This is why you always want to have manual controls as backup.
1 Like
Let us know when your house rickrolls you
2 Likes
Google has introduced a new version of its famed Nest thermostat that is Matter compatible, which means it will work with Amazon Alexa and Apple Home. Thatās good.
The bad: you have to set up the thermostat in Google Home before it will release the Matter code to set it up in other systems. Thatās a big ānopeā from me. Just Google trawling for data.
A minor ānopeā is that it is not Thread compatible and uses WiFi. Itās one of those ādoes it really matter in practice? Not really.ā vs. āitās so simple why didnāt they do it?ā quibbles. It doesnāt need the horsepower of WiFi and making it Thread compatible would take it off the WiFi network and allow it - as a mains powered device - to be a hub, expanding the range and flexibility of your home Thread network.
Basically every IOT device should be Thread compatible or thrown in the bin.
I just want to control my thermostats from my phone.
I donāt want them to learn anything, or āfollowā me about the house. A program that I control is useful, like bedroom colder at night because that is the way the wife sleeps better. But I donāt need it to do more than that.
You there, thermostat, make it colder I say. Harrumph.
1 Like
Thatās what have. There is an app I can control the temp, but I donāt need Alexa to do it for me, or have body heat sensors implanted into the ceiling. I donāt even know why youād want it Thread compatible. I canāt imagine any use for that.
A programmable thermostat will set the temperature based on a schedule, and thatās fine if thatās all you want. I agree that ālearningā thermostats are a bit much; I have pets so itās not like I want the temperature to get jacked up to 85Āŗ when I leave the house.
However, I do want the temperature to be changed based on certain criteria, and a smart thermostat allows you to have settings adjusted based on scenes and automations, which can be triggered by things other than a pre-set time. This is useful in many ways.
I have the ubiquitous āGood Morningā and āGoodnightā scenes that adjust the temperature from the sleep setting to daytime setting when I actually get up or go to bed. I find this better than a timer-based trigger because I donāt end up freezing downstairs when Iām up past my bedtime, or sweating in bed because I am sleeping in.
Further, I have a remote temperature sensor in my office. I have a āWorkā scene that, among other things, switches the priority of the thermostat from the main unit to the officeās remote sensor. My office is on the 2nd floor and south facing so it gets notably warmer than the rest of the house; this automation means the office is always comfortable when Iām there but the A/C reverts to normal when Iām not.
Right now I have to activate the āWorkā scene by voice command or through the app. Very soon I will have this triggered by a presence sensor in the office, so I donāt even have to think about it. The āWorkā scene will be en vogue when Iām in the office (say, for more than 5 minutes) and only when Iām in the office.
Lastly, a smart home assistant means you can command the thermostat on the fly with voice commands. āHey Siri! Turn the temperature down two degrees.ā Never taking the phone out of your pocket.
1 Like
Hereās how a workday morning goes:
āHey Siri! Good morning.ā
The lights on the nightstands are turned on to 40% and the lights are turned on in my bathroom. Lights and music are turned on in the kitchen. The alarm is disabled. The thermostat is set to the daytime temperature.
After Iāve made coffee and had breakfast, as I head upstairs to the office (typically laden with water, coffee and a snack for mid-morning)ā¦
āHey Siri! Work.ā
The front and back doors lock (just in case I went outside for some reason and left one open). The music is turned off in the kitchen. The lights are turned off in the kitchen, but only if it is before sunset, otherwise they stay on. The office lights and ceiling fan are turned on. The thermostat priority is switched to the office sensor.
Now, all of these things can be done by hand, but itās a pain and I much prefer letting Siri take care of all that shit.
3 Likes
This is useful: a smart lock that can replace a door knob, not just a deadbolt.
I have the Aqara U100 smart lock on my shed, and itās been great.
Thereās an Amazon Prime sale coming this month, and lots of Aqara stuff is on sale, including their door locks.
1 Like
The nature of my townhome community means that some GPSes will direct you to the front door and others to the back door (NTTAWWT). A previous owner very sensibly wired both doors for a doorbell.
The Belkin āWeMoā doorbell I have installed at the front door is small and sleek. So small and sleek that most people miss it and knock on the door. Still, the motion detector alerts me on my laptop phone, tablet, computer and TV that someone or something is at the front door, and I can do all the usual smart doorbell things.
That is when it works. It has been more flaky than a hot Cornish pastie from a Penzance bakery. Recently it has crapped out entirely, but thatās another story.
I have just received, set-up and installed an Aqara G4 doorbell at the back door. Firstly, the elephant in the room: this thing is butt-ugly. Itās giant - in order to be able to accommodate 6 AA batteries - and has all the aesthetic value of something I built in Satiscractory.
That aside, set up was so quick and easy that I wasnāt sure Iād done it right. I already have an Aqara hub (an inside surveillance camera) and it connected to that immediately. Because the Aqara hub is already āboundā to my Apple Home the camera feed showed up instantly, and it feeds automatically into my HomeKit Secure Video.
So thatās really all there is to say: itās ugly and works brilliantly.
Itās typically the knock that alerts me someone is at the door.
2 Likes
I have a dog that lets me know once someone enters in my yard. I have a camera in a tree by the front door if I need to use my phone see who is at the door or I can just look out the window.
2 Likes
Package detection is very useful for me. My front door is literally 2 metres from the sidewalk and, while nothing has (yet) been pirated from my porch, the alert from the doorbell is often way faster than the email I get from Amazon.
Also, I get groceries delivered and sometimes the notification from the service takes a while to come through. When you have frozen items sitting in direct Texas sunlight, seconds matter.
I mostly use my security cameras for when Iām away from home.
We have a chihuahua. It never fails to notify us of package deliveries or someone at the front door. It was a rescue, so installation costs were low. Maintenance has been fairly expensive.
3 Likes
How much was that thing? My hubless, infinite cloud storage Wyze Doorbell Pro was $44. It lasts for 6+ months on the AA rechargeable batteries I swap in and out and has never once failed. Ever.
My v1 Wyze cameras have finally started to give up the ghost. One every 3 or 4 months, mostly because I have them in damp or outdoor locations far exceeding their stated (indoor) operating capabilities. I replace them with $9.98 Wyze Cam OGās that are IP65 outdoor rated and run at 1080p for things like my wifeās chicken coop. Or, the Occasional Wyze Cam v4 with itās 2.5K HDR resolution for a whopping $29.95. Once the v2 cameras (and floodlights and garage door openers and everything else came out at IP65), not a single one has ever failed.
The infinite cloud storage costs me $59 per year. For up to 100 devices. Itās glorious. I put all the devices on the highest recording settings and have AI-enabled smart detections for 24x7 coverage for both my places in VT and MD. All the configs are stored in the cloud as well so if a device fails, I just rename the replacement the same thing and all the configs dump right to it. Itās a virtual hub config in the sky.
The software layer is so incredible with these things that, when I want to upgrade for something like higher resolution or AI capabilities, I just give my brother the old stuff for his house. He plops the old(er) devices around his house and it just works.
1 Like
The Aqara doorbell was $100. I already pay too much for Apple Premium that provides unlimited uploads to HomeKit Secure Video. The HKSV compatibility was important for me because it would be madness on madness to pay for the Apple service and then have to pay another subscription for a doorbell.
1 Like
One of the smartest things I ever did was invest and early adopt into the Wyze ecosystem.
The various YTers all seem to applaud the aqara stuff.
I live a lot simpler life than some a yāall.
2 Likes
I have had almost nothing but good experiences with Aqara. I have had a couple of situations where a light switch has dropped off the hub somehow, and Iāve had to reset it, but thatās two or maybe three occurrences in two years with a dozen or so switches installed. The sheer range of items they make is eyewatering, and I have a decent cross-section including cameras, switches, smart plugs and sensors.
As a value for money brand, the performance is premium quality. Where Aqara loses points is with the intangibles like aesthetics and āfeelā. Their stuff looks cheap and is very plasticky. Things like the click on the light switches didnāt bother me at first, but I now realize I prefer the silent operation of the Caseta switches better.
Speaking of which, the Caseta switches are premium in look, feel and performance, but at about double the cost of Aqara equivalents. My Caseta light switches and fan controls are excellent in every way and have been literally flawless in operation. I have never had a single drop out.
Conversely, everything I have bought from either Belkin or TP-Link has been a finicky, expensive piece of shit.