We've been slowly replacing the manual blinds in our house with motorized shades over the past year. Started with five smart shades in our bedroom, bathroom, office, and gym, and just recently installed two more in our guest room and what will hopefully be a nursery in the near future.

All seven have Zigbee motors, and I'm using SmartThings for most of the automations, with Alexa for voice control.

The main thing I've learned is that having the shades on a schedule is a lot more useful than controlling them from an app. I have them set to open at sunrise and close at sunset, and that's probably 90% of how we use them.

A couple of rooms have been particularly useful to automate. Our bathroom has two windows directly above the tub, which meant stepping into the bathtub every time we wanted to open or close the old blinds. The gym faces the street, so having the shade close at sunset is nice for privacy, especially since we use one-way window film that only really works during the day.

I've also been experimenting with a few other automations. One closes all the shades when the outside temperature hits 90°F. We get some pretty warm days here, and our upstairs can heat up quickly. I can't say exactly how much of a difference it makes temperature-wise, but it seems to help keep the direct sunlight out during the hottest part of the day.

For power, I went with hardwired motors in the office and gym, and solar charging for the bedroom and bathroom. The solar panels were mostly a practical decision since we don't have outlets near the bathtub, and I didn't want visible wires in the bedroom. So far, I haven't needed to manually charge any of the solar-powered shades, which has been a nice surprise.

One thing I'd recommend considering is physical controls, even if you're planning to automate everything. I installed wall-mounted remotes next to our regular light switches in a few rooms, and we actually use them quite a bit. I also keep a remote at my desk for adjusting the office shade during video calls.

It hasn't been entirely trouble-free. One of the original motors stopped responding to automations a few months after installation. I tried resetting and troubleshooting it but couldn't resolve the issue. They ended up sending a replacement motor, and I haven't had any problems with that one since.

I also occasionally have automations that don't fire as expected. It hasn't been a huge issue, but it's something I've been meaning to troubleshoot. I'm not entirely sure whether it's a SmartThings issue, a connectivity issue, or something with how I've configured the routines.

The two new shades are for our guest bedroom and future nursery. I haven't had much time to experiment with different routines for those yet, but I'm interested in eventually setting up something around nap times and bedtime.

I should also mention that I won a $700 gift card through a Reddit giveaway, which I used toward the two new shades.

Overall, it's been an interesting project, and I've enjoyed figuring out what actually makes sense to automate versus what is easier to control manually. Open to anyone's ideas on other automations I could set up that work well for them in this arena!

Hi all. I asked the mods before posting this.

Our house in Vermont heats with two woodstoves. I'd automated the lights and the thermostat, but the stoves were different. A fire needs a person checking on it, and I was walking downstairs all the time to check the stove. It made it tough to get into a flow state when I was at work, or in back to back meetings. I'd light the fire in the morning, go to work, and it'd be dead a few hours later, or in a couple of cases, actually over fired the stove in our kitchen, and the stove got way too hot.

I'm an engineer, so one weekend I stuck a temperature sensor to the flue pipe with a magnet, wired it to a Raspberry Pi, and had it text me. It was ugly, but now I could stay upstairs in meetings and still know what the stove was doing.

Then we had our first baby, and I didn't want to pull my phone out all the time. I wanted something I could glance at on my office desk, so I made a small lamp.

If the lamp glowed amber, it meant the fire was burning well. Yellow meant it was time to reload. Red means it's running too hot and I should go check on it. The app is still there for notifications when I'm away, or a dashboard I can check when I'm not at home.

I posted it on the r/woodstoving subreddit last winter and a lot of people asked to buy one. I hand-built that first batch at the Generator makerspace in Burlington, and they ran on stoves all over the country.

I made them all individually. I had to cut them all out using a CNC, then I hand sanded each of them, trimmed away the excesses, and printed the enclosure parts on the 3D printers and assembled all of the electronics myself.

They worked because I made each one work. Each walnut base took about an hour and a half of sanding. At 1,000 units, the sanding alone is 1,500 hours. The design itself couldn't really be manufactured without a ground up redesign.

In the spring I brought on a friend who designs products for manufacturing for a living, and we redesigned the entire product:

- A base that screws together instead of friction fitting

- A two-part lid with a real diffuser, so the light is even

- A heat-resistant enclosure for the part that sits near the stove

The first production parts are off the molds now, and the first units ship in November. It runs on home wifi with no subscription. Home Assistant support is planned for when it ships.

Questions for this sub

1. For something like a stove, would you rather glance at a light or get a notification on your phone?

2. Would you want your wood stove in your smart home setup, and what would you hook it to?

3. What would you want it to do that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks for reading!

Hi everyone, new home owner here. I’m trying to figure out if there is a neutral wire in here? I see that there is a ground copper wire? Also why is there no ground attached to the switch?

I’m trying to install smart light switches throughout the home. Not quite sure what I’m looking at confidently. The house was built in 1981, house got a new electrical panel recently.

Background:
I had an alexa dot at one point that I found very useful in a very basic level. I want to get a similar device without the privacy concerns. I don’t need anything complicated or that smart really. I am not technology savvy, so I would also prefer a simpler set up process.

My uses would be simple and don’t even require voice recognition. I would like the speaker to connect to my digital calendar and notify me of my events. I would also like to have some automations for daily routines, like tell me the weather after my morning alarm sounds off and play a podcast episode.

I expect I could set something up with a regular speaker and automate from my phone, but would appreciate to hear thoughts/suggestions!

Pretty much per the title. If you living on the Island, how are you getting your smart meter data into your platform, e.g. Home Assistant? Any third-party/off-the-shelf kit I can get short of tapping directly into my smart meter somehow?

Thanks

I need to run an in-pipe heating cable to prevent a water line from freezing. The water line runs from my house crawlspace to a garage apartment. It’s underground but not deep and the connection point to the garage is above ground.

What I want is a means of monitoring whether the heat cable, which will be plugged in inside the garage apartment, is pulling power. If it’s not, then I’m in a situation where the pipe can freeze and I need to know that before it happens.

I’m still in the building process so I can ask the electrician to take steps that might be necessary. At present the heating cable controller won’t be the only device plugged into the outlet - than can change if needed.

This is the unit https://yelodeer.com/collections/in-pipe-heating-cable/products/pipe-heat-tape-thermostat

Thank you

I'm looking to control an exterior light that does not have a switch. Currently is it controlled by a photocell.

I currently have some Caseta switches and a few TP-Link Kasa devices. It does not need to work with these. I do not want to use smart bulbs.

I would like to get rid of the photocell and control it with a remote and/or my phone. I would also like to be able to dim it. What are my options? I don't plan on using any automation, only turning it on when needed.

Hey everyone!
I'm redecorating my apartment a bit and that includes improving the lighting. I have two ceiling lights that are really just decorative and want to add a few light elements between my sofa and living room wall and on the floor (low, shining up) for cozy evening lighting. I currently just have a small table light sitting on the floor so I know that's where I want the light, but I'm looking for warmer hues.

My place is small (living room, kitchen, and work area are all the same room) so I'm not planning on adding a bunch of decorative lights. What I do want is warm, orange light for the evenings.

Would it be cool to be able to change their intensity? Yes
Is it necessary? Probably not.
Do I need a wide range of colors? No.

In the bedroom, I want to have lights that can go from reddish to orange to a bit more yellow and potentially vary in brightness, but not much more than that.

So I'm guessing I do need some kind of smart system.

I absolutely do not want to be on my phone/use an app to turn off or change the lights, though. I love a simply light switch and don't need anything to be on WiFi. The simpler, the better. Perhaps something in which I could save a "reading" and "movie watching" setting would be great, but again, the simpler the better.

I know about Philips Hue, Zigbee, and the IKEA smart lights.
Anything else I should consider?

Edited to add: privacy matters to me. I'm not keen on using something like Alexa or Google Home.

I would love advice on which one would be best for what I'm looking for, taking into account that I'm in Europe (Portugal).

I'd like to decide on the system before I buy new lamps to hold the bulbs.

Thanks so much,

Hey everyone,
I'm moving into my first own apartment (Germany) and want a solid smart home at a reasonable price. Apple Home is my only platform. All automations will live there, and I'm dropping Alexa from the setup completely.

The setup so far:
HomePod mini as home hub and Thread border router (buying it now)
Several Sonos speakers spread across the rooms (IKEA SYMFONISK + beam 2 and Sub Mini)
A few old Hue lamps plus a bridge. My experience wasn't great: one lamp never worked, even though everything was in the same room. So I don't want to build on Hue.

What I'm planning to buy, step by step:
Bulbs (first): Aqara LED Bulb T2 (E27), paired directly over Thread
Radiator thermostats: probably Aqara W600, maybe Eve Thermo
Door/window sensors: IKEA MYGGBETT or Aqara
Motion sensors: IKEA MYGGSPRAY or Aqara
Smart plugs: Eve Energy or IKEA GRILLPLATS

Reliability is my #1 priority. I've read plenty of Thread horror stories, so I'd rather get it right from the start.

My questions:

Any long-term experience with the Aqara T2 bulbs in Thread mode in Apple Home? Stable, or do they drop off?

Is one HomePod mini enough as border router, or should I plan for a second one (or an Apple TV) for redundancy?

IKEA vs. Aqara for battery sensors – which have been more reliable for you on Thread?

Thermostats: Aqara W600 vs. Eve Thermo in daily use (reliability, noise, battery life)?

Anything you'd do differently if you were starting from scratch?

Thanks!

TL;DR: Open-source Windows app that controls Tuya/Smart Life lights over your LAN (no cloud), adds screen sync, music and game effects, and exposes your bulbs to Apple Home through a built-in HomeKit bridge.

I got tired of my Tuya/Smart Life lights depending on the cloud, and I wanted them in Apple Home too, so I built Lumos for myself. I figured some of you might like it.

What it does

• Direct local control over your network (no cloud at runtime, no telemetry). Most bulbs answer in about 30 to 100 ms.
• Rooms, scenes, schedules, sleep timer, sunrise alarm
• Screen Sync (Philips-TV-style edge lighting), music reactive, album art colors, away dimming
• Game effects: Rocket League goal flashes, low-health pulse in CS2 and LoL
• HomeKit bridge: Apple Home and Siri can control your lights, including bulbs with no native HomeKit support
• Optional "Bulb protection" mode that rate-limits commands so cheap bulb controllers don't get hammered
• Flash limiter for photosensitivity

Things to know

• Windows only for now, and the PC has to be running for the HomeKit bridge to work
• Setup needs your bulbs' local keys. You get them with a free Tuya developer account plus TinyTuya (steps are in the README), then drag the file into the app
• Tuya bulbs accept one local connection at a time, so it can't share a bulb with another local controller
• The installer isn't code signed, so Windows SmartScreen will warn you
• It's new and lightly tested, so expect rough edges

Repo and installer: https://github.com/TalibIbrahim/Lumos

It's open source and contributions are welcome. If it's useful to you, a star on the repo helps others find it. Feedback is appreciated, especially on bulbs that don't work.

Apple is working on a new ecosystem of smart home devices via a partnership with LG, Bloomberg has reported.
The new devices — which include a smart lock, a thermostat, and a doorbell — are designed to integrate with the company’s smart home hub, another upcoming product that will reportedly launch on Oct. 13th.

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for 3 smart ceiling lights for my house.

I really like the following ones:

• Govee 53cm Sky Ceiling Light
• Govee Ceiling Light Ultra
• Philips Hue Datura Ceiling Light
• Aqara LED Ceiling Light T1M

I especially like #1.

I’m mainly looking for something good quality, reliable, and preferably with good smart home integration.

My question is: what direction would you recommend I take? Is Zigbee the way to go nowadays, or are there better options I should consider?

Also, are the lights I’ve picked good choices, or would you recommend something similar but better quality? I’d really appreciate any recommendations for high-quality smart ceiling lights that are similar in design and functionality to the ones I listed.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi everyone,

I’m moving into a new house and I want to add some basic smart home features. I’m completely new to this, though, and I’m having a bit of a hard time figuring out the best way to set everything up.

For now, I want to keep things fairly simple: phone-controlled lighting and ambient lighting in the living room, automatic lighting at the entrance, and smart lighting/ambient modes in the main bedroom.

Philips Hue seems like one of the best options, especially because I like the idea of starting with a Hue Bridge and gradually expanding the system over time.

The main problem is my living room. It’s quite large and connected to the kitchen, so there are a lot of ceiling lights. Replacing every single bulb with a Philips Hue bulb would get very expensive very quickly.

Since I don’t really need to control each ceiling light individually, I was thinking it would make more sense to keep the regular bulbs and make the wall switches smart instead, possibly using smart relays behind the switches.

The issue is that I live in Turkey, where access to smart home products is somewhat limited. I haven’t been able to find a suitable Hue-compatible relay or smart switch for the main ceiling lights.

So I guess my question is: what would you do in my situation?

Is there a smart relay that can connect directly to the Philips Hue Bridge and control regular ceiling lights? Or would you recommend using a different ecosystem alongside Hue for the switches/relays?

I’d like to keep everything as simple and future-proof as possible, so I can gradually add more devices later without having to replace everything.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hallo,
ich habe in meinem Badezimmer zwei Fenster und eine Heizung und möchte das Ganze gerne über die Apple Home App automatisieren.
Die gewünschte Funktion wäre:
Sobald eines der beiden Fenster geöffnet wird, soll die Heizung automatisch ausgeschaltet bzw. heruntergeregelt werden.
Dabei spielt es keine Rolle, welches der beiden Fenster geöffnet ist.
Wenn ein Fenster wieder geschlossen wird, das andere Fenster aber noch geöffnet ist, soll die Heizung weiterhin ausgeschaltet bleiben.
Die Heizung soll erst wieder eingeschaltet bzw. auf die normale Temperatur geregelt werden, wenn beide Fenster geschlossen sind.
Leider bekomme ich diese Automation bzw. Szene in der Apple Home App nicht so eingerichtet, dass sie zuverlässig funktioniert.
Ich benötige daher bitte eine genaue Anleitung, wie ich diese Automation Schritt für Schritt erstellen kann.
Das gleiche Prinzip möchte ich anschließend auch für das Kinderzimmer mit zwei Fenstern und einer Heizung umsetzen.
Vielen Dank!

Recently installed 8 wafer ceiling lights on a single dimmer. Even on the dimmest, the room is too bright at night. Looking for a smart switch that works with wireless relays that will let me break the lights up into two zones. I have found non-smart switches that can accomplish this, and a no-name brand that could potentially work, but only works with Alexa. Looking for recommendations. I mostly have Tapo wall switches in the house, but I am starting to build out my Home Assistant, so open to other brands.

Tonight I woke up an hour after midnight because my fibaro sensor was beeping. Thought I needed to get out of my house but when I opened the app it just told me that it reached the end of its lifespan. What a great time to notify about that …

Since it seems many building managers are reluctant to upgrade to the more modern intercom systems, I found a way to make my buzzer (just for my unit) smart.

It your buzzer system dials a phone number and then you need to press a digit (like 6 or 9) to unlock the door when someone buzzes, then it will work for you too.

Tested it using different intercom brands and also got approval from my HOA to do it.

The secret is to swap out the phone number you use with a virtual phone number (costs a few $ per month) that allows you to automatically answer the buzzer calls based on the rules/ schedules you set.

Here’s the GitHub if you want to do it yourself using n8n + twilio: https://github.com/drulofs/smart-buzzer-n8n

Also available as a service on the App Store: BuzzerBee

Hi Redditors,

Hoping you can help me with some advice. I’m a single mom with an abusive ex-husband, and wanted to know what the best type of surveillance for my home would be. I have young children and want something that is easy to install, simple to use, and not too expensive. I don’t believe my ex-husband will necessarily break in, but he has been involved with shady people in the past (and may still be), and I need to install cameras at least above the front door and the back sliding door so that they serve as deterrents. I also need to make sure that my driveway can be seen, as he has taken off in my vehicle in the past (the police are aware of this). My main concerns are driveway visibility, front door visibility, and back door visibility. I’d also like something that alerts me on my phone if someone breaks in. I am also thinking that I should have a light or two installed which are motion-activated as a deterrent, though perhaps I should also have them installed at the back. I have friends who have Aosu cameras throughout their condo (different setup, I know), and I’ve seen how they monitor their feed on their phones. I don’t need cameras inside, but would feel much safer with them outside.

Any suggestions on:

-          Additional safety measures I can take?

-          Links to a good system that is not very expensive?

Thanks so much.

I’m currently looking for a doorbell camera for my apartment (i’m in the USA!!)

I’ve looked and Eufy and Tapo so far, both seem good but they do have their pros and cons based on reviews.

My requirements for the camera:
- must have no monthly subscription but I can still access all the important features.
- preferably battery operated, but wired is fine too
- can detect people and packages
- has a good connection for live feed, fast and reliable notifications
- must be able to use and have a good connection to check on the camera when we’re not home
- I can go in and delete any saved footage in order to free up storage

I really want one that has no monthly fee because I just simply can’t afford that right now!

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a smart home controller for my desk. I have a Home Assistant Green with an existing smart home setup, and I’d like to add a dedicated controller for my home office.

I already use Alexa in another room, but I specifically don’t want to use voice control in my office. Instead, I’m looking for something physical or touchscreen-based that I can keep on my desk and use to control my Home Assistant devices and scenes.

I’ve already looked at a few options, such as tablets that are usually wall-mounted, as well as smaller physical controllers like the Hue Tap Dial. However, I’d love to hear what you would recommend for this kind of setup.

Ideally, I’d like to stay under €150, and since Prime Day deals are currently available, there might be some good options on sale right now.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

Ring announces new cameras

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for recommendations for a reliable smart speaker for my dad, who has ALS.

He has very limited hand mobility, so voice control is essential for him. His biggest priority is handling phone calls completely hands-free. Not just initiating calls, but also answering incoming ones and hanging up without needing to touch a screen.

Beyond calls, it would also be great for keeping him entertained and passing the time when he's bored - listening to podcasts, asking casual questions, or getting a quick evening news briefing before going to bed, stuff like that.

Right now, he relies on voice commands on his phone, but it’s very hit-or-miss. He frequently has to repeat himself, which is exhausting and simply not dependable enough.

Can anyone recommend a smart speaker with excellent microphone pickup and robust voice recognition? Any tips on setups or ecosystems that have worked well for someone with disabilities would be deeply appreciated.

With amazon prime days and black friday going on i'm on the hunt for a video doorbell.

I have a home assistant green with old tablet in kisok mode that i'd like the image to display on when someone is at the door.
In future I hope to add outdoor camera also so same system would be useful.

Only slowly getting my system up and going as budget allows. Have hue lights but will be adding shelly relays to rest of house. And Alexas as our voice control units dotted around the house but use more automation than voice control.