Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

It is a pain, especially when 3rd party apps can offer more functionality. I try and keep as much as I want within the hue app in the hope that the less things talking to each other the less that can break.

So there's nothing stopping Hue making this functionality available on all of the earlier switches

££££££££

Obviously we're all going to upgrade to the new Hue kit!

Or alternatively steer away from their over priced slightly locked in ecosystem. Yes their stuff is good and works well together, but there's lots of new bulbs and lights that perform better for a fraction of the price... Yet you can't fully operate a lot of them through the Hue app/Bridge for "security reasons"

Any tips for which bulbs perform better than Hue?

The "Time based light" formula in hue labs may do this.

Any recommendations for zigbee temperature sensors? Something that can be integrated with home assistant (with zigbee USB stick) without needing a separate hub or app? Cheaper the better.

Also, any suggestions for external motion sensor (battery powered) and temperature sensor (can be two different devices), preferably zigbee again?

I've just picked up one of these which looks interesting

It's a Sonoff switch but the interesting bits are it's natively Hue compatible and, as well as being controlled through the Hue app, can also work with a normal lightswitch (or other form of switch). The two light grey terminals connect to a switch so you can switch it on and off and that will also change the state for Hue or whatever.

link?

looks like it needs a neutral input

This one https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08RYT9XGL

Yep, I don't think it will work with just a switched live. I'm actually intending to use it for something else so won't be using the switch part but it's an interesting option.

What's the current recommendation for a thermostat? Helping my parents with their house and they want to be able to manage it remotely

What's the technical competence of your parents?

If luddites... Hive, it's expensive but can be remotely managed and has a few issues (does not work locally if the internet is out) but one of them (isn't actually intelligent/smart) is a bonus for older people who find tech confuses them.

If intelligent and sharp... Nest, also expensive and can be remotely managed but works locally without internet and remotely. It has a learning mode which can initially confuse, as the learning mode will adjust the schedule. This can be disabled of course, the UI is easy to use and intuitive... but only intuitive to the current generation and not people who rarely use tech (this is where Hive would be it, if you're 90 and hate tech Hive seems more intuitive whilst it is working).

I use Hive, it does all I need and is easy to use if you just want to turn the heating on/off/up/down. Never used it with a boiler as we have a combi so can’t speak to the ability to heat up the water remotely.

Nest seemed a bit too much of a faff.

My dad is tech literate but is very much in a CBA mode with technology. Recently told me his kindle stick wasn't working any more.. an upgrade moved stuff into a submenu and he didn't bother to look when some apps "disappeared". Ultimately I'll be managing it remotely I expect and then checking it a few times a year when I visit in person.

Would recommend Hive.

Especially the "I'll be managing remotely" as it's easier to share the Hive credentials and install the app on devices as the Google Nest employs decent security and you'd need to have access to the Google account which will itself detect remote access and kick you a lot (and with 2FA will be a PITA). Hive is far less secure, and thus more convenient in your case.

I use Netatmo. Easy to install (it took me about 20 minutes last time I did it) with lots of flexibility on wiring.

It doesn't necessarily have all the learning functions of the fancier ones but it's easy to set up a schedule and manually adjust the temperature too (either remotely through the app/website, through Alexa or something or just by pressing a button on it).

I've had one for about 7 years in a couple of different properties and can't remember having any problems with it. You can grant access to other people easily on the app/website.

We have oil central heating in our house, boiler is outside and we switch it on/off with this switch/timer.

I was hoping to replace this with some form of smart switch, and control each room temperature with smart TRV’s.

Has anyone else replaced this sort of switch? Do I need a smart thermostat, or would a smart switch or relay suffice?

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If you're going with smart TRVs, I'd be getting the appropriate controller - you'll already have the bridge etc., so why face the hassle of trying to integrate it all.

Does your hot water come off the boiler too? (In which case controller > smart switch.)

Immersion heater is a separate switch (and was going to be my next question)

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Help. I've had an electrician install 30m of ethernet cable up to our new garden office. It's plugged into a Virgin Hub4, and I've bought a TP Link 901N access point thing to make WiFi up there. Ultimately I want the network in the house and in the office to be the same name and password.

In the first instance though, I can connect to WiFi on the TP link access point, but there's no internet connection. I've done the quick setup and said I want it to be an access point, still no internet. I'm useless when it comes to stuff like this, how do I get it to work? Please explain like I'm 5.

And I mean really dumb it down

Does your virgin hub run as a router or a modem? My old virgin hub would only run one of the Ethernet ports if it was set as just a modem with a separate router.

Can you access the modem from your garden office machine?

Using a browser, go to 192.168.0.1 (iirc)

If it's in modem only mode, it will be on 192.168.100.1

Router, so it makes a WiFi network in the house. The Ethernet ports work because I can connect my laptop directly to it with another ethernet cable

Nope, I can only access the TP Link through its tplinkap.net or whatever page is called

Oh, to complicate things, the garden ethernet cable will not click into my ancient MacBook Pro ethernet socket. So I can't connect to the router whilst in the office

If you log on to the virgin hub while connected by WiFi with the MacBook, can it 'see' the tp-link as a connected device?