What Else Can We Be Doing?

Kintarō Hattori · 09-04-2020 08:59AM #1

Hey Folks,

Like the rest of you I have my fair share of smart tech in the house. When I watch the likes of Smart Home Solver on YouTube I can't help but think I could be doing some more nifty things. I generally have the basics covered but wonder what other neat little things I could be doing.

Currently I have Nest cameras front, back and in the toddlers room. I use a Nest Hub Max at night to monitor her (alongside a traditional audio baby monitor). There's a Google Home in the living room alongside a Lenovo Smart Clock, a Smart Clock in the kitchen with a nest mini speaker, a Smart Clock in the main bedroom and a home mini in the toddler's room. There's a Nest Thermostat and most rooms in the house have Hue bulbs and switches on the wall (downstairs toilet has a motion sensor too). We have a Chromecast as well, though that's really only used for the little lady as I tend to watch stuff through the Firestick.

So outside of camera's, bulbs and switches, a smart display, Chromecast etc... what do you have in your abode that might be easily implemented with the rest of us?

wexfordman2 · 09-04-2020 09:32AM

Smart Hoover and a smart lawnmower (def the lawnmower, best smart gadget I ever got).

Motion detection, external video cameras for motion detection and operation of lights, proximity sensing.

Also, beefing up your home network, linking in to security system etc

Kintarō Hattori · 09-04-2020 09:38AM

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Smart Hoover and a smart lawnmower (def the lawnmower, best smart gadget I ever got).

Motion detection, external video cameras for motion detection and operation of lights, proximity sensing.

Also, beefing up your home network, linking in to security system etc

That's great chief but why not break it down into one example you can specifically share that you think is the bees knees. That way we might be more inclined to see it's accessible and incorporate it.

Bluefoam · 09-04-2020 10:07AM

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

That's great chief but why not break it down into one example you can specifically share that you think is the bees knees. That way we might be more inclined to see it's accessible and incorporate it.

Really?

Kintarō Hattori · 09-04-2020 12:05PM

Bluefoam wrote: »

Really?

Why not. It's all well and good to say motion detection for lights. But what unit did you use, what lights, bulbs strips etc, what does it trigger etc.

I know I like the idea of strip lights but I haven't thought of a brand, what sensor etc. What the battery life might be like and so on.

tech · 09-04-2020 02:01PM

How about some Electirc gates, with AES Prime GSM intercom,ACT 53 keybard & Bollard lights come on when you open the gate when its dark using a Photocell Sensor

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Kintarō Hattori · 09-04-2020 02:53PM

Very smart chief and something I'm sure many of us would try out, myself included. Alas I live in an estate.

Right I think I've really put across my intentions with this post very poorly. Perhaps being cooped up is clouding my thought process!

bk · 09-04-2020 04:00PM

Nice setup there tech.

Part of the issue is that everyone has different needs and different homes and setups, so it can be difficult to advise.

For a typical estate house, I'd recommend motion activated lights front and back. Both for security and for convenience (finding the keys to you door when coming home late at night). These don't necessarily need to be smart lights, bog standard PIR ones would work fine too.

I only live in an apartment, but I put a Philips Hue bulb in a waterproof enclosure on the balcony. Triggered by a Hue motion sensor on the roof over the balcony. Quiet handy. Of course I did this before Philips came out with their range of outdoor lights and sensors. If I was doing it now, I'd probably go with those instead. So for you, perhaps a hue outdoor sensor to trigger a hue floodlight, but also perhaps some nice Hue lights along the footpath/garden/drive.

My Hue lights are also connected to my alarm system, so if it goes off, all the lights, indoor and out start flashing red.

A few more ideas, automated blinds/curtains, automated coffee machine/kettle, smart door lock (I'm in two minds about this one).

It sounds like you mostly have the usual basis covered. Other things like automated blinds can get expensive fast, while only offering minimal extra convenience. But depends on what you like or want to play with.

Bluefoam · 09-04-2020 04:39PM

For me, the 'stuff' is just componentry... don't get me wrong, I am obsessed with getting the bits right & am into the function and interaction in a big way... that goes for lights, cameras, doorbells, hoovers, gates, doorlockes, alarm system, wifi mesh, screens, blinds, curtains, lawn mowers etc...

But the key peice for me is the centre/hub of all of that... the brain behind it... My system is down at the moment, as I am between houses, but I have a harmony hub & have switched from Amazon Echo to Nest Home. My aim is to create a centralised management system, based on light touch or zero touch... I have taken it relatively far in the past with simple tools... But for me that is the key to sucessful smart living... not smart home, that is too limited, I want to move from my house to my car to work to a flight etc... seemlessly.

I gave a talk about this in Dubai about three years (human approach rather than tech) ago & the seemless approach is getting nearer...

tech · 09-04-2020 07:02PM

I have sensor lights that come on once you get in the gates! just on the gables of house, I have the lights on the outside of the walls on a Hager E111 timer from main fuse board

I have the option to set the bollards to come using the Hager E111 timer and also the lights on outside of the walls. which I find handy!
Also I have Philips hue bulbs for overhead of the front / back doors on schedules,
Again I have a few around the inside of the house, hall lamp, and some bedside lamps. setup on schedules

I have 2 x Sonos One's ( Alexa Version
1 x Sonos play 3
and 3 Amazons dots,

have 2 x smart sockets also which I use to boil kettle on demand, and used 1 for Xmas lights!
fitted LED Under kitchen units, again using a smart socket to turn on ! can also set schedule for this.

heating is under floor downstairs and rad up stairs, using Heat Miser stats in all rooms downstairs.
on the garage again I have senors lights on the gables. The Garage door is an Electric door.. I have fitted an RTU 5035 to the panel, so I can call the number and this will trigger the garage door to open !

tech · 09-04-2020 07:11PM

HI Bluefoam, can you give some moer details on the harmony hub and how its all bolted together . sounds interesting

Bluefoam · 09-04-2020 07:48PM

tech wrote: »

HI Bluefoam, can you give some moer details on the harmony hub and how its all bolted together . sounds interesting

I got the harmony hub to simplify my remote controls for my TV, Nvidia Shield, cable box and it had the bonus of having physical buttons to control hue bulbs. I got the basic control because it actually simplifies things...

What I discovered was that it allows knock on commands for your devices... So when I turn on the TV it also dims the lights and some other stuff... I added some hue sensors and realised that I could manage allot of devices without ever having to touch anything...

When I set up my next house, I'll probably try to set up IKEA blinds to work off the physical buttons on the remote control.

I also have about 8 lg musicflow speakers and sound bar that work with Google Audio cast, but with the advantage of a sound bar and ability to set up surround sound for the TV...

tech · 10-04-2020 10:46AM

what else can be added to home automation? has anyone got any more ideas? / plans

bk · 10-04-2020 05:30PM

tech wrote: »

what else can be added to home automation? has anyone got any more ideas? / plans

Have you put in place security cameras and a security system?

Not really home automation, but other geeky toys. With the lots of space you have, have you thought about solar panels, maybe Tesla powerwall and an EV?

Bluefoam · 10-04-2020 05:53PM

Cameras are more useful than you'd think... I use them to also trigger lights...

If someone is outside who shouldn't be there, you can trigger a light inside as security... Maybe even effect the blinds. If they are more persistent, you could set up some sounds to trigger... You have most of the components, it gets interesting when you link them up.

The security thing is intriguing... Make any unwelcome guests as uncomfortable as possible.

Bluefoam · 10-04-2020 05:56PM

I plan to set up my shed with a Goal Yeti battery+inverter, with a panel on the roof... I'll run some lights, speaker and have a mesh device out there so the WiFi is extended fulllly across the garden... Shed can also have alarm connection to the house due to new alarm systems like Ajax.

tech · 10-04-2020 06:00PM

looking at maybe PV panels and battery setup down the road, when things get abit cheaper

would like to get the house more Eco!

wexfordman2 · 12-04-2020 11:07AM

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

That's great chief but why not break it down into one example you can specifically share that you think is the bees knees. That way we might be more inclined to see it's accessible and incorporate it.

To be fair, you asked for ideas of what could be done next, that in itself is a conversation, and if you pick any item you wish to implement, there are lots of ways to do it and lots of vendors. I will as you asked, list off the manufacturers and vendors I have used, but as said, any of these vendors could be discarded and alternatives used.

My smart assistant is Google home based.
My smart hub, is a combination of openhab and my smart home security system "comfort" by cytech". Openhab is primarily used as a smart assistant interface between my devices and Google Assistant.
I have 8 smart speakers, ranging from standard Google homes, Google home minis, nest displays and a Harmon Kardan smart speaker for where sound quality is a must.
I have 3 x Chromecast, and I use nest for heating with 2 x zones plus hot water.
I have nest doorbell.
I have a Google nest protect for smoke detection.
My comfort alarm system is a hardwired system provided sensors for both security and home automation purposes (hard wired pirs and door sensors ).
My lighting system is a hard wired smart system called velbus which utilises cat x cabling to wall switches for local control, but automation is via pir sensors and/or door sensors controlled by the smart alarm system .
The lawn mower is a romobow rs615, and I have to say, smart lawnmowers are probably nearly the perfect product from the perspective of easing workload, automating and providing a better service than I ever managed myself, it has excelled really.
I also have solar pv, which I plan to integrate to my smart devices, and the lockdown might provide that opportunity.
My home network is based around ubiquiti range, with USG, cludkey, 2x Poe AP's and smart Poe switch.

As said, all the above is gelled together using openhab, and the smart alarm system, the functions it delivers :-

1) detects sunset times and enables automatic activation of lights etc based on motion and door sensors activation.
2) Shuts the house down when leaving (arming security system) or turning to night mode (changes macros that automatically turn lights in etc)
3) Geofencing activates lights in front of house when arriving home.
4) internal lights activated when opening front door arriving home.
5) heating control, zoned and smart controller, remote access etc.
6) Activation if hue lamps via hardwired wall switxhs

To do, ideas

A) integrate solar pv to openhab, so I can turn off hevy load items when pv production drops (eg, clothes dryer), and activate items during excess production.

Smart camera system with anpr so that I can put some smarts behind arrival home or arrival of guests etc.
C) integrate ubiquiti into openhab to figure out more ways of presence detection, and voice control of network clients (eg, hey Google block the Xbox).

tech · 12-04-2020 11:10AM

Sounds impressive, some pics would be nice of this setup.

wexfordman2 wrote: »

To be fair, you asked for ideas of what could be done next, that in itself is a conversation, and if you pick any item you wish to implement, there are lots of ways to do it and lots of vendors. I will as you asked, list off the manufacturers and vendors I have used, but as said, any of these vendors could be discarded and alternatives used.

My smart assistant is Google home based.
My smart hub, is a combination of openhab and my smart home security system "comfort" by cytech". Openhab is primarily used as a smart assistant interface between my devices and Google Assistant.
I have 8 smart speakers, ranging from standard Google homes, Google home minis, nest displays and a Harmon Kardan smart speaker for where sound quality is a must.
I have 3 x Chromecast, and I use nest for heating with 2 x zones plus hot water.
I have nest doorbell.
I have a Google nest protect for smoke detection.
My comfort alarm system is a hardwired system provided sensors for both security and home automation purposes (hard wired pirs and door sensors ).
My lighting system is a hard wired smart system called velbus which utilises cat x cabling to wall switches for local control, but automation is via pir sensors and/or door sensors controlled by the smart alarm system .
The lawn mower is a romobow rs615, and I have to say, smart lawnmowers are probably nearly the perfect product from the perspective of easing workload, automating and providing a better service than I ever managed myself, it has excelled really.
I also have solar pv, which I plan to integrate to my smart devices, and the lockdown might provide that opportunity.
My home network is based around ubiquiti range, with USG, cludkey, 2x Poe AP's and smart Poe switch.

As said, all the above is felled together using openhab, and the smart alarm system, the functions it delivers :-

1) detects sunset times and enables automatic activation of lights etc based on motion and door sensors activation.
2) Shuts the house down when leaving (arming security system) or turning to night mode (changes macros that automatically turn lights in etc)
3) Geofencing activates lights in front of house when arriving home.
4) internal lights activated when opening front door arriving home.
5) heating control, zoned and smart controller, remote access etc.
6) Activation if hue lamps via hardwired wall switxhs

To do, ideas

A) integrate solar pv to openhab, so I can turn off hevy load items when pv production drops (eg, clothes dryer), and activate items during excess production.
Smart camera system with anpr so that I can put some smarts behind arrival home or arrival of guests etc.
C) integrate ubiquiti into openhab to figure out more ways of presence detection, and voice control of network clients (eg, hey Google block the Xbox).

wexfordman2 · 12-04-2020 11:31AM

tech wrote: »

Sounds impressive, some pics would be nice of this setup.

Will pull something together, don't it in the phone is a pain,

Oh yeah, have an oilpal smart monitor as well.

tech · 12-04-2020 11:56AM

whats have you openhab running on?

wexfordman2 · 12-04-2020 02:00PM

tech wrote: »

whats have you openhab running on?

Actually, my alarm system has a compute module in it, mostly to run nose red integration to the alarm system, so I loaded openhab into that, but have had it running on a standard rpi before, it just didn't make sense to have a second pi running it, whuhc is why I put it into the alarm system itself.

tech · 25-04-2020 07:11AM

what else are people adding into their house to make them SAMRT!!

kenmc · 25-04-2020 10:06PM

My post box notifies me when the post(wo)man has opened the box (one of the an post delivery box things on the gatepost). Added a LoRaWAN transmitter, activated on posties key, which sends a message to thethingsnetwork. Mqtt listener on my openhab raspberry pi monitors for that and I get push notification to my phone. Round trip time about a second from postie opening the box.

Saves having to go check every day. And yes, the postie is supposed to scan the box code also to trigger an email informing of delivery, but not always done, maybe relief postie doesn't bother? Regardless, my notification can come hours before the official one, if that comes.

tech · 26-04-2020 01:25PM

HI Ken,

Can you tell me more about this set up, was looking at fitting a pressure sensor in the box box or something.

I haven't 1 of the new An Post boxes as I didn't like the style and it didn't suit the entrance walls.

kenmc wrote: »

My post box notifies me when the post(wo)man has opened the box (one of the an post delivery box things on the gatepost). Added a LoRaWAN transmitter, activated on posties key, which sends a message to thethingsnetwork. Mqtt listener on my openhab raspberry pi monitors for that and I get push notification to my phone. Round trip time about a second from postie opening the box.

Saves having to go check every day. And yes, the postie is supposed to scan the box code also to trigger an email informing of delivery, but not always done, maybe relief postie doesn't bother? Regardless, my notification can come hours before the official one, if that comes.

kenmc · 26-04-2020 06:08PM

I've a lora32u4 board, which is turned on when a microswitch at the posties key lever releases it. I.e it's only powered while the box is opened by the postie, so battery life should be great - hopefully.

In the house I've a single channel LoRaWAN gateway (Charles hallard GitHub, Andreas spiess YouTube) which I built last year, it's used as temperature\humidity monitoring in the house already - in fact the lora32u4 board was the first sensor I used to play with, but was sitting idle for a while

Gateway forwards to thethingsnetwork as I mentioned before, and it's monitored using mqtt to the ttn API, in an openhab setup running on raspberry pi.

Not sure how you'd do it with a pressure sensor, would need to be very sensitive to pick up a single postcard or letter. Depending on the letterbox, you could be able to trigger on when the flap is opened if there's one there - else perhaps a beam detector detecting when an envelope or something breaks the beam?
Downside of that is the device is always "on" in idle, so battery life wouldn't be as good Vs the switch I used. It literally takes a second from when the switch is released to the message arriving on my phone, so doesn't need to be powered for long ; that would probably not work for a flap or beam based activator though, might not be on long enough but could be done with some timing circuitry

Other thing I like is that only the posties key triggers it, not just "when it's opened", so I don't get a second notification when the box is opened to retrieve the mail

bk · 27-04-2020 12:16PM

kenmc, that is very cool, I was thinking of doing something similar for my post box (live in an apartment, post box is down the hall).

kenmc · 27-04-2020 04:17PM

bk wrote: »

kenmc, that is very cool, I was thinking of doing something similar for my post box (live in an apartment, post box is down the hall).

LoRaWAN should be a workable solution in that case, travels well on the same path. Might be different if you were 8 floors apart, you might have difficulty getting through the concrete, would need to test.

Most tricky part for you though might be the actual mailbox modifications, unless it's an individual unit you have that you can open up to modify from inside. I was able to take mine quite apart to gain access to the mechanism

Marlow · 05-05-2020 11:29PM

tech wrote: »

How about some Electirc gates, with AES Prime GSM intercom

I refused to pay for a GSM intercom, so I found a way, how I can call my gate using a VoIP or lets say a DDI on an ISDN line instead. Costs a lot less

I didn't even need hardware for it. The intercom at the gate (connected via outdoor cat5e to the house and PoE powered) has a gate trigger. That is integrated into OpenHAB.

My AVM Fritz!Box router is also integrated into OpenHAB.

So if a call to a specific number arrives, it simply opens the gate.

Either way, I moved to a new place end of January and went a bit mad on home automation since then.

So far, I've installed:
- OpenHAB running on an ODroid board.
- NodeRed to access Hue scenes.
- homeHabit on Android for tablets as controls.
- bluecherry as NVR.
- 162 smart bulbs and drivers
- 19 smart switches/buttons/dimmers
- 3 motion sensors
- 6 Philips Hue hubs and 1 Ikea Trådfri hub
- 1 Hue Sync module
- 10 switchable sockets
- 24 thermostats
- 14 Fritz!Box Routers all connected via mesh and phones at most of them.
- 3 Doorbells, one with motions sensor and camera
- 6 DECT Repeater
- 1 Weather Station
- replaced 7 old floodlights with LED ones

I've got another 120 or so bulbs to replace with smart ones, replace another 19 thermostats, wire the floodlights on a smart switched socket or two (because they are on a PIR sensor with no switch to switch them off fully), install a temperature sensor on the immersion and make it smart, replace the boiler controller with something smart (i've looked at Velbus for that), install a new postbox with either micro-switch or infrared sensor to notify me of post, hijack a robot lawn mower, that a friend of mine doesn't use anymore, replace about 8 or 9 old cctv cameras with IP ones and much much more. Oh .. and Sonos is on the list.

We've also replaced our 15-20 year old 150k BTU firebird with a new Grant Vortex Condensation burner.

And just to give an idea of the savings: in the first 2 months we were using 102kW/day here. I didn't take readings, when we replaced the floodlights, so it may have been a lot more in the start. We also used 1200l kero/month in the first 2 months, because the boiler was down to 50% efficiency and basically end of life. That and the fact, that the place is BER excempt.

I am now at 31kW/day usage and under 600l/month kero usage (for winter time). With more savings to be got.

And you'd ask why 14 routers ? I have very very thick walls. This place was build in 1815.

/M

tech · 06-05-2020 03:30AM

Hi Marlow, sounds like a very interesting project you have going on there with some amount of tech going on. A few pics would be nice.

quote="Marlow;113356349"]I refused to pay for a GSM ⁰⁰intercom, so I found a way, how I can call my gate using a VoIP or lets say a DDI on an ISDN line instead. Costs a lot less

I didn't even need hardware for it. The intercom at the gate (connected via outdoor cat5e to the house and PoE powered) has a gate trigger. That is integrated into OpenHAB.

My AVM Fritz!Box router is also integrated into OpenHAB.

So if a call to a specific number arrives, it simply opens the gate.

Either way, I moved to a new place end of January and went a bit mad on home automation since then.

So far, I've installed:
- OpenHAB running on an ODroid board.
- NodeRed to access Hue scenes.
- homeHabit on Android for tablets as controls.
- bluecherry as NVR.
- 162 smart bulbs and drivers
- 19 smart switches/buttons/dimmers
- 3 motion sensors
- 6 Philips Hue hubs and 1 Ikea Trådfri hub
- 1 Hue Sync module
- 10 switchable sockets
- 24 thermostats
- 14 Fritz!Box Routers all connected via mesh and phones at most of them.
- 3 Doorbells, one with motions sensor and camera
- 6 DECT Repeater
- 1 Weather Station
- replaced 7 old floodlights with LED ones

I've got another 120 or so bulbs to replace with smart ones, replace another 19 thermostats, wire the floodlights on a smart switched socket or two (because they are on a PIR sensor with no switch to switch them off fully), install a temperature sensor on the immersion and make it smart, replace the boiler controller with something smart (i've looked at Velbus for that), install a new postbox with either micro-switch or infrared sensor to notify me of post, hijack a robot lawn mower, that a friend of mine doesn't use anymore, replace about 8 or 9 old cctv cameras with IP ones and much much more. Oh .. and Sonos is on the list.

We've also replaced our 15-20 year old 150k BTU firebird with a new Grant Vortex Condensation burner.

And just to give an idea of the savings: in the first 2 months we were using 102kW/day here. I didn't take readings, when we replaced the floodlights, so it may have been a lot more in the start. We also used 1200l kero/month in the first 2 months, because the boiler was down to 50% efficiency and basically end of life. That and the fact, that the place is BER excempt.

I am now at 31kW/day usage and under 600l/month kero usage (for winter time). With more savings to be got.

And you'd ask why 14 routers ? I have very very thick walls. This place was build in 1815.

/M[/quote]

Marlow · 06-05-2020 09:44AM

tech wrote: »

Hi Marlow, sounds like a very interesting project you have going on there with some amount of tech going on. A few pics would be nice.

I guess, a seperate thread, when I get a few more things sorted.

/M

What Else Can We Be Doing?

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