Home Automation Bargain Alerts thread - No General Chat

BuzzFish wrote: »

Moving home so the smarthome will be expanding. Just picked up 8 of these!! Thanks.

Question... Do I even bother running wiring to switch locations on the new build?? I'm torn. Might just run them to have them "just in case" but can't see ever needing them.

If there is a fault or WiFi is down, you could do with the back up.

BuzzFish wrote: »

Moving home so the smarthome will be expanding. Just picked up 8 of these!! Thanks.

Question... Do I even bother running wiring to switch locations on the new build?? I'm torn. Might just run them to have them "just in case" but can't see ever needing them.

Yes for two reason, one is future proofing either for a new tech or when selling the property as the following owner would need to rewire the house.

Secondly if you need up with any lights that don’t take bulbs such as led light fixtures.

It would have very short sighted not to wire the switches. Also the batteries o Mc them don’t last an awful long time.

BuzzFish wrote: »

Question... Do I even bother running wiring to switch locations on the new build?? I'm torn. Might just run them to have them "just in case" but can't see ever needing them.

What if Hue shuts up shop in a few years? Plenty of examples of Smart Home products being abandoned when no longer suiting the manufacturer to support them anymore.

Hue are probably the leader so maybe not that likely in the near term and they do work locally but if discontinued eventually you would have issues sourcing new bulbs, replacing the hub if it breaks etc. Better to have wiring for a fall back.

BuzzFish wrote: »

Moving home so the smarthome will be expanding. Just picked up 8 of these!! Thanks.

Question... Do I even bother running wiring to switch locations on the new build?? I'm torn. Might just run them to have them "just in case" but can't see ever needing them.

This has been discussed a few times in other threads on here and I have just gone through a renovation where I faced the same question. There is no easy answer unfortunately. As I understand it, all electrical fittings have to have an isolation switch readily available - this is why you are seeing these banks of switches in modern kitchen as all the appliances that aren't easily unplugged have to have a switch. So I'd say just even from the regs point of view, you are going to need switches somewhere in the same room as the lights.

The problem with switches is that people turn them on and off, which isn't what you want when you have wireless lighting. You can get wireless switches that emit a signal to turn on/off the lights but then they aren't connected to the wiring and don't serve as isolation switches. You can also get smart switches that are wired and will allow non smart lights to be turned on/off either manually or via a wireless signal (and will update status if done manually). There are two issues with these - the big one is that for the most part they only allow on and off - no dimming and definitely no ambiance/colour changing. The second issue is that not all are actual isolation switches - some of the ones you can get from China don't require a neutral at the switch and are actually allowing a trickle feed through the circuit in the off position, to power the wireless part of the switch. All very dodgy from a regs point of view. Eventually I think what will happen is that either people will start to put isolation switches out of the way and non-wired wireless switches in the normal switch locations - or the powers that be will set out a standard for a wired/wireless switch where the main switch just sends out a normal signal but there is some mechanism on the switch to actually do a proper electrical off when required. But we are not there yet!

In my case, I just let the electrician do his thing, the only concession to the fact the whole will actually be hue is that there are no dimmer switches anywhere and that every switch has neutral at it to allow for possible smart switches in the future. I'm now looking at ways of hiding the switches from public view, possibly under art work. All a little messy, but it is where we are at at the moment.

BuzzFish wrote: »

Good info here. What I've done in my current house is remove the switches, join the cables to allow permanent power to the light and replaster to make the hue dimmers fit correctly to the wall without gaps.

In the new house I'll have the cables run (some good points here), but I'll ask the sparks to not fit the switches and leave the wires ties behind where I'll place the hue switch. Can always cut the wall open later. I'll suggest the sparks fit a low amp RCD as there will be very low draw to the hue bulbs.

Apologies if I hijacked the thread!

Sparks will be reluctant to do so given building regs we did similar with some lights I wasn’t sure if we wanted or not. We put cables in to add them in the future but but terminated them closed and plastered over

Bluefoam wrote: »

Have been waiting for Arlo Cameras to come down in price suitably so that I could get two outdoor cameras (pro 2) with a base station and audio doorbell, to go with the indoor camera I already have... All without subscriptions...

However, I bought a two pack of Blinks (€162) today for less that half the price of Arlo... Already having buyers remorse... Please tell me I did the right thing...

I have 4 of the original blinks. They are great. I got them on multiple different deals, and haven't regretted it at all.

The notifications are super fast and the quality is brilliant. If you have the sensetivity high and the camera in a high traffic area, you may need to replace the batteries every couple of weeks/months, but other than that they are brilliant.

Del Griffith wrote: »

From bargain alerts - https://store.google.com/gb/

Google Black Friday preview

Was just looking a home hub about 75 Euro I'll have to pick one up now

donny wrote: »

What's the best way to order from the GB store? Will a parcel Wizard address in NI work?

Yeah I get a hello last year from the UK site it did take a few goes to get the order to go through if I recall but it did work and I mini at another time

I'm looking for Arlo Pro 2, set of two. If anyone sees any good black Friday deals, please let me know.

3 colour bulbs and the Phillips Hue hub for £69!!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01K1WP7Z4/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_he61DbT83HF8W

Jasus I love Black Friday!!

Was toying between a ring / nest doorbell for our new house for the new year, picked up the nest on the UK store this morning along with a Home and Nest Mini.

I wanted to but the starter pack because of the price and then thought where will i put it, all bulbs are already hue

Worth noting that CEX buy the Hue bridge for €12 in case anyone ends up with a spare.