What other 'smart' tech are you using in your homes?

I like it. I live off a busier street and it cuts the noise down some. Perfect? No. But I haven’t listed it on eBay yet either.

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FYI - one more thought on data export. One of the most challenging things in comparing power data is that exports from the Eagle/PG&E (my power company) and from my solar inverter (via SolarCity/Tesla) don’t have straightforward time bases when you get to increment smaller than a day. I can export daily, monthly or yearly totals, but neither one offer hourly data - PG&E offers 15min intervals and 5 minute intervals. SolarCity only offers me 15 minute intervals. R offers some nice capabilities to sum time series data on a periodic basis, but that process is much more painful/manual in Excel, even using PivotTables. I hope that Sense export offers some flexibility to match up with time bases of other data sources.

Good to know. I will pass it on.

Sense w/ solar
LUTRON Caseta light switches (15)
LUTRON Caseta shades (6)
Honeywell thermostats (8)
Neat smoke detectors (5)
Neat door bell/camara
Canary canaries (4)
MyQ garage door
Rachio irrigation

So clearly in an experimentation mode!
Playing with Siri/Apple Home and Alexis/Google Home but they are blocking certain product categories for obvious reasons.
Every day is a new day as this stuff comes together!

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Not sure about your experience, but not only is every day new, sometimes they are downright frustrating! I had guests this weekend and for some reason my bathroom motion sensor just decided to stop working and the light just decided to not want to be found :man_shrugging: And then as soon as they left, it was all back to normal again!

I have just switched from SmartThings to Hubitat for my home automation due to the local processing it provides. Unlike SmartThings and Wink it is not a cloud based system. It also has worked flawlessly with my z-wave and zigbee devices which unfortunately Home Assistant did not.

I looked into Hubitat but admittedly not too in depth. Without cloud connectivity, are you still able to control and see the status of connected devices remotely? I like seeing if my lights are on and doors locked from the comfort of my work desk, some 40 miles from home.

They have a cloud based dashboard (Show Off Your Dashboards! - Dashboard - Hubitat) that you can use to remotely control your devices right now. They are also working on getting their mobile app finished up. Hubitat just launched in late January of this year and they haven’t gotten the app finished up yet.

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Good to know. I’ll definitely look further into it once the mobile app is announced.

Here’s a recent writeup I did of our home-grown home automation system (Jarvis - featuring Blockchain Cryptocurrency for Kids!):


And a video demo of the kid’s points: Parenting by Alexa featuring LIFX Wifi Light Beam - YouTube

Wow. :open_mouth:

That is wild, Matt! Very, very, very cool. I’d love to see some screenshots of the interface you made!

  • Make my own
    o Arduino
    o Raspberry
    o Other single board computers
  • Alexa
  • Google
  • Nexia (Z-wave)
  • Wemo
  • Philips HUE
  • Security stuff

Generally speaking, I don’t like Z-wave and anything closed and not IP based. I also don’t like the consumer level solutions for WIFI that puts everything in one open segment either, so I have several commercial grade solutions including my own stuff that adds layers of security and more is coming.

I do NOT plan to use IoT (“smart devices”) for access control - like locks. I’m paranoid enough about having lights controlled this way. Have not yet completed the control panel (will be on a Pi) running AMQ and other basic messaging systems, rules etc. IFTTT is not an option - it’s too weak and too simplistic (not a state machine).

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@RyanAtSense – I created video demos of everything!

People talk about “Smart Homes” – but I have created what I believe is the “World’s Smartest”. The (fun) videos below are a demonstration of my custom home automation (named Jarvis), which features an innovative implementation of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency to manage our kid’s chores and entertainment.

The videos below also show integrated real-time vehicle tracking, alarm surveillance, DASH buttons, TV control, house-wide music, smart fitness coaching, mobile phone notifications, wifi colored lights, homework scoring, thermostats, sprinklers, power monitoring, motion and vibration sensors, and Echo dots in every room.

01/11 Blockchain Chores & Crypto - https://youtu.be/hnA5kTpnaB0
02/11 Vehicle Tracking - https://youtu.be/hAgBffRX1SM
03/11 Automated Fitness - https://youtu.be/kUnfqasgK5U
04/11 TV Control - https://youtu.be/1sRYHNm6oAE
05/11 Alarm & Surveillance - https://youtu.be/HaKtkssubiE
06/11 Whole Home Music - https://youtu.be/eH2da0VANHw
07/11 Mobile Integration - https://youtu.be/VRlw00SixmA
08/11 Satellite Touchpanels - https://youtu.be/A6ezfmuPeGQ
09/11 Homework Scoring - https://youtu.be/mXprAB2NPYE
10/11 Chatbot, GUI, Hardware - https://youtu.be/LsJu5jdYNzE
11/11 Extras (Dinner Gong, Home Videos) - https://youtu.be/D_v0uW2agGo

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You have me speechless, Matt. This is incredibly cool. I’m going to dig more into these videos when I get home today (and proceed to get very, very, very jealous). :+1:

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If block chain were the way to get my allowance as a kid in the 1960s… congrats on the very creative work.

Thanks Paul! Check out the new A.I. feature → World's Smartest Home (12/13) - Artificial Intelligence (Clean Your Room!) - YouTube

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Gary… I’m considering adding Fortrezz as a the Sense of my water system. Can you say a bit more about your experience… install and use? Happy with the implementation?

Currently using:

  • Sense (since last night)
  • Philips Hue hub with 7 light bulbs
  • Samsung Smart Things hub with various sensors and Sengled light bulbs connected to it
  • EcoBee 3 Lite Thermostat with 2 extra sensors (want a few more)
  • Garadget Garage Door opener add on (but also have a MyQ compatible garage door opener, but since I had the Garaget from our previous house and it doesn’t have any yearly fee to use, I’m using it)
  • Circle (by Disney) to control my kids internet access
  • EcoVacs Deebot Vacuum cleaner
  • Various TP-Link light bulbs and smart plugs
  • RaspBerry Pi 3 with Home Assistant on it running several automations (still working on setting them up)
  • August lock and Hub
  • 2 Wyze cameras
  • Several automations setup with IFTTT

I think that’s about it.

Working on integrating all of this in my own Home Automation solution as well.

HomeSeer and Z-Wave

Sense (less then a month)
Rachio
Alexa
Ecobee
Z-Wave switches, dimmers and outlets
Z-Wave garage door opener
Philips Hue bulbs
Z-wave door lock
Indoor and Outdoor cams
Logitech Harmony Hub
URC Remote
Ubiquiti UniFi Network
HDHomeRun for OTA

At AverageJoeSmartHome we have a good amount of devices running and testing. Here is some of our favorites.

-Sense :slight_smile:
-LIFX
-Lutron Caseta
-iDevices
-Rachio
-Schlage Sense (great name huh?)
-Philips Hue
-Friday Lock
-Ring Video Doorbell
-Logitech Circle
-HomeKit
-Alexa
-Vocolinc
-Nest (though we wish I had Ecobee)
-Eve sensors
-Fibaro Sensors
-Koogeek

Thanks good for now. Does anyone have some good devices to recommend that are not listed?