a.co/0L0K8Lh]
10 x Z-Wave/Zigbee plug-in modules (e.g. SmartThings, Aeotec, etc.) [http://a.co/hQywC5T]
Here is the equivalent idea list on Amazon:
http://a.co/3J9rgtc
I hope to follow this post up with a lot more details about the project. In the meantime, feel free to comment on this list and let me know how it compares to your smart home “stack”.
P.S. And thank you to the whole SmartThings Community for all the help getting through this! I couldn’t have done it without you.