smart home consultants in Ireland?

brio09

has anyone worked with any smart home consultants in Ireland and would recommend them?

Its been a drain on my time to research 1) technology 2) then the best cost-effective products with those technology 3) find the ones available to deliver to Ireland.

I was thinking of getting professional help to get help in the decisions and the implementation for making some aspects of a new house I'm moving into as 'smart'.

Clareman

You probably won't get anyone as good as the folks on here, just post up your questions and go from there, I started off with a free thermostat and thanks to the posters here I'd be fairly confident on knowing some stuff.

brio09

Clareman wrote: »

You probably won't get anyone as good as the folks on here, just post up your questions and go from there, I started off with a free thermostat and thanks to the posters here I'd be fairly confident on knowing some stuff.

thanks! yes, indeed, I wish I could distill the knowledge on boards . ie into a 1 page of decisions for my preferences that would solve the time constraint I have. otherwise, boards has all the information and expertise!

Clareman

Have a look at what you are looking for, speakers, cameras, doorbells, alarms, etc. etc. Then have a look at how much time you want to put into it, if it's not much then go for Google/Amazon, if you want to spend more then get more advanced stuff.

Personally I've gone all in with Google/Nest, I started off with a free Netamo and it expanded from there. I'm a geek by trade and by hobby but I didn't want to spend any spare time I had setting stuff up, the Google stuff is just easy, don't know how else to put it, it's just easy, for example I'd a day organized to setup the Nest Mesh, it took less than half an hour, everything keeps itself up to date as well.

I'd say start a thread with your questions and the folks here will help out, that's what I did 2 and a half years ago anyway and I'm still here https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=108428215

afatbollix

Hmmmm, I might see a side business for a lot of people here.

I did think that there is a market for this stuff. But I have a friend who works in this line of work who said why would you pay someone when all the info is on the net and you will never beat the price of Amazon so you wouldn't even get some cash from resale.

He now sells smart tech to rich people, Complete systems that cost 250k+

I'd start with asking these question and letting us give some answers:

What do you want to do? Now, In 2 years time and 5 years time?

How would you want to do it? (Apps, Voice or switches)

I'd also look up youtube, A quick 20 things to make your home smart can teach you alot.

brio09

that's really helpful Clareman, afatbollix!

I installed google nest router and point in my rented apt. this week and that has been great, really easy - as you said. it does give me hopes for using more nest/amazon e.g. Nest Hello, when i move into house.

afatbollix - that is a huge budget - 250,000+ wow! if i hadn't heard that number i would've said, i would love to get introduced to your friend haha.

Agreed, that perhaps no way around doing the research on my own. I have written down things that I'm looking to do (and over the next 3-4 months). would you suggest I create a new thread to get feedback and recommendations on them?

Clareman

I read that completely wrong, I read it as Clareman, a fat bollix and was thinking "how does he know me"

Clareman

Have a look at what you want to get done, for example if you want to get a vaccuum cleaner ask which is the best, I think the consensus is that the Roborock is the way the go (I certainly think it is). Then have a think about lighting, I had great intentions about doing the whole house in smart lights but I don't have that many but having sensors on the front door and in the hall is great. Then have a think about smoke/carbon alarms, I got the Nest Protect when they were on offer, I find the pathlight a surprisingly great feature but I don't think they are worth the price of them. Then have a think about security, cameras, etc. etc.

If you have a Nest router and point then you already have a couple of speakers, might be worth looking into getting a few other smart speakers, personally I've too many of them but they are very useful for music I find.

brio09

afatbollix wrote: »

I'd start with asking these question and letting us give some answers:

What do you want to do? Now, In 2 years time and 5 years time?

How would you want to do it? (Apps, Voice or switches)

I'd also look up youtube, A quick 20 things to make your home smart can teach you alot.

thanks again for the suggestion. like you mentioned, i could start or join discussions on boards to get inputs. this is the kind of summarized information i have noted -

1.
example question https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058179849
i'm still very new to boards and its been hard to get traction on complex topics like this - any suggestions on how I could get more traction from experts on boards ?

2.

I have notes on each of these, but again i'm not sure how should i ask these stuff around - any suggestions? :-)

sockets
-> adding extra power sockets, all smart, in all rooms. concealed if possible.
fans
-> adding smart ceiling fans
lighting
-> swapping light switches with smart dimmer switches to control lighting
-> swapping lights in some rooms with smart color lights
-> using dimmable lights in all other rooms
security
-> smart doorbell
temperature control
-> smart thermostat
-> smart TRVs
-> temperature-controlled facueats (not smart)
network connectivity
-> placement of wifi repeaters - google nest points
-> CAT6 cabling
window treatment
-> smart blackout blinds or smart curtains
sensors
-> sensors to detect completion of laundry cycles
-> sensors to detect motion in stairs to switch on lights
-> water leak sensors
outdoor
-> outdoor smart power sockets for back garden

wexfordman2

There is a fine line between practical automation and over doing it (and I recall a few years back logging on to a portal some guy had opened up to show off his house, which included a counter for how many times the toilet had been flushed ��).

Anyway, from what you are saying above, your scenario is a new build, so you have the opportunity to wire from scratch. My 2c.

1) smart sockets, I'll be honest and say, how many devices do you think will you plug in to a smart socket ? I ask this, knowing that in my own (heavily automated house( I don't have any smart sockets, but I do use a small number of smart plugs.) If rebuilding, I couldn't justify putting in smart plugs all.ovee the house, and would struggle to fine more than one or 2 locations, and to my mind, smart.sockets work there.
2) lighting. Now this area is definitely where you should plan for. Every light in your house should be smart, it's a no brainer. You mentioned smart.light switches, and that to my mind is a better route that smart light bulbs. Smart light switches will give you at most dimming capability, so that.is where smart bulbs come it. If you want mood lighting, then smart bulbs in lamps or led light switches, but smart light switches elsewhere.
What type of smart light switch. Wired, no shadow of a doubt, do not go for wireless solutions here if you have to opportunity to wire from day 1.
2) wifi. A huge mistake youmnetuin above is wireless repeaters or mesh, avoid, there is no need for you to use repeaters or mesh networks, when you have the chance in install a good wired network and well distributed wireless access points. Plan to have wireless coverage everywhere (inside and out) but always put in wired connections at main hubs (TV points etc).

Plans for distributed audio also, plan for outdoor Ethernet points outdoors and in sheds, for sensors etc.

Heating.. consult your heating engineer, definitely.

Security, ccttv, smart doorbells, and a smart alarm system where you can integrate the alarm sensors into your automation.

Smart blinds and curtains, actually much easier and affordable, and easy to plan for. A power socket at each window hidden behind a curtain is all you need, and then you can install smart curtain rails, cost about 140 to 200 euro each on average.

What about smart lawnmower, one of the best and most usefull things I have added to my house


As for consultants, there are professional installaers, both here and in the UK, but this stuff is not cheap. I know of 2 or 3, if you want, pm me and I will send you their details.

Clareman

brio09 wrote: »

sockets
-> adding extra power sockets, all smart, in all rooms. concealed if possible.

I really don't see the value in these, more and more products have their own power controls but if you really want them you'd probably be best getting smart sockets like these. I've a few smart sockets but don't use any of them except for Christmas lights, I keep meaning to put 1 on my coffee machine but it doesn't take long to heat up so it's not worth it really.

brio09 wrote: »

-> adding smart ceiling fans

I don't know if Ireland has need for ceiling fans, I've a couple of Dyson Smart purifiers that do hot and cold, I mainly got them because my youngest has terrible allergies. They connect to Google home now so that's handy.

brio09 wrote: »

lighting

-> swapping light switches with smart dimmer switches to control lighting
If your switches have a neutral wire that shouldn't be too difficult, if there isn't it can get difficult. I think you can get a single gang non-neutral controller easily enough beyond that you are getting complicated. Philips Hue is really the best for all that stuff.

brio09 wrote: »

-> swapping lights in some rooms with smart color lights

Philips Hue is great for that but the likes of Ikea is catching up, nearly all of them connect to Google/Amazon, they all connect to IFFT so I'd say go for cheap.

brio09 wrote: »

-> using dimmable lights in all other rooms

As above

brio09 wrote: »

security

-> smart doorbell[/QUOTE]
I find the Nest Hello to be brilliant but they all do the same thing really so go with whatever you find best, I like having all my cameras and fire alarms in 1 app so that works for me.

brio09 wrote: »

temperature control

-> smart thermostat
As was pointed out to me recently, having just a smart thermostat on it's own is very last year, at a high level they all do the same thing, turn on the boiler when the heat goes below a certain temperature, turn it off when it goes above. I had the Netamo for years and found it brilliant, have recently moved over to the tado and it'd just as good.

brio09 wrote: »

-> smart TRVs

I haven't gone fully down the rabbit hole for these yet, still waiting for them to be installed but I went the tado route

brio09 wrote: »

-> temperature-controlled facueats (not smart)

Not sure what you mean, I have a "boiling" water tap, it's not exactly boiling, more like 98 degrees but it's a life changer, from making tea to cooking it just makes life so much easier.

brio09 wrote: »

network connectivity

-> placement of wifi repeaters - google nest points
Trial and error is the only way to go with this I'm afraid, small things like a water tank can affect coverage massively so it's just trial and error.

brio09 wrote: »

-> CAT6 cabling

Yes, as much of it as you can, wireless will never be better than wired and it's important to remember that CAT6 cabling can carry a lot more signals than just network traffic, stuff like POE or HDMI can run off it also.

brio09 wrote: »

window treatment

-> smart blackout blinds or smart curtains
This is my next must have, my understanding is the best to do is to get "normal" blinds/curtains and just add the smart controls to them.

brio09 wrote: »

sensors

brio09 wrote: »

-> sensors to detect completion of laundry cycles

A smart plug could do something like this (alert when the power drops), maybe even a camera to spot the change in status, I'm not sure on this 1.

brio09 wrote: »

-> sensors to detect motion in stairs to switch on lights

I have a Philips Hue sensor hooked up to a Philips Hue lamp, it's perfect, I also have Nest Protects with walkway sensors that turn on the light if you're going past them at night.

brio09 wrote: »

-> water leak sensors

Samsung do a great 1 as do Sonoff, I've never used either so can't comment on either.

brio09 wrote: »

outdoor

-> outdoor smart power sockets for back garden[/QUOTE]
To make it outdoor you "just" need to make it waterproof while allowing for wifi coverage, something like this could do the job[/QUOTE]

brio09

Clareman wrote: »

Have a look at what you want to get done, for example if you want to get a vaccuum cleaner ask which is the best, I think the consensus is that the Roborock is the way the go (I certainly think it is). Then have a think about lighting, I had great intentions about doing the whole house in smart lights but I don't have that many but having sensors on the front door and in the hall is great. Then have a think about smoke/carbon alarms, I got the Nest Protect when they were on offer, I find the pathlight a surprisingly great feature but I don't think they are worth the price of them. Then have a think about security, cameras, etc. etc.

If you have a Nest router and point then you already have a couple of speakers, might be worth looking into getting a few other smart speakers, personally I've too many of them but they are very useful for music I find.

true that!
I have 3 google homes and 3 amazon echos, so have smart speakers ready and will buy more as we move into the bigger house, if required. although nest points might cover that I suppose.
i also recommended roborock s5 max strongly on that thread love it!

brio09

wexfordman2 wrote: »

There is a fine line between practical automation and over doing it (and I recall a few years back logging on to a portal some guy had opened up to show off his house, which included a counter for how many times the toilet had been flushed ��).

Anyway, from what you are saying above, your scenario is a new build, so you have the opportunity to wire from scratch. My 2c.

1) smart sockets, I'll be honest and say, how many devices do you think will you plug in to a smart socket ? I ask this, knowing that in my own (heavily automated house( I don't have any smart sockets, but I do use a small number of smart plugs.) If rebuilding, I couldn't justify putting in smart plugs all.ovee the house, and would struggle to fine more than one or 2 locations, and to my mind, smart.sockets work there.
2) lighting. Now this area is definitely where you should plan for. Every light in your house should be smart, it's a no brainer. You mentioned smart.light switches, and that to my mind is a better route that smart light bulbs. Smart light switches will give you at most dimming capability, so that.is where smart bulbs come it. If you want mood lighting, then smart bulbs in lamps or led light switches, but smart light switches elsewhere.
What type of smart light switch. Wired, no shadow of a doubt, do not go for wireless solutions here if you have to opportunity to wire from day 1.
2) wifi. A huge mistake youmnetuin above is wireless repeaters or mesh, avoid, there is no need for you to use repeaters or mesh networks, when you have the chance in install a good wired network and well distributed wireless access points. Plan to have wireless coverage everywhere (inside and out) but always put in wired connections at main hubs (TV points etc).

Plans for distributed audio also, plan for outdoor Ethernet points outdoors and in sheds, for sensors etc.

Heating.. consult your heating engineer, definitely.

Security, ccttv, smart doorbells, and a smart alarm system where you can integrate the alarm sensors into your automation.

Smart blinds and curtains, actually much easier and affordable, and easy to plan for. A power socket at each window hidden behind a curtain is all you need, and then you can install smart curtain rails, cost about 140 to 200 euro each on average.

What about smart lawnmower, one of the best and most usefull things I have added to my house


As for consultants, there are professional installaers, both here and in the UK, but this stuff is not cheap. I know of 2 or 3, if you want, pm me and I will send you their details.

thanks a bunch!
lemme PM you for details on professional installers - would be willing to test it out because I am trying to save time and time=money philosophy haha.

actually I'm buying a '90s pre-owned build that has been well-maintained and won't require complete re-wiring etc. but I wanted to smartify it and thought the earlier the better w.r.t ROI on how many years I get the convenience of my expenses.

do you think given it is a old build without need of re-wiring i should approach it differently ? or I shouldn't smartify it ?

1)
I was thinking smart sockets because currently I have around 18 smart plugs in my rental apartment and it is such a pain because they take up so much physical space. i would rather have the sockets be smart instead of having huge plugs that block other ports.
some of these smart plugs will not be "required" since around many of them control lights and some control fans, but others for kettle, nursery camera, TV, etc. will still be good to either re-use or replace with a smart socket. i was hoping that maybe with more smart sockets i would be able to reuse on/off capability for more stuff.
also, I was thinking that I definitely need more sockets, since have around 4 devices plugged into each socket at rental and that isn't considered safe and isn't easy to maintain either. so I thought why not just make them smart when I'm putting in the effort to install them.

2)
I didn't understand the AP point. i understand I could install cat6 cabling throughout the house and use that for things like laptop. i don't have a TV just a monitor that acts as a TV and receives signal only from chromecast so I am guessing I cannot use an ethernet for it.
sorry - coming to my question - if I have multiple APs in the house, won't them clash with each other? v/s if I use the google nest router and points (that create a mesh network) won't that take care of interference / my device auto-connecting from one to the other as the SSIDs are the same?
sorry I hadn't considered the approach you are suggesting so rather blank on it.

3)
thanks for the tip on outdoor connectivity - I hadn't considered that and was assuming if I keep a router/repeater within the house close to backgarden that will take care of wifi connectivity to the shed. i will look into how to get connectivity to the shed or backgarden area. will be fun to sit under a parasol and have reliable internet

4)
do you have recommendations on security / doorbell / camera? the house has some old alarm system. i assumed I don't need to upgrade it because I couldn't think of the benefit. but I was thinking of installing smart doorbell like nest hello or ring doorbell pro but haven't figured out what is a good option that doesn't have a lot of running costs and doesn't need me to keep changing batteries.

5)
did you go with smart blinds or smart curtains? which brands would you recommend that fall within the 140-200 range? that is great
i was aiming for smart blinds and manual curtains. and blackout blinds and sheer / light filtering curtains. so that in the early morning the blinds in the bedroom can auto-open to let sunlight in but the curtains provide privacy. for the non-bedroom rooms and ground floor, i couldn't figure out.

6)
we wanna have low maintenance hehe - have astro grass in backyard and pavement style in front - gonna keep it that way. so no smart lawnmower required!
and it seems roborock s5 max supports multi-floors now, so that will help automate rest of the house internally, yipee!
but i dunno if i need to be able to robo vacuum astro turf - will google that haha.

brio09

thank you so much

on sockets
- what are your thoughts on wifi vs z-wave? I was planning for z-wave since wifi band would be kinda crowded with Bluetooth and wifi. even in my rental apt. my AP is connected to some 26 wifi devices and in the house it would become way more if i use wifi for all smart-stuff. or so is my concern.
- i was thinking of fibaro outlet - https://www.vesternet.com/products/z-wave-fibaro-walli-outlet-schuko. thoughts?

on fans
- we have 3 tower fans right now in our rental and it takes up floor space, which is a limited resource in a house, so i was hoping to replace the tower fans with ceiling fans. last summer was my first summer in Ireland and summers became very hot for us! we probably weren't setting thermostat right or something maybe. but the temperatures definitely seem to be climbing towards extremes in summer vs winter. also, the tower fans we have aren't great at distributing the wind.
- I've heard great great things about dyson and would love to get them but they are really expensive not able to convince SigO yet. Q - do you use the heating function on it? i assumed with radiators everywhere people may not use that? Q - do you find its air circulation in a big room good?
- i was thinking of a simple fan like https://wonderlamp.shop/ceiling-fans/3276-ceiling-fan-light-princesseuro-westinghouse-4895105605290.html and pairing it with a GE z-wave fan controller switch (which is hard to buy in Ireland though).

on lighting
- i had philips hue in my apt. before i moved to Ireland (and had to sell those off). back then my research and trials told me that hue doesn't give the same level of brightness as a normal bulb. is that still true? when i see online the lumens seem to match but i also remember that lumens used to reduce based on the color we chose. also, smart bulbs means i need to cover / hide the power switches right? i have smart lights in every single room in my rental but i will often find my SigO or my in-laws go and press buttons manually to switch on the backup light that isn't wifi connected. it irks me a lot lol. but also, it tells me the user behavior i need to cater to - that people will want to click buttons. philips hue buttons are battery powered + we need to cover existing button. so i was thinking of the smart dimmer route. i was considering https://www.vesternet.com/collections/z-wave/products/z-wave-fibaro-universal-dimmer-2-250w or https://www.vesternet.com/products/z-wave-mco-home-glass-touch-dimmer.

on thermostat
- thanks - i wasn't aware that these are old school. what should i aim for then? i would ideally like to be able to heat each room independently and eventually automatically ("learning"), but currently the house has only 2 zone heating - water and everything else. i have no idea what to do.
- why did you choose to switch from netamo to tado? i read comparison of netamo vs tado vs nest and that recommended nest but i didn't read up too much. the link i read - https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/compare-smart-thermostats-and-smart-heating-controls
- water control - i meant like this - https://www.grohe.us/bathroom/grohtherm-smartcontrol

thanks for the tip on outdoor protection + indoor stuff
i watched nest protect video - it is so cool! i hope there are cheaper ways to get the night light though haha.
one place i wanted motion sensor was the staircase so that when anyone is there it lights up and switches off when no motion.

FastFullBack

wexfordman2 wrote: »

2) lighting. Now this area is definitely where you should plan for. Every light in your house should be smart, it's a no brainer. You mentioned smart.light switches, and that to my mind is a better route that smart light bulbs. Smart light switches will give you at most dimming capability, so that.is where smart bulbs come it. If you want mood lighting, then smart bulbs in lamps or led light switches, but smart light switches elsewhere.
What type of smart light switch. Wired, no shadow of a doubt, do not go for wireless solutions here if you have to opportunity to wire from day 1.

A couple of questions. I'll be building a house in the next year or so. I have a lot of Hue bulbs, switches, sensors etc in my current house.

So if I install wired smart light switches throughout the new build can I reuse any of the hue gear? Any wired switches that work within hue app?
How exactly so the wired smart light switches work? Are they connected to Ethernet? What's the best recommended option?

wexfordman2

FastFullBack wrote: »

A couple of questions. I'll be building a house in the next year or so. I have a lot of Hue bulbs, switches, sensors etc in my current house.

So if I install wired smart light switches throughout the new build can I reuse any of the hue gear? Any wired switches that work within hue app?
How exactly so the wired smart light switches work? Are they connected to Ethernet? What's the best recommended option?

If you have the opportunity, a wired solution is better than hue, but a mix of both is fantastic, with hue for example used for lamps and mood lighting and you main lights using a wired solution. You can even integrate both systems together with your wired wall switch controlling hue lamps etc


By a wired solution,. I am talking about systems that use structured cabling (cat 6.or.twisted pair) fornthe control of the system, so the wiring to the wall switches would be cat 6.for example

Systems.like velbus (that's what I use), loxone, cause, either etc (the latter 2 are I think more costly and less diy friendly).

brio09

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Systems.like velbus (that's what I use), loxone, cause, either etc (the latter 2 are I think more costly and less diy friendly).

it seems velbus uses a proprietary communication protocol, right? https://www.velbus.eu/downloads/velbus/00_general/guide_velbus_01_hardware_en.pdf did you have any concerns on that? that vs a standard

GE "wired switches" seems to use wifi lol https://www.gelighting.com/smart-home/light-switches-remotes/wired-switches

bk

If you have lots of Hue lights, switches and sensors, then it doesn't make sense to go smart switches IMO.

A smart switch and smart light bulbs in general don't mix well. If you power off the switch, then you can't control the bulb until you power the switch back on. You could created mixed routines, but it adds complexity and it really isn't needed with Hue bulbs that work fine and are easy to control.

If you do want smart switches nicely integrated with Hue, then I'd look at one of the various smart wall switch options Hue has now with partners:
https://www.philips-hue.com/en-us/explore-hue/works-with/smart-switches

I have to say, I think Smart bulbs are far better then smart switches. Smart switches only give you on/off/dimming, smart bulbs can give you that, plus white ambiance and mood lighting. White ambiance is a most IMO and colours can become actual decoration in your home.

I have to say the smart bulbs and what they can do for mood and decoration has gotten a big thumbs up from the missus and allowed me to spend more on smart home tech.

I think smart switches only make sense if you have like dozens of lights off one switch, where it would be expensive to replace them all with smart bulbs or if you have some fancy light that can't be Hue'd.

I do have two rooms on smart switches, one because fancy light fitting that can't take smart bulbs and another room due to awkward position of wall switch. But the rest all Hue. I find the ones on smart switches far less useful, though they do help solve a problem I had.

I'd also say that unless you live in a mansion, there really isn't any need for wired smart wall switch systems like Velbus, etc. Those are old fashioned, mostly proprietary and expensive and frankly overkill.

I've found Hue and my wireless smart switches to be rock solid. The Zigbee mesh wireless systems works extremely well and reliably for lighting.

I would say, if building new or major renovation. Then make sure all your light switches have a neutral cable and deep back boxes, makes adding smart switches later easy.

Also yes, run as much Cat6a ethernet cable as possible and connect as many devices to it as possible. It can really help take the strain off your wifi network and can act as a much better backbone for wireless AP's. Also can be used for HDMI, security cameras, etc.

wexfordman2

No, you would not put smart bulbs 9n the same circuit as your smart switch, that's not what I was referring to. By a mixture, I mean that you can have a smart switch which works your ceiling lights, and also a second gang for example that will control hue lights.

For example, my wall switches have a cat5 cable behind them, and no mains. That allows me, as its a 4 pair cable, have up to 7 individual buttons or inputs on my wall switch, and each of these buttons can be programmed or configured to control anything, they could turn on the ceiling light, or turn on a hue bulb, or both, they could turn on the shed light, or the fountain, they could play "old man river" in the speaker if I wanted to, arm the alarm system whatever. I can reprogram them to do whatever I want them to do.

So, by mix and match, I mean individual, not to combine smart bulbs onto the same electrical circuit as a smart relay.

wexfordman2

brio09 wrote: »

it seems velbus uses a proprietary communication protocol, right? https://www.velbus.eu/downloads/velbus/00_general/guide_velbus_01_hardware_en.pdf did you have any concerns on that? that vs a standard

GE "wired switches" seems to use wifi lol https://www.gelighting.com/smart-home/light-switches-remotes/wired-switches

Yes, most of these systems do, be they vekbus, loxone etc, but they all use similar topology, that doesn't bother me.

Wifi switches would not be something I would plan for if I had a wired alternative to he honest, lots of reasons, but I just think it's a poor alternative if you have the opportunity to wire something.

brio09

wexfordman2 wrote: »

7 individual buttons or inputs on my wall switch, and each of these buttons can be programmed or configured to control anything

what brand did you use for this?
am I understanding this correctly that these switches were 'smart'? or did they have modules behind them and they were dumb switches?

wexfordman2

brio09 wrote: »

what brand did you use for this?
am I understanding this correctly that these switches were 'smart'? or did they have modules behind them and they were dumb switches?

The switches themselves are just momentary switches, loads of types available, off the shelf, they look exactly like normal light switches. They are connected to velbus push button input modules which are back in the fuse board, so the can be configured to switch or activate anything, be it the velbus relay.for the ceiling light, or a hue light or lamp.

brio09

wexfordman2 wrote: »

The switches themselves are just momentary switches, loads of types available, off the shelf, they look exactly like normal light switches. They are connected to velbus push button input modules which are back in the fuse board, so the can be configured to switch or activate anything, be it the velbus relay.for the ceiling light, or a hue light or lamp.

thanks, that's a nice solution!

wexfordman2

brio09 wrote: »

thanks, that's a nice solution!

It works well, and blends in seamlessly, visitors don't notice anything and use them as normal, and in the event of any type of failure, everything Still works like a normal switch, ie, you can lose your broadband and your smart controller and everything still works

brio09

Clareman wrote: »

As was pointed out to me recently, having just a smart thermostat on it's own is very last year, at a high level they all do the same thing, turn on the boiler when the heat goes below a certain temperature, turn it off when it goes above. I had the Netamo for years and found it brilliant, have recently moved over to the tado and it'd just as good.

Clareman, could you help me understand this more?
What is the difference between a smart thermostat vs what is offered by netamo vs tado?
I kept thinking about this comment so many times this week, haha! i am a bit confused by it because I don't know what to aim for.

Clareman

brio09 wrote: »

Clareman, could you help me understand this more?
What is the difference between a smart thermostat vs what is offered by netamo vs tado?
I kept thinking about this comment so many times this week, haha! i am a bit confused by it because I don't know what to aim for.

There's far better posters than me to describe what they do and I might be wrong. Netamo/Tado/Nest are just name brands thermostats. Smart thermostats turn on the heat depending on temperature or what you set it to, for example you might setup a geo-fence on your phone so the heat turns off when you aren't at home.

brio09

Clareman wrote: »

There's far better posters than me to describe what they do and I might be wrong. Netamo/Tado/Nest are just name brands thermostats. Smart thermostats turn on the heat depending on temperature or what you set it to, for example you might setup a geo-fence on your phone so the heat turns off when you aren't at home.

true true, I suppose I'll refer to the heating automation thread. thanks

brio09

I got a few recommendations from smart home consultants and wanted to share them here. would love to get your inputs on them

* network
- looking at the condition of the house we discussed not to rewire since it is in good condition
- Ubiquiti mesh
(but i recently bought a nest router+point so inclined to stick with it)

* hub
- control4
(This feels like it will not allow me to modify anything later)

* lighting
- lutron switches
but i don't understand how will this change color or white-yellow of light

* security
- control4 doorbell

* temperature control
- heatmiser
(there are surprisingly few reviews and details on this on most websites.)

* window treatment
- silent gliss or somfy
(has anyone used these? any recommendations?)