Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

what are the forum recommended smart light switch modules that are hue compatible?

Thanks for this.
I'm amazed that there isn't an all in one smoke, heat and CO detector.

I have one of the Hue ones that seems neat but I haven't installed it yet (it entirely bypasses the mains power for the switch which is a bit different to most of them), only works with smart bulbs though so not much good if you want to replace a switch controlling loads of lights or spots or something . I also have a Sonoff one (that I also haven't installed yet) that looks relatively easy to set up.

Worth having a look at the wiring in the switch to see if there is a neutral there or not as that will influence what you need. (Although I think the Hue one should work with any wiring set up).

that's useful thanks, the switches I was trying to think of were the shelley ones.

but the 1l seems to be sold out everywhere so it may be moot (i did find 1 in stock so ordered to test it out and see they fare).

we have the stuff to mount over all the switches that we acquired while renting to start us off and I can retrofit most of this kind of stuff later on so I'm in no major rush there but i'm also going to be building 4 new rooms in our summerhouse from the studs up and I want it to be wired perfectly for every conceivable scenario I might have for it so I can make sure it has all the neutrals and other stuff it will need which should hopefully make my life a little easier and widen my options there.

I quite like this switch by SENIC & GIRA but it’s not cheap. I am also not sure how well it would cover our existing switches + aggro with then permanently wiring the switches on.

https://www.senic.com/products/friends-of-hue-smart-switch?variant=40712299610306

If someone actually made a decent UK compatible switch for hue they’d clean up.

so I can make sure it has all the neutrals and other stuff it will need

I'm not sure if this is the issue it was, seems to be lots of options not requiring a neutral now. Maybe deeper backboxes to make it easy to stick stuff in there.

I have UTFS a bit buuuuut not sure its been answered, so I have a question for anyone using Ring home security shit.

Once you've set the geofence, is there a way to make it stop sending motion alerts eg every time one of us goes into the garden? I know you can snooze alerts for X period of time once you return to your geofence so you don't get buzzed about approaching your own door, but I can't see a way of snoozinig them for 'whenever youre in the fence'

Seems the system is kind of lacking a way of running all devices off settings from disarmed/home/away

for ref. we have the alarm, doorbell and external floodlight camera

Seems the system is kind of lacking a way of running all devices off settings from disarmed/home/away

I think I just found the answer to this under Mode Settings. the UI/UX is not great on this stuff

Is there a forum approved, Homekit compatible smart plug that comes in a European socket version? We've had some Meross ones for about two years but two are now un-contactable.

I don't use Homekit but the Sonoff stuff is working well for me. I've been using the Zigbee stuff but they do Wifi bits too.

The TP Link stuff seems fine when I've used it. Seems to be under both Tapo and Kasa brand for some reason but shouldn't matter if you're using with HomeKit (you'll have to check which models are HomeKit compatible but some are).

I am after a little camera to keep an eye on the dog when I am not in the house.
Any suggestions?

Not after anything super sophisticated as it is only rare he is alone and even rarer still it is longer than a couple of hours.

Eufy IndoorCam?

Reasonable app, can be standalone or with used with the hub, mains powered so always on. Does need an SD card if not using it with a hub, but even so doesn’t make it too expensive. Also on Prime Day deals (Eufy is Anker is distributed by Amazon)

@DethBeard +1 from me for eufy.

The rotatable indoor cam is on prime deals today.

Cheers gang, will order one up
X

Yes, eufy stuff seems decent. Although I have mine connected to a smart socket so it only turns on when I'm out of the house.

I had never thought of going that… I just awkwardly reach around to unplug it 🤦‍♂️

I have the smart plug linked to my burglar alarm so it only turns on when the alarm is fully armed.

do you have a delay setup so the camera is online when the alarm arms itself?

No delay for arming it, that's generally as I'm heading out of the door. There's a few minutes delay for disarming so it sees who comes in when the alarm turns off.

Does anyone happened to have an Unifi Bullet camera spare they'd like to sell me please?

i was wondering if it was like my ring alarm which will bypass sensors if a window is open when it's set so it doesn't trigger immediately.

but i guess cameras are different and even if it took a minute to boot up when power was supplied through the plug it would just see it as online.

interesting, I'll have to have a play when I get HA setup in the new place as I'd like a couple of cameras in the house but not keen on them being active when we're in.

Yes, it's linked through home assistant so it's just based on alarm on/off status.

Was doing some investigation into what our master socket situation is at our new place as the socket where the cable comes in is not a master socket but the one in our extension is despite clearing running off an extension lead around the side of the house.

opened the first socket up and was greeted with the horror show in the attached image.

now in the chicken/egg situation of needing openreach to come fix it so we can avoid potential downtime when we swap from the old place but they wont do anything until we have an active line and i have to go through isp who dont own the line until they move the service over.

thankfully isp guy reckons the line was in use before old owners moved out so the shitty extension master socket will work until we get it fixed. but also will probably be slapped with £200 openreach charge for having fucked around with the service boundaries.

would also like the master socket moved under the stairs which is easy to come in through front wall under floorboards of that room and up into stair cupboard but timing of all this will be after we've had new carpet installed and the room is decorated.

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I'd move the master to where you want it yourself and not mention it to OpenReach. If an engineer ever visits just shrug, say it was like that when you got there and would they like another biscuit.