I'd add #8, building automations without accounting for other people using the house (either others who live with you or, more often overlooked, guests staying over). Occupancy detection based on your phone being present, press the light switch vs double tap to turn on different lights / scenes, etc.
On a related note, have a guest mode when applicable. Even if everyone living in your house is thrilled with your automations, it can be helpful to be able to make your house just act like a “normal” house when visitors are staying rather than needing to give them a training course on how it all works.
It often helps to ask someone else to try the thing. Getting a second point of view tends to pinpoint problems pretty fast. Forcing someone to do unintuitive things to turn on a lamp or something is just frustrating.
Awesome video. My favorite is the don't replace existing functionality, just enhance it. Or make sure if the "smart" tech fails, your house will still function. This is fantastic advice. Thanx for the great video.
Definitely agreed, whenever I get smart sockets I ensure they have buttons on them for manual control. Otherwise it's just embarrassing when you have people over and can't get it to work
My key one - stay away from just about all of the propriety systems. They will always die and eventually become unsupported. Open standards and software for automation is fantastic and should be promoted more.
@@halvarf i have tons of fun with my smart home system. built my own garage door opener because the two expensive options I bought into required cloud and were unreliable at best. My local 15$ ESPHome opener has been flawless.
Man, I learned that lesson the hard way with Wink. It was the first smart home hub I bought because it was cheap (relative to an Apple TV/HomeKit at the time), the hub and most accessories I was interested in were readily available at the local Home Depot, and they advertised no subscription fees. Initially, all I wanted was to be able to remotely turn on the porch light and an indoor lamp when coming home after dark, but I just couldn’t justify the cost of an ATV and a HomeKit compatible lightbulb/switch because they were like 2-3x the cost of Wink/compatible bulbs and I naively believed the only real difference between the two was Siri control- which I didn’t think I needed. Fast forward a bit, and not only had jumped in buying a handful of Wink devices, but I upgraded to a V2 hub and set my dad up with my old V1 hub getting him into it as well. Then, Wink decided they want to migrate to a subscription model, but went about it in just about the worst possible way leaving users something like 7 days to comply or virtually all their devices would stop working… They’re still around, last I looked a few months back, but they’re not doing great. But, I held on to all those Wink devices, which after becoming more versed with smart homes and the various protocols, learned they were just normal Zigbee and Z-wave devices, and not really as proprietary as I thought. So, a few of them are up and running on a Hubitat C8. But, both V1 and V2 Wink hubs are in their boxes gathering dust, kind of just waiting for a jailbreak or something since they’re not really worth anything other than playing around with…
Umm false hahahahaha In Technology World, the best marketed proprietary technology ends up being the standard and the owner of the tech gets licensing money 💰
In Addition to #6: Dont think about all the cool function you can implement, think about the user and the convience of use. For example: IKEA smart light bulbs support three analog values: brightness, color-temp and transition time. So i added three analog sliders for each bulb in my dashboard. But do i really need these endless combination possibilities and control the brightness in 5% steps? No! Now i have just three buttons that run pre-defiened presets and thats enough and i am happy with it!
If I am brutally honest, for most lamps I only care about a binary on or off. Having more options is always nice, but having to buy more expensive light bulbs, that still may fail just as fast as regular ones, seems like not the greatest choice. So I am currently preparing to make the switch itself smart and keep the lamp dumb.
Documenting everything was the best thing I ever did, especially with HomeKit codes or how cables were run. Also glad you called out replacing smoke alarms. Scary how many people are jumping into smart smoke detectors but using cheap $5 knock off junk by companies that don’t exist anywhere outside an Amazon ad.
Extra Mistake : Consider a naming structure and stick to it, it really helps when troubleshooting or writing automations my current is device_location_attruibute wallswitch_bedroom_battery motionsensor_stairs_action
Great advice!! - I like to remind people that eventually they will move and need to either hand-off the system or remove components so don't make it too complex or reliant on you to make it work. #1-3 become really important when it is time to sell.
@@thezfunk I think the seller of our house had that attitude. Now I've got 4 or 5 separate smarthome systems to juggle. Some of them are reallly bad, and some haven't been patched in years... Slowly trying to drag all that together into one system, but wow
I haven't gone crazy with home automation, but one of the main things I always look for are systems that can be run entirely locally and don't rely on cloud services for basic functionality. I've had to sometimes build DIY solutions from the ground up, which can be super annoying, but I have the time and skill to do it and it can be fun. Security cameras were the latest one I played with. I don't particularly care for all of my streams to go through remote servers, even if the apps and features certainly make it easier to manage them. I got clever with my latest solution and got to blend good points about two different systems together without having to lose either one. I originally tried to set up object detection on my cameras via ZoneMinder, and while I appreciated the tagging for what type of object it found, I found that it didn't really work as well as the native object detection that already came with my cameras. That being said, I didn't want the cameras on the public internet, so I couldn't use the app that came with them for notifications for motion. Worked around it by letting the cameras still do the object detection, but they upload snapshots to my server that then sends me a notification with the thumbnail. A lot of work to replicate what was already there if I just wanted to use the camera app, but this way is fully self hosted and doesn't rely on third party servers.
I've always kept in mind an advice from Reed, which is to always think a lot on when to not run automations, the spous approval factor goes way up! Great video!
I love this video! To me, these are smart home principles and too often I violate a principle and then I'm disappointed. These principles are going to become a checklist for me when I'm adding components to my smart home. Thanks for laying these out
As I am about two years into the smart home journey - I wish I would have seen this first. Great advice for someone starting fresh and seasoned veteran. I learned the hard way about not documenting and now keep a folder for each device I add and the uniques steps I had to do to connect. One last thing I would add is that to not be afraid to try it. I have added items that I thought I would love but did not work and I have added items that I was unsure of and now love.
I think my biggest waste of money has been between smart buttons, smart light switches, smart wall plugs and smart bulbs. If i had known since the beginning what are the advantages of each one and how each applies to different scenarios would have saved a lot of money. And definitely stay away from proprietary stuff, 10 different hubs, etc.
Documenting EVERYTHING and logging is key, also taking a lot of pics and take the time to sort it smart. Saves me a lot of head ache. Another tip is when you log things is to ad a ton of different terms for the ”thingy” you looking for, two years later you will find it.
#8 Using WiFi devices. While they may seem convenient or cheap initially, they will pose both a performance and security concern eventually that will impact more than just turning on your lights.
Wifi device as a blanket Category aren't bad, but anything that requires internet should be avoided if at all possible. My next project will be to mod my roborock to be local only.
But it's convenient for manufacturers as well... I'm kinda having a hard time finding smart devices (esp. appliances, but also some HVAC) that support standardized wired protocols, like Modbus. It seems many of them just slap a Wi-Fi modul and produce a proprietary mobile app. But I don't want a zillion apps just for the house, that's ridiculous.
Another well produced, informative video. Thanks Rob! "Operating without Internet" has become my #1 focus on my journey to DIY smart home fun. Privacy has little to do with that decision - it was not being able to use the Belkin/WEMO devices, while sitting on my couch, on my home network that pushed me over that edge. Now to find the wi-fi enabled speaker and media player set up that can be used to play local audio files as notifications. Something other than a Nest Mini. I'm pretty excited about the Year of the Voice and Rhasspy know-how getting incorporated into Home Assistant.
Some great ideas and advice. We have a fair amount of smart home gadgets. My favorite gadget is the UPS or battery backup. If I'm on the PC and the power goes out, the 3 main 1500 UPS keep my PCs running for upto 30mins. Most power blips are only seconds or 5 mins at most...so we barely notice. The routers, switches and hubs are all on UPS too...including many of our Hue bulbs and light strips. So there's no interruption. If it has an ethernet rj45 connection its hard wired in our home: TVs, AVRs, X-Box1s, Laptops, PCs, PS3, Blu-ray, Laser printer. However...My main concern is my wifes worry that we have too many WiFi devices. The Wi-Fi units: Two Hub Max & Nests & Thermostat & linked (two) smoke & Carbon Monoxide detectors and twenty seven Hue lights, four smart plugs and two cell phones comprise the wifi/zigbee devices. Are my wifes worries valid ?
#1 = Maintain Original Functionality First: Once again, Excellent video! Where I live [Merritt Island, FL], FPL [Florida Power & Light] can't be relied upon to provide 24/7 uninterrupted support during storms to say nothing about ATT Internet, which does go down sometimes SEVERAL times per day, for NO reason at all! Lessons learned: 1-From 2018 on, NO Cloud for Anything!. If it can't be don locally, DON'T install it. 2-Power interruptions must NOT impact the operation of the device. My first [2018] main driveway gate 'piggy-back' gate opener project would trigger the gate at EACH power 'glitch'/blip'. The same happened with my first Garage Door opener project, sometimes in the middle of the night. 3-In the 'early times' [2018] DIY circuit/MCU reliability was in question. [Lessons learned about using circuit boards, heat sinks, fans and device sockets VASTLY improve reliability, robust] I found maintaining PARALLEL functionality was CRITICAL. [eg. Despite any failure, the Main Gate or Garage Doors or Lights must work using simple mechanical switches] All your other points are SO TRUE! Thanks again.
First off… props for quoting Mitch Hedberg. That guy was legendary and lost too early. But then… had I been drinking anything when you said “who doesn’t want robots to do their budding” would have made me spew through my nose! I honestly only watched this one out of boredom was was entertained. Good job buddy!
Big one = backups. I run hassio so I can get the backup functionality, and I had issues this week with docker and had to reinstall containers, found that they needed backups to restore for unifi, portioner, etc.
As part of number 1, don't forget to restart things once in a while just to see how they react: what happens if I restart home assistant? What happens if I restart that ESP? What happens if I restart my access point? and so on. A house that can't repair itself after a small failure isn't smart :)
Just a quick note, escalators can break not be stairs. Stairs is the failsafe/off. But when physically broken they can rapidly accelerating down till everyone is thrown off in a pile at the bottom
On Point #2 As long as it allows you to manually operate the original device you don't need to add another inline. Retrofit smart locks for example, as bulky as it is, as a renter I love the Switchbot Lock as it allows me to use the original locks while still having smart functionality - but despite the fact it does technically "replace" the functionality it has the passthrough crank to manually control the lock. As much as I can't say specifically how the shutoff valve shown works, I would say it is relatively fine as it has the crank to manually shut off (Even though I would much prefer a high torque handle like the original).
I have been an opensource geek for the past 30 years, and have a healthy distrust of anything that I rely on not being under my control, or relying on someone else to hold/keep/store my data. I also live in Tanzania where i pretty much assume that i will have at least one power outage a month, not to mention internet connetivity issues. Oh and the fact that it seems that for some hardware vendors and service providers Tanzania does not even exist! So for me local control for everything is a must, and given that I assume tech will fail smart home functionality has to be as you put it ... An additon rather than a replacement... So basically i am saying your points are spot on... I recently got done doing some renovations on our home and have taken the opportunity to enhance with smart tech wherever possible... It took a while, and considerable cost to finally settle on making sure i use zigbee wherever possible and zwave when zigbee just was not an option, and stay away from WiFi. Matter was not really an option when i started and now it seems to be the best option... But i am currious what can it do that zigbee and zwave cannot
Adding zigbee router devices seems to be a big mistake for me. When i had a single coordinator, only the furthest sensors were sometime becoming unreachable, however when i added ~5 router devices (smart plugs, relays) more end devices started malfunctioning. They either become unreachable out of nowhere, or they report the status when physically interacted but are unable to be controlled remotely through home assistant. Its like rx stream is down but tx is up. And i must mention that devices may become unreachable even if they are 1 meter away from router or coordinator.
Great video and some great comments by your viewers. I'd like to add one more "test"... How about no-Internet + no-local network + no-power.??? An example for me is leak sensors. There may be others, but there is one brand that I know of and use that will detect leaks, turn off your incoming water to the house, and give an audible alarm w/o power to the house. I'm just raising this issue to think about, not to get into an argument about what brand is best.
@@elmonte7834If it uses WiFi, it can't be trusted. Small gray area for Tasmota, ESPHome, and Sonoff since they're less likely to become unsupported without an easy fix.
It kinda goes into not losing functionality, but one I would say is Smart Switches over smart bulbs. A smart switch will still control the lights from the original switch, but a smart bulb wont function correctly if you're operating the switch normally. The only benefit of smart bulbs is brightness and colour control, where brightness could be achieved with a smart dimmer and colour changing is more of a gimmick than a feature (If you want some fun colours, install some non-critical LEDs). However I do kind of wish some company released a smart socket/bulb "pair" where you sync them together, they show up as one device and you get the benefit of both smart switches and bulbs (maybe transmitting data via the electric cables similar to powerline so you're not doubling the amount of wireless devices)
This may depend on the bulb manufacturer. My hue bulbs have a setting from the app where you can specify what they do when they regain power, be it from an outage or using your original wall switch. So I have mine set to restore to what it was last at. However, no matter what if you flick the switch a few times it will go to full brightness. So it does work as need with or without internet/smart functionality. I’m sure there are smart bulbs that don’t work this way.
@@doorgoo Or you can just have a smart switch that functions as normal on connection outages. Most bulbs have that feature but its a hinderance to its function if you're faffing about bc you're trying to use the wall switch after having turned it off the "smart" way. You are no longer able to use both the wall switch and the smart bulb functions at the same time, you are losing functionality. As said, the same thing can be achieved with a smart dimmer; without the faff of a smart bulb and much cheaper to replace when the bulb eventually goes. As I said, smart bulbs have their uses but they should not be the staple they have become (especially the overpriced, corporate greed that is Phillips Hue)
Having a smart switch won't work for me as it's tied to both lights and ceiling fan. Having smart bulbs were the way to go. (My room would get too hot without the ceiling fan on) Both have their places.
I love your comment about increasing your quality of life and lifting your mood with automated blinds and lighting. Most of my stuff is manual right now. :( I look forward to getting into this as a hobby!
Even if you DO vacuum yourself all the time, how much time do you spend doing it and how much is your time worth? What would it be worth for you to get that time back for other things? Automatic vacuums in some form are almost a no brainer.
I like a baked potato, but a baked potato takes a really long time to make, so sometimes I'll just throw one in the oven, because, by the time it's done, who knows?...
Genuinely the first thing I thought about early on in your video were your DIY window sensors and how I thought at the time that they were too much trouble! Saying that, your 433 Mhz doorbell mod has only just been put to rest, after I spent time making my own notifications via Pushover, snapshots from the Reolink CCTV and Alexa announcements. A great learning process until good priced commercial products arise, as you mentioned. Enter the Reolink POE doorbell! Thanks for the videos Rob.
I'm here to appreciate the Mitch Hedberg reference and hear it in his off-rhythm off-tone awkward timing he was known for. This being said, that quote should really be used more often when it comes to designing products and building stuff, since any sensor, device or mechanical failure should either cause very little nuisance and/or at least be obvious enough that people can plan repairs. In a more electronics-influenced version of the quote: the escalator's standard failure mode is to become stairs 😅
The home automation playground is almost easy enough for me to join now. Over the years, I was turned off with the learning curve or DIY requirements. I design and build electronics and mechatrionics all day and just did not want to put the time into smart home stuff. So much of it is now off the shelf and easy to implement internet isolated control systems. I like it. Time to dive in.
One tip is sadly try to get it all from the same brand, tryI use HomeKit as my ”hub” and mostly Philips Hue for most of my lights, but I use/used a lot of other brands for other tasks but thoe the payed alot to be HomeKit certified they dont work well. So now I try to use as les brands as I can that I know work flawless. I hate Hue couse the pricing but love them for the stability. My simple thought without the ability to go deeper in the sea of much better and more difficult sulutions.😊
Rule 0: smartness should only be an addition to the underlying dumb systems. Things must work regardless of user level, internet, circumstance... They should just work much better when made smart.
The one about the blinds and vacuums are why I got into this. It started when we got an early model robot vacuum that was only able to clean the hall and kitchen but we realized that the mopping water from the stairs was so much cleaner that we went from weakly to monthly mopping. Still the whole house was vacuumed weakly because we would have needed 4 of them.
After adding Home Assistant and numerous devices, the one thing I cannot seem to make happen is voice control. I'm fairly technical, making my own window opener/closer controlled on wifi, bathroom fan timers that respond to lights, using APIs to control my range hood, etc., but getting HA and Echo Dot to work with each other seems to lead me into a rathole. Worse, I'm constantly reminded by advertising about how easy it is to get this functionality working. So my worst mistake was starting this project years ago with a goal of using voice control.
I do all of my home assistant -> amazon echo integrations through Node Red. It's a bit of a rabbit hole, but it works REALLY well. This video is really old, and you'll need to see the updated Amazon Echo integration info in the description, but it should still work to get you where you need to be: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4QfoXdcfqKI.html
Cloud = bad, local = good. Really very simple. It's just not acceptable for any labour saving device in your house to be entirely or substantially dependant on having a working internet connection. You can't always control if you have internet, so relying on it for things in your house is, for me, unacceptable. Been at this IoT and smart home stuff for over 4 years now, and keeping it local is a mantra I've learned the hard, and expensive way.
Have you tested Meross products? I just installed a small control behind the normal light switch and now my wife can do what she want and I can still have a smart home without changing switches or having doubles that just look messy.👍
Make sure your network isn't a decade old, especially wifi. I started my home automation with an aging Apple Airport Extreme system. It was quickly overwhelmed.
Just adding a personal experience: Your advice is great. Nest Smoke/CO detectors have worked great in my home. I have not only had the smoke detectors go off but the CO as well. If you don't trust the smart tech for these things, by all means go the tried the true. But just added my voice to the Nest brand, (not all Nest devices mind you)
People nerd out on this stuff without considering whether it is really helpful or not. In other words, start from "I wish that I didn't have to. . ." and then find a solution vs. trying to fit some product into your life that you may or may not really benefit from. I have places in my home that benefit from smart lighting, and lots of spots where the basic wall switch is all I will ever want or need. So don't spend money unless you are fixing something.
Please do an entire video on Matter. I am tech guy and have tried researching it and I still don't feel I have a good grasp on it. For instance what is the wireless standard of it? what frequency? Do I need a special hub? This element doesn't seem to get talked about. It isn't even on the wiki page.
I have the Eight Pod, and one small correction I believe, when there's an "outage", the Pod will still auto heat/cool per its pre-scheduled state. Can't manually adjust the temps though which is bummer.
@@TheHookUp - Wow, that's a huge bummer! Maybe it's the older model or firmware? Either way, I agree it should *definitely* not be a paperweight when the internet goes down. Local network or bluetooth control should be built-in.
I'm just starting to build out my automation, and already made a hard choice that nothing will be cloud integrated. If I can't do it locally, it's not happening. Some guy just recently lost all service for a week because some driver misheard an automated notification, accused the home owner of racism, and Amazon killed his account(s). No shot I'll ever use Amazon or Google for stuff like this.
My norm is that anyone that never been in my house will not be able to not even know how smart it is, smart means it adds, dont make it difficult and weard.👍
Great Video with sound advice. For me the bigest weakness and threat to a automated or Smart home is the person watching your video since in many (most) situations they will be the only one who knows how their smarthome works and how to fix it after they have broken it. Not sure what the answer is to this but good documentation would at least enable another hobby smarthome person to help. I think another failure is trying to make automations too sophisticated and complex to account for all the situations the author could think of. I can guarantee you have not thought of all of them and at some point the automation will or wont do what you expected it to do.
The escalate analogy is great and logical by idiots the have them will block them off if they stop functioning, preventing you from using them as stairs.
Turns out nobody cares about privacy or anything like that. Some few of us do, but most people... well, as he says in the video, don't underestimate the importance of convenience. Giving away all your privacy and most of your control, but you get convenience? People can't wait to sign up for that one.
Mistake. Getting my wife used to it. Started off with a wifi thermostat years ago. She said you don't need that, just get your lazy butt up. In about a week she couldn't live without it. This is before Alexa, google, etc... Now I live in a new house that I've automated over the past three years since building it. And I have home assistant running on an ESXi hypervisor and every room, switch, device in my house is connected. Tell Alexa from anywhere what to do. Presence sensors and lightevels open and close blinds, turn on lights animate the toe kicks, start vacuuming, run laundry and much much more. Now if something breaks, I need to drop what I'm doing and get it fixed.
There is a big difference between 'Assistant' and 'Smart'. Telling some one/thing to turn the lights on is an assistant. Smart is if the lights automatically turned on because it's night time and your in the room.
likewise there is a big difference between an automated home and a Smart home, an automated home will switch on a light when motion is detected whearas a Smart home will switch it on dimmed when activated in the middle of the night so as not to waken everyone up.
I've defiantly fallen for these fails. While I *love* having my room automated, trying to ensure everything is localized have been a nightmare. (looking at you home assistant) I decided to go one room at a time as I learn, but I never expended that knowing code was a requirement. The journey isn't fun at all! Perhaps I should get out until Matter solves the user friendly problem I've experienced in the smart home space.
Thanks, had most of these down already on my side on my own, great video and tips, however the 2nd point isn't talked as much in this community i feel like, as you said, stuff will break, and physical control universally wins when explaining or having people that comes by or isn't tech savy like we are. For example, i'd love to automate my lights by using smart switches, but between the neutral wires thingies, keeping the 2 or 3 way switch setups and having this all work with physical rock switches instead of capacitives touch ones, it add up quickly in terms of complexity and smells like a big failure pit imo As such, i would swap places between 1 and 2 in your list. Awesome video otherwise
Now the only things i have automated are the lights. When internet is lost, it still works as normal lights. If you automate everything like vacuum and curtains, it's nice but the vacuum doesn't go upstairs on its own. Sometimes it can't even do the whole room so you need a couple of them. Yes when are you doing the floor by yourself, but when you do, you can walk up the stairs and it could take a whole day but the house is done. Take another thing in perspective, all those devices need power. A matras cloud connected uses 24/7 power while you sleep only up to 8 hours on it. More and more electricity networks are overloaded and when no action is taken, you get power outage. With all the electric cars coming up, it's even more power that is needed. For example, my whole house uses 5kw/h per day. When your whole house is "smart", it uses a lot more than that and put this in every house, calling it a problem is an understatement. So my advice, only use the smart things that can be switched down. Don't get smart things because you can.
Smart devices use basically zero power compared to things like air conditioning, refrigerators, computers, and water heaters. If I disconnected every smart device in my house my power consumption would go down by roughly 5%.
1. Not having an easy way to power cycle devices. My hubs are on Poe switches that can be reset easily, otherwise I have their power cables labeled. 2. Not having everything on a UPS. Brown outs and quick power outages can be super annoying if you’re waiting. I have a UPS on my server rack as well as on my ONT (which also functions as my modem) so when the power goes out in my neighborhood I actually can continue to have internet for everything. Some stuff I have on failover, but even if all of my devices are unpowered everything comes back faster if the hubs remain powered. I also have one google home on a USB UPS pack, so I never lose my alarms to wake up etc. 3. Not looking up your new systems! Reddit RU-vid etc has helped tremendously, including workarounds for stupid compatibility between SmartThings and Hue and Google Home. I need to go home assistant, but a few sneaky workarounds has most of what I need working. 4. Depending on voice/phone control. At first my hue bulbs were all controlled by voice or my phone. That got tired very quickly, and some of my lights were on weird switches or were plugged into outlets so I couldn’t also cycle a switch. You can set routines around this, but despite fighting it for cost I eventually paid for smart switches. And it’s AMAZING sometimes you just have to give yourself multiple control options. Motion sensors are great too for entrances where your hands might be full, or for a night light when you go for a glass of water at night. Wouldn’t want to wake my girlfriend by yelling at google to turn lights on!
RULE 1: Do not not online services - Use a local server RULE 2: Stick with 2 or MAX 3 different brands and Technologies. Z-Wave, Zigbee, Etc. RULE 3: Name ALL your devices when installing them in your controller. I.e. DeviceName (Room). Make sure to name your sensors, switches and so on in the same way.
