The Home Automation thread

[Capricorn]

I finally finished my parking sensor. Its using an uno, ultrasonic sensor and Adafruit neopixel ring.

Making the box for it took waaaaay longer than the project itself!

 

The video quality is terrible but it should give an idea on what it does...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWnyM8PdMvo

 

I really need a 3d printer, this took way too long to make :/

box.jpg

 

very cool! great for cars without parking sensors. What distance have you set the red ring of death to?

[Rocket-Boy]

very cool! great for cars without parking sensors. What distance have you set the red ring of death to?

Red ring is at 52cm currently but Im going to tweak it to have two different colour rings. Generally I want the car as far away from the workbench as possible while still closing the garage door.

There are times I need it as close as possible to the bench though so that I can wheel my table saw out.

So will create a ring for day to day and another one for getting at the saw.

[Stretch]

Now here's a cool project... Smart mirror

 

http://www.gregensom.com/mirrorProject.html

[The Ouzo]

has anyone tried a poolsense pod ?

basically a floating pod in your pool, communicates with your phone and tells you what chemicals to add and water temp etc.

 

They just look a bit pricey to me at 3k.

[dirtypot]

I finally finished my parking sensor. Its using an uno, ultrasonic sensor and Adafruit neopixel ring.

Making the box for it took waaaaay longer than the project itself!

 

The video quality is terrible but it should give an idea on what it does...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWnyM8PdMvo

 

I really need a 3d printer, this took way too long to make :/

box.jpg

 

That is so cool!  I love it!

[Rocket-Boy]

Now here's a cool project... Smart mirror

 

http://www.gregensom.com/mirrorProject.html

I was looking at that one a while back, its a really cool project. 

I see they are commercially available now too but at around $3k they are stupidly expensive. DIY definitely the way to do it.

[Rocket-Boy]

has anyone tried a poolsense pod ?

basically a floating pod in your pool, communicates with your phone and tells you what chemicals to add and water temp etc.

 

They just look a bit pricey to me at 3k.

I have never heard of it before but it looks quite interesting. Seems to use a Sigfox network so that means it will probably run on sqwidnet which will probably attract a monthly fee too.

 

Its a great idea though being able to monitor key metrics in the pool. Would be very difficult to DIY something like that because of the required amounts of chemicals to add and figuring out what those would be.

[Long Wheel Base]

has anyone tried a poolsense pod ?

basically a floating pod in your pool, communicates with your phone and tells you what chemicals to add and water temp etc.

 

They just look a bit pricey to me at 3k.

 

 

I have never heard of it before but it looks quite interesting. Seems to use a Sigfox network so that means it will probably run on sqwidnet which will probably attract a monthly fee too.

 

Its a great idea though being able to monitor key metrics in the pool. Would be very difficult to DIY something like that because of the required amounts of chemicals to add and figuring out what those would be.

Also never heard of it. I use the normal blue HTH box with a few drops of this and that. One lightning storm and my pool still goes green so clearly I am no good with the manual way. Pity I don't have 3k for a pool sensor thing right now.

[The Ouzo]

Also never heard of it. I use the normal blue HTH box with a few drops of this and that. One lightning storm and my pool still goes green so clearly I am no good with the manual way. Pity I don't have 3k for a pool sensor thing right now.

yeah, 3k is a bit steep to drop on this.

[Stretch]

Also never heard of it. I use the normal blue HTH box with a few drops of this and that. One lightning storm and my pool still goes green so clearly I am no good with the manual way. Pity I don't have 3k for a pool sensor thing right now.

And one lightning storm and there goes your 3k toy too

[Rocket-Boy]

So after even more research it looks like a fairly reasonably priced device.

The ORP sensors are expensive as heck and if you wanted to DIY something like this you would be in for probably around R2k for parts.

The real problem would be in finding value in the measurements taken, what those mean against your pool volume and in relation to that how much of x chemical you need to add.

 

Im normally the last person to recommend commercial solutions but this one I wouldnt try and DIY.

[Long Wheel Base]

And one lightning storm and there goes your 3k toy too

Another good point.

I have a friend that went through about 4 or 5 pool gobbler things before just leaving the leaves. His dog destroyed the thing. They never lasted a week. Imagine the dog destroying your 3k toy after a few days. Wonder what would come up on your phone if you logged in while it was in the dogs stomach?

[The Ouzo]

Those using SONOFF devices, are they Apple Homekit compatible.

 

I'm about to go down the worm hole of home automation, really simple stuff right now like a set of lights i'm about to install outside that I'd like to control remotely rather than adding a physical switch somewhere.

 

But since the entire echo system in my house is Apple, I dont know if i should be getting Apple Home compatible HA devices. Dont want to outlay lots of money on stuff now, only to find out later its not going to do everything I want.

(I dont know what "everything I want" is just yet, I suspect once I go down the worm hole I'll start wanting to do more and more)

[Slowbee]

Not sure if it has been discussed.

 

Do any of you use cameras with speakers at home linked to the house wifi so you can dial in and check if all is OK when the alarm goes off?

[Rocket-Boy]

Those using SONOFF devices, are they Apple Homekit compatible.

 

I'm about to go down the worm hole of home automation, really simple stuff right now like a set of lights i'm about to install outside that I'd like to control remotely rather than adding a physical switch somewhere.

 

But since the entire echo system in my house is Apple, I dont know if i should be getting Apple Home compatible HA devices. Dont want to outlay lots of money on stuff now, only to find out later its not going to do everything I want.

(I dont know what "everything I want" is just yet, I suspect once I go down the worm hole I'll start wanting to do more and more)

Apple Homekit is a bit of a misnomer because it isnt actually a tangible thing.

First question off the bat is, do you own an Apple Homepod? Im guessing no because very few people would think its a good idea buying an ~R8k smart speaker!

 

I have a fully Apple household too and Homekit isnt really a thing, the certification cost is too high for manufacturers like iTead(Sonoff) to pay licensing for.

 

Long story short is that the smart speakers from Apple/Amazon/Google need to be able to talk to a device if you want to use voice commands to turn it on and off. Amazon and Google have no issues but Apple is another issue altogether.

 

IF you just want to use the app that the device comes with on your iphone or ipad then no worries, Sonoff will work just fine for that.

 

 

I personally use Home Assistant as the hub for my home automation, through that Im able to extend any device I have to being "homekit" compatible. So I can ask Siri to turn on or off lights, open/close front gate or garage door etc.

I can also do the same with Amazon or Google at the same time and the Echo speaker I have is great for that.

 

Did any of that make sense? Im not sure it would to me and I just wrote it!

[Rocket-Boy]

Not sure if it has been discussed.

 

Do any of you use cameras with speakers at home linked to the house wifi so you can dial in and check if all is OK when the alarm goes off?

I dont have them currently but they are on my radar. Hikvision are pretty much top when it comes to cameras and most have a built in mic.

Alternatively you get those basic wifi cams that sit inside your house and can alert your phone on an app if movement triggers them etc.