Iot General Chat

Stoner

This is the general chat threat. Please post here if you want to discuss something before you buy it, or just general chat.

We'll move general chat from the alerts thread here

OffalyMedic

What's the best IoT smart relay on the market at the moment for kitting out a new build with smart lights? Want to connect them to most of the lights so they can be grouped, automated, voice activated etc. Thanks

wexfordman2

OffalyMedic wrote: »

What's the best IoT smart relay on the market at the moment for kitting out a new build with smart lights? Want to connect them to most of the lights so they can be grouped, automated, voice activated etc. Thanks

Don't ask anyone what's the best, as they all have many pros and cons and everything is subjective.

Taking note what I said below, my house is a wired solution using Velbus as the control system, giving me full access to all lights etc with voice control,.motion detection control and look nked in to my security system to action routines based on stairs of the alarm (armed, disarmed, away, night mode etc) and of course also with full voice control via openhab.

Other solutions of similar topology would include loxone, cbus, rib etc .

There is another poster in here who has installed a loxone system, and I think there are a few here who have also done velbus.

The general concept is 220v really boards in the consumer unit, cat x cable wired to wall switches and an overall comms/control bus.connecting it all together, all have similar concept

Bluefoam

Whats the best home automation. I've heard of Strawberry Pi, if I buy that, will it automate my lights? ...and my fridge

John mac

why do you want to automate the fridge ? its automatic as is .
:eek:

Clareman

John mac wrote: »

why do you want to automate the fridge ? its automatic as is .
:eek:

My neighbour decided to get a "smart" fridge, I think this is the 1, I really can't see the point but each to their own.

Gooey Looey

Bluefoam wrote: »

Whats the best home automation. I've heard of Strawberry Pi, if I buy that, will it automate my lights? ...and my fridge

Home Assistant. It's daunting at first though!

wexfordman2

Clareman wrote: »

My neighbour decided to get a "smart" fridge, I think this is the 1, I really can't see the point but each to their own.

Im a complete gadget freak, I'd automate a dishcloth if i could, but I don't see the logic in spending over 3k on an appliance that should have a lifespan of 10 years or more, with a large touchscreen built into the front door. When's the last time you saw a touchscreen lasting 10 years, never mind the support,operating system etc required to keep it up to date.

Daft idea, and again, I'd automate a dishcloth if I could.

I reckon in about 5 years it's either a new fridge, or staring at a dead/defunct touchscreen exolaing to visitors what it used to do

DeadSkin

When ordering from Aliexpress what delivery times do you typically see?

I ordered some replacement parts for Roborock first week of January. Tracking says "Your parcel has arrived in the country of destination" been in Liege-Linehaul Arrival since January 19th.

Cheers.

wexfordman2

DeadSkin wrote: »

When ordering from Aliexpress what delivery times do you typically see?

I ordered some replacement parts for Roborock first week of January. Tracking says "Your parcel has arrived in the country of destination" been in Liege-Linehaul Arrival since January 19th.

Cheers.

I irder d some motorised curtains a few weeks back, were supposed to ship from belgium, but seller contacts me saying that the warehouse in belgium couldn't ship to Ireland at the time (brexit and covid apparently), so offered to ship them from china.

I agreed, got them within a week of him sending them, mightily impressed.

But these things vary.

SierraTango

DeadSkin wrote: »

When ordering from Aliexpress what delivery times do you typically see?

I ordered some replacement parts for Roborock first week of January. Tracking says "Your parcel has arrived in the country of destination" been in Liege-Linehaul Arrival since January 19th.

Cheers.

I've had everything from 2 weeks to still waiting for stuff from 12 December. All free shipping. To be fair it does always arrive well packaged. The tracking is iffy enough at times though.

DeadSkin

wexfordman2 wrote: »

I irder d some motorised curtains a few weeks back, were supposed to ship from belgium, but seller contacts me saying that the warehouse in belgium couldn't ship to Ireland at the time (brexit and covid apparently), so offered to ship them from china.

I agreed, got them within a week of him sending them, mightily impressed.

But these things vary.

SierraTango wrote: »

I've had everything from 2 weeks to still waiting for stuff from 12 December. All free shipping. To be fair it does always arrive well packaged. The tracking is iffy enough at times though.

Thanks guys, one of the packages actually came today but unfortunately it wasn't the critical part I needed.

Helpneeded86

Lidl are doing a smart home section

https://www.lidl.ie/en/c/smart-home/c1423/w2

Any thoughts?

2011

Helpneeded86 wrote: »

Lidl are doing a smart home section

https://www.lidl.ie/en/c/smart-home/c1423/w2

Any thoughts?

I was very disappointed with the quality.

Helpneeded86

2011 wrote: »

I was very disappointed with the quality.

That will do me so. Thanks

Kintarō Hattori

Folks,

Other than Hue, does anyone know of a brand which does a colour smart bulb in the E14 fitting? I'm looking for something for my sister and would rather not start her down the Hue path.
I know I can probaably find something from a cheapo Chinese seller but I'm prefer something a little better if possible.

clintondaly

Wyze
LIFX
TP-Link
KASA
IKEA
HIVE

You will need to verify if they do the size you need

.red.

I'm looking to get a smart doorbell for my dads house. Ring seems to be well recommended but there's too many options for a technophobe like myself. I was looking to get him the wireless one but unsure on which model and if I need a chime to go with it. He has a chime in the house but how easy or difficult is it it to wire it up to the bell itself?

Also, any current offers anyone knows about would be very handy.

Thanks.

R.O.R

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824828#Comment_117824828

I have a gen 1 Ring for the past few years, and honestly, it isn't great. Not sure if newer models would be any better.

The delay on notifications to my phone is terrible - movement is well gone by the time it buzzes on my phone, and there's probably around a minute delay between someone ringing the bell and my phone notifying me. Last night, I'd greeted the person who rang, brought them through to the back of the house, after having a quick chat with people in the living room, and then my phone told me someone had rung the bell.

On the good side of things, it was very easy to install. I removed the old style doorbell button, wired the 2 wires to the back on the Ring, fixed it to the door frame and paired to the app. Very simple DIY job and (thankfully, due to the delay on the app) the inside chime that was there with the original doorbell, still bings when someone presses the ring button.

2011

I have the original wired Nest Hello and I can’t fault it. Notifications are quick, picture quality is excellent as is facial recognition. I pay €50 per annum for 5 days recordings. All of my Google Homes act as the chime which go into silent mode at night.

Stoner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117840736#Comment_117840736

Mine has good days and some bad days too. It has definitely not been as good as it was lately, I think it needs some TLC. It's fast to show me the view, the cast to a a device is working well now too. Again it can be slow on the notifications. It operates better then the gen 1 Ring I replace with it,

lostboy75

This popped up on my feed earlier, thought it might suit here.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/16/22678088/home-assistant-amber-smart-home-hub-specs-release-date-price

personally I dipped my toe into automation with the lidl gear. had seen some views before I bought that it wasn't great, but to be honest it's still working away fine for me. I'll caviate that with saying I have nothing to compare it with, so while it's doing the simple stuff for me (hall lamp switches on at the same time as the alarm goes in the morning, radio in the kitchen turns on two minutes later, radio switches off when I should be leaving the house for work. Lamp off five minutes later. Light in the hallway turns on at dusk till eleven) I don't really know what I would be missing. Don't really want voice, it's an old house so heating system isn't really am option I'm to pushed about.

Stoner

looks good if it works, i was hooked in on the first google on hub, had zigbee, z wave, RF, bluetooth LE etc but they never turned them on

it's all RF and Zigbee in my place (bar wifi), the one hub would be nice if it replaced the philips, ikea, smartthings, lidl ones. there have been a few of these one solutions over the years including the RPis own home automation offering but this is a bit different, I've 5 hubs at the moment, and two more that i don't use, if i saw it all in someone else's house I'd call it a bag of xxxx !

that said some of the kit is wifi controlled like my air purifiers and smoke alarms, speakers, door bell etc, but one ZigBee solution would be a good step forward

what have you connected the lidl kit to ? the philips hub or the lidl hub?

lostboy75

As, tbh, I knew little about this stuff, until I read about the lidl stuff I just use their hub. Had a spare RPi that I fully intended on setting up using... Yeah, still using the lidl stuff.

It's a good intro to the concepts, and does make you think about what would be nice to automate. I was hesitant in going further down the rabbit hole as we were expecting to be building a new house next year. Not sure where that idea is currently.

Had expected lidl to follow up with more gear at this stage, the app hints at what is to follow, but not heard about any up coming stuff yet.

The home assistant, if as you say it worked, could well be a game changer, brand 'loyalty' would be gone, you could get the best from each brand and it just worked.

Cushtie

I've put similar queries in other forums, DIY, Electrical, Plumbing etc. So thought I would post here aswell to get the views of the experienced posters..

Building a house at the minute and at the stage where I must decide on the wiring first fix. So from an automation point of view, what should I be looking to do now so that even if I don't include a whole lot of automation straight away, I can add easier down the line if want.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

wexfordman2

For a new build, don't base it on smart light bulbs, put in a proper automation system, there are many, affordable ones, that if you have a r re asonable amount of technical savvy can install yourself with your electrician.

Loxone, cbus, velbus etc, l based.on cat5 infrastructure to the wall switch.

ablelocks

kind of incredible that not one IoT bargain alert was posted in the BA thread over black friday - and stoner even gave a prior heads up about keeping the posts about bargains not chat!

lostboy75

Lidl gear looks to be coming up again early December. Motion sensor and remote added from a quick look

ablelocks

local lidl cleaned out of the bulbs and lightstrips, but does have the floor lamp. It says a gateway is needed, but if you're integrating into a hue set up is that still the case?

does anyone have the floor lamps - is there decent light from it for reading at a couch for example?

THE ALM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118501983#Comment_118501983

Light will pair with hue ok. Picked one up Monday and no problems.

Light is good from it and adjustable cold to warm. Without the base it could be used as a lightstrip under or over kitchen units and the like. Worth the €40 IMO.

THE ALM

lostboy75

Are there any particular sites that people buy from? Looking to pick up some switches and motion detectors. Not looked around yet, thought I would seek any recommendations. Think I will go battery for both items as wiring is old style in the house with no ground, and it will allow me to play around with locations etc without difficulty.

Edit: in case it matters, looking for ZigBee compatible, I'm currently using lidl gateway with some bulbs and sockets

jimdavey

sounds like a completely new language here, iwill stay with my wind upradio for now

AndyBoBandy

Looking for tips or advice on a slightly IoT related topic.... Internet/Networking..

We are buying a holiday home, in Lithuania, and I've already a fair amount of Hue lights/bulbs for the house (like here, the whole house will be Hue'd up)

In the new house, we are probably only going to have a local mobile internet dongle that connects to local 3/4/5G network. We were over there during the summer and used her mothers one which seemed fine, and should suffice for our needs....

The issue is these dongles don't have any LAN ports on them, and only have a micro USB plug to power/charge them..... and with the Philips Hue Bridge, Obviously I need a LAN port to plug the bridge into..

Question is could I buy a simple plug in Wifi extender that comes with a built in LAN port, to connect wirelessly to the WiFi network my dongle will broadcast, and then use the LAN port to plug in the Hue Bridge? (And as a bonus I probably get to put out a stronger WiFi signal than the dongle would otherwise broadcast on it's own).

As a side note, will also have a WiFi controlled AC/heating system, as well as a RoboVac, but they should both just connect via WiFi so shouldn't be a concern. I'd maybe add a few IP cameras down the line too.

lardarse

You can buy a 4G/5G router, just like a normal landline router but using 4G/5G. Example TP-link TL-MR6400 or ZTE MC801

I`ve used a vodafone one before and was ok, but i don`t have a strong 4G signal in the house, if i did i`m sure it would be very stable, you may even be able to get better aerials.

What you would need to do is get one that is compatible for Lithuania i guess, (like buying a phone from china you have to check if the phone is compatible, i`m only guessing here, you would need to look that up)

The router would have wifi and a number of lan ports.

Hope that helps.

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119541029#Comment_119541029

Aqara are pretty good.

lordgoat

Would love some recs for non hub lights that work with HomeKit?

BoardsMember

Seeing innr gu10 half the price of Hue gu10. Are they as bullet proof as Hue? As in, no issues with connecting & controlling via Hue switch, App, Google home etc.

whizbang

Smart DIY Switch: Mini 16A...

https://www.temu.com/ie/---switch---16a---switch------and-google----via----app-electrical---retardant-plastic-diy-installation---g-601099592482618.html?_oak_mp_inf=ELr%2BvL2m1ogBGh1nb29kc19iNng4aHZfc29sZF9vdXRfc2ltaWxhciDdlqnVrTI%3D&top_gallery_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.kwcdn.com%2Fproduct%2Ffancy%2F80db83c3-d5c4-46d3-a403-21dd95c8cefa.jpg&spec_gallery_id=4252942055&refer_page_sn=10032&refer_source=10016&freesia_scene=25&_oak_freesia_scene=25&_oak_rec_ext_1=OTcy&_oak_gallery_order=1699091722%2C1495187763%2C1890536200%2C1343948039%2C660956339&refer_page_el_sn=200970&_x_sessn_id=tm1ae6wsti&refer_page_name=goods&refer_page_id=10032_1730245446160_ypjb4l29ua

Just bought a few of these, they were on offer for €5. But they work with 12v dc. !!!! :)

Now can have my backup stuff controlled !

Panrich

Has anyone automated a patio door opening/closing here? I have seen some stuff on a US site but our doors are installed ‘inside out’ for the solutions I’ve seen. I’d have to put the rollers on the outside for it to work.