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Thread: DIY Home Automation with Apple Homekit

  1. #81
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    Originally posted by cet
    So whatever that issue was that I was having yesterday seems to have cleared itself up. When I got home yesterday everything was working as it should.
    Good to hear. Based on your description it sounded more like a wifi/network problem than a homekit problem.
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    Just as a review i finally added in the Lutron audio switches for my sonos system, they work great and the range is awesome. Working beyond the listed range for the caseta system ( from my basement all the way to the top floor ), i was a bit worried at first i would need to move the hub.

    Must have add on for an integrated sonos system.

    Hard to find in Canada so i had my brother order them from his wholesaler for ~43 each plus 10 bucks for the wall plate mounts.

    I personally like just being able to hit the button on the wall rather than pull out my phone, unlock it, select sonos, select the room, play. This is much better.
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    so do you guys find these "home owner" automation systems work well enough for you? I see a huge difference between the more costly industrial systems I put in to plants and the stuff you can get at home depot. I put in a hue system with 12 lamps, a nest stat and a couple wemo switches for the outdoor lights and I find I am constantly messing with them. I'm to a point where I'm debating swapping this shit out for a some proper HMI's. As soon as I'm out of town I get from my wife the non stop "I reset the router and now nothing works" and "the outside lights never came on" or the garage doors aren't connected anymore.

    Is this kinda normal for this stuff and just par for the course or do I need to spend some time sorting this shit out? If this was going on at one of my customers sites I'd go bankrupt lol.
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    Originally posted by killramos
    Just as a review i finally added in the Lutron audio switches for my sonos system, they work great and the range is awesome. Working beyond the listed range for the caseta system ( from my basement all the way to the top floor ), i was a bit worried at first i would need to move the hub.

    Must have add on for an integrated sonos system.

    Hard to find in Canada so i had my brother order them from his wholesaler for ~43 each plus 10 bucks for the wall plate mounts.

    I personally like just being able to hit the button on the wall rather than pull out my phone, unlock it, select sonos, select the room, play. This is much better.
    Lutron's range has been nothing short of amazing here as well. Single hub goes to every single corner of the house with zero problems. Compared to the Hue hub (which uses zigbee) sitting right beside it, it couldn't go upstairs and 1 room over and I had to move the hub upstairs to a neighboring room. Lutron uses their own proprietary and patented wireless standard called Clear Connect and just works so well.
    Originally posted by SEANBANERJEE
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    Originally posted by sillysod
    so do you guys find these "home owner" automation systems work well enough for you? I see a huge difference between the more costly industrial systems I put in to plants and the stuff you can get at home depot. I put in a hue system with 12 lamps, a nest stat and a couple wemo switches for the outdoor lights and I find I am constantly messing with them. I'm to a point where I'm debating swapping this shit out for a some proper HMI's. As soon as I'm out of town I get from my wife the non stop "I reset the router and now nothing works" and "the outside lights never came on" or the garage doors aren't connected anymore.

    Is this kinda normal for this stuff and just par for the course or do I need to spend some time sorting this shit out? If this was going on at one of my customers sites I'd go bankrupt lol.
    It really depends what DIY setup you go with. If you're talking about components, like I mentioned in the last post, Lutron has been perfect here. Hue has been pretty good, I do need to reboot the hub here and there, but I have noticed since 2 firmware updates ago that I haven't had to reboot the hub at all. My Ecobee has been really solid as well, but every couple of months HomeKit can't talk to it and needs a reboot. My locks have so far been flawless after I replaced the original one which broke after a day. Wemo has been terrible for me. Laggy, and at times just doesn't work when I'm away from home. Your experience is typical based on the manufacturers that you went with.

    For the centralized system that ties everything together, I wasn't a fan of Wink, although I hear it's gotten better. I chose HomeKit since my mobile devices are all Apple and zero problems now (it was glitchy for away from home control before the Apple TV4).

    Like I said in the OP, DIY home automation is still catching up, it's not perfect but it's getting close. The huge factor was cost, a full on commercial HA system can easily set you back well into 5 figures, while DIY costs a fraction of that. You get what you pay for, and I'll bet in the next couple of years the functionality and reliability gap will close significantly. I've been toying with DIY setup for years now, and the last 12 months it's at a point where the wife and kids can use it without issues which is a massive improvement.
    Originally posted by SEANBANERJEE
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    I was chatting with my brother this weekend who wants to get a few professional automation credentials so he can make a couple extra bucks on high end homes they are wiring that they usually bring in a third party to setup the controllers etc.

    He really likes the Lutron Caseta stuff as well, at the end of the day if I wanted to I could upgrade the caseta hub to RadioRA ( which the Caseta system is just a stripped down version of ) and still use all of my remotes, switches etc. and be on a full pro automation system. But i wouldn't currently gain anything by it.

    As long as you know the limitations going in and don't buy into an ecosystem based on vaporware promised features etc. you will have a good time.

    The only trouble I have with the DIY stuff is its still expensive at the end of the day to retrofit, so i just do it in chunks replacing whatever it is bothering me this month and go from there.

    End goal is have it working seamlessly and integrated enough to bump up the value of the house a bit when I sell.

    If i was to build new i would definitely go with a full pro install like control4 or something. but thats $$$ too
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    Control4 has come down a lot in price as well. My plan is to get a lot of the DIY systems in place (Lutron, nest, Sonos, etc) and then tie them all together with Control 4. I was talking to my alarm installer a couple of months ago. He mentioned that I could get one of the new EA-3's programmed, with a remote for something like $1800. I didn't think that was too bad.

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    I've got some legacy wire runs throughout the house from the old security system. I'm trying to determine if I can re-purpose these wires to power a usb port for a wall mounted android tablet for home automation purposes.

    Any thoughts on this?

    Perhaps a transformer in the equipment room running line to 24v, then through the wire, and a subsequent transformer at the destination to convert 24v to usb?

    Thoughts?

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    Originally posted by Buster
    I've got some legacy wire runs throughout the house from the old security system. I'm trying to determine if I can re-purpose these wires to power a usb port for a wall mounted android tablet for home automation purposes.

    Any thoughts on this?
    I had an iPad with the original 3rd party Homekit app running, and realized quickly that we never used it. Having to go to 1 place to set a scene gets tiring, and having a tablet in each room is a bit overkill and aesthetically terrible. We all had smartphones around us, a quick "Hey Siri" and the request or scene does the trick. As most of what we control are lights and blinds, I've added Lutron remotes that allows guests to controls favorite scenes. Much simpler solution.
    Originally posted by SEANBANERJEE
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    Originally posted by rage2

    We all had smartphones around us, a quick "Hey Siri" and the request or scene does the trick. As most of what we control are lights and blinds,
    Yeah, voice control is great.
    We have our Amazon Echo integrated with the ISY automation controller.
    Great to voice control blinds and outside lights.
    This year it was extra nice to be able to say "Alexa, turn on Christmas tree."

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    The novelty of voice for Xmas lights wore off quick. I automated it to turn on when we got home or sunset, and turn off at 11 haha.
    Originally posted by SEANBANERJEE
    I have gone above and beyond what I should rightfully have to do to protect my good name

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    Thanks for starting this great thread, Rage. I found lots of helpful info from you and others that have contributed. I know you didn't like Wink much when you tried it, but they improved it a lot since then. It no longer depends on the server when you turn lights on and off, so it's pretty much immediate now, even when used in conjunction with Amazon Echo (Alexa). In fact, there's not much discussion about Alexa in the thread, but I can't imagine not having voice control from virtually anywhere in the house without touching any device or remote. The low cost of the Echo Dot makes it easy to have in every room. I haven't tried Google Home, but I expect it's just a good. Can Siri listen to you from anywhere without touching anything? (I'm not as familiar with the Apple stuff).

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    The issue with Alexa is that it's not readily available up here yet. When I am next in the States I am going to pick up a few of the dot's to bring back. I like the idea of not having to carry my phone around to control things.

    Siri can listen without you touching anything but it has its limits. Sometimes it works well when I'm a few feet away. Other times it doesn't.

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    The Echo hardware is surprisingly good at hearing voice commands from a distance, or from another room.

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    Anyone know if there're smart switches that can hack motorized items? (i.e. motorized item where you have to hold the up/down button to move an object)... any smart app enact devices out there? (not just an on/off smart switch)

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    Anyone experienced the Apple TV switching on on its own? I'm suspecting that it's my neigbhour trying to airplay. I don't think they can actually do anything without the passcode. I used to have my Apple TV controlling my TV so that the TV will turn on or switch to the input whenever the Apple TV is on. Lately my Apple TV would randomly turn on when I'm watching cable. My TV would then switch to my AppleTV, annoying as hell. I have since turned the control off. I can still see my Apple TV turning on randomly.

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    Originally posted by TomcoPDR
    Anyone know if there're smart switches that can hack motorized items? (i.e. motorized item where you have to hold the up/down button to move an object)... any smart app enact devices out there? (not just an on/off smart switch)
    could be easily done with an arduino or esp8266 (i use the wemos D1 Mini) and a relay
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    Ikea's TRÅDFRI line added Homekit, Alexa and Google Home integration today.

    http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/search/?query=Tradfri

    Much cheaper alternative to Philips Hue if you don't care about color changing.
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    MyQ also just added homekit support to their garage door openers with a retrofit hub.
    Originally posted by Thales of Miletus

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    Moving into a 'new' (recently renovated) house this weekend and looking to do a bunch of DIY home automation to the house. Just picked up

    1) Google Home
    2) Ecobee 3 + extra sensors
    3) August door lock
    4) August door cam
    5) Nest Protect
    6) Receivers with built-in Chrome Cast (to control the in-wall speakers in the living room + basement).

    In parallel I'm also looking into the following ( I need to do more research; what do you guys recommend here?)

    Lights - It's all spotlights so looking to upgrade all the light switches to Wifi switches (WeMo or TP-link?) rather than Hue bulbs
    Camera - Looking to setup Nest Cam or equivalent. Don't know too much about it yet.


    Anything else I can easily DIY?

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