Home Automation - Smartkit

Dolby said:
But on topic - Homekit is a bit more open ?
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Well they allow unsigned devices to use the platform which is how I pass everything in Home Assistant to HomeKit.

HomeKit in its native off the shelf format is as easy and plug and play as you can get, but is a little lacking for automation.

iOS 13 will hopefully change a lot of that.
 
xrapidx said:
It's becoming easier as they progress... but - it will have a small learning curve.

I don't think you'll get an "all-in-one" app off the shelf anytime soon.
Click to expand...

The easiest off-the-shelf I think is Samsung Smartthings, seeing that it works with Wifi, Zigbee and ZWave and also has device drivers that work with other, non-Smartthing devices.

But the latter does require some hacking and it is definitely more expensive than Home Assistant.
 
I have two Hikvision 2 Mpx bullet cameras. Absolutely love the quality of those - they blow every analog camera I've seen out of the water.

They also do H265+ compression which is insanely low filesizes and I love the fact that I can set up multiple streams (i.e. a high-res stream to be recorded onto the SD card or a network share, handled by the camera, and a lower res H264 stream for Home Assistant).
 
Here is a nice little component for Home Assistant, it has not made it into the mainstream add-ons yet, but is quite stable.
It essentially allows you to communicate with your Alexa:
  • TTS from HA to Alexa, i.e. Notify.
  • Let HA instruct Alexa to play music, Jokes, Calendar, Flash Briefing, etc.
  • HA can even run your automation routines:
YAML: 
{
  "entity_id": "media_player.alexa",
  "media_content_id": "Goodnight",
  "media_content_type": "routine"
}

https://github.com/keatontaylor/alexa_media_player/wiki
 
Hi everyone. Just an update for those who ordered Shelly products: all products were ordered and we are still awaiting dispatch on some items and will let you know as soon as the "samples" arrive.
 
Do you get plugs that have power monitoring functionality?

phaktza said:
Hi everyone. Just an update for those who ordered Shelly products: all products were ordered and we are still awaiting dispatch on some items and will let you know as soon as the "samples" arrive.
Click to expand...

I think these might sell better than the Sonoffs - easier to plug into existing systems.
 
RE: Camera discussion - I did a bit of calculations using a 4MB IP Camera x16 will use about 200Mbs if all are recording, I think if you use a decent quality camera, and only record on motion, the impact on a network will be minimal.
 
Has anyone found a decent zigbee repeater to use for home automation?
I am running Hass.io with a husbzb-1 dongle, but the range is really not good.

Lots of talk online of using wired smart plugs, but obviously none of them as SA spec.
Does anyone have any creative ideas for zigbee range extenders?
 
phaktza said:
Hi everyone. Just an update for those who ordered Shelly products: all products were ordered and we are still awaiting dispatch on some items and will let you know as soon as the "samples" arrive.
Click to expand...

Yippie!!!

Any idea (roughly) one when you think you might actively stock the products on your store for us to order lots and lots of?

I merely ask because if the test products work as I think they will, then I will be putting them all over the house...
 
ToxicBunny said:
Yippie!!!

Any idea (roughly) one when you think you might actively stock the products on your store for us to order lots and lots of?

I merely ask because if the test products work as I think they will, then I will be putting them all over the house...
Click to expand...

If EishCASA has there way we'll be stocking by 2022. And now customs is making up rules as they go along - insisting on NRCS LOAs in addition to ICASA type approval (despite the NRCS saying this isn't necessary). This country goes out of it's way to discourage business.

/rant over

Let's hope it's only a couple of months!
 
phaktza said:
If EishCASA has there way we'll be stocking by 2022. And now customs is making up rules as they go along - insisting on NRCS LOAs in addition to ICASA type approval (despite the NRCS saying this isn't necessary). This country goes out of it's way to discourage business.

/rant over

Let's hope it's only a couple of months!
Click to expand...

Fully agree on the going out of their way to discourage business part..

*holds thumbs for only a couple of months*
 
Does anyone use motion for motion capturing on camera's? Having issues where it captures false positives, or corruption as motion - and trying to lesson them - but trying to search google is near impossible due to the app name.
 
xrapidx said:
Does anyone use motion for motion capturing on camera's? Having issues where it captures false positives, or corruption as motion - and trying to lesson them - but trying to search google is near impossible due to the app name.
Click to expand...

What camera's and platform are you using?
I have been messing around with TensorFlow as a motion detection alternative.
 
The_Unnamed said:
What camera's and platform are you using?
I have been messing around with TensorFlow as a motion detection alternative.
Click to expand...

Currently on a Gen8 Microserver with a shitty chinese camera - I still want to get Tensorflow and running, but current setup doesnt support AVX, and I've been having all sorts of fun trying to compile Tensorflow, always something missing, or causing a failure after 3 hours of compiling.
 
I want to run this past some of the smart guys :

About 18 month back I put on a Sonoff POW to monitor my deep freeze and for all that time, was perfect.

I noticed at the start of April that my power consumption to the freezer was reducing was reducing from the standard 1.9kWh per day gradually - but I put this down to the freezer working less, due to ambient temperature reducing. However I came back on the 17th April and everything was defrosted (had to throw away) - it used half the power of normal. So I put this down to freezer issue and bought a new freezer, as well as made plans to get rid of this one.

But last night I decided to remove the Sonoff - and freezer worked like normal again! Ice cold and my test food, froze solid ...
This morning I reintroduced the Sonoff into the equation - and perfect again ... 75-80w / 1.9kWh consumption just like the old days

* Do you think this Sonoff could somehow limit power to the freezer in error?
* Do you reckon the freezer is flakey?

EDIT : Below is March and April. I don't monitor this thing all the time - but I can assume in March with the dips, it was during load shedding.
1555664796373.png
 
I am currently looking at replacing my outdated security system with a wireless solution.
Had a good look at Paradox and paid a visit to a local dealer who showed me a new product called AJAX which they import and distribute.
The demonstration of the system was impressive and the features with ease of installation and programming on a phone App from where the system is controlled “which by the way is free”
The sales guy also showed me that the system can be linked to a number or companies without a need for a separate Radio to be installed via a automated request.

The system also allows Ip camera integration to the App and control of gate motors and 220 volt lights etc.

Anyone here that can comment or have this installed as yet.

 
Dolby said:
I want to run this past some of the smart guys :

About 18 month back I put on a Sonoff POW to monitor my deep freeze and for all that time, was perfect.

I noticed at the start of April that my power consumption to the freezer was reducing was reducing from the standard 1.9kWh per day gradually - but I put this down to the freezer working less, due to ambient temperature reducing. However I came back on the 17th April and everything was defrosted (had to throw away) - it used half the power of normal. So I put this down to freezer issue and bought a new freezer, as well as made plans to get rid of this one.

But last night I decided to remove the Sonoff - and freezer worked like normal again! Ice cold and my test food, froze solid ...
This morning I reintroduced the Sonoff into the equation - and perfect again ... 75-80w / 1.9kWh consumption just like the old days

* Do you think this Sonoff could somehow limit power to the freezer in error?
* Do you reckon the freezer is flakey?

EDIT : Below is March and April. I don't monitor this thing all the time - but I can assume in March with the dips, it was during load shedding.
View attachment 647918
Click to expand...

Likely having turned it off for extended period is what made the difference.

It will probably conk out again soon enough.

Could very well be that it simply needs to be regassed.

Doubt the Sonoff is doing anything.
 
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