Smart Home

[jfkbengals]

(07-10-2017, 11:17 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I just joined the smart home revolution. I bought a google home, 2 chromecasts, some smart light bulbs, and a NEST.

I was at my friends house over the weekend and he had all of the above products. It was too cool to see him be able to turn off/dim his lights, change the temp of his house, and control his TV and play music with his voice. He could even do it from his phone when hes not home.

Does anyone else have any smart home products? Im pretty excited to get them all setup this week.

I have an Echo on the main floor, an Echo in the bedroom, and a Tap all linked to a Smartthings Hub.

The Things I have installed are a Yale lock, Z-Wave lightswitches in the bedroom, living room, and dining room (dimming in the dining room), and 2 Z-wave outlets for two scented lights.  I also have a dozen or so appliance Z-Wave plug ins for table lamps, a digital photo frame, additional scented warmers, and Christmas stuff.  We just purchased two Arlo Q cameras to add to the system, but I haven't hooked them up yet.  I also have 2 additional Z-Wave replacement toggle switches that I haven't had the chance to install (probably the kitchen and guest bedroom will get those).

I have all of the standard Smartthings routines set up with "Goodbye" and "I'm Back" being triggered automatically by our cell phones when we leave and return (it's awesome to have the door unlocking on it's own as I jump out of the car and run to the door when it's raining!), and a random evening light sequence that I set up before a recent vacation that I still haven't turned off.

I have the Smartthings Smart App "The Big Switch" set up in multiple ways, with "Christmas" being my favorite.  It has the main tree, mini bedroom tree, 2 mini trees on either side of the entertainment center, and a string of white lights that we run through an alcove all triggered by it.  It's tied into the Goodbye, Goodnight, and I'm Back routines, so when the decorations are up, I walk in the door and they are all on.  I say "Alexa, Goodnight" and they shut off with the rest of the house.  When I wake up on the weekends, I just say "Alexa, turn on Christmas" and it all lights up.

Have fun with the stuff, and beware it is very addicting, which can take a bunch of money from your wallet.  I now allow myself one or two GE Z-wave toggle switches every few months at roughly $40 each so I'm not just throwing money at it like crazy.  Next time it will probably be a pair of three way switches so my hall light can be integrated.  Then I plan to do the master bath fan switch and dimming light switch, followed closely by a motion and humidity sensor.  The humidity sensor will pair with the switch to turn the fan on and off from shower humidity, and the motion sensor I plan to run during our sleep hours paired to the light switch and cutting it on at 20% brightness when we go into the bathroom during the night. 

The only thing I can't do is a thermostat, as the 10 year warranty on my Carrier system requires utilizing the programmable one that came with the system.  7 years to go, then that puppy is getting switched out too!