Home Automation - Smartkit

Since I'm redoing a fair chunk of the electrical in my house I will definitely be looking at some of your stuff dude...
 
Just a word to the wise Dolby,

The "Brands" section of your website really doesn't work very well at all. It brings back completely unrelated Brands, or doesn't work at all if I've looked at a Brand that has more product pages than another.... Might want to look at that.
 
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ToxicBunny said:
Since I'm redoing a fair chunk of the electrical in my house I will definitely be looking at some of your stuff dude...
Click to expand...

Appreciate it - thanks !

ToxicBunny said:
Just a word to the wise Dolby,

The "Brands" section of your website really doesn't work very well at all. It brings back completely unrelated Brands, or doesn't work at all if I've looked at a Brand that has more product pages than another.... Might want to look at that.
Click to expand...

That's Toxic!

Will pass on !
 
YingYang said:
Install both on a Pi. That's what I'm thinking of doing. Both have its strengths and weaknesses.

https://github.com/xtools-at/AssistantPi
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We'll be this as well in time.

We're looking at the 'hobby' side of things, dev boards, servers, different fimware - though, being non technical, I'm focused on th off the shelf.

We do want to create a forum and get a bunch guys like yourself onboard
 
Dolby said:
We'll be this as well in time.

We're looking at the 'hobby' side of things, dev boards, servers, different fimware - though, being non technical, I'm focused on th off the shelf.

We do want to create a forum and get a bunch guys like yourself onboard
Click to expand...
Man, I'd love that! My previous post made me realise I haven't seen my Pi in months, so I think my threw it out :p

Anybody want to trade R400 wootware credit for a Pi? :whistle:
 
patrick123 said:
Well you guys seem to be in the know. is there a comparison chart for the Amazon Echo, Dot, and Google Home. I want to get one but cannot find any Google answers comparing all three.
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Hi Patrick,

I can't really speak about the Google Home, but I can help on Dot/Echo

When we checked a few months back, the Dot had far more support for home automation and 3rd party products. In fact, stuff we're bringing was compatible with the Dot. Combined with twice the price and a wake word that doesn't roll off the tongue ;) we went with the Dot. However, the Sonoff stuff is now supported and I'd very interested in trying one - especially as a I can legitimately stream my Google Music without jumping though hoops.

The major difference between the Dot and Echo are the builtin speaker. The Echo is a fairly decent speaker while the Dot is small, tinny and pretty much only decent for voice. The only other difference I've found is the Dot has a 3.5mm audio jack while an Echo doesn't.

I pair mine via Bluetooth to my hi-fi speaker when I listen to music, and keep Alexa using the internal speaker. I literally say 'Alexa, connect to my speakers' and it's done. When I go to bed, I say 'Alexa, turn ofof house' and everything that is on, goes off
 
Dolby said:
Hi Patrick,

I can't really speak about the Google Home, but I can help on Dot/Echo

When we checked a few months back, the Dot had far more support for home automation and 3rd party products. In fact, stuff we're bringing was compatible with the Dot. Combined with twice the price and a wake word that doesn't roll off the tongue ;) we went with the Dot. However, the Sonoff stuff is now supported and I'd very interested in trying one - especially as a I can legitimately stream my Google Music without jumping though hoops.

The major difference between the Dot and Echo are the builtin speaker. The Echo is a fairly decent speaker while the Dot is small, tinny and pretty much only decent for voice. The only other difference I've found is the Dot has a 3.5mm audio jack while an Echo doesn't.

I pair mine via Bluetooth to my hi-fi speaker when I listen to music, and keep Alexa using the internal speaker. I literally say 'Alexa, connect to my speakers' and it's done. When I go to bed, I say 'Alexa, turn ofof house' and everything that is on, goes off
Click to expand...

Thanks Dolby. The Dot does look like good value for money. I will experiment with YingYang's suggestion first before I commit to anything.
 
patrick123 said:
Well you guys seem to be in the know. is there a comparison chart for the Amazon Echo, Dot, and Google Home. I want to get one but cannot find any Google answers comparing all three.
Click to expand...

There are far more skills on the Echo and Echo Dot than the Google Home - however, this might not be a requirement in South Africa.

The Google Home obviously integrates well with the Google/Android ecosystem - Amazon is only beginning with phone integration. However, Alexa and Cortana can now communicate with eachother - so that's Windows covered.

What are you looking for in an intelligent personal assistant?
 
If I'm building a house, what can I do up front to make it easy to install automation later? Just pull neutrals to all light switches? Extra conduit in each room? What else?
 
Okay I'm going to ignore the thread and rather go complete noob here and ask the question so that I don't end up losing hours of my life.

If I wanted to integrate Apple Homekit so that I could start by opening my front gate and garage door with my phone how would I go about that?

I mean surely there would be something as simple as a "learning remote" that is Wifi/Cloud enabled that can just repeat my current remote?
 
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Would one of these be able to control a pool pump instead of a analog timer? I'd be curious to try the power consumption one .

The pool pump has various schedules depending on month.
 
Hey guys

You may be interested in this - My friend and I are busy automating everything in our homes (mainly using QwikSwitch and Sonoff).

We built some custom management software, and we decided we'd make it available for others to use too:

http://homebot.cloud/

At the moment it integrates with QwikSwitch Relays, Wall Plugs, GSM CloudHubs, and Wifi Bridges, and we'll have integration with QS Geyser controllers, Power Clamps, Door Sensors, Motion sensors, Humidity Sensors, and Water Sensors soon as well.

At the moment you can add devices, group them into "Triggers", and then use those Triggers to control devices in bulk, set schedules, receive notifications, integrate with third party services, etc.

Right now all the functionality is there to control home appliances (coffee machines, heaters, etc), lights, garage doors, motor gates, irrigation systems, and anything else that can be activated by a relay / dimmer / pulse relay.

The main Dashboard of the system lets you control your devices via a floorplan, via buttons, or (in the case of dimmer lights), via sliders.

Homebot integrates with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant / Google Home, and several other services via IFTTT (it can be both the "this" and the "that"), and a variety of other third-party services too. It also has an API with unique keys for each of the functions you set up in the system, so you can execute them from your own apps / scripts.

Once we've finished integrating all of the QwikSwitch products with Homebot, we'll be moving on to electronic locks, camera systems, and alarm systems.

If any of you have QwikSwitch setups at home / work and you want to give Homebot a try (and send us some feedback!) I'd be happy to give you a free account - just mention in the "notes" field on signup that you came from the MyBroadband forums.
 
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xrapidx said:
Would one of these be able to control a pool pump instead of a analog timer? I'd be curious to try the power consumption one .

The pool pump has various schedules depending on month.
Click to expand...

Qwikswitch hub (about R1500) with a relay (don't rember the cost). The mobile app is very easy to use and can be set for different on/off times every day of the week. Manual on/off too on your phone.

I have lounge and garden lights, pool pump and a relay for the geyser controlled by the hub. Didn't want a geyser timer/controller. It's very simple to add more things.
 
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xrapidx said:
Would one of these be able to control a pool pump instead of a analog timer? I'd be curious to try the power consumption one .

The pool pump has various schedules depending on month.
Click to expand...
Missed this.

I think the only limitation would be the current use of the pump. These are 16A 3500 watts.

I think some pool motors pull more?
 
xrapidx said:
Would one of these be able to control a pool pump instead of a analog timer? I'd be curious to try the power consumption one .

The pool pump has various schedules depending on month.
Click to expand...
I replaced mines with a veti pool DB which includes a digital timer. Not home automation but at least I now have different schedules like it runs longer on Friday and weekends to heat the pool.

The whole DB costed around r800 from builders. You can buy the digital timer for about 150-300 at Makro etc
 
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Dolby said:
Missed this.

I think the only limitation would be the current use of the pump. These are 16A 3500 watts.

I think some pool motors pull more?
Click to expand...

I must check mine, think it could work.

InternetLuddite said:
I replaced mines with a veti pool DB which includes a digital timer. Not home automation but at least I now have different schedules like it runs longer on Friday and weekends to heat the pool.

The whole DB costed around r800 from builders. You can buy the digital timer for about 150-300 at Makro etc
Click to expand...

I have a digital timer on the pool light - but would prefer something I can control via my cellphone, or google assistant - my pool pump is on the other side of the property, so its always an effort to do my weekly maintenance - have to unlock gates, etc... turn off - walk to pool, pull basket, walk to db board, turn on - walk about to pool .... I'm all for convenience :D
 
xrapidx said:
I must check mine, think it could work.



I have a digital timer on the pool light - but would prefer something I can control via my cellphone, or google assistant - my pool pump is on the other side of the property, so its always an effort to do my weekly maintenance - have to unlock gates, etc... turn off - walk to pool, pull basket, walk to db board, turn on - walk about to pool .... I'm all for convenience :D
Click to expand...
You can just have the Sonoff switch operate a "bigger" relay to run the pump.
 
xrapidx said:
I must check mine, think it could work.



I have a digital timer on the pool light - but would prefer something I can control via my cellphone, or google assistant - my pool pump is on the other side of the property, so its always an effort to do my weekly maintenance - have to unlock gates, etc... turn off - walk to pool, pull basket, walk to db board, turn on - walk about to pool .... I'm all for convenience :D
Click to expand...

See post #35 :)
 
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