Looking for some advice on a good smart home ecosystem,
As I’m moving into a new apartment so I thought while it’s empty I might update it to take advantage of these systems
I currently don’t have any in mind, just searching for what’s been working for you?
If it helps the only smart devices I currently have is a iPhone and google nest hub (which I don’t even really use the mic)
Isn't there a lot of controversy around the Alexa models?
They're funneling a lot of your data, actively recording/listening in, and there have been some networks that were breached or compromised.
I have reservations with the Google solution as well. As much as I loathe Apple, they are much more trustworthy.
While the best solution is to DiY, using Cameras, Mics, Speakers, and Raspberry Pi, connected to your NAS-Router. Might have to learn it all yourself. Or follow some guides carefully. Or hire someone to help/do it for you.
Yeah, that's why I use Siri now. It isn't as smart, but it does what I need it to.
I'm a bit of a tinkerer, so I'm using Home Assistant with a bunch of zigbee lights and some Zigbee switches as well as an iPad to control everything.
It's a bit of setup, but you can do some pretty cool stuff with it…
Alternately: Phillips Hue seem to have a really solid setup, but you'll pay through the nose for it. I started off with one of the Phillips Hue starter kits from a deal on here, and it has been pretty solid.
Home assistant for me too. I have it running on a raspberry pi with conbee zigbee stick. Agree you can do lots of cool stuff with it. One of my big reasons for going this path was being able to add in a wide range of devices - particularly stuff that doesn't cost much. For example, ikea lights, toggle switches, power plug switches. Aqara temperature, door, motion sensors. I even got $100 door lock advertised on here linked in. There's more work involved in setting it up, but versatile once you have it going. I had no idea what I was buying when I went down the pi and home assistant path - but glad i did!
So you can link any device with home assistant and centralize everything in one app/screen ?
Not any device. You need to check compatibility. I have zigbee2mqtt installed, and this looks to be a list of compatible devices: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/supported-devices/
Whatever devices you connect, you can then control within home assistant on your pc or mobile app.
If you go down this path, just be aware you will need to spend a good chunk of time setting it up.
@ChipsChicky: It's termed an "add-on". There are a few alternatives but from what I can tell this has most extensive compatibility.
I've got cheap junky stuff that's all Tuya whitebox items from various resellers including Kogan and Laser bulbs, Brilliant branded switches and Click brand IP cameras.
They're all rubbish, but since they're the same/compatible software I only need one app on my phone for them to work. I'm not even capitalising on anything 'smart' but the bulbs were cheaper at $5 each than a plain LED bulb for $9 at Woolies!
The functionality would be a heap more if I could find some wifi buttons/switches as well as cheap sensors like temp or motion sensors that didn't cost a packet. Still seems cheaper to DIY something with a Raspi if I had the time and energy.
i use alexa. i have echo show 10, 8, 5, pro, studio, and a bunch of dots. a lot of stuff works with alexa. all my lights, plugs, camera, ring, fairy lights, deck lights, etc… are hooked up to my alexa.
Depends on what you want to achieve. I'm using HomeSeer and develop plugins for HomeSeer:
https://shop.homeseer.com/search?type=product&q=alexbk66
I prefer "local" control (without Internet), so don't like stuff like Tuya.
Main advice - before starting buying automation devices - consider what I might want to add later, otherwise people often end-up with lots of incompatible devices with separate smartphone apps for each.
I use hubitat and a bunch of ZigBee and zwave devices. One of the reasons I use hubitat compared to home assistant is because I have time to do a bit of tinkering but not that much.
Their community forum page is pretty good too
Home Assistant all the way.
We interact with most of our smart home gear with voice via Google Home, but that's mainly as we'd picked up some cheap/free Google devices over the years, and were already pretty heavily invested in the Google ecosystem data wise… which is going to be a real pain to dig ourselves back out of (probably not so much, but it certainly seems that way).
Personally, consider what you want from your system long term, and the pros/cons of the available systems.
For me, local cloud-free control and privacy are big considerations, which does fly a bit in the face of our current Google-centric setup.
Local cloud-free I feel is particularly important as you don't have to look too wide to find people lamenting using particular systems/products only to discover that support for those was dropped and they're now left with lobotomized hardware (the hardware still works fine, but since it relied on The Cloud™ for control it's now non-functioning). See Insteon, Wink, TP-Link, Sonos… some of these did get backtracked in all or part, but the fact that they happened at all is telling.
Thanks for all the input,
There is def more options then I realised, I am going to spend the next few weeks having a deep google,
I do like the idea off offline as well
Here’s my broad overview:
Home Assistant will cost you time, but give you flexibility in products, flexibility in automations, local control and privacy.
HomeKit will cost you money and flexibility in products, but give you quality and local control and privacy.
Google and Amazon will cost you privacy but give you flexibility in products and a good voice assistant.
Personally, I use Home Assistant, HomeKit and Google for different functions. I would highly recommend Home Assistant if you enjoy tinkering with technology to the point you are willing to make it a hobby. If that isn’t you, then the other big three might be better options depending on what you value most.
Having said all that, a new smart home standard called Matter is due to be finalised in Spring. All of the above mentioned platforms have been working on it together and it will change the smart home industry. It will add some local control to every platform and increase the flexibility of products for every platform, especially HomeKit. It will mostly just allow you to get a Matter certified product and know it will work with all the platforms.
How did your research go, are you leaning one way or another?
I use HomeKit (Siri) because:
- Offline
- My needs are simple (turn on/turn off)
I wouldn't recommend it because unless you are willing to run Homebridge or something, then certified devices aren't as common, or as cheap.
I used Google Home and Alexa for a while. Of the two I preferred Alexa because it had so many skills. Problem with these two were that every command would be calculated online, so if my net was slow, the responses would be slow. But, they are easier.
Is there anything in particular that you are looking to do?