Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

Does the contactor need to be near the switch though?

I assume so? I’d rather not run wires to an alternate location

Fucking ONVIF/RTSP cameras. I have one of these https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08DD5K9G3/?th=1 connected via wi-fi which claims to work locally with ONVIF/RTSP.

The camera app generates an RTSP string which includes IP, user, password, port, etc

I've had a try with a couple of different windows machines (VLC, Kodi, ISpy both wired and wi-fi) and a few others (Motioneyes OS and homeassistant) and just got error messages.

However, I can access the exact same streams on my phone and Nvidia shield using VLC and Kodi (phone is on wifi, shield is wired).

So it looks like it is working but only on android devices. Anyone any bright ideas?

Trying to get an outdoor wifi camera that just works locally is an absolute ballache.

What about eufy? Is a wired cctv system an option? I stuck a ring doorbell on my front door and a ring stick up cam on my garden shed as a temporary option, with the medium term goal to get a 4 channel reolink wired system before we convert our attic, but I don’t plan to use cameras to trigger automations in HA.

I have to say, the iPhone app and dashboards is a game changer for wife approval ratings! Being able to set up a single place with all of the buttons in one place is much better!

Since getting my head back into HA after a house move, I’ve gotten ZHA set up with conbee ii, with sonoff th sensors in every room. As I eluded to previously, I’ve a Shelly 1pm going into my central heating switch to keep a more constant temperature throughout the house. Next step on that front is to pick up 9 moes zigbee trv’s to manage each room more accurately, but that’s a €300 investment.

I’ve started to dabble in lights, but this was a huge bone of contention for the missus previously. Physical switches are an absolute must, unless the automation is flawless. I’ve got ikea bulbs in the bedside lights, with ikea dimmer switches stuck under the table beside each light. I have a floor lamp in my living room that switches on an hour before sunset, and then between 11pm and 9am is managed by a sonoff motion sensor in that room. It switches on if motion is detected, and switches off 5 minutes after no motion is detected. These have been running for a week now and it’s been excellent.

Next step is to add motion triggered lights in my porch and hallway, however I absolutely must keep physical wall switches and weighing up my options here. In our old house I had those covers over the existing switches that the hue controller clipped into, but they were a tad bulky and ugly, so want to avoid that again. I also have no interest in those new hue wall modules at the current rrp. I see the following options:

1. Shelly1 in the ceiling roses - probably the neatest option to keep normal looking light switches, but a bit more hands on and would need bigger ceiling roses to accommodate them
   
2. Lightwaverf - too expensive
   
3. Connect the switched live cables, cover with a blanking plate, and stick an ikea or hue button onto it to manage zigbee bulbs - not too dissimilar to using the hue covers mentioned above
   
4. Sonoff ‘no neutral’ wall switches - won’t pass the waf based on aesthetics
   
   

Is there anything else I’ve missed?

I think our ghost has had enough of the landing motion sensor giving away it's movements and now after 7 weeks of flawless function both landing sensors refuse to trigger the routine to turn the lights on or off. they log the movement in the sensor app but alexa refuses to fire the routine. running the routines manually works fine (but requires no input from the sensor under those conditions) have removed and reinstalled everything and no joy.

think I'll replace motion sensors with the hue ones when I get paid and just have it handle the whole thing on the bridge instead as we do in the bathroom.

Eufy seems to rely on a network connection, I'm looking for an option that is local rather than through someone else's servers.

If I can find a cheap wireless bridge with PoE (I have a plug socket but no network connection) then that would increase the range of options but that doesn't seem to exist.

No space to put a Shelly 1 or 1L behind your light switches?

That's what I'm planning to do where I want physical switches.

If I can't fit them in I'll just put in bigger back boxes.

I figured you’d need a neutral wire in the switches to run Shelly there?

All of my switches are on masonry walls so it’d mean going at them with the chisel to put deeper boxes in, which I’d rather not do.

The 1L doesn't need a neutral, that's the difference from the 1! So sounds perfect for you. Should add the disclaimer that I've not bought or used one yet.

In the past I'd have used a drill to pepper pot holes then a chisel, now I'd just use a multi tool which is SO much easier, precise and less messy plus it's the DIY tool I never knew I needed 😊

Didn’t know about the 1L, that may be the way to go!

Ring doorbell system:
My wife ordered one (doorbell + chime). We don't use any Alexa devices, because evil. All we really need to use the Ring for is standard doorbell stuff, but also being notified of doorbell when we're working in shed office. What, if any, of the various concerns regarding Amazon home stuff would still apply? We'd be using it with the chime device for standard use, and the app when we're in the garden

All of them?

Unsure which wouldn't apply.

But that said... now I've successfully de-Amazon'd I'm starting to de-Google... so I'm an outlier in being critical. Won't dispose of hardware, but just shifted off of Gmail, etc.

I guess I'm a bit naive to what the security issues are! I'm not into Alexa - voice control isn't that appealing to me anyway, and they seem the worst for where voice recordings end up. Other than that, I'm not super fussed about the view from my front door, particularly (maybe I should be?), so what else is there that's not occurring to me?

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/ring-video-doorbell/

For comparison the Google one: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/nest-video-doorbells/

Spent this morning beginning to automate my central heating, here’s what I’ve done:

Shelly 1pm replaced the apt wall clock that controlled the oil boiler (~€20 for the relay and €2 for the blanking cover)
Set up a zigbee network with zha/conbee ii (€35 for conbee stick, but this also now controls zigbee outlets and bulbs elsewhere)
Put a sonoff zigbee temperature and humidity sensor in every room (€11 per sensor, €66 all in)
Created a generic thermostat in home assistant linking the boiler relay to the master bedroom sensor (master bedroom is the room of most interest to regulate the temperature in atm as that’s where the baby sleeps)

Set up the following switches/automations in home assistant:

1. heating on/off heating
   
2. boost for 1 hour so that the heating switches off automatically (exposed this to wife’s iPhone dashboard)
   
3. maintain temperature in master bedroom at 18.5 degrees +/- 0.3 degrees
   
   

I’m waiting for a zigbee button to arrive in an ikea order on Monday that I’ll stick on top of the blanking plate where the apt timer was that will physically control the boost. I need to also set up an away mode to flick off the thermostat when we’re both away.

From a central heating perspective the next step is to pick up some zigbee trvs for each radiator to make it as close to multi zone heating as I can. I’ll probably pick up a single moes one to test and if all goes well I’ll order 9 more.

Its less urgent as the central heating is heating our water, but before summer comes I’ll wire a shelly 1 to a beefier relay/contactor to control the immersion.

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cheers for those links - something to think further on.

The Forbes article about recording things on the street is really interesting. I've long thought most domestic CCTV installs are illegal and it seems a judge agrees with me.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksparrow/2021/10/14/british-judge-rules-that-amazon-ring-cameras-and-other-cctv-could-be-an-invasion-of-privacy/

That is not what the judge said.

The person in question installed multiple devices looking into private spaces... i.e. their back garden, and implicitly the neighbours back gardens and overlooked rooms. It also had audio recording enabled, which is an invasion of privacy in public spaces too... as you may observe someone at 20m but not hear them.... but these devices permit that.

A video doorbell that directly looks out onto a public space, viewable from the public street, this is fine as it isn't an invasion of privacy to observe a public area (unless an area specific by-law is applied, i.e. outside some gov buildings). But you shouldn't enable audio detection, and ideally should enforce an observed zone that doesn't overlook others.

That is not what the judge said.

It's how I read the article. Is the actual ruling available anywhere accessible?

A video doorbell that directly looks out onto a public space, viewable from the public street, this is fine as it isn't an invasion of privacy to observe a public area

My understanding is you need to put up warning notices with details of the data controller and respond to subject access requests. I've never seen such notices associated with householder cameras and in this case it sounds like they did not respond appropriately (perhaps to a deleting request).

You could argue the data controller is obvious on a house but plenty of blocks of flats have cameras, no notices and it isn't at all obvious who is responsible for them.

This was the original detail: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58911296

He mounted a camera on the shed at the rear, including having audio enabled there.

(Surely there's a link to the actual ruling rather than press repeating other press months later)

This looks like fun.

What are you running HA on?

Even more detail in https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Fairhurst-v-Woodard-Judgment-1.pdf (I haven't read that yet)

It's how I read the article. Is the actual ruling available anywhere accessible?

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Fairhurst-v-Woodard-Judgment-1.pdf

[Edit] too slow

Thank you.

So it looks like a private but shared driveway and car park to the rear, accessed by 3 properties, and 1 property has mounted camera, floodlight and sensors over this private space.

In addition, audio enabled on devices covering the public spaces.

And all systems default activated constantly and recording... not configured with consideration (only on movement immediately in a doorway, etc).

Also a factor, the guy who installed it was considered a poor witness, contradicting and providing incorrect evidence. The judge said "I consider the Defendant’s evidence was dishonest, exaggerated or otherwise incredible".

The claimant a good witness with consistent strong arguments.

It's also disputed by the judge and evidence that there even was a spate of burglaries that justified these measures. Page 14 is entertaining. A single incident perhaps, and his defense is essentially "the police told me to step up security".

Actually there's a lot of wild things in there.

But gist is... he put a camera on private spaced that had shared ownership and bragged that he could observe the comings and goings of everyone.

He got what he deserved. Most of the judgement pertains to harassment and covering the private part of the land in surveillance.

For the GDPR part... the ruling is because he collected data outside of his personal property (specifically the driveway camera which is shared and private property).

But that still doesn't change the law or set precedent for someone installing a single camera on their doorway , to monitor their property only, from the public space side of things.