I have no smart home stuff yet, but I’m sort of a fan of voice assistance. I for example use Siri to set reminders, alarms, make notes and also ask Siri how to spell certain words.
My wish list for home automation will be.
Setting up the geysers, pool pump and borehole pump to work according to PV generation, same with the aircon, drop temperature if excess PV is available etc.
Automating irrigation based on input from a weather station, soil moisture and amount of rainfall.
Smart lights will be nice I guess, for switching off all lights while already in bed, switching on all outside security lights etc.
I’ll also automate blinds and curtains, simply because I hate opening and closing them every day.
Yes it will be nice to go Siri, switch on the aircon and set it to 22, Siri what’s the water tank level, Siri what’s the battery SOC, Siri switch on the geyser, Siri do we still have enough beer?
I won’t go over the top with everything voice and motion sensor controlled though, I think that’s a bit much.
I might have to start using more Zigbee - I see some estimates say those use around 0.5w while idle, while the Wifi Sonoffs might be using around 1 - 2W while idle.
I literally have a shortcut on my phone which switches off all the lights in the house (at least those on smart switches) and also checks that all the security doors are locked. Pretty convenient.
The nice part about Zigbee is that there is no need to flash to Tasmoda. Just more of a pain if you are moving to another Zigbee controller but it seems that work is being done to make the process of backing up and restoring easier.
I’ve been living with Clipsal’s CBUS for many years now so don’t even think about automation anymore. Things that happen automatically at my house are lighting based. Lights come On or go Off with daylight, randomized obviously in a 30mins window. In AWAY mode it simulates me being here, living room On and go Off at bed time. Middle of the night lights go on as my ‘ghost’ makes his way to the kitchen for a sip of water. Actual walking from my upstairs bedroom to the kitchen the hall lights come on at 5% just enough to not wake me up too much but also just enough for me to see where I am going. All this is based on movement detection. Others include alarm keypad backlight On on movement detection at night even before I press a key. Small things like pantry door open switches lights on, scullery light comes on via movement and in lower than x% light setting so I never have to manually switch that light on when getting darker. Oh, Kitchen lights dim to 50% after 30 minutes of no movement, after another 30mins they go out. If movement is detected in the 50% mode it ramps up to 100% again.
Near future plans are power related automation, simple stuff. Geyser management via node-red and CBI wifi interfaces. Probably pool and aircon as well as their automation will also be wifi based. Lastly LS based MinSOC changes between 30% during no LS times and 45% during LS timeslots, all this to get the most out of the batteries.
I would love to replace my old Boston Solo 2 clock radio that is EOSL with Alexa but not sure if she can wake me up gently like my Boston. The volume starts from nothing and ramps up slowly which I like a lot. If so then I can add voice commands to a few things. There is actually no Radio with Alexa so will have to check if she can stream Internet radio.
On this particular topic, that is one reason I really hate the modern trend in motor vehicles to use touch screens. I can barely hit the right “button” on a paved road, let alone a gravel road. Now if you cannot hand me good old tactile buttons again (like in the 90s), and you cannot make the steering wheel controls scroll through an address list (as in my current Toyota), then at least give me voice control!
I have this on my todo list – have a Conbee II waiting in a drawer for me with the plan to move all my Zigbee devices off my Aqara hub and onto this. Don’t really trust the Xiaomi stuff (and a single update can break the local API which means HA is locked out). But yeah have been putting it off for months.
Literally busy moving stuff off my Xiaomi hub as we speak. I got the Sonoff Zigbee Bridge flashed with Tasmoda. It’s a pain in the ass but ill be happy to throw that Xiaomi hub in the bin.
I’m guessing everything becomes a new entity/device with a new ID and you have to modify every Lovelace dashboard and every automation to use the new ID? (Assuming you’re using Home Assistant)
Yes, new ID’s for everything. But at least all my automations are YAML so it’s a case of find/replace all old ID’s for new ones. Just finding the new ones in Lovelace but that’s not so bad with search.
I have some wants…
power based automation based on loadshedding status and schedule to make sure the batteries are full by the time Eskom flips the switch. This requires ICC to be able to change parallel inverters’ charger source via MQTT (apparently still in the works) and having Home Assistant read the schedule somewhere. Waiting for @djagerif to figure this one out I already get the status, but have not done anything with it.
What I have running, but not limited to
Garage light off when I leave, reminder to arm the alarm if not armed
Garage light on when I arrive and house lights on if after sunset
Outside lights on and off with sun set/rise
All unnecessary lights off when I stay-arm the alarm
The wife goes to bed early in winter and blasts the AC at max temp and falls asleep. Turns off AC after 30min so I don’t walk into a sauna.
The obvious timer functions for geyser and pool and lights left on
Lots of notifications, Grid status, Alarm status, garage door status, inverter statuses, etc.
I like to see what other people does and what ideas they have to make life easier as that is ultimately what automation should be doing. I also don’t use voice assistants as talking to inanimate objects makes me feel like I need to go to a “meeting”.
I already get the status, but have not done anything with it.