Hey all, we’re moving into a new place soon and I want to start making it a smart home. I have some experience with wifi-based smart bulbs from TP-Link Kasa and a ring camera, but that’s about it. I need to update the switches in the house anyway, so I figure that’s a good place to start.

A few details:

  • The house was built in the early 60s, so I’m guessing no neutral wires. (It doesn’t look like most of the switches have been updated since it was built)

  • All the bedrooms have overhead fans with just a single switch controlling them. Is there any way to use smart tech to control the fan and light separately? This isn’t a huge priority, but would be nice even if it’s in the distant future.

  • I use Google Home

  • While I consider myself probably technical enough to figure out and set up something like Homeassistant, complex automation is not my goal (right now). Voice command and remote command via smartphone is the primary concern.

  • I have no hubs/thread border router right now.

  • I’d very much prefer something that will last / something that I won’t need to update or replace after a few years. (I’m not very familiar with the longevity of the software running some of these smart home options. I’ve had a couple Kasa bulbs for over 5 years, but I’m not sure if that’s common or not.)

  • I think there are a lot of unknown unknowns for me. This is an area of tech I just haven’t kept up with.

I’m just a bit lost, and with reddit gone I’m not sure what to trust. Any guidance on where to start would be very appreciated!

  • m-p-3@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    IMO the way to go is to slowly transition, and avoid systems, hardware and softwares that depends on the cloud as much as possible. If you can, try to stick to one open standard and don’t deviate unless you have absolutely no choice.

    You should be able to disconnect the Internet and control everything locally on your home wireless network. If you can’t, then you don’t own it.

    Sure, you can make some automation rely on some weather services (OpenWeatherMap), but you could go one step further and deploy your own weather station on your property (ie: attached to the shed, etc). That way even if the Internet goes out, you can still automate based on local data.

    • borkcorkedforks@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      Avoiding the cloud is a good tip. It’s weird to trigger a device then have that communication bounce around to different servers only to come back just to turn on a light bulb a few feet away. If one of those companies goes under or decides to shutdown the service your device is probably useless. If the internet is down so is your light bulb.

  • dragna@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    I cannot recommend setting up a pi-hole or something similar more before getting started on anything else.

    My friend set up a whole bunch of really nice smart features in his apartment, and separately set up a pi-hole as he was beginning to build out his NAS/plex server to be remotely accessible. One of the many things he found out was that his lightbulbs were pinging back and forth 100s of times an hour with a server in China that his pi-hole was able to start filtering/blocking. I don’t know if he ever set up any packet sniffing to see what exactly was being communicated with all those pings, but you can never be too safe with this stuff.

    • panzer@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      I use Technitum DNS server to block but take a couple more steps.

      I have a IoT block group that blocks them from WAN.

      Then I point them at a dummy gateway and DNS server.
      Actual gateway is 10.0.1.1 dummy 10.0.1.99 and use the same for the DNS.

      I know I should use vlans but a lot services have issues jumping vlans.

  • Kushan@beehaw.org
    0·
    1 year ago

    I know you’ve written off home assistant, but I’d strongly recommend reconsidering it. You can get something like Home Assistant yellow, which will serve as a hub for just about everything you could ever make smart. Home assistant is good for just giving you a dashboard of all your smart home stuff, you don’t have to lean into the heavy automations or anything like that.

    • Realtrain@kbin.socialOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yeah I guess I was just worried about it all becoming a headache. Looks like there are some easier entry points though.

  • DAVENP0RT@kbin.social
    0·
    1 year ago

    When we first bought our house, my wife and I decked out the whole thing in “smart” features: home assistant, switches, routines, etc. Over time, we found ourselves using those features less and less often. The Google Home was listening and responding to my wife only about half the time, so most of the features were completely useless to her. Then it started triggering when it heard vaguely “google-like” words on the TV, much to my wife’s chagrin.

    We’re currently in the process of selling our house, so we have spent the last several months getting packed up. One of the things we packed away a few weeks ago was the Google Homes. I honestly haven’t missed them at all; if anything, it has been soothing not to hear them constantly triggered by someone on the TV saying phrases like “well good,” followed by us trying to get the assistant to shut up.

    The only things I’ve truly enjoyed in the long run are these: a smart switch on our gas fireplace (with a routine to shut off at bedtime), our array of cameras, and the smart lock on our front door. Those are the three things I will 100% be carrying on to our future home. As for the rest, I’m happy walking into a room and flipping the switch for myself.

    • dandi8@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      Seems like your issue is mainly with voice recognition.

      For a different perspective, I’ve set up my apartment with Home Assistant and smart lightbulbs a few years ago and it’s honestly been really nice to have all lights become dimmer as night approaches, turn off automatically as I go to bed, then be woken up by my bedside lamp mimicking the sun (especially in the winter). Being able to access all lights via a mobile app has also been really useful.

      Perhaps the sweet spot is to find where the “smart” home can help you with your routines?

      I never really bothered with voice control as I don’t like the privacy implications.