Smart home compatiblity

[Tradie]

I have been scratching around in the smart home bubble, the biggest challenge still boils down to finding systems that fully integrates, all other applications.

IF you going down this road as a home owner wanting to "fiddle" annoy the rest of the family, then Home assistant and all the other user type home automation is the way to go. Will it save you a a lot of money, that depends on how well you control the spending. there is going to be a lot of trial and error, and there is a good chance products that just end up on the wall with but not used or a draw full of fails.

Why would you spend a lot of money on commercial based product, because you can afford it and it will simplify your life. I would say tech support would be the main reason.

[GCE]

Problem with home automation systems is when you come to sell and the new owner is not APP friendly , there are endless phone calls and problems

[Tradie]

The calls start 2 days after you complete the installation and if the app is as reliable as the Sunsynk app, you end up a with a lot of disgruntled customers.

People call at all hours of the day, night and weekend, even if it is just a simple thing like a switch that lost the connection.

This is why, when I do any form of automation, like we have done in the past, linking security lights and alarm triggers, I make sure there is 3 methods to switch on the lights, the keypad, the phone and a standard wall switch.

Problem with home automation systems is when you come to sell and the new owner is not APP friendly , there are endless phone calls and problems

[Tradie]

If you u looking for a simple home automation, the easiest way to get started, simple applications like Tuya, smart home, and generally using the application that is supplied with the device, which limits you to very basic info and generally only offer totals and very limited history.

An example CBI astute products, if you sue the CBI app you cant link to home assistant, which means you have to use an app like Tuya, which I have set schedules, yet the geyser still switches the geyser on between 12 am and 3 am ( it might be something else that is triggering the device).

We then move up to voice control, like home kit and google etc, which are slight improvement.

Then you get an open source platform, like home assistant, which offers much more integration and control.

The we get the commercial systems which include Control4, KNX and Loxone, which also come with their challenges and cost to purchase, install, integrate and manage.

[Tradie]

When starting out, the biggest challenge I have to date, is decided which products are suitable for my application.

I think it is like choosing your solar/backup system, some products may be more competitive with pricing, but will they just plug and play and feed back into the non essential to heat the geyser in the middle of the day?

Planning a home automation system would require a lot of planning, from what it is you want to automate, what will integrate into the system you install and will the company that installed the system still be around in 3 to 5 years to support the product.

which is why keeping it standard and simple would be the wise choice, as soon as you start introducing complex integration, will the design person still be with the company by the time the project is completed?

I have seen this happening on a project we worked on worth around R500 million, the design person disappeared, I think to this day nobody has every been able to fully understand the system.

[Tradie]

when you start scratching around in this filed, you realise why home assistant has become popular.

A loxone mini server is going set you back a little more than R20k, by the time you add the panel and special cables required, that is just entry level for one component.

You want to simplify your life with a commercial home automation product you can expect to spend more than you did on your solar installation.

It would be a good idea to start with a solar backup system, no power no smart home