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The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.
This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
Closed
Suggestions for home automation
Hello All.
I think I should probably sum up all my thoughts into one big post, just to get it out of me. I wanted to post this under the cheap fibaro/anything else bundles/deals? but I (selfishly) decided that this should be a more personal post/topic.
I am a (fairly poor) student studying in Prague (, Czech Republic). I got a large cheque about 14 months ago, and I spent all of the money, mostly on crowdfunding campaigns.
I absolutely LOVE the idea of home automation, but Homey was the first I've bought into. I learnt about Homey those 14 months ago, and just had to have it. I started trying to built my home around Homey, I tried to buy all my stuff around Homey for future sake. Anything and everything electronic that I buy for my home from now on, I want it to work with Homey. I backed Homey and from then on, started with this mentality, only supporting projects that had an open API or that said they would support home automation, always trying to plug Homey where I could. I've also been pretty active on the forum since day one, trying to help others and figure out how others could help me.
I'll cut to the chase. Seeing that I don't have much cash to spend (money is really tight), I wanted to ask the community here for some help with selecting some possibilities for home automation. I don't really even know what I would want, I just want some pointers at what others have around their places. I basically just want to know what I should try to save up for, to buy the best products for price to work with Homey.
My apartment, which is a small studio apartment, has:
At the moment, all I have that can potentially be controlled by Homey is:
Just like Homey, I'm also expecting to receive these soon from other campaigns:
I really like the idea of buying some Z-Wave devices, but I'm not too sure I can afford any of them on my budget. I'd really like to use the cheapest possible solution (I use AliExpress for most of my shopping), and please keep in mind that I live in Prague, and most of the Dutch stores either don't want to ship to Prague, or are all in Dutch and their English translation is just Google Translate (which doesn't fully translate everything). I plan on using the 6 RF wall sockets to control desk lights or other appliances, which can't be modified to use with Homey. I would also really like to buy an IoT espresso machine, but because they cost so much I doubt I'll be able to buy one.
ANY ideas would be really great and appreciated! Basically, I'm just wondering if any of the 'veterans' in home automation could help with cheap ways to use Homey to it's full extent. I understand that as people are now getting their Homeys and all the bugs are being reported, that this post might end up unanswered. I hope that while others are waiting for their Homey, or while waiting for bug fixes, you all from the community could give some suggestions.
I think I should probably sum up all my thoughts into one big post, just to get it out of me. I wanted to post this under the cheap fibaro/anything else bundles/deals? but I (selfishly) decided that this should be a more personal post/topic.
I am a (fairly poor) student studying in Prague (, Czech Republic). I got a large cheque about 14 months ago, and I spent all of the money, mostly on crowdfunding campaigns.
I absolutely LOVE the idea of home automation, but Homey was the first I've bought into. I learnt about Homey those 14 months ago, and just had to have it. I started trying to built my home around Homey, I tried to buy all my stuff around Homey for future sake. Anything and everything electronic that I buy for my home from now on, I want it to work with Homey. I backed Homey and from then on, started with this mentality, only supporting projects that had an open API or that said they would support home automation, always trying to plug Homey where I could. I've also been pretty active on the forum since day one, trying to help others and figure out how others could help me.
I'll cut to the chase. Seeing that I don't have much cash to spend (money is really tight), I wanted to ask the community here for some help with selecting some possibilities for home automation. I don't really even know what I would want, I just want some pointers at what others have around their places. I basically just want to know what I should try to save up for, to buy the best products for price to work with Homey.
My apartment, which is a small studio apartment, has:
- 4 lights
- only one window/(main) door
- a bed with ambient LED lighting, controlled with 433mhz OR IR remote
- One electric blinds
- outdoor lights with a multiway switch
At the moment, all I have that can potentially be controlled by Homey is:
- Blinds (strange ones that apparently don't conform to 'normal' standards, I emailed with CoCo about it without a solution)
- Radiator (it's a floor radiator that has this controller)
- cheap & old IR HiFi amplifier with IR
- 6x 433Mhz (generic) wall sockets, bought here.
- 3x IR LED RGBW controller, bought here.
- 1x RF 433Mhz RGBW controller, bought here, suggested by @Emile on the forum here.
- Several Flic buttons, hopefully @Stefan will have luck with getting them to work.
- the new Apple TV (discussed but not solved here and here)
- a small Android tabled used as an IP camera viewer
- 2x IP cameras (fake Foscam bought from dx.com)
- ThinkingCleaner Roomba (Was already on the app store, it now disappeared)
Just like Homey, I'm also expecting to receive these soon from other campaigns:
- 10 Qube lightbulbs (Athom forum discussion here, IGG here)
- Eight (Luna) smart bed (Athom forum discussion here, IGG here) - It also has a temp and light sensor
- Nuki doorlock (Athom forum discussion here, KS here)
- monKey intercom (@Stefan confirmed Homey integration in the forum discussion here, KS here)
I really like the idea of buying some Z-Wave devices, but I'm not too sure I can afford any of them on my budget. I'd really like to use the cheapest possible solution (I use AliExpress for most of my shopping), and please keep in mind that I live in Prague, and most of the Dutch stores either don't want to ship to Prague, or are all in Dutch and their English translation is just Google Translate (which doesn't fully translate everything). I plan on using the 6 RF wall sockets to control desk lights or other appliances, which can't be modified to use with Homey. I would also really like to buy an IoT espresso machine, but because they cost so much I doubt I'll be able to buy one.
ANY ideas would be really great and appreciated! Basically, I'm just wondering if any of the 'veterans' in home automation could help with cheap ways to use Homey to it's full extent. I understand that as people are now getting their Homeys and all the bugs are being reported, that this post might end up unanswered. I hope that while others are waiting for their Homey, or while waiting for bug fixes, you all from the community could give some suggestions.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I realy can't give you just pointers, but I can share what my planning is, here is my overview, about 70% of this list is already in my house,
I would like to suggest in your situation not to spend more cash right now
It apears to me you have several items ordered and you should integrate them one by one and gradually develop your ideal automated home.
Idea for birthday present etc?
Also have a look at www.mysensors.org.
I have started end 2010 with a Vera2 one dimmer and one socket switch.
Appr. every other month I treated myself with an other module.
Slow but financially under control, fun since regular extention and prudent because you wil drown in a huge amount of new unknown and possible untested or buggy equipment
Please note HomeAutomation is addictive, hugely time consuming and never finished.
Also note it is great fun
succes, Jacob.
@Robebar that's a really nice flow chart, I think I should make one of those for myself too, just don't have much to add on it though. Thanks for giving me an idea of what you got!
@Jacob I completely figured out that something like this is addictive and like with most modern hobbies it drowns all my money. I've come to terms with that. In the past months I've read many people who got something as a present, and month by month added piece by piece to their home, one by one. I've also read about people who have thousands of Euros and invest in an overhaul for their whole house. I'm definitely not trying to ask around so that I can spend ever cent I have now and bankrupt myself, the main reason I asked this question was because yesterday I spent about 2 hours searching through AliExpress looking for 433Mhz door/window sensors, and I realized that apart from the flood sensor (don't think I really need that), gas leak sensor (don't have gas in my apartment), smoke, PIR & noise sensors, I don't actually know what is out there that I could want. I went through the very extensive booklet that @Honey posted here, and even though I was impressed, those are all the things to come in the near or far future. I was wondering about the more affordable stuff I could get now, or some good items to start with. For example, I really want to be able to automate the blinds, but as it's a non standard system I wouldn't know where to start; I tried the CoCo modules but they wouldn't work. For example, the Fibaro wall plug is very attractive, but I bought the set of 433Mhz wall sockets and I'm satisfied with them. I checked out mysensors and it seems like it would be a DIY thing I could possibly manage to do, but from the Athom discussion it seems that there isn't any development going on..
@scocz Hard to say anything more then is mentioned on their website and on the discussion here. It's a smartlock, like many others, that quite a few Homey backers also backed.
For everyone else, I made a 360 pano of my apartment to give a better picture of what I'm trying to automate.
Again it is unclear to me what you actually want.You can consider heated Z-wave beds, pressure sensors under the floor mat or in the coutch. A nice one will be the Z-wave controlled glass cover. Also integration of the Netatmo welcome is an interesting feature.
In the end of the day I see you have collected sufficient means to control via Homey the possible candidates in your house.
I suggest to control your lights and heater, add a motion detector and open your door but then enjoy what you have and play with it to control your house. In time you will have idea's for extension of the use of the Z-wave 2 way communication.
Save your cash to enjoy a drink with friends and impress them with lights changing to your mood, presence of the time of the day.
Many websites like Lifehacker give pretty long examples of 'how to start', but I'm not sure that's what I'm asking... From the list, none of the things can actually talk to each other, they're all independent things, that should be brought together with Homey. Some, like the unfulfilled crowdfunding campaigns, or the Apple TV, might not even work with Homey in the end...
I guess what I'm trying to say is; my point with this post was to ask if anyone could give some advice on what devices to put on my wishlist, considering the specific set up of my apartment that I have. For example, I'd have no idea what to control the heater with, but I'd love to. As for the lights, I will very impatiently await Qube shipment (ETA June), and set up the RGBW LEDs with either IR or RF in the next few days. I am interested in a door sensor, but I think I'd rather get a cheap 433MHz (I really like this one), rather then a Z-Wave one.
I'd really like to use Z-Wave modules for light and blinds, but the price is very high and I think they are not compatible (I have 60V blinds and most switches are multi-way).
I would start by getting a few wall sockets that can read power usage.
You can do allot of cool stuff when a socket knows if a device is connected. Like turning the house in "sleep mode" when you put your phone in the charger closest to your bed. Or warn you when something stopped using power.
Another thing would be a few simple door sensors. I use one on my freezer so i get a warning when the door is'nt closed. I did this after having to throw away my bbq stash after leaving the door open.
Other than that you seem to have enough gear to but together a nice setup. I think its better to expand when you have got everything you already own up and running.
And get well soon
Now that I think of it, the only problem with it is that pretty often me and my girlfriend watch a movie (from bed), and I plug my phone in even during the day for example. I guess in combination with a second socket plugged in to the light, it would be used as "If phone is charging, And nightlamp just turned off, And time is between 11pm and 8am, then set apartment to sleep mode". Now that I think about it, the other problem is that because of work (while studying I edit videos) I have an 'inverted day-night' quite often... Sleep during the day and awake at night...
But @kriebelkous your idea with getting that socket so that I can use power consumption as a trigger is something I haven't thought of before (even after reading it on the forum, i kind of dismissed it as something I didn't need). I guess in context it's a great idea!! Thanks!
To be honest. I didn't came up with the idea. Credits go to www.robbshop.nl That website has a few ideas an projects on the blog section. It is all in dutch however..