Hey folks.

 

So for a few years now I've been into my Smart home / Home automation stuff.

 

It all started with a Philips Hue starter kit. I then added more bulbs and remotes etc (including Ikea and Osram stuff as they were compatible).

 

I eventually got fed up of the terrible reliability of the Hue hub, poor range, lack of functioniality etc.

 

So I bit the bullet and bought a Raspberry Pi and deconz Zigbee dongle and moved everything across to Home Assistant.

 

I've now got pretty much everything running offline (apart from Google Home) but it's all still remotely and securely accessible.

 

I also have a Z-wave USB dongle for a few door sensors that I got cheap.

 

I have a few WiFi devices too but they run on Tasmota firmware using MQTT (mostly chinese stuff that I re-flashed to get rid of the cloud based firmware pinging off to china all the time! lol).

 

In Germany we have shutters on the outside of the windows. The more modern ones are electric and so I've swapped over one of them to a wifi switch to test but it's not very good so I need to invest a bit more (Shelly do one that does auto calibration etc).

 

So, anyone else into this stuff? Or just me that wastes (probably way too much) time on this stuff? 

I've got quite a few bits including Echo Dots and Shows as well as smart plugs, Lifx bulbs, a Google display and some TV's.

I'm not so keen on the plugs and lights only being able to connect to 2.4 GHz WiFi when the Amazon gear does 5 GHz too.

The bulbs were chosen over Hue as they are brighter, didn't require a separate hub and the software seems quite configurable. Unfortunately they sometimes go offline and require power cycling to reset. The initial setup is a pain too as invariably I have to do a phone power cycle to ensure everything sets up correctly.

The TV's having smart features is just a by-product of the manufacturer and isn't being used as it seems a bit flaky. TBH it's not something that I'm missing.

With the WiFi stuff it's not so critical that they support 5ghz. They don't require a high bandwidth and as long as they have a strong enough signal then 2.4 is fine.

 

Obviously for streaming music and video 5ghz is advantageous.

 

I have a mesh WiFi network with the repeaters connected via ethernet since I'm lucky enough to have ethernet in all the rooms.

 

This also means I have connected as much via ethernet instead of WiFi which leaves the WiFi free for our phones etc so no slow downs.

 

The problem, of course, with too many WiFi devices is that most cheap routers aren't able to cope with so many and you can experience slow downs or lags.

 

I've never bothered with the built in smart TV functionality as it's usually outdated and limited. I instead have Xiaomi Mi TV boxes in the living room and bedroom (they run Android TV). Highly recommended for the price.

Pretty similar here, I've got a mix of Google Home, Philips Hue (lamps, switches, one Ikea LED driver) and Sonos gear.

 

This year I grabbed some Sonoff smart plugs and flashed tasmota so my Christmas light timers are a cron job which works well. At some point, I want to try to try and get them linked to Google Home but that'll be harder now gbridge is defunct.

 

I find that Hue works great with sunset timers and Google Assistant voice control. Sonos control tends to be easiest via their app.

 

By far the most common thing is using Google Assistant to set a timer for my coffee brewing

Yeah I have a few sonoff in-line switches that I use for the Christmas lights since they were so cheap so don't mind that they sit in the cellar in boxes for most of the year.

 

Also handy as I was able to fit one inside one of the kitchen cabinet lights (and the other with a gosund SP111 also with tasmota) so they come on with motion.

 

The hallways lights and small bathroom are also with motion.

 

Have a look at Lidl. They have also brought out a line of ZigBee smart stuff that should be Hue compatible.

 

I have some garden lights too (Osram Gardenpoles, GU10 spots with Müller Licht bulbs - which were sold under the brand of Lidl Tint and sold off cheap).

I'm just dipping my (little) toe into the water here with a couple of Ultrabrite Smart devices bought from Poundland.  I'll report back on how I get on and am keen to learn about the wider picture.

I did see the Lidl stuff but I think it went out of stock almost immediately round here. More worrying is at least on the UK Lidl page it says "When it's gone, it's gone" so I've no idea what their long term plans are.

 

I assume it's just rebranded kit from another manufacturer, possibly silvercrest?

 

It's just a shame that Google Home can't connect to local devices like Alexa can, instead it needs a cloud connection for the initial setup otherwise Tasmota powered things would be perfect :(

Just had a look on the Lidl.de website. It seems it's being properly stocked here with no suggestion of a one-off thing. You can order online here. Not sure if it's the same in the UK?

 

And yes it's silvercrest. The hub has silvercrest stamped on it.

 

Prices are pretty good to be fair. €20 for the hub and less than €10 for the motion and door sensors.

 

I'll have to look if they're compatible with Deconz yet. More than likely since Deconz is also German.

I am a bit of a nerd with this stuff and although I havent transferred my hue items to my r-pi running home assistant I do use it for most of my automations.  

Some wifi plug/extension leads/sockets dotted around are useful for stuff that isnt smart.  For example we have an outdoor socket that i swapped to a wifi (bg home) double to allow us to plug our outdoor lights on a timer.

Motion sensors in the hall and landing and a zwave contact sensor on the garage door to help with walking around the house.  Default brightness settings on hue works well to not scare the jeebus out of us if we have a power cut.

 

Google homes dotted around for radio/music and shouting commands. works well for us as I have put time and effort into making it wife proof (other spouses are available).  Not quite inlaw proof but when we move house in the new year I will ut more effort into stopping unwanted light switching.

If you're running a Pi I highly recommend a USB to SSD enclosure and getting a cheap 64gb (or more) SSD.

 

I've gone through several SD cards due to corruption as they're just not designed to be constantly written to and it was a pain having to restore backups etc.

 

So I now have an SSD and automatic backups to Google drive.

 

And as for the light switches. Thankfully most of them are either not used anyway (the hallway has no ceiling lights and we just use a lamp on a table for the motion lights), or I've swapped the bathroom for a WiFi touch switch.

 

Those that are exposed, this is my solution:

 

Edited 31 December, 20205 yr by Phil-E

I was reading the first post but didn't check who it was by. I got to the bit about 'we have shutters here in Germany' and thought 'his English is really good' (though not uncommon) and then saw who it was by  

Did quite a bit research before reserving our new build in September 2011. 4 Bed semi-detached 3 storey home with the latest 200mm loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and double glazed windows and patio doors throughout. Yes we have a smart meter fitted for free and a tank in the garden to capture rain water from the roof and garage using the guttering. What does all this mean, well here are our monthly direct debit payments which we have been paying for nearly 9 years now.

Water bill £18.32, Electric bill £18.78, Gas bill £16.70. I did replace about 50% of the light bulbs in the house with lower energy LED's.

16 hours ago, Phil-E said:

Those that are exposed, this is my solution:

That’s a good idea as I’ve recently ‘upgraded’ a bulb which is on a dimmer switch to a smart one. Unfortunately not everyone in the house is smart enough to remember as there’s other dimmers and normal switches on the same switch plate.

1 hour ago, Lee01 said:

I was reading the first post but didn't check who it was by. I got to the bit about 'we have shutters here in Germany' and thought 'his English is really good' (though not uncommon) and then saw who it was by  

Are the shutters typically for security Phil?

I have Lifx bulbs and Homematic IP TRVs and wall thermostats.  Homematic is German and very good.  I have a small fortune in Sonos speakers.  I'm currently playing with Alexa and an Echo Dot but only because I got one for £4.  I have an Efergy energy monitoe which is good.

 

Having separate schedules for each radiator is very handy and I can give the bathroom a boost before my shower.  All in all I have about 32 devices on the two home networks.

10 hours ago, john999boy said:

Are the shutters typically for security Phil?

 

No. Mainly for privacy and/or blocking out light.

 

As well as providing extra insulation for winter and blocking out sun in the summer.

 

They're actually not secure at all since you can just lift them up even the electric ones (safety I suppose in case of fire).

 

But they do provide some security I suppose since you have to open them first to get to the door/window and they're pretty noisy when you just push them open like that.

 

11 hours ago, shyVRS245 said:

Did quite a bit research before reserving our new build in September 2011. 4 Bed semi-detached 3 storey home with the latest 200mm loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and double glazed windows and patio doors throughout. Yes we have a smart meter fitted for free and a tank in the garden to capture rain water from the roof and garage using the guttering. What does all this mean, well here are our monthly direct debit payments which we have been paying for nearly 9 years now.

Water bill £18.32, Electric bill £18.78, Gas bill £16.70. I did replace about 50% of the light bulbs in the house with lower energy LED's.

 

I wish our bills were that low!

 

Although were three adults and my other half works from home full time.

 

But we do have triple glazing and the building is super well insulated. All under floor heating fed via ground source heat pump (it's the law that all new builds from a certain date have to have some sort of renewable energy source so ground/air source seems to be the most common and then solar of course).

Hi Phil yeah all my friends can't believe how low our bills are. Wife has been working from home since March 2020 due to the C word. Water is pumped from the tank under the lawn to flush our 3 toilets. The house was only £166,700 new as well.

4 hours ago, farty said:

I have Lifx bulbs and Homematic IP TRVs and wall thermostats.  Homematic is German and very good.  I have a small fortune in Sonos speakers.  I'm currently playing with Alexa and an Echo Dot but only because I got one for £4.  I have an Efergy energy monitoe which is good.

 

Having separate schedules for each radiator is very handy and I can give the bathroom a boost before my shower.  All in all I have about 32 devices on the two home networks.

Yeah my boss has gone with Homematic and he's pleased with it. He was tempted to go the Home Assistant route but couldn't be bothered tinkering himself. Obviously Homematic is a little pricier but it's good and just works.

 

I previously had a Google Home mini that we just used for putting the radio on for dog really but sounded terrible to actually listen to music through.

 

We had been using the TV via the Soundbar for music but that wasn't a great solution.

 

Toyed with Alexa speakers, the big Google home or even Sonos.

 

In the end I came across the Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker. With Google assistant/Chromecast integrated. Looks like a Sonos. Obviously not quite on par with Sonos in terms of audio quality. But I bought two and have them set as a stereo pair and honesty I'm amazed by how good they sound... especially taking into consideration that they only cost €50 each!

Looking at Honeywell smart thermostats (Evohome seems best) and individual room heating control/schedules, it sounds a lot like the homematic.

Has anyone run the honeywell system?

 

The blinds would be useful too, but sadly I've never seen the external louvre system which is common as in Germany available in the UK in manual or electrical/automated form.

A bit of a thread resurrection as I'm after looking at changing an outside dawn/dusk light with another that doesn't have that facility.

This means the current light switch needs to be setup to follow the sun going down and coming up - Alexa being the preferred choice.

Unfortunately it doesn't have a separate neutral within the switch which could be a problem however I could easily set some sort of sender in a new socket and have a replacement receiver type control switch.

So, has anyone managed to do this type of thing and if so can some equipment links be provided. 💡

These be any use?

 

https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-white-lucca-outdoor-wall-light/1740193P0

 

Obviously it's relying on Alexa/hue integration, but you could also use the hue to set daylight/nightlight times or let it work with sunset/sunrise times?

 

Or Cheat:

 

https://www.toolstation.com/integral-led-gls-dusk-till-dawn-sensor/p16792

 

https://www.toolstation.com/electronic-ip44-photocell-kit/p62528

 

Not sure if the last item will just switch on live or if it needs something out.

 

I'm of course assuming you mean it doesn't have the dawn/dusk feature, rather than it does, but doesn't have smart integration.

Edited 21 September, 20214 yr by cheezemonkhai

The new light hasn't been purchased but I know what I'm after. The Lucca wouldn't have been right anyway due to needing an additional hub - something I wasn't wanting to do.

I didn't mention it before but the current light has PIR too but that will be missing in the new one. The separate light sensor and bulb aren't feasible either. 

 

However, I have come across a few switches which only seem to need a capacitor across the L &N to make them function as I want. Some people seem to have LED issues but that might be down to the current usage. Higher power seems to be better.

 

A few also use one of my installed apps so that makes things easier.

 

I think I’m a bit confused, what are you trying to add to this new lamp that isn’t there?

21 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

I think I’m a bit confused, what are you trying to add to this new lamp that isn’t there?

The current light (which is always powered up  - but PIR activated) is to be replaced with a non PIR, LED light.

This means that it isn't able to be selective when it operates - it's always on when the power is on.

I want to add a smart switch (as a photocell or light sensing bulb mentioned above isn't feasible) to have it on at set app controlled times.

 

My initial thoughts were that I'd have an issue with the light switch not having a neutral thereby restricting my buying choice.

However it seems to be the only light switch in the house that does have one. I haven't had chance to explore the new choices that have been made available as yet though.

 

Has that cleared a bit of the conundrum smoke away? 🧐