This is the forum archive of Homey. For more information about Homey, visit the Official Homey website.
The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.
This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.
This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
Concerns with switching over to Homey
Chromoris
Member
I'm considering switching from my current system (Raspberry Pi 3 + Domoticz + Aeon labs Z-stick 6) to Homey. However I still have a few questions/concerns that haven't quite been put to rest searching through this forum.
1. Is it possible to have my old system as a secondary controller to the Z-wave network? I currently have several scripts running on it that manage my devices. It would make switching from it to Homey much easier (I can transfer my scripts to Homey one at a time, and also still have a backup)
2. Is the memory usage of apps dependent on how many devices there are in the network, or is directly related to the apps themselves (so the amount of vendors)? I currently have a couple of Danfoss thermostats and I'm considering replacing them with the Fibaro thermostats. Would that mean that I would save the memory space of the Danfoss app? Or does that amount of memory go directly in the Fibaro app? This hooks also to a concern that it is better to have devices belonging to just a select amount of vendors because of memory space limitations.
3. Are there plans for improving the Homey hardware (faster processor, more memory)? Or is the current setup still viable for several years? Also taking into account memory usage (I'm planning on using quite a few apps).
4. Is voice control (Dutch) stable/useful enough? I've read conflicting experiences of users about this feature. Or is it possible to train yourself/Homey in improving it? And how well does voice control via the android app work (planning about using old phones / android boxes around the house for various things)
5. How convoluted/complicated can I make the scripts within Homey? I've seen an app for scripting, but I'm unsure if I can transfer all the functionality of my LUA scripts from Domoticz to Homey (of course if point 1 is possible, this becomes less of an issue, but it would be nice to have a central place for my entire home automation, including scripts).
Also anyone experience with switching from Domoticz to Homey? Anything I should take into account when switching?
1. Is it possible to have my old system as a secondary controller to the Z-wave network? I currently have several scripts running on it that manage my devices. It would make switching from it to Homey much easier (I can transfer my scripts to Homey one at a time, and also still have a backup)
2. Is the memory usage of apps dependent on how many devices there are in the network, or is directly related to the apps themselves (so the amount of vendors)? I currently have a couple of Danfoss thermostats and I'm considering replacing them with the Fibaro thermostats. Would that mean that I would save the memory space of the Danfoss app? Or does that amount of memory go directly in the Fibaro app? This hooks also to a concern that it is better to have devices belonging to just a select amount of vendors because of memory space limitations.
3. Are there plans for improving the Homey hardware (faster processor, more memory)? Or is the current setup still viable for several years? Also taking into account memory usage (I'm planning on using quite a few apps).
4. Is voice control (Dutch) stable/useful enough? I've read conflicting experiences of users about this feature. Or is it possible to train yourself/Homey in improving it? And how well does voice control via the android app work (planning about using old phones / android boxes around the house for various things)
5. How convoluted/complicated can I make the scripts within Homey? I've seen an app for scripting, but I'm unsure if I can transfer all the functionality of my LUA scripts from Domoticz to Homey (of course if point 1 is possible, this becomes less of an issue, but it would be nice to have a central place for my entire home automation, including scripts).
Also anyone experience with switching from Domoticz to Homey? Anything I should take into account when switching?
Comments
My understanding is that it is directly related to the apps themselves.. Therefore, the rule of thumb is to use the same manufacturer for everything wherever possible to reduce app foot print
I believe I have a sizable installation and I know others on here have even bigger installations and the hardware performs very well.
I speak English.. But my opinion and the general view of the forum community is that the voice is poor most of the time. I have Found Google Home/IFTTT/Homey to be a very satisfactory experience and is fast enough
I can only say that I had some convoluted scripts in LUA on Vera and I have achieved everything on Homey with using scripts but using cleverly planned flows
I am just a daily user and dont claim to be an expert. I am sure others will chime in and counter some of my thoughts but I want to at least share my experience
2. Both. Some apps are "heavier" than others, it's more the apps than the devices in most cases. However, in some cases (mostly where there is "polling" required to update the status of the app) the amount of devices really counts towards the memory usage.
I have around 50 devices and around 25 apps installed and Homey can handle that well.
3. I don't think they are considering improving hardware anytime soon.
4. Training is not possible. Using the voice control in the app works a lot better than through Homey directly.
I don't use the Dutch often as I left my Homey on English at home, but English works okay. It's not that great in my honest opinion, but speaking to Homey is not my main interest. I have managed to automate most of the stuff I want automated based on other actions (movement detected in combination with the light levels, sunrise/sunset, doors that open or close, programs that get started, etc.)
5. If you can write javascript, the learning curve is not that hard to create your own apps. Nodejs has some odd things that you need to get used to, but there are a lot of examples around. It does eat up a lot of time though! I have made a lot of apps already and I can tell you I'm no expert at Nodejs.
There also is Homeyscript but I haven't used that yet.
Reading from the responses:
1. It is possible to use a secondary controller, however switching to Homey is the preferred path.
2. Using fewer manufacturers/plugins is preferable concerning plugins, but even heavy use of plugins is perfectly possible and still results in a workable system
3. Ok, stable hardware and isn't going to change.
4. So Voice Control is better handled using a third party application: Google Home is preferable. A bit of a disappointment considering having Voice Control is a big selling point for me (especially in comparison with my current setup)
5. Good to know that there are options concerning complicated scripts.
A couple of follow up questions:
1. Are the flows powerful enough to handle complicated situations? I currently have a script that looks at how much light there is outside, and depending on the value, it increases/decreases the amount of light from my Hue lamps. Is something like that still possible in Homey?
2. Is there a possibility to use your own custom variables to deal with things and set your own master values?
@konradwalsh: When switching from Vera to Homey, what were the biggest advantages? And do you still use scripts or did you manage to transfer everything with Flows?
@jorden: When writing the javascripts, is there support for if/then/else/elseif? Custom variables? And reading device values?
1. LUX based lights should be possible with flows and better logic (i think)
2. Custom variables is part of better logic for example
You should take a look trough the appstore most popular apps and it might give an idea of what they are capable off.
And that leaves you with a Homey that is very capable, very adaptable with a very good interface etc. Good hardware, good software, good support.
In English though. It will be several years before good Dutch voice recognition might (!) become available.
Do you know what the power requirements are for Homey? I might just hook it up to an UPS in case of power failure (the rest of my 'infrastructure' is currently hooked up to an UPS as well).
And if flows + better logic make Lux based lights (which is what I have now) possible, then I'm satisfied. As an alternative, would it be possible to create a plugin which does exactly that? Might create one in that case, and share it with the community.
As for the voice recognition, good to know. I've already seen that Amazon Echo has been added, so that is a plus. And I'm reasonably good in English, so English voice control isn't a problem.
A lux based flow is simple with Homey.
In case you have an iPhone, Apple Homekit works great with Homey (and with Siri for voice control).
Also my current Lux based light controls are quite convoluted. My script takes the lux, checks in which range it falls and then sets the light percentage of my Hue lights belonging to that range. I've made it so that there is a gradual increase in light, in like 50 steps or so. Would I need separate flows for that, or can I use better logic to do that for me? Or is this better to put in a separate plugin/app.
have you found a smarter way to achieve this or did you have to create 50 flows? thanks!
If the lux value changes, calculate the hue setting depending on the lux and sent this to the hue.
It will be as smooth as the interval the lux sensor reports to homey.
must give this a try myself