House Smarty

Please, Please, Please Do Not Disturb!

2020-09-15T11:00:00.030-04:00

It’s 2020. You know, the year with the fires, pandemic, murder hornets, and more fires. There’s a pandemic forcing millions of employees to work from home. I’m fortunate to have a dedicated home office to work out of and various family members are always dropping by to say hi. I love being able to see my family so often! Except when I’m on a work call. And until recently, my family’s way of determining if I was on a call was to barge into my office yelling, “Are you on a call?”. And I would have to gesture off-camera to my headset while maintaining a completely neutral face or fumble for the mute button to answer them that, yes, I am on a call. You’d think the closed door and large Jabra 75 headset covering my ears would be clue enough but, alas, my family requires something a little less subtle. Something along the lines of a flashing, bright red “on-air” sign used by TV studios.

Migrating Z-Wave Devices to Home Assistant

2020-09-08T11:00:00.039-04:00

As I shared in the previous post, my system was running Home Assistant but talking to my devices through the cloud integration to SmartThings. Node-RED was able to respond to events and turn lights and or off (in HA-land, this is referred to as “calling a service”) but these automations were not yet running locally due to the integration with SmartThings. My next task was to start moving devices over from SmartThings to the Home Assistant Z-Wave integration.

Allow Myself to Introduce... Myself to Home Assistant

2020-08-19T10:00:00.008-04:00

After deciding to leave SmartThings, I decided to first try out HomeAssistant (henceforth to be known as HA). HA is an open source project that has the reputation of being compatible with hundreds (if not thousands) of devices and eco-systems with a large and powerful set of plugins. It sounds great, but it also has the reputation of being difficult to configure due to its reliance on text based yaml files. You also have to provide the hardware for it to run on which means that you need to know something about "computers" before getting started. Undeterred by what seemed to be minor technical hurdles, I dived right in.

Why I'm Leaving SmartThings

2020-07-16T10:30:00.000-04:00

For the past few years, I’ve been building up my home automation system piece by piece. I’ve set up automated lights activated by voice assistants, timers, and motion sensors, configured cameras, temperature and humidity sensors, and smart thermostats. I’ve even configured several wall panels that act as control centers for much of the system that show different information based on the day of the week and switch to a camera view when my doorbell rings. Powering this all is a system called SmartThings, an automation ecosystem owned by Samsung.

SmartThings has always been an interesting platform because of its cloud-based nature. I purchased the hub several years ago and linked all my lights and systems to it. However, all automations and custom code are stored and run in Samsung’s cloud. This means developers have nearly unlimited computing power at their disposal for running automations. This gave rise to automation systems like WebCore which gives SmartThings a program-like interface for defining automations and flows. However, the flip side of that coin is that your remote automations are… remote. If your internet is down or Samsung’s cloud is slow, automations might be slow to activate or simply not run at all. As mentioned in an earlier post, an unreliable automation is often worse than no automation at all. The purpose of automation is to make things easier; when I walk into the house expecting the lights to go on and they don't, it makes me less trusting the next time I need that automation. Having to think about the lights at all defeats the purpose of creating the automation in the first place.

As of late, SmartThings has gotten less and less reliable. Lights that used to go on as soon as motion was detected started taking 5 - 10 seconds to react. Leaving the house stopped reliably changing the house mode to Away. Timers that automatically put the house into Shabbat mode failed inconsistently. Each failure on its own wasn’t a big deal but, taken in aggregate, caused me to lose trust in the SmartThings system. If I had to check my phone to see if the AC got turned down automatically after I left the house, then I might as well just turn it down myself!

Additionally, Samsung recently announced that major changes to the SmartThings platform are coming soon. They’ve always talked about a vague plan of converting everyone to use their newer mobile apps and platform but that always seemed to be a far-future, aspirational hope. The new mobile app had been steadily (but slowly) improving for a few years but still wasn’t ready for primetime. This year, Samsung announced that it would stop manufacturing hardware and double down on their new platform and its integration with other device manufacturers. It's still unclear what that actually means but it did seem like drastic change was coming one way or another. This has always been a risk when dealing with cloud-based providers. There's a saying in IT, "the cloud is just someone else's computer." When you use someone else's computers, you are mostly at their mercy. In fact, in the past few months, another cloud-based automation system, Wink, announced that they were moving to a subscription based model and users had no choice but to pay up or leave the platform.

For me, this is the writing on the wall. Between my increasing frustration with its reliability, the impending changes to the platform, and my unending desire to tinker with things, I've decided to leave SmartThings. There are two natural choices with which to replace it. Hubitat is a hub that has much of the power of SmartThings but runs everything locally on the hub itself. It uses a lot of the same device handlers and can even run WebCore for advanced automations. The other choice is Home Assistant, an open source project with a huge community and tons of integration points with other systems. Each has their strengths and weaknesses which I’ll discuss in a future post. Which2 one did I choose to go with? Both, of course! I bought a Hubitat Elevate hub as well as a Raspberry Pi 4 for Home Assistant and will play with both of them. Stay tuned for future posts in which I report my findings back here!

Deal: Ring 2 Smart Doorbell for $89.99

2020-01-30T11:04:00.000-05:00

B&H is currently having a sale on the Ring 2 Doorbell for $89.99. We've discussed the Ring 2 previously in our Beginners Guide to Smart Video Doorbells and still maintain that it is one of the best wireless camera doorbells available. As it usually costs $200 and is occasionally on sale for $150 - this is a great deal at $90! This deal expires today.

Click here to see it on B&H's website.

2-in-1 Z-Wave Switch Release

2019-12-16T16:57:00.000-05:00

Many bathrooms have a single-gang box that has 2 switches in it, one above the other.

Typically, one controls a light and the other, a heater or exhaust fan. To automate these switches, there were a few options, none of them ideal. You could use smart bulbs which have the issues we've discussed in the past. That also doesn't help control the fan. You can also use an internal relay such as Fibaro double switch (or the equivalent model from Qubino) that mounts inside your wall or fixture and can control both loads. However, fitting these switches behind your existing light switch along with all the necessary wires can be quite challenging if not impossible!

Online forums are full of advice that usually recommends breaking open your wall and installing a 2-gang box to accommodate a second smart switch. Needless to say, that approach is not what most home automation DIYers are hoping to hear.

Today, our friends from The Smartest House have released their long-awaited solution to this problem. I just received notice the Zooz Zen-30 is now available for sale and discounted for today only.

The top portion is a normal dimmer switch that operates the same way a normal Zen22/27 dimmer works - double tap for full brightness and other tap patterns for scene control. The bottom button is an on/off switch to control the non-dimming load like your exhaust fan. Check out the product page for more details. I've ordered 2 and will keep you posted on how it works in reality.

A Beginner's Guide to Presence Detection

2019-09-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

One of the most difficult aspects of home automation to do correctly is Presence. However, it’s also one of the most useful. Knowing if your home is occupied allows your automation to do things like turn off all the lights, turn down the heat or a/c, or even activate an alarm system when you leave. These obvious use-cases make setting up presence detection a must-have for most smart homes; but unfortunately, this is incredibly easy to get wrong. Flaky detection methods coupled with the natural complications caused by the normal comings and goings of a multi-person house can yield unpredictable behavior and trigger light, sirens, and tempers unexpectedly (see Getting Automation Right).

Wifi Coverage for Beginners

2019-07-23T11:30:00.000-04:00

A common question I get is how to get the best wifi coverage throughout a house. Even if you use Z-Wave and Zigbee extensively, you’re still going to have smart devices that require wifi. Thermostats, cameras, video doorbells can make extensive use of wifi and benefit from strong coverage that blankets every inch of your home. Smart TVs, smart assistants, laptops, and smartphones will need good, fast wifi signals as well. There a 3 main options to get great wifi and whether any of them is right for you depends on your technical prowess, budget, and willingness (or ability) to run wires through your walls.

Deal: Ring Pro + Echo Dot for $169

2019-07-08T14:54:00.005-04:00

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware that Amazon is having a huge sale for Prime members starting July 15th. However, what you might not know, is that they've been lowering prices on various items over the last few days as a lead up the main event. Today, you can get the Ring Pro video doorbell and an Echo Dot for $169, the lowest price ever for this bundle.

You can read about why we recommend the Ring Pro here (especially for Alexa users).

A Beginner's Guide to Automation: Getting Automation Right

2019-06-19T11:30:00.000-04:00

Last time, we talked about the different levels of automation. To recap: Level 1 is a simple “if this happens then do that” process. Level 2 adds fixed conditions such as the day of the week or time of the day. Level 3 introduces the concept of modes which are essentially shortcuts to represent other actions or automations and allows you to constrain your automation to certain modes. Finally, Level 4 automations are complex, allowing an arbitrary number of conditions and if statements to be chained together. The automation level provided by Alexa and Google Assistant is Level 2 with basic day and time conditions. This week we’ll discuss why Level 2 is not enough for most multi-person households. We’ll also go through some strategies to help ensure the automations you create are as reliable as possible.

A Beginner's Guide to Automation: What is Automation?

2019-06-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

By now, you’ve installed all the various devices in our home. You can whip out your phone to change the temperature on your thermostat, turn on the lights, see who is at the door, close the blinds, and make sure the door is locked with the greatest of ease. Congratulations, you have a connected home! The next step is to start turning your connected home into a smart home. If the hub is the brain of your home, then (at the risk of taking the analogy too far), your home’s “thoughts” are automations.

An automation can have one of several different degrees of complexity. The level of complexity you require typically informs that class of device you need. I’ve grouped these complexity levels into 4 major categories. We’ll start with the simplest category, discuss an example, and then build on it through the increasing levels.

Assistance with Assistants

2019-05-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

Throughout the Silicon Age, there have been countless religious wars of varying degrees of intensity and nerdiness. Mac vs PC, Nintendo vs Sega, Playstation vs Xbox, NT vs Netware, iPhone vs Android, and tabs vs spaces. Home automation is no different and although we have (and will do so again in the future) discussed Home Assistant vs SmartThings and Z-Wave vs wifi, this week we will talk about the digital assistants that sit in our houses waiting at our beck and call: Alexa and Google Assistant (and Siri).

A Beginner's Guide to Smart Bulbs

2019-05-21T11:30:00.000-04:00

Last week we discussed the various options available for replacing your light switches. Another way to smarten up your home’s lighting is with smart bulbs. These are light bulbs that are controllable via your all-purpose hub or a dedicated bridge via an app or automations. Smart bulbs have several advantages and disadvantages over smart switches which means they might have a place in your home, even if you’ve installed switches!

Let’s talk about some of the pros of using smart bulbs:

A Beginner's Guide to Smart Switches

2019-05-14T11:30:00.000-04:00

We’ve installed our thermostats, set up our doorbell and are loving the control it gives us. We’re starting to see the possibilities that home automation brings. Some of the key components that any smart house needs live on the walls of just about every room in our house. That’s right, we’re going to talk about light switches.

We physically interact with light switches every day. They are some of the most simple and reliable pieces of equipment in our houses. Every family member and guest understands how to use them without instructions. And therein lies the problem. How do we change out a simple, reliable, and intuitive piece of hardware for an inherently more complex one without sacrificing reliability and intuitiveness? Each manufacturer tries to answer these questions in its own way; some more successfully than others. Let’s examine some of the factors that go into choosing a good switch.

Smart Video Doorbells

2019-05-07T11:30:00.000-04:00

The next beginner friendly smart home component is a video doorbell. As with the thermostat, most smart doorbells do not require a hub and connect to your wifi. This makes it another ideal component to install while still learning about home automation.

As with most home automation components, there isn’t a one-size-fits all solution when it comes to doorbells. The main determining factor for which doorbell will work for you is whether you have an existing wired doorbell. Wired doorbells are extremely simple mechanisms. Pressing the button connects 2 wires that run back into your house to a chime and is powered by a transformer that is fed by your house’s electrical panel. [picture of transformer]. The transformer’s job is to take the 110 volts provided by the house’s power and step it down to 16 - 24 volts that the doorbells chime needs. If you have an existing transformer connecting to a wired doorbell, that’s great and means you have plenty of smart doorbells to choose from. If you don’t, then you’ll need to have an electrician install one or use a battery powered smart doorbell.

If you’re going with a wired doorbell, the clear front-runner is the Nest Hello. The Nest is slim and looks good on the wall near your door, has great picture quality, and does a great job capturing motion and people ringing your doorbell. The Hello, like all of Nest’s cameras, record continuously and send all its footage to the cloud. So when motion is sensed, it does not have to start recording, it just needs to note what time the event occurred and then allows you to view that part of the video stream. This isn’t without downsides, though. Continuously streaming your video to the cloud uses bandwidth 24/7 which might be problematic if your internet provider limits how much data you can use every month. It also might overload your wifi causing other devices to slow down. Additionally, viewing anything other than live footage requires a Nest Aware subscription which runs $5 a month for the first device and $3 for each additional one. Add that to the already expensive price ($200+) for the doorbell itself and you’re looking at a significant investment! Because Nest is owned by Google, it won’t come as a surprise that the Hello plays nicely with Google’s smart speakers and displays. The Hello can stream video to the Google Hub and other Google Smart Displays. Even cooler (or creepier), the Hello can recognize familiar faces and announce your visitors by name!

The Ring Pro is also a popular wired doorbell. It costs about the same as the Nest Hello and is also a good looking, slim doorbell. However, the Ring Pro does not record continuously, it will store a few seconds of footage in its buffer and, when it senses motion or the doorbell is pressed, it sends the footage to the cloud as 30 second clips. If the event takes longer than 30 seconds, you might miss some footage between clips. As with the Nest, to see anything but live video you’ll have to pony up for a subscription; in this case $3 a month per device. Ring also has a pretty comprehensive portfolio of other outdoor cameras attached to floodlights and spotlights as well as an alarm system so if you plan to or already have bought Ring devices, it might make sense to stick with their doorbell. Ring was purchased by Amazon so their video streams to an Echo Show smart display. If you just want a chime to sound in your house without Echo integration, Ring sells a Chime that will sound when someone rings your bell and a Chime Pro that also extends your wifi to improve the Ring’s internet connection.

If you can’t use a wired doorbell, your choices are much more limited. In fact, your main option is going to be a Ring Video Doorbell 2. The Ring 2 is a bit larger (and uglier) but it is battery powered. Having a removable, chargeable battery means the installation is simpler but it also means that you’ll be removing the battery to charge it every few months. It’s not difficult to do but does require you to unscrew the front to remove the battery, charging it overnight, and then replacing it. The Ring app lets you know when your battery needs changing. Ring sells a solar panel that is supposed to keep your Ring 2 fully charged without ever changing the battery but it makes the doorbell even uglier, requires lots of direct sunlight to work, and has terrible reviews. There are other drawbacks for relying on battery power as well. To conserve power, the Ring 2 only starts recording when it sense motion. Sometimes the recording starts too late and misses part of the event that triggered the recording leading to a clip of someone walking away from your door. I currently have a Ring 2 and am not thrilled with it. When I get a motion alert, it sometimes takes up to a minute before the clip is visible in the app or the Ring website. Once it finally shows up, it is labelled “processing” and is un-viewable for another minute or so. Fortunately, I have a CCTV camera mounted above my door so when I get a Ring notification, I fire up that app instead. That probably won’t work for most people though.

Recently released is (or rather, was) the August View. August is known for their smart locks and has a previous entry into the doorbell market that has an odd-looking square shape and requires a wired connection. It has not received great reviews and I haven’t tried it. The new one looked promising but was then pulled from the market due to wifi connectivity issues. Hopefully, they'll get that straightened out an re-released soon.

One more doorbell to consider is made by a small start-up called Soliom. It is a solar powered doorbell that is supposed to work with even indirect sunlight. It records to a local SD card and saves a number of clips to the cloud for free. Of course, this all sounds too good to be true so proceed with caution. If you do buy one - please let us know how it goes!

Finally, taking a slightly different approach is the Arlo Doorbell. Arlo is a wireless camera company that makes pretty good completely wireless (battery operated + wifi) cameras. Their doorbell is less than half the price of the Ring and Nest. The way they've accomplished this is by not including a video camera in the doorbell. They want you to pair this with one of their cameras for viewing video of your door. The doorbell does include 2-way audio and motion sensing capabilities so, if all you're looking for is a doorbell + intercom that doesn't need wires, this product might be for you.

Let's take a look at the top choices here:

	Nest Hello	Ring Pro	Ring 2
Power Source	wired	wired	Wired or battery
Looks good	Y	Y	N
Continuous Recording (high bandwidth requirements)	Y	N	N
Ecosystem	Nest/Google	Ring/Amazon	Ring/Amazon
Cost	$250 + subscription	$250 + subscription	$180 + subscription

Bottom line, if you want a wired doorbell, get the Nest Hello, especially if you use Google Assistant devices in your home. Echo Show owners will probably be happier with a Ring Pro. If you need a battery powered doorbell, you’re stuck with the Ring 2 or you can wait to see how the August View turns out if and when it gets re-released.

Thermostats

2019-04-30T11:30:00.000-04:00

Many people getting started with home automation dive right in to choosing hubs and z-wave light switches. However, I like to advise people to start with a different part of their home: the thermostat. This recommendation stems from a philosophy I have that entering the world of smart homes should be like getting into a hot tub, do it slowly! Making many drastic changes to your house at once can cause confusion and frustration if things don’t work perfectly and can sour you (or your housemates) on home automation altogether.

Many of the top rated thermostats are excellent, standalone systems and work without any hubs. That’s right, they are wifi. Remember when we mentioned that wifi devices have a place in your home? This is one of those places. They are typically controlled by well-designed mobile apps and web sites and are very easy to get started with and program. This means that once you set up your thermostat, you’ll start to experience the convenience of controlling a vital part of your home remotely and you start to see the potential for how a smart home can be beneficial. This realization, formed by experience rather than research, is what gets people hooked on smart home technology. For many, thermostats are the gateway drug to home automation.

When choosing a smart thermostat, there are several questions to consider.

Compatibility: Is the thermostat designed to work with your home’s heating and cooling system? Some homes have a furnace, others boilers, and still others have heat pumps. Can the thermostat manage these different systems?
Installation: How easy is it to install? Does your home have the wires necessary to power the thermostat? Most smart thermostats require a wire called the “c or common wire” or common wire to help provide power to the thermostat so it can run its pretty screen and wifi radios.
Features: Does the thermostat have the specific bells and whistles you find useful in your home?
Control: How easy is it to control and program the thermostat? Is there a mobile app or website? Is it compatible with your home automation hub (if you have one)?

There are many thermostats to choose from but there a 2 clear front runners in the space: Nest and Ecobee. Let’s look at them one at a time. Nest, owned by Google, has 2 current models, the Nest E and the Nest 3rd Gen. The feature set of both of these is similar, but different configurations of boiler, furnace and A/C might mean that you have to go with the more expensive 3rd Gen rather than the cheaper E. Nest provides a Compatibility Checker on the web and in their app that helps you figure out if you can get the E. Even if both models are compatible with your system, I’d still recommend the 3rd Gen over the E due to the much higher-end, metal look it has vs the E’s plastic-y aesthetic.

Installation of the Nest is very easy. It is usually a matter of removing your old thermostat, attaching the Nest’s mounting plate and reattaching the color coded wires, and then snapping your new thermostat into place. However, many older homes do not have a C wire. Nest is one of the few smart thermostats that claims not to need a C wire. If one isn’t attached, the Nest will charge its internal battery when your system is on. If your system is not on for an extended period of time, the Nest will turn it on for short bursts to “steal” power to keep itself charged. Many installers will tell you that these short cycles of your HVAC system can damage it and strongly recommend attaching a C wire. If your house does not have a C wire, you’ll have to choose between running the Nest in power-stealing mode, having an electrician run a new wire for you, or using a special modulator to fake that extra wire by running two signals over a single wire. We’ll talk about the C wire and add-a-wire kits in a separate post.

One of the marquee features of the Nest is its learning capabilities. It observes the manual temperature changes you make and learns the temperature that you prefer for various days and times. Once it learns your patterns, you don’t have to make manual adjustments any more, the smart thermostat does it for you. In practice, however, homeowners find themselves touching the thermostat whenever they aren’t conforming to the learned schedule. Some people find the learning mode unpredictable and turn it off completely.

The Nest has a round, beautiful screen that turns on when someone moves toward it. This feature, called Farsight, can be disabled if desired and the screen can be set to go on only when there is motion directly in front of the thermostat or when the screen is pressed. Using the screen press option (as would be required for Shabbat observers) means that your thermostat is usually showing a blank screen with no visible information about your home’s temperature.

If your thermostat is in a hallway or in a spot that might be extra hot or cold, Nest sells remote sensors that measure the temperature in other parts of your house and allow the heat or a/c to come on based on that location’s temperature. Nest provides four non-configurable time slots throughout the day and allows you to set each timeslot to be controlled by the temperature readings from one of your sensors. You don’t get to change the times for those timeslots (!!) so unless they correspond to your schedule, the remote sensors might not be very useful to you.

The Nest app is very well made and looks great. It allows you to program your thermostat and manually control it from your phone. If you have other Nest products such as cameras or a doorbell, those can all be controlled within the same app.

Shifting over to the Ecobee, there are 3 models to choose from. There is the Ecobee 3, Ecobee 3 lite and the Ecobee 4. The 3 and 3 lite are virtually identical. The only difference is that the 3 supports 1 extra HVAC function like a whole house dehumidifier, humidifier, or ventilator. The 3 also has a built in occupancy sensor to detect if someone is home (and has walked by the thermostat recently). The 4 has the “extras” of the 3 and throws in the Alexa voice assistant. Yep, you can talk to Alexa, ask her questions and play music on your thermostat. What you cannot do, though, is use the Echo’s “drop-in” functionality that turns your Alexa device into an intercom. For me, this would be the only reason to have Alexa on my thermostat. Without drop-in functionality, Alexa is mostly useless in my hallways. I don’t need to play music or as her questions on my thermostat. The 4 is also a little thicker than the 3 and 3 lite.

Like Nest, Ecobee also provides an online compatibility checker that asks for your current wiring and tells you if it will work. The installation procedure is largely the same: remove the old thermostat, attach the Ecobee mount, attach the wires and snap on the thermostat. Unlike the Nest, the Ecobee cannot power-steal and requires a C-wire. If you do not have one, Ecobee provides their own add-a-wire kit called PEK (Power Extender Kit) that needs to be attached to your HVAC system to fake that C wire.

Ecobee’s screen is square and has a slightly lower resolution than Nest’s. It still looks great and can be set to always stay on. There is also an optional screen saver mode that can show a clock and the outside temperature at various brightness levels when no one is near the thermostat. Shabbat observers can disable the screen saver completely so that motion does not affect the screen at all.

Where Ecobee really shines is with their remote sensors. Although the 3 lite does not include sensors in the package, they can be purchased separately and will work with all Ecobee models. Ecobee allows you to create as many time slots as you like for each day for any arbitrary time of the day and then lets you decide which sensors should participate in each of those time slots. For example, if you spend your Friday afternoon cooking, this will artificially raises the temperature in your kitchen. You can tell Ecobee to ignore the kitchen sensor during that time so the rest of your house won’t be overly cooled. Or have the thermostat use the average of the bedroom temperatures at night and completely ignore your living room’s temp while you sleep. This is much more useful than Nest’s version. One more cool feature of Ecobee’s remote sensors is their Follow Me functionality. This tells your thermostat to automatically use room(s) in which motion has been detected when calculating the temperature. So in the evening when everyone is in the kitchen, the empty bedrooms are not considered when calculating your home’s temperature. This means that your home will be more comfortable in the rooms you are currently occupying.

Finally, Ecobee provides a great app and website to control your thermostat. Some settings (such as the screen saver) are only available on the unit itself but all temperature and programming can be done from your phone or computer. Ecobee also provides reports on your energy usage relative to you neighborhood and state so you can get a sense for how energy-efficient your house is (or isn’t). These reports don’t always work quite right but are definitely cool to see when they are.

	Nest	Ecobee
Compatibility
Most systems	Yes	Yes
Easy online Compatibility Checker	Yes	Yes
Installation
Guided via App	Yes	Yes
Requires a C-wire	No (power stealing)	No (PEK)
Features
Looks amazing	Yes	Looks Ok
Learning	Yes (not that great)	No
Remote sensors	Yes (not that great)	Yes
Color screen	Yes	Yes
Shabbat Friendly	Somewhat	Yes
Control
Great app	Yes	Yes
Requires internet for remote control (via app or hub)	Yes	Yes
Can be automated via Hub	No**	Yes

As you can see from the chart above, both options are really good. The remote sensors and Shabbat friendliness are what pushed me toward Ecobee. There are other options like Honeywell’s Lyric T5 or Round but they fall short of our top contenders. There are Z-Wave thermostats that are controlled by your home automation hub which can harness the power of your existing automations but they tend to be ugly beige boxes and require an existing home automation setup to use. The Nest and Ecobee also work with most hubs (albeit over the internet), look great and work well as standalone systems. Which thermostat are you installing in your home?

**Update (5/8/2019): Google has announced the deprecation of the "Works with Nest" program. This means that all 3rd party integrations with Nest (i.e. any non-Google hub like SmartThings or smart speaker like Amazon's Echo will not be able to control Nest products after August 1st. This makes automating the Nest thermostat much more difficult. We'll keep an eye on how the community responds to this news.

Choosing a Hub

2019-04-16T12:30:00.000-04:00

An all-purpose hub is the backbone of any full-featured, automated home. The question that faces most new smart home owners is which one to get. There are many different options out there, each with different capabilities and targeting audiences of different technical abilities. Let’s look at some of the top contenders and what makes them right or wrong for you.

Before looking at the various solutions, let's talk about which criteria matter when choosing your hub. Here is a list of things that I considered before making my choice:

Devices: Does it work a wide range of switches, sensors and other components like cameras and thermostats? When a new device hits the market, how quickly will the hub support it? Do devices have to be added by the manufacturer or can anyone contribute code to make them work?
Programmability: Does the hub support complex rules and timers to handle any automation scenario that you can dream up?
Usability: How difficult is the hub to set up? How difficult is it to control your home? Is there a mobile app? Does the interface look good? Can I control it with my voice from Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa?
Local processing: Does the hub rely on the cloud (and thus, your home’s internet connection) to execute your rules or does all processing happen on the hub itself?
Stability: Even if your internet connection is perfect, your rules might be affected by company’s server uptime. If their cloud breaks, your rules might not get processed. And taking it up a level, is the company that makes the hub stable or is it likely to go out of business leaving all its users hanging?

At one end of the spectrum is Home Assistant. Home Assistant is open source (which makes it free and community maintained), extremely powerful and flexible, executes automations locally, and supports a huge range of devices. Sounds perfect, right? Not so fast! The one attribute intentionally left off that list was “easy to use”. Home Assistant needs to be installed on a computer (typically a cheap and reliable Raspberry Pi). There are projects out there that make this easier but still require a certain level of comfort with linux and technical hardware that most people do not have. Once installed, configuring and managing your Home Assistant is typically done through editing text files. Also, using a voice assistant like Google Assistant requires a subscription to Home Assistant Cloud or else requires a ridiculously complicated setup process. Bottom line: unless you’re willing to tinker a lot, don’t go down this route. Flip through their setup documentation if you don’t believe me :). However, if you are willing to experiment and play with the tech, this is the most powerful option out there.

Heading to the other end of the spectrum, we find Wink. Wink is extremely easy to use and has great looking interface and mobile apps. However, in creating that ease of use, they sacrificed programmability for the sake of simplicity. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you won’t be able to create complex rules for your automations. What is more worrisome though, is that Wink hasn’t added new devices since 2017 and seems to be out of stock at all major retailers leading the Wink subreddit to speculate that the company might be in financial trouble. Wink has been shuffled from company to company, starting off at Quirky. It was spun off on its own when Quirky failed, then purchased by electronics manufacturer Flex which then sold it to Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame who does not have the best track record when it comes to selling electronics. Because Wink is a cloud-based hub, should the company shut down, these devices would most likely be rendered useless. Bottom line: It’s probably best to avoid Wink (even if you can find a unit!) until their status has been sorted out.

Somewhere in the middle of these extremes lies SmartThings. SmartThings was an up and coming startup that was bought by Samsung in 2014. Samsung is in the middle of a messy transition to move SmartThings users to their shiny new Samsung Connect platform that they built for their connected TVs and appliances but for now, most of the functionality you need to configure and interact with your smart home can be found in the SmartThings Classic app. It’s not beautiful but it does work well. A 3rd party application called ActionTiles provides a great looking dashboard that can run on cheap tablets, such as the Kindle Fire 8HD.

SmartThings supports a large number of devices out of the box and is constantly adding more. One of the best things about SmartThings is the large developer community behind it. If a new device comes out, chances are that there is a member of the SmartThings community working on custom code, (known as a device handler or driver) to make that device work with the platform. The extensibility also applies to applications that control automation. SmartThings provides users with the ability to write custom code (like turning a temperature sensor and smart plug into a thermostat for your wall a/c) that runs in the SmartThings cloud thereby making it an extremely powerful platform. Although SmartThings used to be completely cloud-based, the second version of the hub added local processing for certain types of rules in very specific situations. However, the SmartThings cloud has been known to be glitchy for some causing some users to (loudly) abandon SmartThings for hubs with more local processing.

Which brings us to our next contender, Hubitat. Hubitat is a newer hub and was created by a few former SmartThings community members who felt that all-local processing was the only acceptable way to go. They kept their platform largely compatible with SmartThings, but made sure that all processing is done on the hub itself with no dependence on a cloud service. The downside of this is that there is no convenient app for configuring your devices, everything must be done on your local network. Their community is not quite as big or productive as SmartThings but many of the device handlers or smart apps written for SmartThings will run with little or no modification on Hubitat. However, because everything is running on the hub, certain smart apps that work well in the SmartThings cloud can cause issues on the limited processing power available on the Hubitat hub.

So where does this all leave us? Checkout the matrix below:

	Wink	SmartThings	Hubitat	Home Assistant
Devices
Supports many devices	Y	YY	Y	YY
Add new devices	N	Y	Y	Y
Community Support for Devices	N	YY	Y	YY
Programmability
Complex Rules	N	Y	Y	YY
Custom applications	N	Y	Y	Y
Useability
Great Apps	Y	Y	N	N
Easy to use	YY	Y	Y	N
Local Processing
Local Processing	N	Y*	Y	Y
Stability
Stable Cloud	Y	Y	N/A	N/A
Stable Company	N	Y	Y	Y

* local processing for certain devices and automations

There are, of course, other all-purpose hubs out there. There’s Iris, which shut down its operation recently and refunded everyone who had bought a hub (cautionary tale for cloud-based hubs!), Vera, which doesn’t have great reviews, and HomeSeer, which is a solid, powerful and flexible system but very expensive. We’ll talk more about HomeSeer when we look at switches - they make excellent high-end ones. Apple is another player in this space and is gaining popularity with their platform called HomeKit. HomeKit runs on a 3rd Gen AppleTV, iPad or HomePod and only works with specific wifi switches. We’ll cover this in more detail in a later post.

After all was said and done, I chose SmartThings for my home. The knowledge of the community and their willingness to help has been amazing. The help troubleshoot, point out new and useful device handlers and smart apps and seem to be generally nice people. I haven’t had many issues with their cloud’s reliability. There have been times when some automations have been slow to trigger but, for the most part, I am making sure my critical automations are able to run locally. However, I’m starting to look more seriously at Hubitat for its all local processing. The development team at Hubitat promises that a mobile app will soon be available and that its built-in dashboards will be improved to compete with ActionTiles on SmartThings. I’ll be experimenting on Hubitat in a friend’s house and will make sure to post updates as we go along.

Deal: August Pro Smart Lock + Connect + Free Installation via Amazon for $166

2019-04-14T16:09:00.001-04:00

UPDATE: Now $209

Amazon is having an amazing sale on a great smart lock, the August Pro. It comes with a module to enable remote access from your phone and best of all, this deal seems to include free installation (See the screenshot below). Check it out quickly because it probably won't last long.

We haven't discussed smart locks yet but stay tuned for a detailed discussion in another post. Spoiler alert, this is one of the good ones :)

Z-Wave and Zigbee: A to Zzz

2019-04-09T11:00:00.000-04:00

As we discuss popular hubs, switches and sensors in more detail, Z-Wave and Zigbee are going to come up more and more often. You might be wondering: What’s so great about these protocols, why do they seem to be everywhere in home automation? As the title of this posts implies, the answer might be a bit technical and boring for some people but I think it’s useful information, especially if you ever have to troubleshoot your smart home.

When we previously discussed wifi and its place in the smart home, I gave the analogy of a bartender at a crowded party with dozens of people shouting their order. The loud voices interfered with each other and the overworked bartender. Z-Wave and Zigbee are specifically designed to address these issues.

All About All Purpose Hubs

2019-04-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

We’ve discussed wifi-based systems and talked about a few proprietary hubs. Now it’s time to look at the hubs that make up the backbone of most full-featured home automation setups: the all-purpose hubs. These hubs typically contain multiple radios so they can communicate with many different types of devices using different protocols. Most will be able to control Z-wave, Zigbee and wifi devices at a minimum, with some actually throwing in some extras like Lutron Clear Connect.

Most importantly, these hubs provide the “brains” for the rules that govern your home

Proprietary Hubs

2019-03-26T11:30:00.000-04:00

When we discussed hubless wifi systems, one of the main downsides was their reliance on wifi and the potential for overloading it. Additionally, the lack of sensor options and unified solutions were problematic as well.

Enter the hub. At its simplest, a hub is piece of equipment with one or more radios in it that acts as a central coordinator for other components. It is responsible for knowing things like the current time, temperature, whether your door is open or not, whether a certain button in your house has been pressed, and the myriad of other things going on in your home; and then taking action by sending commands to devices like lights, speakers, or screens.

Put another way, the hub receives inputs from your house via your phone, buttons, switches, and various sensors and sends output as commands and data to switches, light bulbs, displays, speakers and your phone.

Why wifi?

2019-03-19T12:30:00.000-04:00

When you browse Amazon for “smart outlet” or “smart switch” you’ll find a myriad of options that say “No hub required” or “Works with Alexa”. For the most part, these switches connect to your home’s wifi during set up and then respond to commands sent over wifi via the proprietary app from the manufacturer. TP-Link switches are a common example of this and they are controlled by TP-Link’s Kasa app. Belkin’s Wemo switches and plugs are another common example. Recently, Amazon released an extremely low cost, self-branded line of smart switches that often go on sale. Leviton makes an extremely reliable and high quality switch as well.

These wifi components are certainly worth considering. They work well and are very reasonably priced. They integrate easily with Alexa and Google Home. Many, including the TP-Link, will work without an internet connection if your phone is on the same wifi network as the switch.

However, there are a number of downsides to be aware of before jumping in with both feet.

Deal: Philips Hue Bulb for $10 at Amazon

2019-03-12T17:28:00.001-04:00

Philips Hue Bulb for $10 at Amazon.

This isn't one of the color changing bulbs. Or even one of the color temperature changing bulbs. But is a dimmable Hue and, if you've already bought into that ecosystem, its a great price for a solid bulb.

We haven't yet gotten into specific hub, switch or bulb recommendations so hold off if you don't already have a Hue system. In any case, I'll be passing these deals along as they come up!

Introduction

2019-03-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

You’ve just come back from a friend’s house where they turned on the lights simply by asking Alexa and it was so cool! The “gotta have it” center of your brain is triggered and you’re ready to make it happen. How do you get started? What equipment do you need? How much is it all going to cost?

The answer to all these questions is, of course, the time-honored response, “It depends.” The next few posts will examine some of the common options, their pros and cons. In the end though, there won’t be a single solution that works for everyone. Each system type will have strengths and weaknesses. There’s no reason why you have to choose a single type. In fact, nearly every system I’ve seen is made of several system types glued together with technology. And guess what? We’ll spend some time talking about that glue as well!

The main categories we’ll be discussing are:

Wifi controlled switches, bulbs and outlets that do not require a hub (e.g. Wemo, Kasa)
Proprietary systems that are meant to work with a specific brand of component (e.g. Philips Hue, Ikea Tradfi, Lutron Caseta)
Open hubs that support devices that conform to generic standards (e.g. SmartThings, Wink, Hubitat)

Don’t worry if that list didn’t quite make sense to you - we’ll break it all down and talk about which systems work best in different scenarios and how to connect them all together.

Of course, we’ll also look at specific equipment in each category and discuss what you should be considering when buying components. Occasionally, I’ll post product reviews that delve into a specific component’s features and when you should be using it. And I’ll also pass along any deals I find along the way.

Coming up, we’ll start digging into the nuts and bolts of hubless, wifi systems.

Welcome to the House Smarty!

2019-03-06T19:47:00.000-05:00

So you’ve finally had it with programming and reprogramming your light timers throughout your house. Or maybe you wish your home’s thermostat knows when you are home before cranking up the heat. Perhaps you’d like your door to unlock as you walk up to it or have your porch light go on when someone else does. What about having visitors recognized and announced automatically when they ring your doorbell? Or maybe you just wish your home was a little bit smarter and could anticipate your needs. Welcome to the House Smarty where we talk about the world of home automation where all this and much, much more becomes possible.

Traditionally, home automation was the domain of the very wealthy or the super technical. Adding smarts to your home required custom, high-end systems sold and installed by dealers licensed by manufacturers like Crestron or Control4 that were, and still are, incredibly pricey. On the other end of the spectrum were the scrappy, do-it-yourself style systems that invariably looked awful and were difficult to use. They sometimes worked properly but often did not. One might be able to look past an ugly X10 light switch on the wall but, when that light inexplicable turns on at 3AM, it’s hard to justify keeping it! (In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve been there.)

Fortunately, in recent years, home automation has turned a corner. New wireless protocols like z-wave and zigbee have been introduced to the market, components like switches and sensors have enjoyed a marked increase in quality with a decrease in price, and perhaps most importantly, system creators have recognized the importance of usability to the average consumer. Switches look and operate like switches… reliably, beautiful touch-screen based systems are now available on tablets that cost less than tank of gas, sharp looking mobile apps allow complete control form the tiny computers we carry in our pockets, and companies like Amazon and Google have made voice control standard and mainstream.

Today, using affordable and reliable building blocks, you can build the smart home of your dreams, limited only by what you can imagine. Some technical know-how will always be required, but having a guide to show you the way will help tremendously. In the coming weeks, I hope to take you with me on my journey of discovery through the world of home automation as I discuss the basics and undertake various projects around my (and a few willing guinea pigs...er friends’) house.

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