Absolutely loved this video! Great content, Reed. I switched to Home Assistant not-so-recently and realized a lot of my devices are cloud-based. I would love a video just like this one for beginning-to-advance smart home automators for great local device alternatives. Thanks!
Wow, I got almost ALL of these exact recommendations! I know that I can always trust what you say because you do the research right and don't lead us astray.
like the features, setup was difficult for some of my devices (August Door lock, ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxhB5YOMNj04GuoAosExygP4cH-dKeb4aB Bose speaker)... but all switches and outlets (5), thermostat, tankless water heater. Unfortunately all I can do is turn on/off Bose. It doesn't support volume or changing channels, but I believe that is due to the particular speaker I have.... Worth getting if you already have other devices to use it with... I don't sit around and ask Alexa questions much so that doesn't really matter to me....
I would recommend going with the Amcrest AD410 over the Ring doorbells since they can integrate with home assistant and you can even add the door cam from it to an NVR if you have one.
It will be interesting when thread comes out to see a video similar to this with budget friendly options so that you can use any speaker assistant whether it be Google, Alexa or HomeKit.
I love your videos. When I start talking home automations my wife rolls her eyes, until she watched a few of your videos over my shoulder. I think her approval limit increased just by watching.
“HOME ASSISTANT” I love the both of you Guys haha. Your channels are great and it’s great to get both the UK And USA versions as they are both so different and being from the UK, having Paul show what is available over here is great
I turned off from Paul a while ago after his clickbaity titles, sponsored content and general moaning rather than actual advice. Reid has none of these and gets to the point rather than cheesy skits mid video.
You may have talked aout these before, but I haven't seen it. And it is a little niche, but Kaufman Home Automation makes the Kauf Bulb - A very nice, Bright, RGBWW (warm and cold white) bulb designed for Home Assistant. They also make an energy monitoring plug that works great! I have it monitoring and controlling a plug-in heater for our bedroom in the winter. The regular 'smart' thermostat reduces the house temperature at night, and the heater keeps the bedroom (and adjacent bath) comfortable. Home Assistant is set to shut the bedroom heat off a half hour before the house heat goes back up in the morning. Without that, the bedroom got a bit toasty in the morning (typical cheap heater with slop-action thermostat).
Hubitat as your hub and most aqara works direcly, plus hubitat can feed almost every device to the echo dot, everything except my heiman smoke detectors. So Hubitat hib = great bang for your buck
Using Zigbee or similar will also take load off WiFi. Since starting using Smart devices I have had to upgrade my Wifi as the original router only supports 15 devices.That went very quickly with using smart downlights not just a single smart switch. The family had 7 phones,tablets,laptops and a Ring plus Echo before we started. So a few smart sockets killed it. It soon takes over. Stage two I used Ikea lamps with their own hubs and buttons. I am now watching your advice.
wdym? If you had no smart home things, this 500 dollar setup would pretty much have you ready to go. Smart doorbell, motion sensors, smart speakers, smart lights, smart switches, etc. You can already do a ton of automations with that.
Reed, you did a really nice job with this. There is a hub you don't mention that I'm a huge fan of and that is the inexpensive YoLink hub which uses their inexpensive LoRa (Long Range) devices for folks who have spotty WiFi in parts of their house or maybe have a storage building or fence gate or pool area that needs monitoring. If you put in their flood sensors/valve operator you can have a system that protects your house from a leak even when there's no power or no Internet (I said that right). Nobody else can do that that I'm aware of for anywhere near their price. I loved the jokes. Keep it up,
When the BroadLink button works it’s great, and the set is really easy. But mine tends to lose connection quite often which is a shame. It can be pot luck if it decides to work or not. The hub and router are in the same room as well.
Costco has Feit (Tuya) WiFi Switches are my favorite, and they are only like $13 each. They usualy come in 2 packs or 3 packs. Led indicator, dimmer, and the newest vetsion has a step down feature so when for example light is set to 60%, when you turn onoff it dims up until 60%, or down until off. Very nice compared to the older versions that would go full 100% when turning on then adjust to 60%. Not a fun to be blinded temporarily when you expected 60% brightness.
As a life long electrician with all electronics good luck getting replacement boards or support after 7 to 8 years. Had $10,000 motor drives that had to replace due to no parts or support avaiable. Had trouble with New IGBT'S used to replace ones that were 5 years old. Smaller and holes did not lune up. At a large hospital/research campus we had automation by 2 seperate companies. All smoke & mirrors. Would take them months to make corrections in their programs. Hadnto fly a tech in from Canada who would repair say 2 our of 4 problems but never all of the problems. Thieving company had salesman in the states but no service department here.
Hi Reed, thanks for another awesome video! Just because I think it would be fun to watch, how about doing a video opposite of this one: ‘unlimited budget home automation setup’?
"Submit an expense request to your spouse for a higer budget" had me in tears 🤣 I really thought she was going to approve the massage chair too! At least you got the robo vac!
I like the zigbee and thread energy monitoring smartplugs since they don’t use as much power. Plus they showed me that somethings actually weren’t taking up as much power as I originally thought
I was about to scold you for not giving a shout out to Paul in your description and then you ruined it by commenting it instead! Well, I wonder if Ally would pay to see you doing the other body motions Paul does in conjunction with "Ooh the Zigbee!!!" Thanks for this video Reed! I am primarily building an Alexa WiFi smart home making sure I have enough IPs over 2 access points and my nighthawk router. Also primarily using Feit devices: 2 WiFi camera floodlights, WiFi dimmer switches for dumb bulbs, RGB smart recessed for many areas, regular dumb PIR switches for closets and such, humidify switches for bathroom fans, ring contact sensors for automations, and ring for poe doorbell and security. I like the use of buttons for changing scenes, may have to add one.
I have never felt so close to one of these videos before but that outro with your wife denying everything is my smart home experience as well just not for that expensive of things lol.
A word of caution about some of the Eufy doorbells - If you want to have local control over your devices, be aware that Eufy doorbells (at the very least, the dual) do actually upload images to the cloud, despite one of its unique selling points being that eufy claim it doesn't upload anything... If you don't care about that, they're supposed to be pretty good. Personally, I prefer to buy equipment that doesn't lie to you in the marketing
I got started using Home Assistant in Docker on a Synology NAS and I'm pretty happy with it. I have a Conbee2 for Zigbee integration and an hdmi-cec usb adapter for monitoring and controlling my old Sony TV. I wouldn't mind upgrading to a dedicated HA setup for reliability though and the home assistant yellow looks interesting. Not that the NAS solution has been unreliable, but it would be nice not to be dependent on the NAS.
Thanks for the great video Reed! I ended up going with Homey, it's made in the EU and it's pretty much the equivalent of Home Assistant in a hub (I think xD). We will start soon the wiring of the house with audio and ethernet cables since we will be doing Multiroom as well! Anyway once again, thank you for the great video!
I love your videos, this is great! I do however hate the fact that you have so many options in terms of Hubs. It's nice to have options, but they lock you in to their system and can become expensive down the line. I prefer Home Assistant because of this, but I know not everyone wants to deal with maintaining it. Hoping Matter doesn't take long to launch.
I really appreciate the effort it takes to figure what worths with what and set up all these automations and pair things. It’s time consuming but can you do more stuff with HomeKit?
You need to buy everything wholesale and sell bundles. It's too early for mainstream buyers to understand smart home devices, but if you sell everything as a kit people would buy it.
I paused this video as soon as I saw those $8 IKEA buttons, ordered 3 to pick up at my local store tonight, they were listed as in-stock and the purchase went through. When I went to pick them up, womp womp, out of stock. Paid for them, drove all the way, got shafted. I want those damn buttons.
@@SmartHomeSolver Success! They are brilliant for the price - 4 commands on a single dimmer. Simple but versatile. So glad you highlighted them, cheers. That's 3 times now you've demo'd something that made me stop everything and seek it out. The first was the ThirdReality mechanical switch-flipper and now I'm going for that Homeseer plug-in multi-sensor with the multi-color LED.
for 0$ you can have a smarthome, just collect all the beat-up smartphones from your friends and relatives, the ones gathering dust in an old drawer, the ones they can't otherwise use or sell. Have one in each room and use their sensors and features to make a plethora of automations including media that follows you around the house on the fly
Can you make a video of how to set up home assistant from start to finish. I know it requires a bit of confiuration so I think a video of how you have your's set up would help others set up thier own home assistant interface. Thanks!
I know it’s a little more advanced than your target audience, but esp devices are crazy cheap. You can build multi sensors for next to nothing. I’m using a esp8266 connected to recessed magnets in my doors. No batteries to change ever, and instant on reliability. It does help that I’m an electrician too tho.
It's rather disappointing that simple On/Off smart buttons don't work directly with the Echo 4th gen. You would think that would be one of the easiest features to support.
indeed that is what I am afraid of, I want to start my smart home next amazone prime day(12/13 July) but I am afraid I should save allot of money to start with home assistant but I cannot code ( I am handy with tech though).
Always with the good stuff, Reed. However, I don't feel it's very comprehensive to the layman. As a smarthome owner, I get it 100%. But someone just starting out will be like "What's a hub?" LOL, just saying, because that was me two years ago. Not being critical, I love your videos. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the feedback! I agree this video isn't really for the person buying their first smart home device. I made it for someone who might have a few smart home devices and is wanting to start expanding.
Great video Reed! Love you supporting your fellow tubers by wearing Paul’s merch! Lol Unrelated to this video… but what is the pegboard system you are using?
@smart Home Solver, Hey Reed, I am a long time sub. I would love to see projects using LoRa, Zigbee and wifi devices have little range. But for some of us that have large propertiers LoRa would be an amazing solution. Please let us know. Love your channel!
you mentioned an automation that reminded your child to get ready for school IF their contact sensor on their bedroom door did NOT open WITHIN a particular time period. What devices and automations did you use? I cannot get this to work with an Alex Routine "When Motion Is..." set to "Not Detected" UNLESS motion is triggered first on the motion sensor. I see a lot of people mentioning this issue with Alexa Routines online. I'm curious about your setup to trigger Alexa voice when something does NOT happen in a particular time period (in this case, in a time period in which your child should have already opened their door). I have Ring, Smartthings, and Hue (and soon a 4th gen Echo with Zigbee) so I'm flexible with what devices and routines/automations to use. I just need to know how.
I have a problem with the Fire stick 4K, I cannot tell Alexa to play a specific movie on Netflix from home screen, it will show some results on prime video instead. I have been looking around the internet, found some similar questions but no helpful answer. Can some one please tell me what I do wrong?
Thanks. Just starting to expand our Echo and Kasa based system. Looking for ideas on expanding and whether we need to get another hub besides Ring alarm. According to reviews, you only need to install one Kasa three-way switch per circuit, as long as you install it in the right place in the circuit. Two colleagues confirmed they have done this. Are you saying it cannot be done?
does getting a hub free up bandwidth in your network bc only 1 device is connected to your network? i think im at the point of having like 50 thigns connected to my wifi and congesting it a bit
I'd go for a Raspberry Pi, an SSD, a Zigbee Stick and Home Assistant instead of a Hub. Then Aqara (Motion and Door/Window Sensors) and DIY ESP Home for all other Sensors are the way to go. LED strips via ESP Home and a D1 Mini. And Shelly and Tuya (locally via Home Assistant). Aliexpress, when it should be cheap. Aqara is half the price and an ESP32 or a D1 Mini could be bought for 2€...
I'd also like to note after some research on these Shelly relays, if your house is older than any living human (it is), they might be your only option.
So the Aqara Button does not work with Alexa even with an Aqara Hub? I would like to stick with a minimum number of hubs. I use Alexa Routines for everything else. I guess I will just get the broadlink button and hub.
Im renting a house here in the Philippines and i started with a smart outlet by automating the stairs lights and garage lights when it's about almost 6pm and off at 6am..and it give me electricity consumption reports.. cost me about 1000pesos, around 20usd.. i want the doorbell, but i dont want to install it here. I might go with Xiaomi since we dont have Ring here
Did you have trouble setting up the BroadLink buttons? I now have a second one sent from Amazon bc I thought the first was broken. The hub connects and then disconnects before I can connect the button. I have a decent amount of smart things in my house, so I’m not quite an amateur.
Would love to see this for Google and Apple. Amazon is on my last nerve (so if the replacement Alexa doesn’t work, it’s the last time.). Do you recommend any hubs for an inexpensive google nest mini?
does echo show 5 work well as a smart home hub? i have an echo show 5 but i dont have any smart home gadgets and therefore i havent even plugged in my echo show 5 in months
What about homeseer 4, I have several units and i love them super simple super easy. Everything is set up on one hub and all local no could needed, They even have node red But I have not tried it out yet
Hey Reed, I got a question for you.. I am currently working on my apartment, and I made KNX infrastructure in it with the goal of having Google assistant run everything on it.. Could you make a video about KNX and how best to optimize it? Great work BTW, really love your videos! Much appreciated!
Can anyone think the word ZigBee in their head and NOT hear Paul Hibbert's voice?
HOOOOME ASSISTANT!!
nope it stuck like a sticky bugger 🤣
nah I can't xD
Love the cameo 😂
I love the smart homeverse. See my favorite UA-camr making crossing video and reference. Best since Marvel
Its always a good day when you post a video
If I see a video from Reed or Paul I'm clicking .
Absolutely loved this video! Great content, Reed. I switched to Home Assistant not-so-recently and realized a lot of my devices are cloud-based. I would love a video just like this one for beginning-to-advance smart home automators for great local device alternatives. Thanks!
Wow, I got almost ALL of these exact recommendations! I know that I can always trust what you say because you do the research right and don't lead us astray.
like the features, setup was difficult for some of my devices (August Door lock, ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxhB5YOMNj04GuoAosExygP4cH-dKeb4aB Bose speaker)... but all switches and outlets (5), thermostat, tankless water heater. Unfortunately all I can do is turn on/off Bose. It doesn't support volume or changing channels, but I believe that is due to the particular speaker I have.... Worth getting if you already have other devices to use it with... I don't sit around and ask Alexa questions much so that doesn't really matter to me....
I would recommend going with the Amcrest AD410 over the Ring doorbells since they can integrate with home assistant and you can even add the door cam from it to an NVR if you have one.
It will be interesting when thread comes out to see a video similar to this with budget friendly options so that you can use any speaker assistant whether it be Google, Alexa or HomeKit.
I love your videos. When I start talking home automations my wife rolls her eyes, until she watched a few of your videos over my shoulder. I think her approval limit increased just by watching.
“HOME ASSISTANT” I love the both of you Guys haha. Your channels are great and it’s great to get both the UK And USA versions as they are both so different and being from the UK, having Paul show what is available over here is great
I turned off from Paul a while ago after his clickbaity titles, sponsored content and general moaning rather than actual advice.
Reid has none of these and gets to the point rather than cheesy skits mid video.
I love that approved/denied process you have over there!
You may have talked aout these before, but I haven't seen it. And it is a little niche, but Kaufman Home Automation makes the Kauf Bulb - A very nice, Bright, RGBWW (warm and cold white) bulb designed for Home Assistant. They also make an energy monitoring plug that works great! I have it monitoring and controlling a plug-in heater for our bedroom in the winter. The regular 'smart' thermostat reduces the house temperature at night, and the heater keeps the bedroom (and adjacent bath) comfortable. Home Assistant is set to shut the bedroom heat off a half hour before the house heat goes back up in the morning. Without that, the bedroom got a bit toasty in the morning (typical cheap heater with slop-action thermostat).
Hubitat as your hub and most aqara works direcly, plus hubitat can feed almost every device to the echo dot, everything except my heiman smoke detectors.
So Hubitat hib = great bang for your buck
Using Zigbee or similar will also take load off WiFi. Since starting using Smart devices I have had to upgrade my Wifi as the original router only supports 15 devices.That went very quickly with using smart downlights not just a single smart switch. The family had 7 phones,tablets,laptops and a Ring plus Echo before we started. So a few smart sockets killed it. It soon takes over. Stage two I used Ikea lamps with their own hubs and buttons. I am now watching your advice.
Love to see this video updated.
Great video. I’d love to see a version of this that doesn’t use Amazon devices or rely on the cloud in anyway.
Would be interesting to see how a $500 system is setup in a home with no current automations.
wdym? If you had no smart home things, this 500 dollar setup would pretty much have you ready to go. Smart doorbell, motion sensors, smart speakers, smart lights, smart switches, etc. You can already do a ton of automations with that.
Thanks Reed, great ideas and Paul's voice was in my head as soon as I heard "Oh the ZigBee".
Reed, you did a really nice job with this. There is a hub you don't mention that I'm a huge fan of and that is the inexpensive YoLink hub which uses their inexpensive LoRa (Long Range) devices for folks who have spotty WiFi in parts of their house or maybe have a storage building or fence gate or pool area that needs monitoring. If you put in their flood sensors/valve operator you can have a system that protects your house from a leak even when there's no power or no Internet (I said that right). Nobody else can do that that I'm aware of for anywhere near their price. I loved the jokes. Keep it up,
When the BroadLink button works it’s great, and the set is really easy. But mine tends to lose connection quite often which is a shame. It can be pot luck if it decides to work or not. The hub and router are in the same room as well.
I didn't learn something new today, but I still really enjoy your videos.
Costco has Feit (Tuya) WiFi Switches are my favorite, and they are only like $13 each. They usualy come in 2 packs or 3 packs. Led indicator, dimmer, and the newest vetsion has a step down feature so when for example light is set to 60%, when you turn onoff it dims up until 60%, or down until off. Very nice compared to the older versions that would go full 100% when turning on then adjust to 60%. Not a fun to be blinded temporarily when you expected 60% brightness.
7:30 is the best part of the video. Great info overall. Thanks.
As a life long electrician with all electronics good luck getting replacement boards or support after 7 to 8 years. Had $10,000 motor drives that had to replace due to no parts or support avaiable. Had trouble with New IGBT'S used to replace ones that were 5 years old. Smaller and holes did not lune up. At a large hospital/research campus we had automation by 2 seperate companies. All smoke & mirrors. Would take them months to make corrections in their programs. Hadnto fly a tech in from Canada who would repair say 2 our of 4 problems but never all of the problems. Thieving company had salesman in the states but no service department here.
This is so cool! A lot of it is still over my head, but I’ll learn the lingo as I do more research. Thanks for the video!
Hi Reed, thanks for another awesome video! Just because I think it would be fun to watch, how about doing a video opposite of this one: ‘unlimited budget home automation setup’?
Sounds great! My wallet is already crying just thinking about it though 🤣
@@SmartHomeSolver Ahh that is a tricky detail... Paul Hibbert + Philips Hue as a sponsor?? 😂
That Kohler bathtub 😅
I'm in love with your videos
Light, clear, great advice, and funny
Thank you!
I'm using kasa 3-way with only one changed. Works perfectly. There is an option when installing to be a single or both changed.
Tuya smart user here. I think it's a great (and big) smart home ecosystem and it's also mostly very cheap.
LOL@ spouse approvals! Oh, the Zigby!
I bought echo show 8 and ring doorbell wired for 65€ about 4 months ago and this combo is on amazon every holiday, prime day etc.
"Submit an expense request to your spouse for a higer budget" had me in tears 🤣 I really thought she was going to approve the massage chair too! At least you got the robo vac!
I like the zigbee and thread energy monitoring smartplugs since they don’t use as much power. Plus they showed me that somethings actually weren’t taking up as much power as I originally thought
Can you direct me to the instructions for your daughter door sensor school warning. I can't figure out how to set it up. :-(
Wow! Thanks for the spreadsheet! That's really useful reference.
Keep up the good work.
Could you make a smart hub classification based on compatibility, reliability, features and price?
Nice video.
I would add a Universal IR Remote to the list.
Thanks! I agree that would be a good one to add.
use the broad link ir hub like Paul Hubert then you could do anything it seems ?
Love the content, I’m building a new house and your smart house video inspired me.
"ooh the zigbee".... Lol. Good ol' Paul Hibbert ☺
Good video as usual.
I have everything Wyze and I love it! I really recommend them
I was about to scold you for not giving a shout out to Paul in your description and then you ruined it by commenting it instead! Well, I wonder if Ally would pay to see you doing the other body motions Paul does in conjunction with "Ooh the Zigbee!!!"
Thanks for this video Reed! I am primarily building an Alexa WiFi smart home making sure I have enough IPs over 2 access points and my nighthawk router. Also primarily using Feit devices: 2 WiFi camera floodlights, WiFi dimmer switches for dumb bulbs, RGB smart recessed for many areas, regular dumb PIR switches for closets and such, humidify switches for bathroom fans, ring contact sensors for automations, and ring for poe doorbell and security. I like the use of buttons for changing scenes, may have to add one.
I have never felt so close to one of these videos before but that outro with your wife denying everything is my smart home experience as well just not for that expensive of things lol.
‘Dad jokes’ good one. Gotta try this one in my home 👍
A word of caution about some of the Eufy doorbells - If you want to have local control over your devices, be aware that Eufy doorbells (at the very least, the dual) do actually upload images to the cloud, despite one of its unique selling points being that eufy claim it doesn't upload anything...
If you don't care about that, they're supposed to be pretty good.
Personally, I prefer to buy equipment that doesn't lie to you in the marketing
What’s your « strategy » with Thread and Matter recent announcements ? Are you benchmarking new (cheap) compatible devices ? Thx !
I got started using Home Assistant in Docker on a Synology NAS and I'm pretty happy with it. I have a Conbee2 for Zigbee integration and an hdmi-cec usb adapter for monitoring and controlling my old Sony TV.
I wouldn't mind upgrading to a dedicated HA setup for reliability though and the home assistant yellow looks interesting. Not that the NAS solution has been unreliable, but it would be nice not to be dependent on the NAS.
LOL my NAS is so old it maxes out its processor and memory if you log into it...
Really useful stuff, thank you for a great channel 👍
You do not have to replace all switches with Kasa multiway set up. Actually you only need one per circuit.
Literally just testing that today
Kinda surprised you didn't mention Flic buttons...
Thanks for the great video Reed! I ended up going with Homey, it's made in the EU and it's pretty much the equivalent of Home Assistant in a hub (I think xD).
We will start soon the wiring of the house with audio and ethernet cables since we will be doing Multiroom as well!
Anyway once again, thank you for the great video!
I love your videos, this is great! I do however hate the fact that you have so many options in terms of Hubs. It's nice to have options, but they lock you in to their system and can become expensive down the line. I prefer Home Assistant because of this, but I know not everyone wants to deal with maintaining it. Hoping Matter doesn't take long to launch.
I really appreciate the effort it takes to figure what worths with what and set up all these automations and pair things. It’s time consuming but can you do more stuff with HomeKit?
Check his website its actually very informative and you can ur own lists
loved the transition music!
7:33 had me dying hahaha
Awesome video! giving me an idea to do one for singapore context
quality video yet again!
You need to buy everything wholesale and sell bundles. It's too early for mainstream buyers to understand smart home devices, but if you sell everything as a kit people would buy it.
That's a good idea!
You can use 1 switch out of the Kasa 3-way pack and it works. So the Kasa is still cheaper.
Get Alexa to tell this joke:
What's the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?
A: A porcupine has pricks on the outside.
I paused this video as soon as I saw those $8 IKEA buttons, ordered 3 to pick up at my local store tonight, they were listed as in-stock and the purchase went through. When I went to pick them up, womp womp, out of stock. Paid for them, drove all the way, got shafted. I want those damn buttons.
Haha man I hate when that happens! Hope you get them soon since they are awesome buttons.
@@SmartHomeSolver Success! They are brilliant for the price - 4 commands on a single dimmer. Simple but versatile. So glad you highlighted them, cheers. That's 3 times now you've demo'd something that made me stop everything and seek it out. The first was the ThirdReality mechanical switch-flipper and now I'm going for that Homeseer plug-in multi-sensor with the multi-color LED.
Idk about the dimmer, but you can use a kasa in a 3way with a single switch. I’m currently doing it.
for 0$ you can have a smarthome, just collect all the beat-up smartphones from your friends and relatives, the ones gathering dust in an old drawer, the ones they can't otherwise use or sell. Have one in each room and use their sensors and features to make a plethora of automations including media that follows you around the house on the fly
Can you make a video of how to set up home assistant from start to finish. I know it requires a bit of confiuration so I think a video of how you have your's set up would help others set up thier own home assistant interface. Thanks!
I know it’s a little more advanced than your target audience, but esp devices are crazy cheap. You can build multi sensors for next to nothing. I’m using a esp8266 connected to recessed magnets in my doors. No batteries to change ever, and instant on reliability. It does help that I’m an electrician too tho.
It's rather disappointing that simple On/Off smart buttons don't work directly with the Echo 4th gen. You would think that would be one of the easiest features to support.
indeed that is what I am afraid of, I want to start my smart home next amazone prime day(12/13 July) but I am afraid I should save allot of money to start with home assistant but I cannot code ( I am handy with tech though).
Always with the good stuff, Reed. However, I don't feel it's very comprehensive to the layman. As a smarthome owner, I get it 100%. But someone just starting out will be like "What's a hub?" LOL, just saying, because that was me two years ago. Not being critical, I love your videos. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the feedback! I agree this video isn't really for the person buying their first smart home device. I made it for someone who might have a few smart home devices and is wanting to start expanding.
6:54 with software you can get double press or triple press.
Great video Reed! Love you supporting your fellow tubers by wearing Paul’s merch! Lol
Unrelated to this video… but what is the pegboard system you are using?
Interested in what kind of battery life you're getting from the Ikea dimmer buttons? I seem to be changing mine every 2 weeks, sometimes less!
Great review!!!!!
You only need to use 1 Kasa 3 way smart switch on each circuit. Other switch can be dumb. So only $25 a switch.
Thanks, bro
Looks like you had alkaline batteries, I suggest Panasonic eneloop rechargeable, they are great!
Nice video reed I love smart stuff
Not a lot of content for the Ikea shortcut button or the dimmer switches. Would be great to get a deep dive on those!
How adding a hub makes your setup more reliable??
at least the new robot vacuum got approved 😅 great content.
Haha I'll take what I can get!
Can you try out the new Homey bridge? Its the new type of smart hub that support EVERY DEVICES so you don't need a hub for all of them
Waiting for some kind of review (from HomeAssistant side and maybe Valetudo) of Roborock S7! ;)
Can I ask which is better homey hub or smartthinks hub?
@smart Home Solver, Hey Reed, I am a long time sub. I would love to see projects using LoRa, Zigbee and wifi devices have little range. But for some of us that have large propertiers LoRa would be an amazing solution. Please let us know. Love your channel!
you mentioned an automation that reminded your child to get ready for school IF their contact sensor on their bedroom door did NOT open WITHIN a particular time period.
What devices and automations did you use?
I cannot get this to work with an Alex Routine "When Motion Is..." set to "Not Detected" UNLESS motion is triggered first on the motion sensor. I see a lot of people mentioning this issue with Alexa Routines online.
I'm curious about your setup to trigger Alexa voice when something does NOT happen in a particular time period (in this case, in a time period in which your child should have already opened their door).
I have Ring, Smartthings, and Hue (and soon a 4th gen Echo with Zigbee) so I'm flexible with what devices and routines/automations to use. I just need to know how.
I have a problem with the Fire stick 4K, I cannot tell Alexa to play a specific movie on Netflix from home screen, it will show some results on prime video instead. I have been looking around the internet, found some similar questions but no helpful answer. Can some one please tell me what I do wrong?
I got the Kasa Smart Plug EP25, but the energy monitoring does not work in HA. Very disappointing
Thanks. Just starting to expand our Echo and Kasa based system. Looking for ideas on expanding and whether we need to get another hub besides Ring alarm.
According to reviews, you only need to install one Kasa three-way switch per circuit, as long as you install it in the right place in the circuit. Two colleagues confirmed they have done this. Are you saying it cannot be done?
Came here to say this. You can absolutely use one Kasa three-way switch per circuit.
I would like more info about NFC and home assistant set up please
does getting a hub free up bandwidth in your network bc only 1 device is connected to your network? i think im at the point of having like 50 thigns connected to my wifi and congesting it a bit
Hi, only the big echo has the temp build-in, can you please explain where can I see the temp cause I couldnt find it on my 4th gen echo
If I have a hub, do I still need to get bridge (from ring or philips hue) to trigger lights using motion sensors?
really nice video
I'd go for a Raspberry Pi, an SSD, a Zigbee Stick and Home Assistant instead of a Hub.
Then Aqara (Motion and Door/Window Sensors) and DIY ESP Home for all other Sensors are the way to go. LED strips via ESP Home and a D1 Mini. And Shelly and Tuya (locally via Home Assistant).
Aliexpress, when it should be cheap. Aqara is half the price and an ESP32 or a D1 Mini could be bought for 2€...
I'd also like to note after some research on these Shelly relays, if your house is older than any living human (it is), they might be your only option.
So the Aqara Button does not work with Alexa even with an Aqara Hub? I would like to stick with a minimum number of hubs. I use Alexa Routines for everything else. I guess I will just get the broadlink button and hub.
Im renting a house here in the Philippines and i started with a smart outlet by automating the stairs lights and garage lights when it's about almost 6pm and off at 6am..and it give me electricity consumption reports.. cost me about 1000pesos, around 20usd.. i want the doorbell, but i dont want to install it here. I might go with Xiaomi since we dont have Ring here
Do you ever have trouble getting your routines to work with motion sensors, having a real hard time with smart life motion sensors
Did you have trouble setting up the BroadLink buttons? I now have a second one sent from Amazon bc I thought the first was broken. The hub connects and then disconnects before I can connect the button.
I have a decent amount of smart things in my house, so I’m not quite an amateur.
Would love to see this for Google and Apple. Amazon is on my last nerve (so if the replacement Alexa doesn’t work, it’s the last time.). Do you recommend any hubs for an inexpensive google nest mini?
does echo show 5 work well as a smart home hub? i have an echo show 5 but i dont have any smart home gadgets and therefore i havent even plugged in my echo show 5 in months
What about homeseer 4, I have several units and i love them super simple super easy. Everything is set up on one hub and all local no could needed, They even have node red But I have not tried it out yet
hey whats Sensor did you use on your daughter's door I really like gow u have a custom message for the Sensor
Hey Reed,
I got a question for you..
I am currently working on my apartment, and I made KNX infrastructure in it with the goal of having Google assistant run everything on it..
Could you make a video about KNX and how best to optimize it?
Great work BTW, really love your videos!
Much appreciated!