Home Automation - Smartkit

Only problem I have is the ones on the same switch - sometimes one drops off and its difficult getting all of them back on again at the same time.
 
ebendl said:
I'm actually surprised on how far their wifi can stretch. Obviously you can lose a lot of packets and still turn on a light, but they work in places where my phone has absolutely no throughput.

It does feel as if the response in the app got a bit slower recently. It always loads but it feels as if I have to wait a couple of secs before the lights' status appears.

Google Home is rock solid with them. I'd say 1 out of 30 times I get a problem when I try to switch on/off lights and then usually it is a local network problem. Turning the light on and off fixes it.


I also think if you can keep the price right you can import and sell them locally. But yeah, import on these will have a 20% duty which makes it a lot more.
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As far as I'm aware LED bulbs attract no import duty?

8539.50 - Light-emitting diode (LED) lamps:
8539.50.10 6 - - Of the screw-in, bayonet or similar types kg free free free free free
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ebendl said:
They levied on my import from Gearbest when I brought in enough YEelights to cross the R500 mark.

I then investigated and found this: http://www.ee.co.za/article/import-duty-hike-rocks-led-boat.html
Light-emitting diode (LED) lamps:
Calculating the duties and vat myself pointed to around a 20% duty.
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We'll have to investigate, but according to documentation on their own site, dated 1 January 2018, Light-emitting diode (LED) lamps (with the exception of parts) should not have any rates applied.
 
phaktza said:
We'll have to investigate, but according to documentation on their own site, dated 1 January 2018, Light-emitting diode (LED) lamps (with the exception of parts) should not have any rates applied.
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Ooh great, perhaps they changed it again?
 
So I tried flashing my second POW with tasmota using SonATA. Been struggling for ages now :/
Thought maybe I should configure it on eWeLink first like I did with the first one then try, and then I noticed that it had firmware 2.0.2 installed and 2.0.4 was the latest. SonOTA says it won't work on >1.6 unfortunately. So it looks like I'll be needing that FTDI cable (it's about time I bought one anyway).

What is REALLY strange though is that my first POW which now has tasmota on obviously shows as offline in eWeLink, but I can still view it's firmware version and eWeLink states that it last had v2.0.4 firmware. So who knows how the hell I managed that one if that is accurate.


...


I tried again now and it WORKED on 2.0.4.
 
rorz0r said:
So I tried flashing my second POW with tasmota using SonATA. Been struggling for ages now :/
Thought maybe I should configure it on eWeLink first like I did with the first one then try, and then I noticed that it had firmware 2.0.2 installed and 2.0.4 was the latest. SonOTA says it won't work on >1.6 unfortunately. So it looks like I'll be needing that FTDI cable (it's about time I bought one anyway).

What is REALLY strange though is that my first POW which now has tasmota on obviously shows as offline in eWeLink, but I can still view it's firmware version and eWeLink states that it last had v2.0.4 firmware. So who knows how the hell I managed that one if that is accurate.


...


I tried again now and it WORKED on 2.0.4.
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Hmmm, sources say you should try the upgrade to 2.0.4 first - what have you got to lose? The 1.6 update may be for the Basics/RFs only?
 
phaktza said:
Hmmm, sources say you should try the upgrade to 2.0.4 first - what have you got to lose? The 1.6 update may be for the Basics/RFs only?
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That's what I did, all good now.
 
The Basics I have does not want to move beyond 1.6. My POW is on 2.0.4 so I might try OTA flashing it over the weekend.

Incidentally looks they finally fixed the IFTTT support today. I got a message from IFTTT that the service is offline and needs to be reconfigured. Did that and all seems well now.
 
For those that don't know the scenes, it's a pretty decent feature

In the video below, we have four security lights around the house. We set it up that when Security 1 switches on, Security 2,3 and 4 follow. When Security 1 switches off, Security 2, 3 and 4 follow.

Security 1 could be manually switched on, or Amazon Alexa, countdown, schedule, remote RF etc - as long as it comes on, the rest come on (or off, if you prefer). In other words when the main lounge goes OFF, then switch ON the lamp

Quite cool if, for example, you always have certain groups of lights on at the same time.

[video=youtube;FUEnq8OHdAI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUEnq8OHdAI[/video]
 
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Dolby said:
For those that don't know the scenes, it's a pretty decent feature

In the video below, we have four security lights around the house. We set it up that when Security 1 switches on, Security 2,3 and 4 follow. When Security 1 switches off, Security 2, 3 and 4 follow.

Security 1 could be manually switched on, or Amazon Alexa, countdown, schedule, remote RF etc - as long as it comes on, the rest come on (or off, if you prefer). In other words when the main lounge goes OFF, then switch ON the lamp

Quite cool if, for example, you always have certain groups of lights on at the same time.

[video=youtube;FUEnq8OHdAI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUEnq8OHdAI[/video]
Click to expand...

Thats quite cool, similar to something I have planned for OH soon.

What I am going to do is this.
Track:
- Alarm state
- Outside lights at garage and to the house
- Time for sunset/dusk and sunrise/dawn.

So the idea is, when you arrive home, when you turn off the alarm, the system will check if it is dark outside by looking at the time and time for sunset/dusk ect. If it is dark, check if the lights are on, if not turn them on.
Thus, ensure that the human can see when the alarm is turned off.

The other one will be, that if the outside lights were left on, and we past dawn, turn them off.

Very possible and easy when both systems are integrated into Openhab.
 
It's encouraging that they got the service up again well within the time frame they stated. I reckon they were caught out by the upsurge in use of these devices - I've also seen advertised similar devices from two other manufacturers, also using the eWeLink app, so it may have been difficult for them to track demand.
 
Tinuva said:
So the idea is, when you arrive home, when you turn off the alarm, the system will check if it is dark outside by looking at the time and time for sunset/dusk ect. If it is dark, check if the lights are on, if not turn them on.
Thus, ensure that the human can see when the alarm is turned off.

The other one will be, that if the outside lights were left on, and we past dawn, turn them off
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Whew! Let us know.

I wish IFTT or eWeLink did could do some type of conditional rules. Or - there was another system that an average person could create something more complex. I'm also testing a system called alarm.com - although expensive - offers some really cool rules that I can run. For example :

*If* front door opens *between* 18:00 - 06:00, *then* switch on light for 30 seconds only *after* front door closes.
*If* back door opens before sunset, *then* start recording on camera 1 *and* send notification to mobile phone / email

I can even geofence my house :

*If* mobile phone enters geofence (1.5KM radius from my house) after 18:00, then activate all outside lights

And lastly, as it's an alarm as well you can add the alarm state :

*If* system is *active* and back door opens anytine, *then* start recording on camera 1 *and* send notification to mobile phone
*If* system is disarmed and phone leaves geofence area, then send a reminder to activate alarm on mobile /email.

You can do much - and it's so easy to use
 
Dolby said:
Whew! Let us know.

I wish IFTT or eWeLink did could do some type of conditional rules. Or - there was another system that an average person could create something more complex. I'm also testing a system called alarm.com - although expensive - offers some really cool rules that I can run. For example :

*If* front door opens *between* 18:00 - 06:00, *then* switch on light for 30 seconds only *after* front door closes.
*If* back door opens before sunset, *then* start recording on camera 1 *and* send notification to mobile phone / email

I can even geofence my house :

*If* mobile phone enters geofence (1.5KM radius from my house) after 18:00, then activate all outside lights

And lastly, as it's an alarm as well you can add the alarm state :

*If* system is *active* and back door opens anytine, *then* start recording on camera 1 *and* send notification to mobile phone
*If* system is disarmed and phone leaves geofence area, then send a reminder to activate alarm on mobile /email.

You can do much - and it's so easy to use
Click to expand...

Some awesome ideas there. Since I already track all the sensors on my alarm, I am now going to also use those.
 
For random reference just got the sonoff switch working with my pool and integrated into the google home... it’s piss easy and it works very simply.
 
ToxicBunny said:
For random reference just got the sonoff switch working with my pool and integrated into the google home... it’s piss easy and it works very simply.
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Awesome !

Yea sometimes I can' get over how easy they are. I just setup my bridge again (removed it since I was playing with so many other systems) - and it was literally minutes to sync.

Like I said above, there are some cool things you can do (even standard) that some people don't really dabble in - like the scenes (either trigger or automated).

EDIT : I wouldn't mind getting hold of a Google Home now ... Alexa just slid off the tongue so much better than 'OK Google', but I guess I can get around that with 'Hey Google'
 
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This is my house right now :/

Sometimes when something goes off, I have to actively think what is plugged in and how I set it!

I also have 4 separate hubs around and IP cameras

pir.jpg

door.jpg
 
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