Smart Home & Home Automation discussion thread

[Kaido]

Engadget article: "IRL: I spent a month controlling my coffeemaker over WiFi"

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/03/irl-a-month-controlling-my-coffeemaker-over-wifi/

They also have a review of the Wifi slow cooker:

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/19/belkin-crock-pot-smart-slow-cooker-review/

I have mixed feelings on doing smart-enabled appliances. For example, I don't really see the point in the slow cooker. If you put raw meat in it, you're going to want to start cooking right away so that the food doesn't go bad. And the newer digital slow cookers automatically switch to "warm" after the timer goes off (either low or high). The comments had a few good use-case scenarios (continuing the cook after a power blip, or for things that don't go bad like baked potatoes, or for recipes that require a temperature change mid-cycle), but they weren't so compelling that I'd go out and drop $130 on a new one, you know? Plus if you already have an older manual unit, you can turn it on & off via a Wifi A/C plug adapter or outlet.

 

[CAL7]

Any info, or uninformed speculation, out in the wild on STv2 pricing?

 

[lsd]

Added a GE 45637 zwave light switch and a Linear iris GD00Z garage opener to the smartthings hub this week.
The GE switch works great, with no issues with the hub. Switch state is always correct and the ST hub always gets device status immediately. One thing I found strange is that using the ST app the light will turn on quicker than physically hitting the switch (!?). It's damn near instant with the app and the actual switch takes a couple milliseconds longer. I'm liking it much more than the Lutron Caseta that it replaced. The GE has a much more firm feel to it compare to the flimsy feel of the Caseta. Overall very happy with the GE and I only paid about $28 for it.
The Linear GD opener is another story. While I can pair it to the ST hub it will not open the garage door. I have troubleshot it down the the linear controller and not the ST hub. I tried emailing Linear but got no response and I tried calling but they want $120/hr for tech support... WTF??? I'm trying to decide whether or not to exchange it or just return it.

Overall the experience with the ST hub has been good. I have not seen any outages or incorrect device states.
The biggest positive is that you can develop your own apps or modify your devices if you have the know how. Right now I have modified schlage lock and thermostat device profiles.
The biggest negative is the app, it needs a total redo. For example on the device page all you see is icons, you do not see the device name. To show the device name you have to shake your phone and the name with display for a short time. That's down right dumb but I can deal with it.

 

[Kaido]

Pella (windows & doors) has a new system out called Insynctive (that's really hard to say, haha). Insynctive operates on their own 433.92 MHz radio channel, but can take network commands (via built-in Ethernet & Wifi) & Zwave commands for input. A bit of an overview from CES: ($80 Bridge, $50 for 2 sensors)

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15...tomation-adapters-for-connected-windows-doors

Homepage link:

http://insynctive.pella.com/

The entire family lineup includes:

1. Bridge
2. Remote control
3. Status indicator
4. Window & door sensor
5. Garage door sensor
6. Entry door deadbolt sensor
7. Blinds & shades

They current integrate with 4 master control systems:

1. Wink
2. Crestron
3. Savant
4. Nexia

The core of the system is the Bridge:

http://insynctive.pella.com/smart-home-technology/home-automation-hub

This is similar to the Philips Hue bridge, which talks to their specific family of devices. The remote control is specifically for blinds & shades:

http://insynctive.pella.com/smart-home-technology/motorized-blinds-shades-remote

You can program it for a single shade or for a group of shades. It has up (raise/tilt), lower (raise/tilt), and custom (preset raise/tilt location) buttons. Next up is the Status Indicator:

http://insynctive.pella.com/smart-home-technology/home-security-status-indicator

I actually think this is pretty clever - its hows you the status of whatever you want to monitor at a glance, without having to light up a big LED screen in the middle of the night, so you can see at a glance if the doors, garage door, & windows are shut & locked. And not only is it wireless (battery-operated), but it also has a motion sensor built-in that queries the Bridge to get sensor status, so you don't have to press any buttons to check the status. Only downside is that because it is a hardware sensor, you only get what you get in terms of the number of LED lights you see.

There are 3 sensors available: window/door, garage door, and entry door deadbolt. The window/door model is pretty run-of-the-mill, basically a wireless stick-on sensor:

http://insynctive.pella.com/smart-home-technology/wireless-window-door-sensor

It requires either the Status Indicator or a compatible HA system to get status information from. The deadbolt sensor is a little bit different, it requires installation within a special Pella door:

https://content.pella.com/cs/groups/public/documents/document/mdaw/mde5/~edisp/pel-019424.pdf

A Pella Architect-series fiberglass or steel entry door (prepped for the entry door deadbolt sensor) is needed. The strike plate has a dummy piece that you remove to put the sensor in. So that's kind of a limited product because you have to buy their door to make it work. The garage door sensor is more flexible:

http://insynctive.pella.com/smart-home-technology/garage-door-sensor

It is a really simple device: it basically has a tilt sensor, so if the box is horizontal, it considers the door opened, and if it's vertical, it's closed. It changes when tilted to about a 45-degree angle. They recommend putting the sensor near the top of the garage door so that it so that it trips right away. Seems like this would have problems with certain doors & not verifying 100% that the door is, in fact, shut, based on where the tilt happens. Hmm.

There are 3 options for window treatments:

1. Between-the-glass blinds & shades
2. Roomside roller shades
3. Roomside cellular shades

http://insynctive.pella.com/motorized-blinds

I am a big fan of between-the-glass blinds & shades because (1) no cleaning required, and (2) they don't seem to break as often as interior blinds & shades do (especially if you have kids or pets!). Pella's Designer Series windows & patio doors have snap-in between-the-glass blinds & shades that offer the motorization option. The roomside roller & cellular shades work with any brand of windows, however. So your overall options are: (available summer 2015)

1. Cellular shades (roll)
2. Roller shades (roll)
3. Wood blinds (tilt)
4. Between-the-glass aluminum blinds & fabric shades

In addition, the graphic on their site shows a solar panel & battery pack for power: (since everything is wireless)

http://wcs.pella.com/static/insynct...shades/designerseries/how_designer_series.png

I am extremely interested in this option because my goals are to have (1) sunshades (transparent), and (2) blackout blinds (opaque) on every window...so if you want a lot of light, you can open the shades, if you want some brightness, you can put down the sunshades, and if you want it totally dark (like to sleep in, or watch a movie on a projector screen) you can totally black it out. I was trying to figure out how to do like a double-roller shade system on each window, but this would make it easy because I could do the sunshades between-the-glass & the blackout blinds roomside. The Designer series windows are nice because they're triple-paned (energy efficient Low-E glass) and currently come with 3 window treatment options:

1. Sheer fabric (see-through)
2. Light-filtering (not see-through)
3. Room darkening (almost full light blockage)

The other alternative would be to do both an inside-mount shade & an outside-mount shade (although I like the inside-mount a LOT better visually, which would combine well with a between-the-glass shade). Also, I hate sliding glass doors & sliding windows (mostly from a maintenance perspective, as well as long-term issues with warping & ease-of-use) & you can get the Designers series in a swing-out casement window & hinged patio door style (similar to French doors), so that pretty much meets all of my requirements:

1. Swing-out design
2. Energy-efficient (Low-E triple-paned glass)
3. Between-the-glass light-filtering shade
4. Inside-mount room-darkening shade

Plus they're wireless (wireless control + solar-powered battery) & you can get Pella's window/door open/close sensor, so that pretty much rounds out all of the features I'd personally want in this type of system. As far as the door lock goes, it's a nice idea, but I like the Okidokey system better as an overall entry & garage access system. I'm using a Schlage now (with good results), but I only have one entry door, so I don't really need anything beyond that at the moment (not until I move!).

 

[Kaido]

Reviewing my "dream team" notes:

1. Okidokey: Garage & door access system.

2. Pella Insynctive: Between-the-glass & roomside inside-mount shades with swing-out casement window & hinged patio door options.

3. SmartThings v2 Hub: (TBA) Includes offline support, cloud link, battery backup, 3G backup, and a strong commitment to remaining open.

4. HVAC: Currently tied between the Mitsubish Mr. Slim H2i system (per-room heating & cooling) & Spacepak (high-velocity system with small ducts). The brand Hi-Velocity is also interesting because they offer filtration, fresh air make-up, humidification, and dehumidification in their system. Extras include BAF Haiku smart fans, IQAir filtration, Broan ERV/HRV, and gas & electric fireplaces. The only catch is that the Mr. Slims have crap integration; they really need a bridge of some kind to be useful in an automated environment. Quirky is going the right direction with their Norm thermostat, which can talk to Spotter v2 & Wink Relay temperature sensors in every room. What would be amazing would be overall house temperature control, with individual rooms getting individual boots to meet temperature, but also be able to change per-room temps as needed (like if one person likes sleeping at 62F & the other likes sleeping at 70F in another room with a closed door).

5. Lighting: Tough one. My preference is for standard toggle switches; ideally I'd like a regular toggle that can flip on/off (single lights or groups of lights) & also do a press-to-hold function for dimming. I hate paddle lights & hate pushbutton lights even more. However, I do like that the Lutron lights have the Pico remote, which is a real gamechanger since they're small, the batteries last forever, and you can mount them as faux lightswitches. Right now I am a fan of the 100w Philips LED bulbs & the 40w Philips Slimstyle LED bulbs (although I think 60w-equivalent reading bulbs are out now); my only complaint is that they have a high-pitched whine. Maybe next generation will solve that. I have no interest in color changes, so no Philips Hue bulbs for me.

6. Music: Currently looking at Sonos, Google Cast, and Airplay. Airplay is flexible because of Airfoil. Cast has promise. Sonos is the gold standard, although I have more specific integration requirements.

7. Movies: Plex & Roku. Maybe a Raspberry Pi 2 for some emulators. I have an old Wii as well. Not a big gamer these days because I nef here too much :awe:

8. Security: I was originally looking at QNAP NVR boxes, but Synology has really impressed me lately. I recently built an 8-bay NAS with SHR-2 (dual-drive failover quasi-RAID) using 6TB drives for under $3,100 as a work project, which gives me 32TB of usable space, and includes stuff like a Survelliance app (as well as a file server, backup server for stuff like Time Machine, iSCSi, Plex server, and all kinds of other awesome stuff). Pair that with some different Axis cameras & you're good to go!

9. Energy management: For starters, a TED monitoring system. Ideally I'd like to monitor everything - overall usage, per-outlet usage, per outlet-on-surge-protector usage, etc. Right now, the best I've seen is the GE+Quirky smart outlet (the "Outlink"), which has a dumb outlet on the bottom & a smart outlet on top that does on, off, and power monitoring (I don't think it offers a dimming feature, at least not yet). Synap6 ATS for power distribution & integration, and some solar panels down the road. I'd like to integrate a large generator as well (Generic 48kWh would be awesome, and Honeywell has one that has an iPhone app now) - I'm still looking for the one I heard about that has a brownout battery, so even power flickrs don't bother the flow of electricity to your home. There's rumors Tesla is making a home battery (like for solar panel power storage, brownouts, and blackouts), so that's on the watchlist too.

There's some other stuff like water detectors with automatic valve shutoff & electric ice dam & roof ice melters as well, but this is just a general laundry list of the main stuff. There's not much more I want than this - it's mostly just a step up from existing technology to make it easier & more accessible.

 

[MarkXIX]

All I want is a standard style in-wall light switch that controls my Philips Hue lights as follows:

Flip switch up, lights go to default "On" setting. Flip switch down, all lights assigned to the switch turn off, but power to the bulbs remains available so I can still control the lights from my phone when I want.

Anyone know of anything like this on the market yet? I have a Hue Tap, but that's not what I want in this circumstance.

 

[Kaido]

All I want is a standard style in-wall light switch that controls my Philips Hue lights as follows:

Flip switch up, lights go to default "On" setting. Flip switch down, all lights assigned to the switch turn off, but power to the bulbs remains available so I can still control the lights from my phone when I want.

Anyone know of anything like this on the market yet? I have a Hue Tap, but that's not what I want in this circumstance.

This is the switch I've been looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/GE-Z-Wave-Togg...dp/B00PYMGOHM/

I hesitate to buy anything that isn't Wink-compatible, however, especially since the SmartThings v2 hub is not out yet & thus hasn't been real-world reviewed. $40 on a diceroll vs. a manual switch that costs a dollar...hmm.

 

[Kaido]

Cox has their "Homelife" service available now. It's similar the ADT Pulse system, which is basically home automation combined with a monitored security service. Overview here:

http://www.cox.com/residential/homelife.cox

Equipment list:

http://www.cox.com/residential/homelife/equipment.cox

The $29/mo base service ("Essential") gives you:

Window/door sensors
Motion sensors
Glass break sensors
Wireless siren repeater
Key fob

The $39/mo enhanced service ("Preferred") gives you:

Video cameras
Thermostat controller
Window/door sensors
Smoke/heat sensors
Motion sensors
Lighting controllers
Glass break sensors
Wireless siren repeater
Key fob
Other advanced sensors

Starter kit includes:

2 window/door sensors
1 motion detector
Wireless router
Yard sign and window decals

Pretty good for a turnkey system, if you don't mind a set monthly fee. The fee appears to increase based on what services & hardware you add, so the $29 & $39 monthly fee is the base prices for those services.

 

[CAL7]

I have a Wink, but like most Wink users I recognize it's a world in transition and I am trying to position myself for whatever change takes hold in the near term. My problem is that I'm becoming addicted to Lutron Caseta switches. Any commentary on the future of the Caseta protocol, especially re STv2?

 

[Kaido]

Interesting little product: Panasonic "Nubo" 4G security camera: ($249, arriving in 2016)

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/02/panasonic-nubo-4g-monitoring-security-camera/

* Built-in battery (and can be run off a USB power bank)
* 4G & Wifi connectivity
* IP66 for outdoor use
* 2-way audio

This would be cool to use as a doorbell webcam!

 

[Kaido]

I have a Wink, but like most Wink users I recognize it's a world in transition and I am trying to position myself for whatever change takes hold in the near term. My problem is that I'm becoming addicted to Lutron Caseta switches. Any commentary on the future of the Caseta protocol, especially re STv2?

Mostly just wait & see. Samsung is committed to being 100% open; the only limitations right now are with Lutron's licensing agreements with Wink (i.e. not using the Pico on non-Lutron equipment & so on). So, we're all holding our breath. I'm hoping that the STv2 will be what we wanted Wink to be.

One thing I'm curious about is how they're going to handle future expansion, for example, having some USB ports that you could slip a USB ClearConnect radio adapter into to add that functionlity to the main hub. I'm sure we'll see at least one or two more custom radio systems arrive on the scene before things settle down & it'd sure be nice to be able to add those to your core smarthome router, you know?

 

[Kaido]

Time Warner Cable is in the HAaaS game too: (Home Automation as a Service)

http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/intelligenthome/overview.html

Digital Trends has some more info: (from December 2013)

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/time-warners-intelligenthome-comcast-home-control/

Apparently TWC's system is also powered by iControl:

http://www.icontrol.com/

iControl does systems for Bell Aliant, Bright House Networks, Comcast, Comporium SMA Solutions, Cox, Piper, Peq, Rogers, Swisscom, Telguard, and TWC. They also have an interesting development program called OpenHome Labs:

http://www.icontrol.com/press-relea...enhome-labs-accelerate-smart-home-innovation/

Their developer program includes CEL, CentraLite, Hitron, Kwikset, Liteon, MMB Networks, NYCE Control, Radio Thermostat, RCS Technology, Ser com, SMC Networks, Technicolor, Telegesis, and Visonic:

http://www.icontrol.com/developers/

They also have service support for stuff like Birdi, Flixster, Life360, Mapquest, News Republic, Weather Channel, and Tunein. For turnkey, service-based HA systems (branded for your local service provider), this looks like the way to go short of going to a higher-end system like Crestron or Control4. Pay money, don't think about it, if that's what you're looking for.

 

[Kneedragger]

Interesting little product: Panasonic "Nubo" 4G security camera: ($249, arriving in 2016)

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/02/panasonic-nubo-4g-monitoring-security-camera/

* Built-in battery (and can be run off a USB power bank)
* 4G & Wifi connectivity
* IP66 for outdoor use
* 2-way audio

This would be cool to use as a doorbell webcam!

Very cool idea. I wonder how much data it might use when its not sending images back to the cloud.

 

[Kaido]

Couple more smart vents:

Linq (Kickstarter)

Keen

Lockitron has a new product coming out called the Bolt, which replaces the original lock. This one has Bluetooth ($99) and an optional Wifi bridge

https://lockitron.com/

Also, in the same vein as the Lockitron (fit-over deadbolt controller), introducing the SwitchMate:

http://www.slashgear.com/switchmate-hands-on-smarter-switches-no-electrician-needed-02370664/

It's an Indigogo project:

http://www.myswitchmate.com/

Basically it snaps over your existing lightswitches & turns them into Bluetooth switches. No installation required, basically just stick them on. Great for renters!

Also found a great blog called Connected Crib:

http://www.connectedcrib.com/

 

[Kaido]

Another good blog:

http://www.hometoys.com/

They have some interesting short interviews with different key players as well.

 

[lsd]

I have a Wink, but like most Wink users I recognize it's a world in transition and I am trying to position myself for whatever change takes hold in the near term. My problem is that I'm becoming addicted to Lutron Caseta switches. Any commentary on the future of the Caseta protocol, especially re STv2?

I have not heard anything about the caseta and the st v2 and I don't think they will. See this page https://gigaom.com/2015/01/06/smartthings-next-generation-hub-will-support-thread-and-the-oic/

"the hub will support “legacy” standards like Z-wave and ZigBee while adding Bluetooth Smart, SmartThings is looking ahead to new standards and is planning to support Thread, the mesh-radio protocol that Nest and others have proposed as well as Intel’s Open Interconnect Consortium."

You can always use the switch without any hub, the remote will still work. I plan on using my casetas as virtual 3 way switches. I was able to make a mounting bracket for the remote out of my old switches.

 

[manofice]

Any info, or uninformed speculation, out in the wild on STv2 pricing?

I can't really see them charging that much more than their current hub. Perhaps doing a $99 for Version 2 and dropping to the Version 1 to like $50?

I reached out the ST via Twitter asking about release date and they said Q2.

I want to get into home automation so bad but I don't want ST v1 when v2 is right around the corner but I hate waiting, LOL. Specially when the Iris hub is $5! If WINK does another special soon on a cheap cheap hub than i'll have to buy it and than go full blown with ST v2 when it comes out.

I just bought a Schlage touch screen lock, and I want the Chamberlain MyQ device too.

 

[manofice]

So far my day 1 initial impression of Smartthings are good.
Set up was easy but you do need a wired connection. An ethernet cable and instructions are provided in the box. You use an access code that comes in the box to register your device.
Adding devices was on par with the vera lite with no issues encountered. The battery status for the schlage locks did take awhile to show up though. The Smartthings activity log is far superior vs the wink hub. As mentioned it will show battery life and it will also show which user opened the door and if the door was opened manually or not. Unfortunately it will not show tamper alarm activity.

The Trane Z wave thermostat is working properly with the ST hub. The activity log shows thermostat state and humidity. I'm not liking the slider to set the temperature, setting an exact temp is too tedious.

The lowes iris siren synced up just fine and is actually usable as a siren.

The ST app itself is decent and a welcome change from the wink app. If wink is trying to be like apple then ST is trying to be like Google.
The only thing I don't like is on the main "things" page I don't see a way to differentiate the garage entry door lock from the front door lock. While you do name each device that page just shows a door and key as the icon for each lock.

In the next few days I will be testing out the geofence lock/unlock function and looking into the smartapps. Overall very pleased with the ST hub.

Thanks for your mini review, I'll have a Schlage touch lock arriving tomorrow and want to the ST v2 to do the things you explained

 

[LegendKiller]

Couple more smart vents:

Linq (Kickstarter)

Keen

Lockitron has a new product coming out called the Bolt, which replaces the original lock. This one has Bluetooth ($99) and an optional Wifi bridge

https://lockitron.com/

Also, in the same vein as the Lockitron (fit-over deadbolt controller), introducing the SwitchMate:

http://www.slashgear.com/switchmate-hands-on-smarter-switches-no-electrician-needed-02370664/

It's an Indigogo project:

http://www.myswitchmate.com/

Basically it snaps over your existing lightswitches & turns them into Bluetooth switches. No installation required, basically just stick them on. Great for renters!

Also found a great blog called Connected Crib:

http://www.connectedcrib.com/

The smart vents are interesting to me but I would be very concerned about the backpressure.

 

[manofice]

The smart vents are interesting to me but I would be very concerned about the backpressure.

Even though some have pressure monitors, I've seen online HVAC guys say these products are NOT good for our HVACs

 

[LegendKiller]

Even though some have pressure monitors, I've seen online HVAC guys say these products are NOT good for our HVACs

I have a good hs buddy that does hvac in Canada. I've bounced a lot of ideas off of him for fixing my single zoned home, including multizone retrofit, adding extra manual fampers, putting in a product like arzel...etc. He always shoots down retrofits that don't also put in a new hvac motor that can handle variable speed and monitor back pressure to prevent burnout. I trust his opinion since he isn't trying to sell me anything and has no vested interest.

Somebody in our development put in multi zone for 10k but didn't put in new motor. They'll burn it out eventually.

 

[Kaido]

Interesting little product: Panasonic "Nubo" 4G security camera: ($249, arriving in 2016)

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/02/panasonic-nubo-4g-monitoring-security-camera/

* Built-in battery (and can be run off a USB power bank)
* 4G & Wifi connectivity
* IP66 for outdoor use
* 2-way audio

This would be cool to use as a doorbell webcam!

It looks like Netgear already has a product out almost exactly like this (minus the 4G & audio) called "Arlo". Here's a 2-pack for $349:

http://www.amazon.com/Arlo-Smart-Sec...dp/B00P7EVST6/

It looks like you get a wireless, outdoor-friendly, battery-powered 720p camera system without audio, but with nightvision. It has heat-based motion detection (doesn't work through glass or windows). You can support up to 15 cameras in the cloud & watch up to 4 cameras at once. You get a week's worth of cloud storage for free (max 1GB within 7 days, but you have to manually delete the old videos, which sounds dumb). Premium packages are optionally available as well:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Ar...-Arlo-subscription-plans-and-how-much/ta-p/88

Battery life apparently depends on usage & temperature. It can be as high as 4 to 6 months according to Netgear, or as low as six days in cold temperatures according to Amazon reviewers. Another interesting system I saw compared in a review was the Homeboy camera, more reading here:

https://www.homeboy.com/

No live-streaming, but you basically plop it anywhere & it has cool controls. There are some neat features coming out with low-powered wireless tech & whatnot!

 

[Kaido]

The smart vents are interesting to me but I would be very concerned about the backpressure.

That's an excellent point. However, what about when you simply close a vent? This is just a motorized version of that. All of my vents have levers on them to close them manually, so I'm not sure how a motorized version would be any worse since it's essentially doing the same function, just without me standing there pulling the lever.

 

[Kaido]

CNET has a tagged smarthome section now:

http://www.cnet.com/topics/smart-home/

Interestingly enough, there's a new Staples Hub available by D-Link:

http://www.cnet.com/products/staples-connect-hub-d-link-edition/

It adds Bluetooth 4.0 & ZigBee to the existing Wifi, Zwave, and Lutron radios. However, as the review points out, it still doesn't work directly with Nest, WeMo, Insteon, or IFTTT, it has limited camera support, and it's a bit laggy. I'll pass for now.

 

[CAL7]

RE: Staples Connect. From the review (no personal experience), it offers one thing that really appeals to me, compared to Wink: better support of various Z-Wave devices. Plus a web interface. And, compared to ST, a Lutron radio. Interested in hearing any real-world experiences.