What Else Can We Be Doing?

R.O.R wrote: »

Phone is plugged in to a USB port next to the window it sits in so no need to charge, or even touch once it's set up.

That's fair enough so. Just the optics, that would bother me. But hey .. that's me.

/M

R.O.R

Marlow wrote: »

I guess, I also look at optics.

Do you have said mobile on a charger or does it need to be charged regularly? That is what would make or break it for me. Most of the motion sensors get along for a year on one battery and I can monitor their battery state in OpenHAB, so it will notify me of the fact.

I would prefer a wired solution, but the only one i found so far is the one for the Echo Flex and it's implementation requires internet access and a rather crude access implementation through the amazon website, so that killed that one for me.

/M

Phone is plugged in to a USB port next to the window it sits in so no need to charge, or even touch once it's set up.

R.O.R wrote: »

This cost nothing at all though.

Not exactly something which really had to be done but makes things easier, which is surely the whole point of home automation?

I guess, I also look at optics.

Do you have said mobile on a charger or does it need to be charged regularly? That is what would make or break it for me. Most of the motion sensors get along for a year on one battery and I can monitor their battery state in OpenHAB, so it will notify me of the fact.

I would prefer a wired solution, but the only one i found so far is the one for the Echo Flex and it's implementation requires internet access and a rather crude access implementation through the amazon website, so that killed that one for me.

/M

R.O.R

Marlow wrote: »

Isn't that a bit overkill, when an Ikea Trådfri montion sensor only is 20 EUR ?

/M

This cost nothing at all though.

Not exactly something which really had to be done but makes things easier, which is surely the whole point of home automation?

Bluefoam wrote: »

You still need to tinker... The interface in consumer level automation is not ready.

That's for sure. And that is why professionally solution (Control4 and others) often more go wrong than good.

/M

Marlow wrote: »

If you want it on the cheap, then you have to tinker.

If you don't want to tinker, then you have to pay your way.

Simples. Every house is different. There is no one fits all solution. And it also is a question on how much you want to integrate or not.

And then there's the issue, what happens if any component fails ? Is there a fallback way of switching stuff or not. A lot of people don't think about that. A lot of professional implementers don't even think of that.

I've seen 5 digit worth of smart home stuff being ripped out, because whoever implemented left no fallback solution and one simple unit failed and took the whole system down for days without being able to get a replacement.

I mean literally to the point, where said person had to run extension leads throughout the house, because no sockets, no lights, nothing worked anymore.

By building it yourself and learning about your own system on the go, at least you know, what is needed to fix it or circumvent it, should you ever need to do so.

/M

I didn't mean that as a negative... I agree that if you want to do it cost effectively then you can tinker... However, I don't agree that you can spend allot of money and have a straight forward solution. I don't think that second option is viable. You still need to tinker... The interface in consumer level automation is not ready.

Bluefoam wrote: »

My belief is that the smart home is not ready for mainstream yet... It's still way too expensive, requires way too much tinkering and the software interface is a nightmare for the average person.

If you want it on the cheap, then you have to tinker.

If you don't want to tinker, then you have to pay your way.

Simples. Every house is different. There is no one fits all solution. And it also is a question on how much you want to integrate or not.

And then there's the issue, what happens if any component fails ? Is there a fallback way of switching stuff or not. A lot of people don't think about that. A lot of professional implementers don't even think of that.

I've seen 5 digit worth of smart home stuff being ripped out, because whoever implemented left no fallback solution and one simple unit failed and took the whole system down for days without being able to get a replacement.

I mean literally to the point, where said person had to run extension leads throughout the house, because no sockets, no lights, nothing worked anymore.

By building it yourself and learning about your own system on the go, at least you know, what is needed to fix it or circumvent it, should you ever need to do so.

/M

R.O.R wrote: »

The far end of the kitchen from the window can get very dark (not a huge kitchen but decent size), and it's a corner I have a Tradfri bulb in, so I repurposed an old Android phone I had to use as a light sensor.

Easiest option I could find was the IP Webcam app. Phone is in the kitchen window so I can see the back garden if I want. Once the light sensor says its less than 125 lux at the window, I have homeassistant turn on the light in the dark corner.

Has to be less than 125 lux for 1 minute before the light comes on and above for 2 minutes before the light goes off, and there has to be someone home for it to trigger.

This strikes me as a hobby rather than smart home implementation... It sounds like you are trying to prove an idea, rather than simplifying things...

My belief is that the smart home is not ready for mainstream yet... It's still way too expensive, requires way too much tinkering and the software interface is a nightmare for the average person.

R.O.R wrote: »

I have a Tradfri bulb in, so I repurposed an old Android phone I had to use as a light sensor.

Isn't that a bit overkill, when an Ikea Trådfri montion sensor only is 20 EUR ?

/M

R.O.R

The far end of the kitchen from the window can get very dark (not a huge kitchen but decent size), and it's a corner I have a Tradfri bulb in, so I repurposed an old Android phone I had to use as a light sensor.

Easiest option I could find was the IP Webcam app. Phone is in the kitchen window so I can see the back garden if I want. Once the light sensor says its less than 125 lux at the window, I have homeassistant turn on the light in the dark corner.

Has to be less than 125 lux for 1 minute before the light comes on and above for 2 minutes before the light goes off, and there has to be someone home for it to trigger.

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

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]

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

kenmc

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

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

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

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

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.

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

wexfordman2

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.

whats have you openhab running on?

wexfordman2

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.

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

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).

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

would like to get the house more Eco!

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.

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.

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?

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