Home Automation - Smartkit

Dolby said:
I wonder if yours somehow got corrupt or something during the New Year issue ?

EDIT : Ah I see there are a few complaints trickling in http://support.iteadstudio.com/support/discussions/topics/11000007735/page/5?url_locale=
Click to expand...

Also found this - seems to still be working off a schedule though as I get notifications when the pool pump is triggered... what isn't working is scenes - I've got one light on a schedule, and the other gets triggered on its events.

Think I might also go the MQTT route though - the app is crappy - and scheduling is a pain.
 
xrapidx said:
Also found this - seems to still be working off a schedule though as I get notifications when the pool pump is triggered... what isn't working is scenes - I've got one light on a schedule, and the other gets triggered on its events.

Think I might also go the MQTT route though - the app is crappy - and scheduling is a pain.
Click to expand...

The basic timer works for me. I turn on my bore hole pump using a POW and set it to turn off after 1.5 hours of watering the garden, usually at night.

The pain is if the app is down then I have to walk outside and trigger the thing manually. Or if the app stops working during the night and I wake up to a flood.
 
Now my service isn't working either.

Considering they sell 100,000 of these units per months, you'd think they'd have their cloud system working almost 100% of the time ..,
 
Dolby said:
Now my service isn't working either.

Considering they sell 100,000 of these units per months, you'd think they'd have their cloud system working almost 100% of the time ..,
Click to expand...

Same here. Frustrating. I was planning on buying more but I'm going to have to try out flashing them first when I have time.
 
ebendl said:
The basic timer works for me. I turn on my bore hole pump using a POW and set it to turn off after 1.5 hours of watering the garden, usually at night.

The pain is if the app is down then I have to walk outside and trigger the thing manually. Or if the app stops working during the night and I wake up to a flood.
Click to expand...

It's a little difficult to consider these devices then for any relatively important task. It's a pity, because the pricing is great and the app concept is good, but if it cannot be relied on then it's pretty much useless.
 
rorz0r said:
<snip>
Click to expand...

How are you finding HomeAssistant? I started looking at OpenHAB -but didn't get far.

I'm trying to find something to allow the control of multiple different home automation systems.
* OpenSprinkler
* Yeelight (been way more reliable than Sonoff)
* Sonoff lights
* Sonoff on pool pump (would be great if it could run based on weather)
* Paradox alarm (this would be great - but doesn't look easy)
* Kodi (i.e. functionality to turn on a light at the end of a movie, or when its paused - in a blacked out room -
its dark when the movie ends

Dolby said:
Now my service isn't working either.

Considering they sell 100,000 of these units per months, you'd think they'd have their cloud system working almost 100% of the time ..,
Click to expand...

I've got my pool pump online - but the lights are offline :/ Both of them - which is weird as they're next to each other, on two different switches. (not home to check the problem)
 
It's somewhat non-trivial to set up HA, requiring modifying text/yaml files and you do have to put in some time to read the docs etc. Googling your device and HomeAssistant usually yields something you can copy and paste then at least see how it looks then customize. I haven't yet looking at any of the automation parts but it seems to be basically in line with everything else with a trigger and an action.

I would also like to get it as integrated with my Paradox system as possible, definitely doesn't look to be easy (ie already built) and looks like it would actually require some code that doesn't exist yet. I think ideally if I could get "something" to log in via the IP150, and basically just publish the state (armed/disarmed as well as zones open/closed) via MQTT and arm/disarm based on a received MQTT message I'd be happy, and basically able to do whatever automation off that.

Your kodi idea sounds cool, I'm fairly sure it can be done as it's pretty flexible with that sort of thing. Not aware of anything yet though. I know Yatse sort of does things the other way by pausing your movie when a phone call comes in. I have a Pi3 running Kodi on my home theatre but I mainly use Rokus and Plex. The HT is yet another project in progress...
 
xrapidx said:
I've got my pool pump online - but the lights are offline :/ Both of them - which is weird as they're next to each other, on two different switches. (not home to check the problem)
Click to expand...

I got this a couple of times. It looks like their service is just completely flooded, so one device would get lucky and register online while the rest would fail.
 
rorz0r said:
I would also like to get it as integrated with my Paradox system as possible, definitely doesn't look to be easy (ie already built) and looks like it would actually require some code that doesn't exist yet. I think ideally if I could get "something" to log in via the IP150, and basically just publish the state (armed/disarmed as well as zones open/closed) via MQTT and arm/disarm based on a received MQTT message I'd be happy, and basically able to do whatever automation off that.
Click to expand...

There was this thread for OpenHab bindings and the IP150 -- most recent post was 25 days ago. There were definitely some people that got something working, but apparently V4.0 of the IP150 firmware screw up a lot. https://community.openhab.org/t/help-build-binding-for-paradox-alarm-panel-with-ip150/1712
 
Yeh - read a few places that upgrading the firmware is a bad idea....
 
xrapidx said:
How are you finding HomeAssistant? I started looking at OpenHAB -but didn't get far.

I'm trying to find something to allow the control of multiple different home automation systems.
* OpenSprinkler
* Yeelight (been way more reliable than Sonoff)
* Sonoff lights
* Sonoff on pool pump (would be great if it could run based on weather)
* Paradox alarm (this would be great - but doesn't look easy)
* Kodi (i.e. functionality to turn on a light at the end of a movie, or when its paused - in a blacked out room -
its dark when the movie ends
Click to expand...

I have a similar setup that I want to do, just a bit more basic at this stage:
* Yeelights
* Sonoff controlling fans and a Sonoff controlling my borehole pump. Looking at buy a TH16 to control an extractor fan in my bathroom
* One Sonoff controlling my garage light
* Chromecasts -- a whole bunch of them
* 2 Google Home Minis and 1 Google Home standard
* Plex but might switch to something else
* Old Windows laptop running OpenHab, but probably need to move to a Raspberry PI.

Purchased a bunch of Xiaomi sensors (one door, one occupancy, one temp/humidy and one button) and their gateway on Gearbest last night. Their app (while somewhat in Chinese) seems to be working quite well and what's nice is you can incorporate their IP cams (at R350 for a full-HD with panning, it is a steal) with the motion sensors and start recording when it senses motion. The Yeelights working as it does (I'd say 98% of the time) basically convinced me to try their other Home automation stuff too.

The gateway also seems to have good bindings for OpenHab and the Gateway was like R350, so it is a cheap-ish experiment. Also makes the Yeelights easier to control -- I think.

I might end up using the Xiaomi as a bit of an indoor alarm, but still need to look at an external alarm (i.e. outdoor PIR). I know some of the outdoor PIR has no transmitter inside and relies on another's wireless door contacts, so I will see if I can rig up the Xiaomi door contacts.

The Google Home / Alexa integration is a bit more difficult. HA recently announced that they were planning to charge monthly for this functionality as it requires a cloud server and upkeep. OpenHab is still waiting for Google to approve their official actions and then you will need to use OpenHab cloud.

At this stage, OpenHab's is free, but no idea how long.
 
Last edited:
At this rate I won't be getting anymore of these Sonoff things.

Came home, both still show offline - delete the one, and it deletes all three of my devices.

Add the one again, it adds fine - but still shows Network Unavailable - even though I can see the wireless strength.

Added all three back, all show Network Unavailable - but you can see the wireless strength.
 
That's my next step, although, j don't think it's as easy with the Slampers?
 
Well at the very least we know that sonoff are not doing any auto scaling or ddos mitigation even though they’re simple things to do in aws if the solution is architected correctly
 
gertvanjoe said:
Just flash other firmware. There are pretty solid ones I read
Click to expand...

I thought I understood how these devices operate, now I'm confused. How is flashing different firmware going to help when it is the servers that are down? Is there an alternative cloud service?
 
riscbroker said:
I thought I understood how these devices operate, now I'm confused. How is flashing different firmware going to help when it is the servers that are down? Is there an alternative cloud service?
Click to expand...
Flashing different firmware means the devices don't even go through their Sonoff server at all. You can have full local LAN control
 
The custom firmware is actually awesome, but it does mean you need to set up your own app for your phone with either Openhab or HomeAssisnt. Basically, quite a bit more work. In the end however, it will be worth it you are someone that can tinker a bit. If you want a product that just works after buying it, I wouldn't recommend custom firmware.
 
Dolby said:
Flashing different firmware means the devices don't even go through their Sonoff server at all. You can have full local LAN control
Click to expand...

Thanks Dolby. So there is currently no cloud access via Sonoff to the devices, and no alternative cloud server, regardless of what firmware may be flashed?

By 'local LAN control' are you referring to 2.4MHz access?

EDIT: Just saw the post from Tinuva. So OpenHab or Home Assistant have their own servers that can be used, obviously with different firmware on the devices?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X