Making my home smarter

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Prime
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Making my home smarter

Post by Prime »

I've been meaning to write this up on word press but never seem to get round to it.

I live alone in a rental unit. Renting has made the process of picking what technology I can deploy a challenge. Anything permanent is basically out.

I had the choice between Alexa and Google home. In the end, the home mini won out because it had better potential for integration. Unfortunately in hindsight, the nest mini would have been a better buy because the home mini lacks AI (for what that's worth).

I've made the decision early on that I don't want a million WiFi devices eating my bandwidth. To this end, I'll employ a secondary tech like zwave or ZigBee.

My reasons for doing this is to get my life into a routine. Everything I don't have to worry about doing before I leave for work or when I get home, reduces my anxiety.

So begins the fun
Last edited by Prime on 29 Mar 2020, 13:42, edited 2 times in total.
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Prime
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Re: Making my home smarter

Post by Prime »

:roll: :roll: Most of my rental is 12V GU5.3 bulbs. I've learnt rather painfully (see the pile of useless LED bulbs) that 12V lights are temperamental ******.

The first batch of 5W Phillips LED bulbs flickered horribly. And the 6W Osram dimmable bulbs didn't work in the dimming circuit.

In the end, the 6W bulbs went elsewhere, but the 5W bulbs are still useless. :roll:

Eventually I found some 7W Osram lamps after more research on the cause of the problem. Apparently the low wattage bulbs don't work with transformer systems. And these even dim perfectly.

Anyway, this forms the background for phase 3: lighting.

With the limited options I have at hand, the best way to control the 12V lights seems to be a wall mount controller (the Aussies like door frame switches so that's out in most rooms) or smart bulbs.

Phillips hue isn't available for these fittings which rules out integrating it into the current rental. (I haven't ruled it out permanently)

So I'm investigating Samsung Smartthings and compatible bulbs.

This also gives me options to do things like water my fruit trees.

What I ultimately want to achieve is:
zone lighting in my bedroom.
auto illumination when I open the front door.
Lighting and security in the back yard.
Maybe smart dimming in the living room
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Prime
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Posts: 27729
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Re: Making my home smarter

Post by Prime »

I called that phase 3 because phase two was the aircon.

I didn't have many options available. But JB hi-fi had a special soon after I moved into my rental. So I bought a Sensibo.

A quick "hey Google" command sets my split cycle system going to way I want it through the Sensibo. I can also get the indoor temperature and humidity.

I've got it set to climate react, this works well. And it switches off if I leave the vacinity of my flat.
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