Smart Home
 

I'm buying all this shit for Smart Home Automation and I'm just piecing it all together like an amateur probably.

Anyone been through this or have any cool ideas on the best way to set it up? There are a bunch of different ways to integrate this stuff and I'm just lookin' for feedback or suggestions.

Bought the following -

Philips Hue with Hub and a shit load of bulbs/blooms
WeMo and TP-Link SmartPlugs
Amazon Echo and several Dots for around the house
Harmony Remote with Hub for Alexa voice control over entertainment center
Several Sonos speakers for around the apartment
Thinking about getting some of the light switches?

I was reading that I might benefit from something like Samsung Smart Things to make controlling all the devices and assigning them to different groups/tasks easier or more natural.

Any thoughts?

Home automation is a big undertaking. If you are unsure you might want to talk to an installer and pick his brain. As every home brings on different problems and variables.

Last thing you want to do is try to turn your tv on and the stove turns on. Good joke to scare the misses though. ��

http://www.slate.com/articles/techno...rifyingly.html

I know a dude that has it, but don't know much about it myself. We do mess with it and ask impossible questions like, "Hey Alexa, find my missing sock."
Many laughs from whatever questions if that's worth it.

I'm giving some of those items as Christmas gifts this year. It will be fun setting them up

My ex who I'm still best friends with has all of these things. He has all the stiff you mentioned, except for an August lock, which is tied to an app and can unlock and lock the front door. He's writing a code to automatically switch the lights on when the sun rises. The possibilities are endless, it's super cool tech. I'll show him your post and see what he can add.

You're missing the automated, Hispanic, house cleaner

This. if you aren't rich enough to afford a smart home tech, u shouldn't be buying it.

jesus Christ dude that link is a monster. how do u make such good posts?

I was just thinking the other day "Man these houses look like shit" when visiting my parents suburb.

2-3 million dollar houses that just look like glorified raised ranches with extra floors. Big fat square boxes....cringe

cause every housewife thinks they are a designer these days, TY HGTV.

Hey pals,

Thanks for some of the feedback and thanks for the offer, Masked!

So far, I've hooked most of this shit up. The real pain in the ass started to shine through about 30 minutes in when I realized that now I have to have a separate app for almost every device I was to control. Apple's native Home app sucks and has very little compatibility in general. I definitely think I would benefit from the Samsung Smart-things hub as it's compatible with most of the devices I bought.

From what I've seen so far, Alexa is kind of a pain in the ass but her recognition is pretty good. Basic functionality on its own is kind of lacking though, which is why I think I need to get the Smart Things hub. This will allow you to set routines, control the devices from a distance (e.g. Europe vs the living room), and give some more breadth to the commands. Alexa is good with "Alexa, turn the bedroom lights on to 50%" or "Alexa, turn off all devices". However, the syntax seems unnatural. With a 3rd party hub, I can change things up to me more like, "Alexa, good night" and it would then turn all devices off or whatever.

Also, so far, I would recommend keeping everything on a switch as well (probably best to use smart switches at this point) because you really do start to notice the lag between when you decide to turn the lights on + the time it takes to say "Alexa, turn X on" + the time it actually takes Alexa to turn 'x' on.

And,

I am. By far. I'm doing this myself as a hobby, thus I don't want a tech to just come in and do it for me.