Smart homes

[DocDave]

I am thinking of adding a second Wemo light switch in the house. This one in the kitchen. The kitchen light seem to be on all the time and I wonder if being able to schedule when the light is on/off would be helpful. Then again, at times like this (when I'm at work) the light should be off, so what's the benefit of being able to turn it on/off remotely? Plus I don't think I need to schedule the kitchen lights being on/off like I do with the outside front light.

[mebejoseph]

I am thinking of adding a second Wemo light switch in the house. This one in the kitchen. The kitchen light seem to be on all the time and I wonder if being able to schedule when the light is on/off would be helpful. Then again, at times like this (when I'm at work) the light should be off, so what's the benefit of being able to turn it on/off remotely? Plus I don't think I need to schedule the kitchen lights being on/off like I do with the outside front light.

One of the reasons I want more switches is schedule more off and on times when we travel, including interior lights--probably one in the front bedroom and one in the living room. Also, we only have one for our small back yard right now. I want one on the front door light as well--we would use that all the time to turn it on at dusk and probably shut it down around four or five in the morning.

If you're not concerned about the travel thing, I don't see much benefit to having a bunch of interior lights on the WeMo, unless you don't like coming home to a dark interior of your house. Then you could schedule one light to turn on at dusk each day.

[lgball]

So I'm a bit of a geek, so I've been doing smart home stuff for many years. First with X10, which sucks, and now with more modern gear.

I have:

3 Nest Thermostats
A bunch of Hue lights - if you wait for sales, you can by the white bulbs for $12-15 each.
A set of Wemo switches for my outside lights.
Some Wemo plugs for other things like china cabinets and underecounter lights.
A couple of iHome outdoor plugs for Christmas lights.
A Rachio sprinkler controller
A Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener
All of this connects to a couple of Amazon Echos that control it all with voice.

I can also control my Dish Hopper DVR and my TV with the Echo.
All can also be controlled from my phone.
I can set timers to control the lights, with different programs for when we are home and away.
I don't use it, but you can use geolocation to turn on lights/set the thermostats when you are close to home.
It all works great and even the wife likes it.

One important caveat - all this stuff works on wifi, so if your wifi sucks, your experience will too.
I got Google wifi and everything has been very smooth.

Someone above wondered why you would have interior lights on smart plugs or use smart bulbs if you weren't using them to simulate being home when you travel. Well, we have like 6 lamps in the den, and being able to turn them all off and on at once with voice is wonderful. It's also nice to be able to dim them all together for movies, etc.

I'll be happy to help anyone that has questions about how all this works.

[Dun]

Someone above wondered why you would have interior lights on smart plugs or use smart bulbs if you weren't using them to simulate being home when you travel. Well, we have like 6 lamps in the den, and being able to turn them all off and on at once with voice is wonderful. It's also nice to be able to dim them all together for movies, etc.

Agreed. Lights that are not on a wall switch are especially good for voice commands for reasons ranging from: my hands are full of groceries - awkward reaches can mess up your back.

[C.Dubs]

So I'm a bit of a geek, so I've been doing smart home stuff for many years. First with X10, which sucks, and now with more modern gear.

I have:

3 Nest Thermostats
A bunch of Hue lights - if you wait for sales, you can by the white bulbs for $12-15 each.
A set of Wemo switches for my outside lights.
Some Wemo plugs for other things like china cabinets and underecounter lights.
A couple of iHome outdoor plugs for Christmas lights.
A Rachio sprinkler controller
A Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener
All of this connects to a couple of Amazon Echos that control it all with voice.

I can also control my Dish Hopper DVR and my TV with the Echo.
All can also be controlled from my phone.
I can set timers to control the lights, with different programs for when we are home and away.
I don't use it, but you can use geolocation to turn on lights/set the thermostats when you are close to home.
It all works great and even the wife likes it.

One important caveat - all this stuff works on wifi, so if your wifi sucks, your experience will too.
I got Google wifi and everything has been very smooth.

Someone above wondered why you would have interior lights on smart plugs or use smart bulbs if you weren't using them to simulate being home when you travel. Well, we have like 6 lamps in the den, and being able to turn them all off and on at once with voice is wonderful. It's also nice to be able to dim them all together for movies, etc.

I'll be happy to help anyone that has questions about how all this works.

Can you just come set up all of that stuff in my home? I can pay you with a pair of dapper suede chukkas.

[lgball]

Can you just come set up all of that stuff in my home? I can pay you with a pair of dapper suede chukkas.

Atlanta's a bit of a drive from OKC. However, I can be bribed with the right whisky.

[C.Dubs]

Atlanta's a bit of a drive from OKC. However, I can be bribed with the right whisky.

Chukkas and Cutty Sark? You drive a hard bargain.

[DocDave]

I'm liking the smart devices more and more. It's great to come home from the gym at night/early morning and have the outside light already turned on. Similarly, it's nice to come down to the kitchen and have the radio turn out and off just as I'm running out the door to head to work.

Mysa just released an update to their smart thermostat too. So now I can check out a graph of my heat/energy consumption. I'm not super anal about that kind of stuff, but it is neat to visually see how we're heating our house.

[hockeysc23]

Installed our bluetooth lock the other day from Kwikset. Pretty great to be able to send E-Keys to our family to stop by rather than having to go get keys made and has a log of who comes and goes. Asked for more stuff for christmas based on the recommendations here. Appreciate it fellas.