Happy Saturday everyone! Links are below if you want any of the smart home gear featured today 😁 Also, a massive thanks to Locket for sponsoring again, they're proper awesome and well worth checking out: Get a Quote for Locket Insurance: locket.insure/? Join the Locket Insiders Programme: locket.insure/insiders/? As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :) BUY AMAZON ECHO: UK: amzn.to/3zGGYY3 US: amzn.to/3zJEBUj BUY IKEA BULBS: GLOBAL: www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/smart-lighting-36812/ BUY YEELIGHT LIGHTING UK: amzn.to/3b4gJ3p US: amzn.to/3xYTUah BUY SHELLY LIGHTING GLOBAL LINK: shop.shelly.cloud/shelly-vintage-g-wifi-smart-home-automation-1/?paulhibbert BUY ZEMISMART ZIGBEE BULBS AND ZIGBEE SENSORS (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A6mmzP BUY ZEMISMART MOTION SENSOR (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A6RA8d BUY ZEMISMART DOOR SENSOR (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AT7Awh BUY ZEMISMART ZIGBEE LIGHT SWITCHES AND OTHER ZIGBEE DEVICES GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A2hWS1 BUY BG ELECTRICAL SMART HOME WIFI SOCKETS: UK: amzn.to/3QDuOFs US: N/A BUY ZIGBEE PLUG SOCKETS (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) UK: amzn.to/3N20b9o US: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9HHmSh BUY THE BROADLINK RM4 PRO TO CONTROL YOUR TV WITH ALEXA UK: amzn.to/3Qt6BRR US: amzn.to/3tHGQUk
Hi Paul just to let you know the Zigbee hub is only in the echo dot 4th gen not any below and not in the echo shows 1st n 2nd gen. Also Argos is having a sale on the echo dot 4th gen at £29.99 at current time of posting.
Great video. One of these days can you compare the servers of the products you buy? It seems that certain products in the UK have better servers than the in the US. It seems that the US infrastructure is just not giving me the same results you get on immediate connectivity or stable connectivity. I don't know if the products' servers in the US are unstable or if it's a problem with US ISP servers (mine is comcast). I'd like you to take a deep dive and compare how well you fair with using US versions of the products you have compared to the UK. Sad though that you can't do a full deep dive as you wouldn't be able to compare the effects of UK ISP's to US ISPs on smart devices.
@P T home assistant can keep zigbee devices local, but I believe there a few interesting things you can do with homeassistant and samsung smartthings hub to switch to an internet connection running via teethering the device via your iPhone's data plan via Bluetooth or wifi Hotspot. Samsung smartthings as long as it has some type of internet connection can be connected to by a browser gui of some sort using ithe device's ip address. For smartthings to be run fully local, i am not really sure. As for your A/C control, I think aqara has a hub that is also a IR remote thst you can run locally having it connected to via home assistant that is zigbee based but I may be wrong. Your better bet is to look into either broadlink which had both an IR and RF remote built in and can be run fully local with a lot of tinkering with home assistant or use switchbot hub which also van be used as an IR remote. Both have compatibility for A/C equipment.
@P T sorry I read that wrong. I usually read A/C as air conditioner and AC as an electrical outlet. So I got confused. Okay your comment makes more sense now. For your answer there are some zigbee switches/buttons on Amazon shoping site that are wired and can run routines. Butt I haven't seen any that use outlet power. They are most wired in to mains power. You might want to get a zigbee button that uses AAA batteries instead as that is your better bet. The nice thing about AAA batteries is that you can buy rechargeable ones. Those flat lithium 1342 or CR2032 batteries are disposable and not worth it. Here is a zigbee button that is charged on AAA a.co/d/6zu9iFv And here are rechargeable AAA batteries a.co/d/fRDn2lW. You can also try Panasonic brand rechargeables.
People who haven’t watched you before think there is something wrong with you, and those of us who have been watching you for a while know there is something wrong with you. In fact the progression is perfectly linear and takes exactly 5 videos.
@@paulhibbert I don’t usually subscribe… but I have now. My wife knows when I’m watching your videos based on how much and how hysterical the laughter is. Well done chief. 🤪😊😂
I have over 100 WiFi devices in my house. It’s really good thing that I went with ubiquity networks Dream Machine for my router and WiFi a couple years ago. Back then I was questioning using a small business solution for my house. But it looks like it was the right choice for me since I went WiFi bulb crazy.
The apartment scenario is a good point. It doesn’t mater how good your WiFi equipment is if there are 50 networks stomping on you. I will keep that in mind when suggesting bulbs to friends.
My ubiquity router does seem to need rebooting every 6 months to a year or it starts dropping packets. My friends say that’s my own fault for having a proper ups and not letting the environment reboot it for me every once in a while.
Ive managed to completely remove Amazon/Alexa from my home automations through smarter automations in Home Assistant and a few well placed NFC tags. The wife and I noticed that conversations we had around the home quickly turned into ads on Facebook and other platforms. Plus the fact that after our fiber lines were cut in our new construction neighborhood a couple times, were grew tired of not being able to use some automations while we waited a week for internet to be restored. Only my garage door automations require internet now. My Q. Ill be fixing that soon also. I use Google Chromecast devices and cheap powered speakers for TTS announcements. Really dont miss Alexa at all. Other than the cool factor when showing friends/relatives. Thanks for the good videos.
Thanks man! My dad believes that Facebook is giving him ads based on his conversations too, but unless the ads were for amazon then there's no profit in it for amazon to use your voice data and give it to a 3rd party. Not unless you believe they're selling that data on, but if they were we'd know about it because they'd have to be advertising that they could sell this data to people for those people to buy it in the first place. The more likely culprit is your phone. Google voice searches for example do openly capture search data and do directly sell your searches to advertisers all over the Internet including Facebook ad services.
Ok so watching your videos, the comedy puts you far above the other smart home based channels I watch. I can find the information I need anywhere but your format will keep me coming back
She's too empathic. She thinks Reginald is cute and finds it difficult to see him getting slapped... I've tried to explain to her that it's just me in a shirt and tie, but she's just not having it. 🤣
Saturday evening here in Australia... As luck would have it our daughter is having a sleep-over at a friend's house tonight so we have the place to ourselves! Bottle of wine, Chinese takeaway, Netflix and chill. Perfect. Mrs W went to bed an hour ago, I'll be joining her... any minute now, just as soon as I've worked out why my porch lights didn't switch on when I came back from picking up the wine and takeaway.
Thanks man! I realised amazon have improved with their recognising when "Alexa" is said in general conversation, so I'll often just say it now. 😊 I've been trying to convince Neesha to do an episode for years!
Based on your previous recommendation Paul, I bought 6 TRÅDFRI bulbs and a remote to mount on the kitchen wall beside the socket. It's works perfectly, cool white during the day, to not make my kitchen look so shaded, then warm white at night. It's great to keep these bulbs off the wifi, and fully local also . Would recommend 👍
The bloody door is open. I couldn’t stop laughing..almost. The Yorkshire version of this would be ‘Pu’ wood’int oil’. Well, that’s what my dad shouted when he was activated.
thanks for another hilarious and informative video. Still a bit confused though. My amazon echo doesn't have a smart home hub built in. Do I need to by a zigbee hub and a bridge? Thanks
i would like if you make a video for a smart home without Internet (for privacy). so all devices can work without faking Internet and without faking 100 different apps.
Your first zigbee socket link is a wifi unit :D To add a recommendation to that list. the innr SP222, it's well priced, well built but also has the button on the top, not the side like most do where they get obstructed by any other plug :p
A list of devices that work with Amazon Echo ZigBee capable devices was just what I was after, particularly door and motion sensors. Thanks Paul Hibbert for reading my mind! Is mind reading a Patreon benefit? If so, then money well spent. 😉 BTW, not enough "Oooh, the ZigBee!" recently, you must do better! 👍
I love that you quip about people who haven't watched you before thinking you have something desperately wrong with you... Like the rest of us don't 😂 Paul, that's why most of us are here 😂🤣😂
It doesn't like 5ghz. Try disabling 5ghz in your routers config temporarily whilst setting the Broadlink up, and then re-enable it afterward. That should solve it 😊
Hi Paul, great video it's amazing all this info is free. Quick question, have you come across any UK sockets like the BG ones that also do energy monitoring? I'd love to be able to profie the energy usage of my devices around the house but the plug-in version don't pass the wife approval test. Need something integrated like the BG ones
Sadly the BG electrical sockets are the only sockets I can recommend due to the failure of almost every other socket I've tried. I don't know of any that do energy monitoring sadly. I can recommend a book that will teach you how to murder your spouse if that helps? 🤣
I think you should take a look at Lightwave sockets. They are not cheap but they do provide energy monitoring, routines, pretty LEDs where you can choose the colour and lots more. They look fabulous and should meet with the most house proud person. They are compatible with Amazon, Google, Apple and Home Assistant. They have great telephone support. Worth every penny. They do need their own hub. Just in case you’re wondering, I don’t work for them I’m just a very happy customer.
Hi Paul, quick question, I am a Phillips hue owner and want to add some outside lights, some strips and some GU10 Lilly style lights. Can you recommend some hue alternatives. I am happy to get GU10 lamps and buy the fittings. I want to be able to use a wireless wall switch and the hue app to control. Cheers Adam, also love the channel!
Hey Paul, I know I'm a little late, but could really do with a quick heads-up before i pull the trigger on a purchase. I'm about to buy an aqara wall switch (2 buttons) and wanted to check if the YEELIGHT GU10, Colour Changing Light Bulbs could be used with that switch ? Thinking having the second button run an alexa scene to change the colour .... dunno? Any advice would be great ? Cheers
Unfortunately I think Mr Pang is correct. Google are putting a their eggs in the "matter" basket I think, which in my opinion is a risky business decision.
Hi Paul, do the zemismart light switches report back their current state too alexa? So a routine to turn the light on if it's already on doesn't turn it off?? Hope you understand
Hey Paul (and anyone else reading this) - Is there a way to pair a handheld remote of some kind to the Broadlink RM Pro? I appreciate the expanded control capabilities of the Broadlink but I hate using voice to control my home theater and as a result I am still using my Harmony remote. I would much rather have a button remote in my hand that initiates all of the control actions programmed into the Broadlink. Any pointers? I am not currently using Home Assistant and I don’t have YAML, node red or any other programming skills. I really just want to program my system to turn on some lights when I press pause, turn them off when I resume play and raise and lower a RF shade motor as needed. Any help anyone can provide would be appreciated.
All my devices turn on as part of an automation triggered by a motion sensor in the bedroom that only runs after a certain time of night. I then use the original remote to browse my nvidia shield (it's not actually the original remote but I'll explain that in a minute) I have another room that triggers all my devices using a zigbee button so I can choose to turn it all on from the sofa rather than relying on a motion sensor. The remote I use to control my nvidia shield is actually an old android remote that came with a box I had years ago, it has way more buttons on it than then original nvidia shield remote. I was able to pair it to the shield using a USB FLIRC adapter. Been really handy for creating shortcut buttons on the remote to launch Netflix and stuff.
Great video since I'm about to start from scratch! Where do you think hubitat ranks in here? I don't want to spend endless time tinkering, and I want to keep things offline.
Hey Paul, great video :) what are the options in regards of ZigBee hubs, when you want to use Google home? Is there one to rule them all? Because Alexa only speaks English where I live and my 2 year old doesn't... Or is home assistant the only option?
You say the Ikea Trådfri motion sensor works outside, but the information pdf says it can be used 0 to 40 degrees Celsius and can not be placed in direct sunlight. I admit in our countries it doesn't get to freezing temperatures often or above 40, but still, I would not consider that as working outside. Love the humor you put in the videos. - a long time subscriber and HA nerd from the land op Phillips H....Holland
I've got one outside in Qld Australia, probably doesn't see much sunlight being on the southern side of my house. It's worked fine for around 12 months.
This is probably a really stupid question, but if you get an RM Pro to control your TV, doesn't it get annoying having to speak everytime you want to change channels. And don't you need a physical remote anyway for when you're scrolling?
Do you mean homekit? I don't THINK this bridge works directly home assistant (although it might, I've been using a conbee stick)... zemismart Homekit ZigBeeTuya Zigbee Device (Homekit hub) amzn.eu/d/f8fU7MX
HA is exhausting... But so is most everything in smart home technology. If there was just a single communication standard that all devices used 🤔 I use mostly smart switches in my bar to automate it so it works as a dumb system too and has hands on control. About to build a new home and would like to make it "smart"... But also has to fully function for dummies too.
great video ,we love your video style,I am eva from Moes which produce and sell the smart product for whole smart house for many years,do you have any idea about cooperate with us to be a product review?waiting to your feedback
With cloud products, even as big as Govee, you really have to buy them with the thought in your head that it may die soon unless you can make it local. A couple of years ago I would never have thought Insteon would go under, but they are dead now after almost 20 years in the industry. Luckily the guys at Home Assistant seem to have got things working for Insteon products that would otherwise be dead.
Aye, I'd like to think that the same would be true of govee. The HA guys are very clever. I also often think "if it died could I just control it with a socket instead, and with all my govee stuff I could because I only ever use one animation and the product remembers it's last setting. I heard another commenter today say that there's a rumour govee are working on a localised HA integration. So that's exciting if true!
@@paulhibbert Home Assistant has a lot of traction in the Smart Home arena. I think they have more traction than SmartThings and similar. I wonder if Broadlink will ever jump on board.... Do you still have contacts in BL to find out if they would be giving a proper first party app? I know it works, but it is still cumbersome to setup initially
Last time I asked (only a month ago) they weren't keen. 🙄 Very few of these companies seem to be. I guess they're not seeing them potential profit. Silly really, it's a god sized portion of the market these days.
@@paulhibbert They would still sell the products, unless of course they have plans to charge a subscription to their cloud products, then it will be "Corporate Greed" Another IFTTT?
did Broadlink fix the problem with the RM4 Pro not being able to have non alpha-numeric characters in a wifi password? Unfortunately for me that's a deal breaker!
well in case anyone else is wondering - I've just had a reply from Broadlink tech support saying that special characters may cause setup to fail so no RM4 Pro for me! I'm just glad I spotted that before I bought one
That's because all the zigbee devices will connect to a matter compatible gateway. Matter isn't yet relevant to today's market, but these are excellent recommendations for the potential requirements.
You may be getting me mixed up with someone else. I've never really tried smartthings. I got nervous about them after they sold off their hardware production to another company.
As someone who is now fully invest in Google Home over Alexa (simply because Spotify sent me my first Smart GH speaker 4 years ago)... one thing I really like about Alexa over GH is the ability to change the "activation" word. I hate that the only 2 ways to get GH going are "Ok, Google" or "Hey, Google". I want to change it to "Jarvis" or "Friday" and if I would have gone with Alexa I could have done that.
@@drgonzlegnd Yeah since posting this I've come to realize there are only 4... I'd still go with "computer" though, much better than saying a name brand :D
Great Video! Just an FYI Amazon is not available across the globe like Google, some countries don't have amazon and therefore they actually don't buy it's products, your video would be greatly appreciated if you use google or other international hubs that are available world wide. again love your videos! and thanks for making them.
I had subtitles on, and when Paul was doing his "Home Assistant" pumping sketch thing, the caption was going "Oh my sister!" instead of "home assistant". Good thing I could hear the actual words ok :D
Brilliant video as always. I gotta say though I found the RM Pro a nightmare with home assistant. It doesn't like Bluetooth remotes which in my place is most of them! Tbh I managed to get the sky boxes and all three TV's working without it. Also have you had any issues with the govee stuff hitting a call rate limit and stop working through HA randomly lately because it's annoying as hell.
Yeah, you have to switch sky to infrared mode, but it sounds like you sussed that. The rm Pro is tough to get going with, but it's funny how quickly I got used to the fairly bizarre way of adding ir and rf signals. To fix the govee integration you just up the call limit from 10 to 600. Mine started working the following day and hasn't failed since. 😊 To do it, just delete the govee integration and re-add it, and during setup when you add the api key you just change the "poll interval" box below it to 600. I THINK all my scenes and automations and stuff sorted themselves out 😊
So if I've stupidly chosen to plonk Google home devices throughout home how much of a rectal pain would it be to move to Echos? Everything is either setup on Tuya, Switchbot or Broadlink so am I really only looking g at creating new routines on the Alexa app???!!!!
I've reached a level of delirium in which I've now noticed the Egg-burger sign behind you in the ad and decided to Google translate the damn thing. Underappreciated joke imo.
I dunno if anyone else has mentioned this but the Zigbee hub is only in the round echoes from 4th gen, its not in the 1st 2nd,or 3rd, nor the echo shoss 1st and 2nd gen.. Also the echo dot 4th gen is on sale at argos for £29.99..at the time of this comment.
Thanks for reviewing this. The camera hub has great features and a lot to recommend it, but I'm left with two questions: (1) What do I do for additional cameras? I probably won't need three hubs. (2) What to do for an outdoor camera that is fully exposed to the weather? Until those two issues are resolved, this seems mostly targeted to apartment dwellers who want a security system inside their entry door.
And we have now returned to normal broadcasting after last weeks bollocks of a video that had no ‘HOME ASSISTANT’ thrusting. Anyone know of smart ct clamp sensors that can be used so I can engage certain devices when I have enough export from my solar system (different currents would trigger different routines)? Ideally this would work through Alexa or google (I use a lot of tuya products) but I will progress to home assistant at some point also.
Hi Paul, thanks for another awesome video! Have you heard of Quinetic gear? I’ve only just stumbled onto them when watching an electrician’s video. The switches don’t use wires or batteries - quite a neat twist. When I search for videos about that product range it seems to be only known to sparkles, maybe you could introduce Quinetic products to us in the smart home community? Thanks, keep up the great work 🙏
This video was freaking hilarious 😂 and useful. My BIGGEST gripe with Alexa is, she won't delete OLD alarms. I set all new ones and now she plays the old alarms ON TOP of the new ones, this goes for old routines too!😠 😤
Do you use the zemismart zigbee hub to connect your zigbee mesh to home assistant? pretty much decided to move away from hubitat, now sussing out home assistant setup.
(@08:03) Govee made a change recently limiting the number of API calls to their servers which caused some problems with some born again virgins with lots of Govee lights. On the plus side, I believe they're working with the Hoooome Assistant guys so they can have a local Govee Integration - so no more Govee cloud needed :)
Ooh, I haven't heard about th local integration! That's exciting! I managed to fix my govee issue just by upping the poll interval time from 10 to 600. It started working again the next day and hasn't failed since. 😊
@@paulhibbert yes, I have one installed for several month now. Once you update the firmware (yes, I know, three lines of code and that) all issues are fixed
Nice video, keep it up. Things I personally missed: zigbee dimmer downlights and insocket zigbee relays. Have you ever considered measuring water consumption?
I tend to use zigbee light switches, and smart bulbs for dimming. There are a lot of Wifi options out there for downlighters 😊 Not sure how I'd measure water consumption. Not familiar with any devices that would do the job.
@@paulhibbertthere aren't many ZigBee downlights as wifi ones. Any recommendations for inwall zigbee relays? Video suggestion: sonoff NSpanel with alternative firmware and HA. My future next project 💪
All very well but what do you do when your wife is a luddite? She went into one today because I plugged our bedside lamps into an alexa smart plug. Now it only works on my side. She's only just getting to understand you can talk to the TV remote! My idea of installing a WiFi mesh system? Forget it!
You say it all works without the Internet if you're Internet goes down but doesn't the Amazon Alexa zibbee need the Internet to work. because Amazon works through the Internet so if your lnternet goes down then doesn't your zibbee go down
