Happy Saturday everyone! Links are below if you want any of the smart home gear featured today 😁 Also, a massive thanks to Locket for sponsoring again, they're proper awesome and well worth checking out: Get a Quote for Locket Insurance: locket.insure/? Join the Locket Insiders Programme: locket.insure/insiders/? As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :) BUY AMAZON ECHO: UK: amzn.to/3zGGYY3 US: amzn.to/3zJEBUj BUY IKEA BULBS: GLOBAL: www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/smart-lighting-36812/ BUY YEELIGHT LIGHTING UK: amzn.to/3b4gJ3p US: amzn.to/3xYTUah BUY SHELLY LIGHTING GLOBAL LINK: shop.shelly.cloud/shelly-vintage-g-wifi-smart-home-automation-1/?paulhibbert BUY ZEMISMART ZIGBEE BULBS AND ZIGBEE SENSORS (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A6mmzP BUY ZEMISMART MOTION SENSOR (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A6RA8d BUY ZEMISMART DOOR SENSOR (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AT7Awh BUY ZEMISMART ZIGBEE LIGHT SWITCHES AND OTHER ZIGBEE DEVICES GLOBAL LINK: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A2hWS1 BUY BG ELECTRICAL SMART HOME WIFI SOCKETS: UK: amzn.to/3QDuOFs US: N/A BUY ZIGBEE PLUG SOCKETS (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB) UK: amzn.to/3N20b9o US: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9HHmSh BUY THE BROADLINK RM4 PRO TO CONTROL YOUR TV WITH ALEXA UK: amzn.to/3Qt6BRR US: amzn.to/3tHGQUk
Hi Paul just to let you know the Zigbee hub is only in the echo dot 4th gen not any below and not in the echo shows 1st n 2nd gen. Also Argos is having a sale on the echo dot 4th gen at £29.99 at current time of posting.
Great video. One of these days can you compare the servers of the products you buy? It seems that certain products in the UK have better servers than the in the US. It seems that the US infrastructure is just not giving me the same results you get on immediate connectivity or stable connectivity. I don't know if the products' servers in the US are unstable or if it's a problem with US ISP servers (mine is comcast). I'd like you to take a deep dive and compare how well you fair with using US versions of the products you have compared to the UK. Sad though that you can't do a full deep dive as you wouldn't be able to compare the effects of UK ISP's to US ISPs on smart devices.
@P T home assistant can keep zigbee devices local, but I believe there a few interesting things you can do with homeassistant and samsung smartthings hub to switch to an internet connection running via teethering the device via your iPhone's data plan via Bluetooth or wifi Hotspot. Samsung smartthings as long as it has some type of internet connection can be connected to by a browser gui of some sort using ithe device's ip address. For smartthings to be run fully local, i am not really sure. As for your A/C control, I think aqara has a hub that is also a IR remote thst you can run locally having it connected to via home assistant that is zigbee based but I may be wrong. Your better bet is to look into either broadlink which had both an IR and RF remote built in and can be run fully local with a lot of tinkering with home assistant or use switchbot hub which also van be used as an IR remote. Both have compatibility for A/C equipment.
@P T sorry I read that wrong. I usually read A/C as air conditioner and AC as an electrical outlet. So I got confused. Okay your comment makes more sense now. For your answer there are some zigbee switches/buttons on Amazon shoping site that are wired and can run routines. Butt I haven't seen any that use outlet power. They are most wired in to mains power. You might want to get a zigbee button that uses AAA batteries instead as that is your better bet. The nice thing about AAA batteries is that you can buy rechargeable ones. Those flat lithium 1342 or CR2032 batteries are disposable and not worth it. Here is a zigbee button that is charged on AAA a.co/d/6zu9iFv And here are rechargeable AAA batteries a.co/d/fRDn2lW. You can also try Panasonic brand rechargeables.
People who haven’t watched you before think there is something wrong with you, and those of us who have been watching you for a while know there is something wrong with you. In fact the progression is perfectly linear and takes exactly 5 videos.
@@paulhibbert I don’t usually subscribe… but I have now. My wife knows when I’m watching your videos based on how much and how hysterical the laughter is. Well done chief. 🤪😊😂
I had subtitles on, and when Paul was doing his "Home Assistant" pumping sketch thing, the caption was going "Oh my sister!" instead of "home assistant". Good thing I could hear the actual words ok :D
I have over 100 WiFi devices in my house. It’s really good thing that I went with ubiquity networks Dream Machine for my router and WiFi a couple years ago. Back then I was questioning using a small business solution for my house. But it looks like it was the right choice for me since I went WiFi bulb crazy.
The apartment scenario is a good point. It doesn’t mater how good your WiFi equipment is if there are 50 networks stomping on you. I will keep that in mind when suggesting bulbs to friends.
My ubiquity router does seem to need rebooting every 6 months to a year or it starts dropping packets. My friends say that’s my own fault for having a proper ups and not letting the environment reboot it for me every once in a while.
Based on your previous recommendation Paul, I bought 6 TRÅDFRI bulbs and a remote to mount on the kitchen wall beside the socket. It's works perfectly, cool white during the day, to not make my kitchen look so shaded, then warm white at night. It's great to keep these bulbs off the wifi, and fully local also . Would recommend 👍
Thanks for reviewing this. The camera hub has great features and a lot to recommend it, but I'm left with two questions: (1) What do I do for additional cameras? I probably won't need three hubs. (2) What to do for an outdoor camera that is fully exposed to the weather? Until those two issues are resolved, this seems mostly targeted to apartment dwellers who want a security system inside their entry door.
I dunno if anyone else has mentioned this but the Zigbee hub is only in the round echoes from 4th gen, its not in the 1st 2nd,or 3rd, nor the echo shoss 1st and 2nd gen.. Also the echo dot 4th gen is on sale at argos for £29.99..at the time of this comment.
Ive managed to completely remove Amazon/Alexa from my home automations through smarter automations in Home Assistant and a few well placed NFC tags. The wife and I noticed that conversations we had around the home quickly turned into ads on Facebook and other platforms. Plus the fact that after our fiber lines were cut in our new construction neighborhood a couple times, were grew tired of not being able to use some automations while we waited a week for internet to be restored. Only my garage door automations require internet now. My Q. Ill be fixing that soon also. I use Google Chromecast devices and cheap powered speakers for TTS announcements. Really dont miss Alexa at all. Other than the cool factor when showing friends/relatives. Thanks for the good videos.
Thanks man! My dad believes that Facebook is giving him ads based on his conversations too, but unless the ads were for amazon then there's no profit in it for amazon to use your voice data and give it to a 3rd party. Not unless you believe they're selling that data on, but if they were we'd know about it because they'd have to be advertising that they could sell this data to people for those people to buy it in the first place. The more likely culprit is your phone. Google voice searches for example do openly capture search data and do directly sell your searches to advertisers all over the Internet including Facebook ad services.
As someone who is now fully invest in Google Home over Alexa (simply because Spotify sent me my first Smart GH speaker 4 years ago)... one thing I really like about Alexa over GH is the ability to change the "activation" word. I hate that the only 2 ways to get GH going are "Ok, Google" or "Hey, Google". I want to change it to "Jarvis" or "Friday" and if I would have gone with Alexa I could have done that.
@@drgonzlegnd Yeah since posting this I've come to realize there are only 4... I'd still go with "computer" though, much better than saying a name brand :D
So if I've stupidly chosen to plonk Google home devices throughout home how much of a rectal pain would it be to move to Echos? Everything is either setup on Tuya, Switchbot or Broadlink so am I really only looking g at creating new routines on the Alexa app???!!!!
I've reached a level of delirium in which I've now noticed the Egg-burger sign behind you in the ad and decided to Google translate the damn thing. Underappreciated joke imo.
Ok so watching your videos, the comedy puts you far above the other smart home based channels I watch. I can find the information I need anywhere but your format will keep me coming back
Great Video! Just an FYI Amazon is not available across the globe like Google, some countries don't have amazon and therefore they actually don't buy it's products, your video would be greatly appreciated if you use google or other international hubs that are available world wide. again love your videos! and thanks for making them.
one topic to cover would be lightning strikes and smart or internet and router based equipment just had a lightning strike that took out the nbn box so 5 days and counting no internet or landline
And we have now returned to normal broadcasting after last weeks bollocks of a video that had no ‘HOME ASSISTANT’ thrusting. Anyone know of smart ct clamp sensors that can be used so I can engage certain devices when I have enough export from my solar system (different currents would trigger different routines)? Ideally this would work through Alexa or google (I use a lot of tuya products) but I will progress to home assistant at some point also.
@Paul Hibbert just to make the point Sony TVs (apart from the budget W ranges) are directly supported in HA, this may be true of other brands although I've not tried them, you can create a dashboard for a remote, although possibly pointless it sort of makes sense if your buttons are channel specific, you can find channel Icons online. I use HA to switch on/off TV backlighting when HA (Node Red) sees the TV is on and switches on my subwoofers too (using your power saving tip from a few weeks back with those cheap WiFi smart plugs)
LG tvs are also directly supported as is my pioneer sclx 87. Not got the card working the way I want but am struggling to get time on my home assistant set up.
I have a Philips ambilight TV, and I've been using abd to wake it from across the network and to load netflix 😊 would be cooler to have full control though!
@@paulhibbert The Bravia support in HA includes on/off all channels (programmed) all inputs, and known apps, they basically put in full support for Control 4 etc and HA takes advantage of this, very handy in my line of work as an AV installer.
- I am looking to setup home assistant, can it be done on RPi 3 or do I need to get pi 4? - I am not into voice assistant etc, do I still need an amazon Echo or everything can be achieved simply by HA? - do I need to replace all light switches that I want to control? Should I get Kasa switches? Just starting out and feel like there are so many different options and it's confusing! Thanks!
Brilliant video as always. I gotta say though I found the RM Pro a nightmare with home assistant. It doesn't like Bluetooth remotes which in my place is most of them! Tbh I managed to get the sky boxes and all three TV's working without it. Also have you had any issues with the govee stuff hitting a call rate limit and stop working through HA randomly lately because it's annoying as hell.
Yeah, you have to switch sky to infrared mode, but it sounds like you sussed that. The rm Pro is tough to get going with, but it's funny how quickly I got used to the fairly bizarre way of adding ir and rf signals. To fix the govee integration you just up the call limit from 10 to 600. Mine started working the following day and hasn't failed since. 😊 To do it, just delete the govee integration and re-add it, and during setup when you add the api key you just change the "poll interval" box below it to 600. I THINK all my scenes and automations and stuff sorted themselves out 😊
All very well but what do you do when your wife is a luddite? She went into one today because I plugged our bedside lamps into an alexa smart plug. Now it only works on my side. She's only just getting to understand you can talk to the TV remote! My idea of installing a WiFi mesh system? Forget it!
Do you know of any IR emitters that can be setup if my wifi is 5G? I don't have access to the router and my roommate changed the home ip address that is printed on the router's label.
the zemismart sensor is 30 dollars Canadian and the hub is 70 dollars that's not cheap I'm not doubting the capabilities but something mist be driving that price up so much for Canadians
@@paulhibbert yes, I have one installed for several month now. Once you update the firmware (yes, I know, three lines of code and that) all issues are fixed
Also love my BroadLink pro after your recommendation some years ago. But does anyone know how to change its Wi-Fi connection!! I’m running an old router just for it as I can’t for the life of me work out how to change it!
thanks for another hilarious and informative video. Still a bit confused though. My amazon echo doesn't have a smart home hub built in. Do I need to by a zigbee hub and a bridge? Thanks
Saturday evening here in Australia... As luck would have it our daughter is having a sleep-over at a friend's house tonight so we have the place to ourselves! Bottle of wine, Chinese takeaway, Netflix and chill. Perfect. Mrs W went to bed an hour ago, I'll be joining her... any minute now, just as soon as I've worked out why my porch lights didn't switch on when I came back from picking up the wine and takeaway.
Have you yet tryed v-tac smart light app because I use it all the time for my sockets and all 6 rooms bulbs and two outdoor bulbs and 4 cctv and one ptz cctv camera!!! But I am thinking of trying it on my hive hub
The screen is a cheap no name brand thing from ebay from years ago! The projector itself does all the heavy lifting 😊 It's an old acer and they don't sell it anymore 😕
"I actually love Home Assistant. I just like making people mad on the Internet.": Most folks aren't nearly this honest about it. [Cue Alfred's voice]"Sometimes people just want to see the world burn." "It is inevitable that you will buy some cloud-based stuff.": Agreed. I love local control, but sometimes there's a nice bright shining thing that you just have to have. I'll put up with a small amount of it, especially from manufacturers I think will be around for a while. "I found a light switch... I don't like it." Welcome to the future of CHoIP/Matter/Thread. Being a veteran of Home Assistant (and yet without that disability you've mentioned), I still appreciate this kind of guide as there are a few things I still haven't got automated. It's nice to know what works and what doesn't and how.
The rainbow cloud is actually the original switchbot hub, but sadly they don't sell them anymore 😔 The animation box on the desk is a divoom ditoo. Expensive but very cute!
Unfortunately I think Mr Pang is correct. Google are putting a their eggs in the "matter" basket I think, which in my opinion is a risky business decision.
Picked up an RM4 pro, to control 2 devices, My Arris cable box (via IR), and my ceiling fan (via RF), sadly it would not control either. The Arris box uses some kind of dual code which the RM cannot learn. The fan operates in a frequency that the RM cannot control. I have a solution for the fan already, but if anyone has tips on the Arris box, please share
Hi Paul, thanks for another awesome video! Have you heard of Quinetic gear? I’ve only just stumbled onto them when watching an electrician’s video. The switches don’t use wires or batteries - quite a neat twist. When I search for videos about that product range it seems to be only known to sparkles, maybe you could introduce Quinetic products to us in the smart home community? Thanks, keep up the great work 🙏
Hello, I have a question regarding the BroadLink TC3-1Gang smart switch. Is there a way to either get the smart hub to work with home assistant or the switch itself. Also have a BroadLink motion sensor which will need to be added the same way if you can. It does say currently unsupported. Not sure if there is a work around. I do have an Alexa.
Nice video, keep it up. Things I personally missed: zigbee dimmer downlights and insocket zigbee relays. Have you ever considered measuring water consumption?
I tend to use zigbee light switches, and smart bulbs for dimming. There are a lot of Wifi options out there for downlighters 😊 Not sure how I'd measure water consumption. Not familiar with any devices that would do the job.
@@paulhibbertthere aren't many ZigBee downlights as wifi ones. Any recommendations for inwall zigbee relays? Video suggestion: sonoff NSpanel with alternative firmware and HA. My future next project 💪
Do you use the zemismart zigbee hub to connect your zigbee mesh to home assistant? pretty much decided to move away from hubitat, now sussing out home assistant setup.
I'm considering an Aqara M2 hub to serve as a bridge between zigbee devices (smart bulbs, sensors, etc) and Google Home - currently using the Nest Hub v2 as main home controller. I believe any child devices of the m2 hub will appear in Google Home once Aqara is connected; but will control (voice, automation, etc) of these devices be available in Google Home? Appreciate any advise on the matter, thank you.
Hi Paul, quick question, I am a Phillips hue owner and want to add some outside lights, some strips and some GU10 Lilly style lights. Can you recommend some hue alternatives. I am happy to get GU10 lamps and buy the fittings. I want to be able to use a wireless wall switch and the hue app to control. Cheers Adam, also love the channel!
Your first zigbee socket link is a wifi unit :D To add a recommendation to that list. the innr SP222, it's well priced, well built but also has the button on the top, not the side like most do where they get obstructed by any other plug :p
This is probably a really stupid question, but if you get an RM Pro to control your TV, doesn't it get annoying having to speak everytime you want to change channels. And don't you need a physical remote anyway for when you're scrolling?
Hey Paul, I know I'm a little late, but could really do with a quick heads-up before i pull the trigger on a purchase. I'm about to buy an aqara wall switch (2 buttons) and wanted to check if the YEELIGHT GU10, Colour Changing Light Bulbs could be used with that switch ? Thinking having the second button run an alexa scene to change the colour .... dunno? Any advice would be great ? Cheers
Zigbee, which the Echo has, is extended by any actively powered device on it’s network, say a light switch, or a bulb, will help extend the network, so potentially, the entire house can be covered.
It doesn't like 5ghz. Try disabling 5ghz in your routers config temporarily whilst setting the Broadlink up, and then re-enable it afterward. That should solve it 😊
Hi Paul, great video it's amazing all this info is free. Quick question, have you come across any UK sockets like the BG ones that also do energy monitoring? I'd love to be able to profie the energy usage of my devices around the house but the plug-in version don't pass the wife approval test. Need something integrated like the BG ones
Sadly the BG electrical sockets are the only sockets I can recommend due to the failure of almost every other socket I've tried. I don't know of any that do energy monitoring sadly. I can recommend a book that will teach you how to murder your spouse if that helps? 🤣
I think you should take a look at Lightwave sockets. They are not cheap but they do provide energy monitoring, routines, pretty LEDs where you can choose the colour and lots more. They look fabulous and should meet with the most house proud person. They are compatible with Amazon, Google, Apple and Home Assistant. They have great telephone support. Worth every penny. They do need their own hub. Just in case you’re wondering, I don’t work for them I’m just a very happy customer.
I still have a high opinion of it, but home automation is a tough subject for a beginner and I didn't want to cloud it by saying the RM4 Pro can control your TV and works with the echo and home assistant should you graduate, but doesn't work with hubitat if you go that route. It just seemed like too much information. There's possibly issues with other things on this list too. I wanted to give a definitive list of things that work directly with the echo, but also work with HA. Adding what does and doesn't work with Hubitat would have got ugly quick.
Hey Paul (and anyone else reading this) - Is there a way to pair a handheld remote of some kind to the Broadlink RM Pro? I appreciate the expanded control capabilities of the Broadlink but I hate using voice to control my home theater and as a result I am still using my Harmony remote. I would much rather have a button remote in my hand that initiates all of the control actions programmed into the Broadlink. Any pointers? I am not currently using Home Assistant and I don’t have YAML, node red or any other programming skills. I really just want to program my system to turn on some lights when I press pause, turn them off when I resume play and raise and lower a RF shade motor as needed. Any help anyone can provide would be appreciated.
All my devices turn on as part of an automation triggered by a motion sensor in the bedroom that only runs after a certain time of night. I then use the original remote to browse my nvidia shield (it's not actually the original remote but I'll explain that in a minute) I have another room that triggers all my devices using a zigbee button so I can choose to turn it all on from the sofa rather than relying on a motion sensor. The remote I use to control my nvidia shield is actually an old android remote that came with a box I had years ago, it has way more buttons on it than then original nvidia shield remote. I was able to pair it to the shield using a USB FLIRC adapter. Been really handy for creating shortcut buttons on the remote to launch Netflix and stuff.
Hi Paul, do the zemismart light switches report back their current state too alexa? So a routine to turn the light on if it's already on doesn't turn it off?? Hope you understand
Hi Paul, my smart home has come along way since first starting years ago, and watch you vids frequently. The main issue I have are motion sensors. Apart from the Echo for the bathroom, with an PIR addon, this is the only motion sensor I can find that plugs in. I am constantly replacing batteries (there are 12 people living in my house) Do you know of any plug in motion sensors? Cheers Bud.
Don't know about any plugin sensors, but apparently the mmwave sensors are all the rave, they have the ability to measure normal movement, but also sensitive enough to measure you breathing, so no more waving you arms around to get your office lights back on after being motionless for a while.
This video was freaking hilarious 😂 and useful. My BIGGEST gripe with Alexa is, she won't delete OLD alarms. I set all new ones and now she plays the old alarms ON TOP of the new ones, this goes for old routines too!😠 😤
Great video! I was looking to convert my house to smart recessed rgb lights, i see in Amazon that there are some option that are wifi and some that uses a hub with Bluetooth. All of them using the Tuya app. Am i going to be able to scale in the future and use a different hub with those lights? Soo confusing 🤔
Am I right to assume if it’s compatible with home assistant it will be compatible with HomeKit? I think when I dipped my toes in home assistant a few years ago there was a HomeKit plug-in.
Yes! At least that seems to be the case. I don't have much experience of it, but I read on the home assistant documentation that it is fully integrated with homekit in both directions both as an advertiser of devices, and as a reciever.; Quite amazingly there are some devices with no home assistant integration that show up in home assistant anyway because they are homekit compatible!
The bloody door is open. I couldn’t stop laughing..almost. The Yorkshire version of this would be ‘Pu’ wood’int oil’. Well, that’s what my dad shouted when he was activated.
I’m confused!! (not hard!) Are there two versions off the echo dot as I’m seeing two different prices ie one for £29 and one for £89 but they look exactly the same? Please advise my lack of knowledge
Happy Saturday everyone! Links are below if you want any of the smart home gear featured today 😁 Also, a massive thanks to Locket for sponsoring again, they're proper awesome and well worth checking out:
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BUY SHELLY LIGHTING
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BUY ZEMISMART ZIGBEE BULBS AND ZIGBEE SENSORS (WORKS WITH AMAZON ECHO AND ZEMISMART ZIGBEE HUB)
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Hi Paul just to let you know the Zigbee hub is only in the echo dot 4th gen not any below and not in the echo shows 1st n 2nd gen.
Also Argos is having a sale on the echo dot 4th gen at £29.99 at current time of posting.
Great video. One of these days can you compare the servers of the products you buy? It seems that certain products in the UK have better servers than the in the US. It seems that the US infrastructure is just not giving me the same results you get on immediate connectivity or stable connectivity. I don't know if the products' servers in the US are unstable or if it's a problem with US ISP servers (mine is comcast). I'd like you to take a deep dive and compare how well you fair with using US versions of the products you have compared to the UK. Sad though that you can't do a full deep dive as you wouldn't be able to compare the effects of UK ISP's to US ISPs on smart devices.
@P T home assistant can keep zigbee devices local, but I believe there a few interesting things you can do with homeassistant and samsung smartthings hub to switch to an internet connection running via teethering the device via your iPhone's data plan via Bluetooth or wifi Hotspot. Samsung smartthings as long as it has some type of internet connection can be connected to by a browser gui of some sort using ithe device's ip address.
For smartthings to be run fully local, i am not really sure.
As for your A/C control, I think aqara has a hub that is also a IR remote thst you can run locally having it connected to via home assistant that is zigbee based but I may be wrong. Your better bet is to look into either broadlink which had both an IR and RF remote built in and can be run fully local with a lot of tinkering with home assistant or use switchbot hub which also van be used as an IR remote. Both have compatibility for A/C equipment.
@P T sorry I read that wrong. I usually read A/C as air conditioner and AC as an electrical outlet. So I got confused. Okay your comment makes more sense now. For your answer there are some zigbee switches/buttons on Amazon shoping site that are wired and can run routines. Butt I haven't seen any that use outlet power. They are most wired in to mains power. You might want to get a zigbee button that uses AAA batteries instead as that is your better bet. The nice thing about AAA batteries is that you can buy rechargeable ones. Those flat lithium 1342 or CR2032 batteries are disposable and not worth it. Here is a zigbee button that is charged on AAA a.co/d/6zu9iFv
And here are rechargeable AAA batteries
a.co/d/fRDn2lW.
You can also try Panasonic brand rechargeables.
Hi Paul, have you used NFC tags? could you do a video on NFC tags applications/benefits?
People who haven’t watched you before think there is something wrong with you, and those of us who have been watching you for a while know there is something wrong with you. In fact the progression is perfectly linear and takes exactly 5 videos.
🤣😂 Paul makes me feel normal. I used to think I was the only one who got turned on by inserting SD cards into cameras 😏🤤🥴
He is hysterical!
I love this comment, it means at least 17 people watched til the end. 🤣
@@paulhibbert I don’t usually subscribe… but I have now. My wife knows when I’m watching your videos based on how much and how hysterical the laughter is. Well done chief. 🤪😊😂
This put a big smile on my face. Thanks mate! ❤️
I had subtitles on, and when Paul was doing his "Home Assistant" pumping sketch thing, the caption was going "Oh my sister!" instead of "home assistant". Good thing I could hear the actual words ok :D
The Tradfri Sensors and switches can be used in Home Assistant to start Automations
I have over 100 WiFi devices in my house. It’s really good thing that I went with ubiquity networks Dream Machine for my router and WiFi a couple years ago. Back then I was questioning using a small business solution for my house. But it looks like it was the right choice for me since I went WiFi bulb crazy.
I regret every single wifi bulb i have bought since I got my apartment
I use an amplifi HD (also ubiquity under the hood) that I was sent as part of a sponsorship a couple years ago and its sooooooo good.
This is good to hear, I own one of these
The apartment scenario is a good point. It doesn’t mater how good your WiFi equipment is if there are 50 networks stomping on you. I will keep that in mind when suggesting bulbs to friends.
My ubiquity router does seem to need rebooting every 6 months to a year or it starts dropping packets. My friends say that’s my own fault for having a proper ups and not letting the environment reboot it for me every once in a while.
Based on your previous recommendation Paul, I bought 6 TRÅDFRI bulbs and a remote to mount on the kitchen wall beside the socket. It's works perfectly, cool white during the day, to not make my kitchen look so shaded, then warm white at night. It's great to keep these bulbs off the wifi, and fully local also . Would recommend 👍
Nice! :)
Thanks for reviewing this. The camera hub has great features and a lot to recommend it, but I'm left with two questions: (1) What do I do for additional cameras? I probably won't need three hubs. (2) What to do for an outdoor camera that is fully exposed to the weather? Until those two issues are resolved, this seems mostly targeted to apartment dwellers who want a security system inside their entry door.
I dunno if anyone else has mentioned this but the Zigbee hub is only in the round echoes from 4th gen, its not in the 1st 2nd,or 3rd, nor the echo shoss 1st and 2nd gen.. Also the echo dot 4th gen is on sale at argos for £29.99..at the time of this comment.
Ive managed to completely remove Amazon/Alexa from my home automations through smarter automations in Home Assistant and a few well placed NFC tags. The wife and I noticed that conversations we had around the home quickly turned into ads on Facebook and other platforms. Plus the fact that after our fiber lines were cut in our new construction neighborhood a couple times, were grew tired of not being able to use some automations while we waited a week for internet to be restored. Only my garage door automations require internet now. My Q. Ill be fixing that soon also. I use Google Chromecast devices and cheap powered speakers for TTS announcements. Really dont miss Alexa at all. Other than the cool factor when showing friends/relatives.
Thanks for the good videos.
Thanks man!
My dad believes that Facebook is giving him ads based on his conversations too, but unless the ads were for amazon then there's no profit in it for amazon to use your voice data and give it to a 3rd party. Not unless you believe they're selling that data on, but if they were we'd know about it because they'd have to be advertising that they could sell this data to people for those people to buy it in the first place.
The more likely culprit is your phone. Google voice searches for example do openly capture search data and do directly sell your searches to advertisers all over the Internet including Facebook ad services.
As someone who is now fully invest in Google Home over Alexa (simply because Spotify sent me my first Smart GH speaker 4 years ago)... one thing I really like about Alexa over GH is the ability to change the "activation" word. I hate that the only 2 ways to get GH going are "Ok, Google" or "Hey, Google". I want to change it to "Jarvis" or "Friday" and if I would have gone with Alexa I could have done that.
nah there are only 4 main options and celebrity option non of which are jarvis or friday
@@drgonzlegnd Yeah since posting this I've come to realize there are only 4... I'd still go with "computer" though, much better than saying a name brand :D
I only recently realised my full sized Amazon echo 4 also has a temperature and humidity sensor built in. Great for controlling the mancave
So if I've stupidly chosen to plonk Google home devices throughout home how much of a rectal pain would it be to move to Echos?
Everything is either setup on Tuya, Switchbot or Broadlink so am I really only looking g at creating new routines on the Alexa app???!!!!
How can I tell its past time for me to be a sleep. I catch a Paul Hibbert video with in the first hour of release
Sleep well dude!
I've reached a level of delirium in which I've now noticed the Egg-burger sign behind you in the ad and decided to Google translate the damn thing. Underappreciated joke imo.
@@kaschafe22 I had no idea what it said until just now 🤣
Ok so watching your videos, the comedy puts you far above the other smart home based channels I watch. I can find the information I need anywhere but your format will keep me coming back
Thanks man. That's really nice to hear ❤️❤️❤️
Great Video! Just an FYI Amazon is not available across the globe like Google, some countries don't have amazon and therefore they actually don't buy it's products, your video would be greatly appreciated if you use google or other international hubs that are available world wide. again love your videos! and thanks for making them.
wrt wifi I recommend getting a mesh network, deco m9+ scales out nicely
I love how Paul’s channel takes on serious tech help and Info, but he makes it funny. This channel rocks!
one topic to cover would be lightning strikes and smart or internet and router based equipment
just had a lightning strike that took out the nbn box so 5 days and counting no internet or landline
To set up with Echo with zig bee on a multi floor house is only one full zigbee unit needed? Already have many dots around?
And we have now returned to normal broadcasting after last weeks bollocks of a video that had no ‘HOME ASSISTANT’ thrusting.
Anyone know of smart ct clamp sensors that can be used so I can engage certain devices when I have enough export from my solar system (different currents would trigger different routines)? Ideally this would work through Alexa or google (I use a lot of tuya products) but I will progress to home assistant at some point also.
Really good advice to buy something that can work with Alexa and locally with Home Assistant. And great to get specific recommendations 👍🏻
I thought this video was going to be 20 seconds: “DON’T YET. THREAD/MATTER ARE COMING!”
But I stayed and cannot deny the entertainment value 🍻
@Paul Hibbert just to make the point Sony TVs (apart from the budget W ranges) are directly supported in HA, this may be true of other brands although I've not tried them, you can create a dashboard for a remote, although possibly pointless it sort of makes sense if your buttons are channel specific, you can find channel Icons online. I use HA to switch on/off TV backlighting when HA (Node Red) sees the TV is on and switches on my subwoofers too (using your power saving tip from a few weeks back with those cheap WiFi smart plugs)
LG tvs are also directly supported as is my pioneer sclx 87. Not got the card working the way I want but am struggling to get time on my home assistant set up.
I have a Philips ambilight TV, and I've been using abd to wake it from across the network and to load netflix 😊 would be cooler to have full control though!
@@paulhibbert The Bravia support in HA includes on/off all channels (programmed) all inputs, and known apps, they basically put in full support for Control 4 etc and HA takes advantage of this, very handy in my line of work as an AV installer.
I use HomeKit and homebridge. If you already have apple stuff then you basically have the ability to do complex automations built in.
Sorry mate can you repeat that. I fell asleep when you said appl...zzzzzz 😴
Homebridge seemed pretty cool when I tried it. It's worth noting though that home assistant has apple homekit built in too these days 😊
For clarity's sake, which generation alexa has the hub? 4? 5?
And what about apple home? Worthy of a consideration?
- I am looking to setup home assistant, can it be done on RPi 3 or do I need to get pi 4?
- I am not into voice assistant etc, do I still need an amazon Echo or everything can be achieved simply by HA?
- do I need to replace all light switches that I want to control? Should I get Kasa switches?
Just starting out and feel like there are so many different options and it's confusing! Thanks!
How will matter affect all this given homepod etc support it directly?
Perfect timing. I was planning an IKEA trip in a few days, so now I can give them even more of my money.
Brilliant video as always.
I gotta say though I found the RM Pro a nightmare with home assistant. It doesn't like Bluetooth remotes which in my place is most of them! Tbh I managed to get the sky boxes and all three TV's working without it.
Also have you had any issues with the govee stuff hitting a call rate limit and stop working through HA randomly lately because it's annoying as hell.
Yeah, you have to switch sky to infrared mode, but it sounds like you sussed that. The rm Pro is tough to get going with, but it's funny how quickly I got used to the fairly bizarre way of adding ir and rf signals.
To fix the govee integration you just up the call limit from 10 to 600. Mine started working the following day and hasn't failed since. 😊
To do it, just delete the govee integration and re-add it, and during setup when you add the api key you just change the "poll interval" box below it to 600.
I THINK all my scenes and automations and stuff sorted themselves out 😊
All very well but what do you do when your wife is a luddite? She went into one today because I plugged our bedside lamps into an alexa smart plug. Now it only works on my side. She's only just getting to understand you can talk to the TV remote! My idea of installing a WiFi mesh system? Forget it!
Isn't zigbee compatibility a non-issue with Matter just around the corner, or am I missing something?
Please please can you do a idiot guide to make broadlink make my projector screen go up and down pleaseeeeeeeee
Goove has stated they are actively working on a local API for use in home assistant
I would really like a US based insurance company that did something like Locket. It would be nice to get discounts for smart home items
Can we get another one of these for google and Apple as well?
Do you know of any IR emitters that can be setup if my wifi is 5G? I don't have access to the router and my roommate changed the home ip address that is printed on the router's label.
the zemismart sensor is 30 dollars Canadian and the hub is 70 dollars that's not cheap I'm not doubting the capabilities but something mist be driving that price up so much for Canadians
What about Hubitat for a new smart home?
Hi Paul,
Nothing about smoke/gas/co alarms?
The Amazon echo seems to have shot to in price to won’t £100. Is there a different, cheaper hub that would not be recommended?
Love the humor. Great video and very needed. Thank you!😂
Paul, you make my day with every video. Keep up the good work brother.
Thanks mate! 😊
Can you please do on of these with hubitat
Does the Amazon 4 have motion on it now
BTW, There’s a newer and much cheaper zigbee stick iTead Sonoff zigbee 3.0 dongle plus
A few people have said this but I've heard mixed reports. Do you have one?
@@paulhibbert yes, I have one installed for several month now. Once you update the firmware (yes, I know, three lines of code and that) all issues are fixed
Also love my BroadLink pro after your recommendation some years ago. But does anyone know how to change its Wi-Fi connection!! I’m running an old router just for it as I can’t for the life of me work out how to change it!
thanks for another hilarious and informative video. Still a bit confused though. My amazon echo doesn't have a smart home hub built in. Do I need to by a zigbee hub and a bridge? Thanks
What happen to Home Assistant if you don't do any change to it every month? It still work as it should be?
Saturday evening here in Australia...
As luck would have it our daughter is having a sleep-over at a friend's house tonight so we have the place to ourselves! Bottle of wine, Chinese takeaway, Netflix and chill. Perfect.
Mrs W went to bed an hour ago, I'll be joining her... any minute now, just as soon as I've worked out why my porch lights didn't switch on when I came back from picking up the wine and takeaway.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Have you yet tryed v-tac smart light app because I use it all the time for my sockets and all 6 rooms bulbs and two outdoor bulbs and 4 cctv and one ptz cctv camera!!! But I am thinking of trying it on my hive hub
Hey Paul, the link to the zigbee (OH THE ZIGBEE) hub seems broken.
What is the name of your projector screen it’s awesome.
The screen is a cheap no name brand thing from ebay from years ago! The projector itself does all the heavy lifting 😊
It's an old acer and they don't sell it anymore 😕
"I actually love Home Assistant. I just like making people mad on the Internet.": Most folks aren't nearly this honest about it. [Cue Alfred's voice]"Sometimes people just want to see the world burn."
"It is inevitable that you will buy some cloud-based stuff.": Agreed. I love local control, but sometimes there's a nice bright shining thing that you just have to have. I'll put up with a small amount of it, especially from manufacturers I think will be around for a while.
"I found a light switch... I don't like it." Welcome to the future of CHoIP/Matter/Thread.
Being a veteran of Home Assistant (and yet without that disability you've mentioned), I still appreciate this kind of guide as there are a few things I still haven't got automated. It's nice to know what works and what doesn't and how.
As always Paul, love the content and very intuitive. Keep it up
How much of this stuff works with hubitat?
Always thought Trådfri was Philips Hue IP anyway?
I've had great luck with WIZ lights.
What's the rainbow cloud doohickey? Also, the thing on the desk that's always showing a Star Wars cartoon?
The rainbow cloud is actually the original switchbot hub, but sadly they don't sell them anymore 😔
The animation box on the desk is a divoom ditoo. Expensive but very cute!
Ikea motion sensor can trigger Alexa routines if you use the tradfri hub with it
🤣🤣🤣 mate I absolutely love your channel. Your little skips crack me up all the time 🤣🤣 plus great advice as always. Keep up the good work pal 😎👍🏾
Hi Paul, is there any sign of google putting a zigbee hub into their products? Thanks
No
Unfortunately I think Mr Pang is correct. Google are putting a their eggs in the "matter" basket I think, which in my opinion is a risky business decision.
I subscribed, if for nothing else, your humour, excellent video 🙂
Paul.
Do Aqara products work with the Zemismart hub? Thanks
Picked up an RM4 pro, to control 2 devices, My Arris cable box (via IR), and my ceiling fan (via RF), sadly it would not control either. The Arris box uses some kind of dual code which the RM cannot learn. The fan operates in a frequency that the RM cannot control. I have a solution for the fan already, but if anyone has tips on the Arris box, please share
Hi Paul, thanks for another awesome video! Have you heard of Quinetic gear? I’ve only just stumbled onto them when watching an electrician’s video. The switches don’t use wires or batteries - quite a neat twist. When I search for videos about that product range it seems to be only known to sparkles, maybe you could introduce Quinetic products to us in the smart home community? Thanks, keep up the great work 🙏
Hello, I have a question regarding the BroadLink TC3-1Gang smart switch. Is there a way to either get the smart hub to work with home assistant or the switch itself. Also have a BroadLink motion sensor which will need to be added the same way if you can. It does say currently unsupported. Not sure if there is a work around. I do have an Alexa.
Quite a lot of Govee products can connect via Bluetooth so will still work without WiFi just not as (voice) smart.
Not sure whether or not they would continue to work if govee went bust though? I guess if the app keeps working then they could 🤔
Hi Paul, I have heaps of those IKEA motion sensors paired to my conbee stick on Home Assistant. All ZigBee IKEA things work
wonderfull video
Nice video, keep it up.
Things I personally missed: zigbee dimmer downlights and insocket zigbee relays.
Have you ever considered measuring water consumption?
I tend to use zigbee light switches, and smart bulbs for dimming. There are a lot of Wifi options out there for downlighters 😊
Not sure how I'd measure water consumption. Not familiar with any devices that would do the job.
@@paulhibbertthere aren't many ZigBee downlights as wifi ones.
Any recommendations for inwall zigbee relays?
Video suggestion: sonoff NSpanel with alternative firmware and HA. My future next project 💪
Do you use the zemismart zigbee hub to connect your zigbee mesh to home assistant? pretty much decided to move away from hubitat, now sussing out home assistant setup.
I'm considering an Aqara M2 hub to serve as a bridge between zigbee devices (smart bulbs, sensors, etc) and Google Home - currently using the Nest Hub v2 as main home controller.
I believe any child devices of the m2 hub will appear in Google Home once Aqara is connected; but will control (voice, automation, etc) of these devices be available in Google Home?
Appreciate any advise on the matter, thank you.
Hi Paul, quick question, I am a Phillips hue owner and want to add some outside lights, some strips and some GU10 Lilly style lights. Can you recommend some hue alternatives. I am happy to get GU10 lamps and buy the fittings. I want to be able to use a wireless wall switch and the hue app to control. Cheers Adam, also love the channel!
Have you tried the zigbee sockets from click smart?
No. Not heard of them! I could do with a replacement option though as Zemismart seem to have taken the UK one down 😊
@@paulhibbert It looks like they run on tuya I'm thinking of ordering one to play about with
Your first zigbee socket link is a wifi unit :D
To add a recommendation to that list. the innr SP222, it's well priced, well built but also has the button on the top, not the side like most do where they get obstructed by any other plug :p
This is probably a really stupid question, but if you get an RM Pro to control your TV, doesn't it get annoying having to speak everytime you want to change channels. And don't you need a physical remote anyway for when you're scrolling?
Not stupid 😊 I still use a remote to control my nvidia shield for browsing. Using the RM4 Pro doesn't stop the original remote from working.
Hey Paul, I know I'm a little late, but could really do with a quick heads-up before i pull the trigger on a purchase.
I'm about to buy an aqara wall switch (2 buttons) and wanted to check if the YEELIGHT GU10, Colour Changing Light Bulbs could be used with that switch ? Thinking having the second button run an alexa scene to change the colour .... dunno?
Any advice would be great ?
Cheers
Hi Paul. What's the range of the echo or hub you showed - will it do whole house, house and garden or just a few rooms ?
Zigbee, which the Echo has, is extended by any actively powered device on it’s network, say a light switch, or a bulb, will help extend the network, so potentially, the entire house can be covered.
No Aqara? Switches, hubs..
great video, just curious have you messed around with Hubitat? would the devices you mentioned in this video also work with Hubitat?
Here's my latest video on Hubitat 😊
Hopefully it answers your question.
ua-cam.com/video/Q10nVFbP0ME/v-deo.html
I had no idea my UA-cam tech feed needed all this slapping. But apparently it does. 😂👍
Well done man. Entertaining and informative. Thank you!
Just can't get the Broadlink I got to connect to my wifi not a clue why it won't. I'm sure I'm doing something stupid but don't know what.
It doesn't like 5ghz. Try disabling 5ghz in your routers config temporarily whilst setting the Broadlink up, and then re-enable it afterward. That should solve it 😊
OpenHAB with zigbee/z-wave?
Hi Paul, great video it's amazing all this info is free. Quick question, have you come across any UK sockets like the BG ones that also do energy monitoring? I'd love to be able to profie the energy usage of my devices around the house but the plug-in version don't pass the wife approval test. Need something integrated like the BG ones
Sadly the BG electrical sockets are the only sockets I can recommend due to the failure of almost every other socket I've tried. I don't know of any that do energy monitoring sadly. I can recommend a book that will teach you how to murder your spouse if that helps? 🤣
🤣 Yes, it's called Smart Home...icide.
Ba dum tish!
I think you should take a look at Lightwave sockets. They are not cheap but they do provide energy monitoring, routines, pretty LEDs where you can choose the colour and lots more. They look fabulous and should meet with the most house proud person. They are compatible with Amazon, Google, Apple and Home Assistant. They have great telephone support. Worth every penny. They do need their own hub. Just in case you’re wondering, I don’t work for them I’m just a very happy customer.
@@paulhibbert 😂😍
I am surprised you didn’t mention the Hubbitat at all given your previously high opinion of it.
I still have a high opinion of it, but home automation is a tough subject for a beginner and I didn't want to cloud it by saying the RM4 Pro can control your TV and works with the echo and home assistant should you graduate, but doesn't work with hubitat if you go that route. It just seemed like too much information. There's possibly issues with other things on this list too. I wanted to give a definitive list of things that work directly with the echo, but also work with HA. Adding what does and doesn't work with Hubitat would have got ugly quick.
Hey Paul (and anyone else reading this) - Is there a way to pair a handheld remote of some kind to the Broadlink RM Pro? I appreciate the expanded control capabilities of the Broadlink but I hate using voice to control my home theater and as a result I am still using my Harmony remote. I would much rather have a button remote in my hand that initiates all of the control actions programmed into the Broadlink. Any pointers? I am not currently using Home Assistant and I don’t have YAML, node red or any other programming skills. I really just want to program my system to turn on some lights when I press pause, turn them off when I resume play and raise and lower a RF shade motor as needed. Any help anyone can provide would be appreciated.
All my devices turn on as part of an automation triggered by a motion sensor in the bedroom that only runs after a certain time of night. I then use the original remote to browse my nvidia shield (it's not actually the original remote but I'll explain that in a minute)
I have another room that triggers all my devices using a zigbee button so I can choose to turn it all on from the sofa rather than relying on a motion sensor.
The remote I use to control my nvidia shield is actually an old android remote that came with a box I had years ago, it has way more buttons on it than then original nvidia shield remote. I was able to pair it to the shield using a USB FLIRC adapter. Been really handy for creating shortcut buttons on the remote to launch Netflix and stuff.
Anyone know the range of zigbee on the amazon echo house
Hi Paul, do the zemismart light switches report back their current state too alexa? So a routine to turn the light on if it's already on doesn't turn it off?? Hope you understand
Hi Paul, my smart home has come along way since first starting years ago, and watch you vids frequently. The main issue I have are motion sensors. Apart from the Echo for the bathroom, with an PIR addon, this is the only motion sensor I can find that plugs in. I am constantly replacing batteries (there are 12 people living in my house) Do you know of any plug in motion sensors? Cheers Bud.
Don't know about any plugin sensors, but apparently the mmwave sensors are all the rave, they have the ability to measure normal movement, but also sensitive enough to measure you breathing, so no more waving you arms around to get your office lights back on after being motionless for a while.
This video was freaking hilarious 😂 and useful. My BIGGEST gripe with Alexa is, she won't delete OLD alarms. I set all new ones and now she plays the old alarms ON TOP of the new ones, this goes for old routines too!😠 😤
Great video! I was looking to convert my house to smart recessed rgb lights, i see in Amazon that there are some option that are wifi and some that uses a hub with Bluetooth. All of them using the Tuya app.
Am i going to be able to scale in the future and use a different hub with those lights? Soo confusing 🤔
More segments with the Hot Miss!
@Paul you do not use Aqara things or Aqara M2 hub?
6:38 what is the name of the device where the smart bulb is attached to?
Am I right to assume if it’s compatible with home assistant it will be compatible with HomeKit? I think when I dipped my toes in home assistant a few years ago there was a HomeKit plug-in.
Yes! At least that seems to be the case. I don't have much experience of it, but I read on the home assistant documentation that it is fully integrated with homekit in both directions both as an advertiser of devices, and as a reciever.; Quite amazingly there are some devices with no home assistant integration that show up in home assistant anyway because they are homekit compatible!
The bloody door is open. I couldn’t stop laughing..almost. The Yorkshire version of this would be ‘Pu’ wood’int oil’. Well, that’s what my dad shouted when he was activated.
as always entertaining and good info.
Hi Paul, why do you not link to EU shops? It is so difficult to buy from UK shops nowadays?
It's a long story, but last time I did generate EU links amazon nearly destroyed my livelihood. 😔
I’m confused!! (not hard!) Are there two versions off the echo dot as I’m seeing two different prices ie one for £29 and one for £89 but they look exactly the same? Please advise my lack of knowledge
Just had the same confusion, the larger echo has the hub, the cheaper dot does not.