Just in time for Halloween.
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Regarding smart blinds, the Soma Connect hub has been unavailable for some time, which is frustrating as this is necessary to be able to control your blinds through a home assistant. However, this has appeared on their website:
We are in the process of finalising a new SOMA Connect hub product which has totally custom (non-Raspberry Pi) hardware made completely by SOMA which will have the same functionality as the current Raspberry Pi based model (integrations with Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, SmartThings, IFTTT, etc). The SOMA Connect U1 is a USB stick which supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi.
Might be worth hanging on for rather than splashing out on a Raspberry Pi. I am nervous about the range of this type of product, though, as the blind actuators connect via Bluetooth.
One of the reasons I Chose a hubless design like Wyze.
Roborock S7 Max Ultra update: I fucking love this thing.
In addition to being an excellent vacuum and mop that gets into places I had no expectation of it being able to get, thereâs just something very Thunderbirds about it. Especially when it rolls off the charger, turns around and backs in to refill the water reservoir. I donât know why they didnât simply put the charging connections on the back so it would only have to dock one way, but I appreciate the seemingly artificially convoluted way they solved that issue.
Smart Home Update:
I FUCKING LOVE MY ROBOT VACUUM!
The only areas it canât get to - other than the areas I designated as âno goâ - are behind open doors and under the dining table (too many chair legs to navigate). It took me less than 5 minutes to go around with the vacuum to get these small areas. I have used it upstairs now, too, and it just mapped then cleaned/mopped like a champ. Watching it do little donuts around the feet of my bed was fun. Because it mops too, I may never have to mop again.
The second map is saved (I actually have three as the master bedroom is raised by about 2" for some annoying reason) and so it has only to reorient itself when moved before it sets off on its cleaning spree. Worth every fucking penny.
Blinds
As to the Soma Tilt gizmos that actuate my Venetian blinds, Iâm not endorsing them or anything, but I just bought two more.
Light Swithces
The new Lutron Caseta smart dimmers sure are popular, because you canât get one for all the tea in China. My v1.0 Lutron smart switches are excellent, and I did manage to get my hands on a couple of the v2.0 smart non-dimmers, which are great too. The big advantage with the v2.0 switches is that they work in a 3-way set-up without the need to change out the other switch(es) in the loop, which savesâŚyouâŚmoney!
Light Strips
I have added Phillips Hue strip lights to the back of my big TV to give it a halo. Itâs just great lighting and it helps your eyes as the TV isnât a bright spot in an otherwise dark field of vision. It connected right up to my Hue Bridge and straight into the Home app. I have been playing around with the colors and brightness to see which I prefer, and I think I have found a good combo.
I just say âHey Siri! Evening TVâ and it sets a scene where the backlights come on and the floor lamps either side of the TV match their color and brightness for a really cool effect. What I need is for this scene to be able to be triggered by me waking the Apple TV, but that isnât an option that I have found.
I also want to incorporate the Soma Tilts controlling the blinds to have them close, but that requires a bridge that is not available or a DIY Raspberry Pi deployment. Ideally, I want to be able to say âWatch TVâ and Siri will figure out if itâs near/after sunset and deploy the blinds, curtains and lights accordingly.
Curtains
I am continuing to go room by room, but I am stymied by the lack of available Lutron dimmers. Other than adding automated curtains to the bedrooms (and maybe the living room) - the SwitchBot curtain runner gizmo being the likely solution here - Iâm down to just light switches now.
Locks
The Schalge HomeKey door locks are rock solid and so, so nice. Itâs reassuring to know that - even with my ADHD brain - they will always be locked at night because theyâre in my âGoodnightâ scene that turns off all the smart lights, locks the doors and sets the alarm.
Doorbell
The WeMo smart doorbell works wellâŚas a doorbell. The camera and motion sensor keep dropping out, and I have yet to get with Belkin to figure it out. I have a doorbell for my backdoor too (itâs a quirk of my neighborhood that Google will navigate you to the back door), but Iâm not investing in one for there until I am confident that it will fucking work.
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Any idea if all colors of the Lutron switches are in short supply?
Dunno. I was after pure white to match the existing switches I have. It seems itâs just the new dimmers that are out, but I donât know if that spreads to all colors.
Back to the vacuum:
Do you think youâll eventually get a second unit for the upstairs?
No need for me as my house is relatively small, and the 2nd floor is on two levels so Iâd have to pick up the robot anyway. If I had a bigger house, it would already be on order.
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Clearly the bougie, thread-appropriate solution is three robots.
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I know this is tongue in cheek but, in practical terms, the robotâs lair is pretty sizable, so it would be difficult to place one on every level.
Thatâs why you do the responsible thing and get an elevator for your robot.
(Serious smart home question: what do you do for security? )
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Tim Apple is on the job.
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I have SimpliSafe. Itâs incredibly easy to install and the monitoring is about as cheap as it gets ($20/month). Currently it is not supported directly by Apple Home so, if thatâs your smart overlord of choice, you have to use HomeBridge to make SimpliSafe visible in the Home app. The wrinkle is that you need to have HomeBridge installed on an always-on computer, or you can buy the Hoobs dongle as a standalone bridge (I have done the former).
FYI, the new Matter standard is live as of about a week ago. SimpliSafe has been coy about whether they will update their firmware to support Matter but, if they do, it will mean that it will connect to any of the big three smart home overlords (Google, Amazon and Apple) supposedly without the need for any extra futzing. On a broader scale, this could really open up a lot more options for Home users as it is Appleâs system that is the least supported by the majority of smart devices.
In the meantime, with SimpliSafe bridged into the Home app, I can arm and disarm the system through the Home app, either directly or by an automation/scene. Further, the individual sensors are âexposedâ to the Home app, so you can see their status and use them to trigger automations/scenes too. For example, if I open a window for more than 1 minute, an automation will turn off my A/C (or it would, if I had my smart thermostat hooked up, but thatâs another story).
I looked at other options for Home-friendly security systems, and none of them had the the combination of simplicity and price that SimpliSafe has. I already had the basics of the security system before I started on my smart home adventure, so I do not know if I would go another way if I was starting now with Home-compatibility in the mix. Hopefully Matter will make this all moot.
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Remington 870
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The âWingmasterâ? Great gun. Some burglar in L.A. got mine.
Youâre not using it properly.
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It was all over by the time I came home (thankfully). They ransacked the place and stole the Remington, an H&R .410, and a watch.
Yeah, I was just making fun. I have an 870, too, that I bought probably 45 years ago. It was my first dove/duck hunting gun. Itâs still living in my closet in a case, but thereâs no ammo in the house, so it wouldnât be very useful for home defense. Although the sound of racking the slide might deter lesser offenders.
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I used it for just such an occasion back in the '80s when I lived in the 4th Ward. The guy was half way in the window when the sound caused him to beat himself up pretty bad scrambling out the window and down the street. Just a local wino. This was well before gentrification.