[M_Six]

I followed Shane Whatley's excellent tutorial on setting up a full check of doors and locks and notifying me if all is secure or if something is still unlocked or open. Works like a charm. Simple shortcut on my iPhone to make sure I didn't leave the backdoor unlocked (again).

[kscarrol]

Taking my first step into this tomorrow. AV folks coming out set up the media room including a Savant host for control of the AV plus some lights and the four thermostats I’m the house. Light controls are for the media room, exterior light and a couple select interior lights.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Taking my first step into this tomorrow. AV folks coming out set up the media room including a Savant host for control of the AV plus some lights and the four thermostats I’m the house. Light controls are for the media room, exterior light and a couple select interior lights.

First step = Welcome to the rabbit hole.

[M_Six]

Got HomeBridge set up and running today on a RaspberryPi box. Works well. I was able to use an FFMPEG plugin to connect my ancient Foscam cameras to HomeKit. New life for old technology.

[vreihen16]

My Schlage Sense (HomeKit version) reported a lock jam when closing on Monday morning. The door is shifting a bit as the ground thaws, and the deadbolt plunger hangs up on the side of the hole in the door frame. When I turned the inside knob to unlock the door, it was binding even with the door open for testing. A liberal spray of Boeshield T-9 got it moving more freely, but there was still a notchiness in the mechanical mechanism. TL;DR - I just ordered a complete replacement unit, because I don't trust the current hardware to not lock me out of the house or snap off a key trying to turn the lock manually.....

[ryan stewart]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

My Schlage Sense (HomeKit version) reported a lock jam when closing on Monday morning. The door is shifting a bit as the ground thaws, and the deadbolt plunger hangs up on the side of the hole in the door frame. When I turned the inside knob to unlock the door, it was binding even with the door open for testing. A liberal spray of Boeshield T-9 got it moving more freely, but there was still a notchiness in the mechanical mechanism. TL;DR - I just ordered a complete replacement unit, because I don't trust the current hardware to not lock me out of the house or snap off a key trying to turn the lock manually.....

If you can on homekit switch to the YALE one. It has a tapered and polished chrome deadbolt that gets you some clearance. My door is TIGHT and the previous Schlage one would stop locking if you didnt pull the door tight but this one is like a soft close, it will actually compress the weather seal in the act of locking without issue.

[ryan stewart]

I must say, since breaking my collarbone I have a fresh appreciation for having all of the home automation setup to my google homes. Ive used it like Ive never used it before.

[vreihen16]

I just saw online today that Insteon shut down their cloud servers, and is now out of business while users are left with bricks.

Earlier this month, iHome also pulled the plug. Their stuff is still for sale, but the iHome phone app necessary to set them up is no longer available for download.

Speculation is that LIFX will be next to fold.

The moral to this story is to not buy products with cloud dependencies, lest you wind up with a pile of e-waste when they go broke paying those cloud hosting bills.

Anyone want to buy my Wink hub paperweight?????

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I just saw online today that Insteon shut down their cloud servers, and is now out of business while users are left with bricks.

Earlier this month, iHome also pulled the plug. Their stuff is still for sale, but the iHome phone app necessary to set them up is no longer available for download.

Speculation is that LIFX will be next to fold.

The moral to this story is to not buy products with cloud dependencies, lest you wind up with a pile of e-waste when they go broke paying those cloud hosting bills.

Anyone want to buy my Wink hub paperweight?????

That's what worries me about the Eufy cams I just bought. I'm using them strictly with HKSV, but they still need the Eufy account to run. It's a shame someone can't produce the same quality camera with the same features that does not require an online account.

[aguywalksintoabar]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

Stopping in to just say I have nothing to contribute to this thread. I won't even have Alexa in my house.

Carry on

You don't know what you're missing out on.
For example: Alexa, take down the Christmas decorations.

[aguywalksintoabar]

Automation…

The washing machine is on wi-fi.
So is the dryer.
The oven too.
The garage door opener.
Music streaming is set up across a few rooms.
The HVAC is all on wi-fi too.
The coffee maker as of last month so just set it to do it's thing in the morning.
Some lamps can be controlled via apps.

Bunch of apps for a lot of things. Organized into folders on my phone.

Not sure what else can be automated but that's working great for now.

[Patrick303]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I just saw online today that Insteon shut down their cloud servers, and is now out of business while users are left with bricks.

Earlier this month, iHome also pulled the plug. Their stuff is still for sale, but the iHome phone app necessary to set them up is no longer available for download.

Speculation is that LIFX will be next to fold.

The moral to this story is to not buy products with cloud dependencies, lest you wind up with a pile of e-waste when they go broke paying those cloud hosting bills.

Anyone want to buy my Wink hub paperweight?????

Well that sucks! All my smart switches are Insteon. Can confirm that you can't log into the app anymore. Luckily all my switches are still working because I have them integrated with HomeKit using the HOOBS bridge!

[Ginster6]

Originally Posted by Patrick303

Well that sucks! All my smart switches are Insteon. Can confirm that you can't log into the app anymore. Luckily all my switches are still working because I have them integrated with HomeKit using the HOOBS bridge!

you guys must understand that Lutron is the best........ zero problems

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Ginster6

you guys must understand that Lutron is the best........ zero problems

I have Lutrons and a few Wemo switches. Each has advantages. The Wemo switches are way faster for turning lights on and off and have been rock solid reliable. But they need a neutral wire, so indoor use in older houses is limited. The Lutron Caseta switches don't require a neutral, so they solve that problem, but they're slower to turn the lights on and off. The lights fade in to full brightness and then fade out to full off. It just takes a few seconds, but if you're used to instant light when you hit a switch, the Lutrons can take some getting used to.

[ryan stewart]

This is why I stick with STANDARDS. Z wave or zigbee. Mainly z-wave in my house. Any powered z-wave plus device (which is pretty much anything anymore) works as a mesh repeater, giving basically unlimited range to the hub and good performance. But also since its a standard you can run them with most controllers and even independently.

Right now using a smartthings hub (older one with local processing) but if that folds Ill be getting a homeseer controller and setting it up for full local processing. Although hoping samsung keeps smartthings going because the community has pretty much any automation you can think of already.

lutron is nice but they want to lock you into their system, which doesnt give me the flexibility I need and means they are always last to the game with integrations.

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by M_Six

First step = Welcome to the rabbit hole.

Not going so far down the rabbit hole as door locks but nice to able to control exterior lighting and my four thermostats in South Carolina from my phone!

[M_Six]

Are those actual pictures of your house or just default icons?

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Are those actual pictures of your house or just default icons?

Exterior shot is our actual house, interior shots are default. Need to do some paint and get our furniture, art etc moved in before I'll add actual interior shots.

[Ginster6]

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

This is why I stick with STANDARDS. Z wave or zigbee. Mainly z-wave in my house. Any powered z-wave plus device (which is pretty much anything anymore) works as a mesh repeater, giving basically unlimited range to the hub and good performance. But also since its a standard you can run them with most controllers and even independently.

Right now using a smartthings hub (older one with local processing) but if that folds Ill be getting a homeseer controller and setting it up for full local processing. Although hoping samsung keeps smartthings going because the community has pretty much any automation you can think of already.

lutron is nice but they want to lock you into their system, which doesnt give me the flexibility I need and means they are always last to the game with integrations.

I am system Integrator... Lutron basically work with all savants , control 4 , creston... etc...... though, yes those Lutron Homework and RadiopRa2/3 system is not for DIY guys.

except for Lutron caseta, and radiora select can be DIY system.

[Ginster6]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Not going so far down the rabbit hole as door locks but nice to able to control exterior lighting and my four thermostats in South Carolina from my phone!

Savant........

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by Ginster6

Savant........

Yes! Great system, easily expandable but definitely above my pay grade in terms of installation. Happy to pay an expert for that!

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

Right now using a smartthings hub (older one with local processing) but if that folds Ill be getting a homeseer controller and setting it up for full local processing.

I have been running HomeAssistant since last December, and am extremely pleased with the results once I got over the learning curve. Since it is open-source and popular, integrations for just about everything imaginable are available for HA before most other platforms. Plus, it has a built-in HomeKit bridge for Apple integration, and ESPHome for making all kinds of IoT gadgets/sensors using cheap ESP8266/ESP32 modules. It is using a USB Z-Wave stick and their Z-Wave to MQTT integration to control all of my Inovelli switches, and it has been surprisingly bulletproof so far.....