Underseer
Contributor
We got a Samsung Smartthings hub to connect a water detector after a sump pump failed and we had flooding in the basement.
SmartThings itself is kinda dumb. For example, the sunrise/sunset triggers never seem to work quite right such that I suspect SmartThings is using sunrise/sunset in the wrong time zone. Still, SmartThings can be linked to and controlled by other things such as Google Home, IFTTT (an automation app for Android).
We got a Philips Hue hub/bridge and a few smart lights, which is convenient, and a front door sensor so we know when the front door was left open.
The sump pump did fail again, but this time the water detector remained in a "wet" state for months until I cleaned the contacts off. We got a colored light from Philips, and I have it set up to go blue if the water detector is in a wet state, and off when the water detector is in a dry state. Now even if we stupidly ignore the notifications on our phones again, we'll know about the flooding the moment it happens. This same dedicated "warning" lamp is set to give off a green light whenever the front door is open, and it doesn't turn back off until the front door is closed.
Overall, it's pretty nice for what it does. I set up a routine in Google Home so that saying "OK Google, I'm leaving" will automatically set the smart thermostat to "Away" mode and save money (otherwise, it can take a long time for the thermostat sensors to figure out that the whole house is unoccupied and set Away mode).
I've linked the satellite receiver to Google Home, but to be honest, nobody bothers using voice commands to control the satellite receiver because it's easier and quicker to pick up the remote and press a button.
One thing we've learned is that every room with smart lights should have regular dumb lights in case something goes wrong, because things do indeed go wrong from time to time.
We also learned that the motion sensors from Philips Hue work better than the ones from Samsung (or other compatible motion sensors) because they have luminosity sensors and it's much more useful to say "turn on the lights when motion detected and luminosity below X" than to say "turn on the lights when motion detected and time is between X and Y o'clock." In fact I've learned that I only care about luminosity and time of day not at all when it comes to smart lights and motion sensors.
As long as we're talking about smart-home stuff, one things we learned the hard way is that those fancy smart thermostats work better if you have separate sensors in every room likely to be used. You will be more comfortable and save more money that way. It's well worth spending the money on the extra sensors.
Anyway, I'm hoping to turn this into a general thread for smart-home discussions, since I figure we have more than a few tech heads who like to tinker with this stuff.
SmartThings itself is kinda dumb. For example, the sunrise/sunset triggers never seem to work quite right such that I suspect SmartThings is using sunrise/sunset in the wrong time zone. Still, SmartThings can be linked to and controlled by other things such as Google Home, IFTTT (an automation app for Android).
We got a Philips Hue hub/bridge and a few smart lights, which is convenient, and a front door sensor so we know when the front door was left open.
The sump pump did fail again, but this time the water detector remained in a "wet" state for months until I cleaned the contacts off. We got a colored light from Philips, and I have it set up to go blue if the water detector is in a wet state, and off when the water detector is in a dry state. Now even if we stupidly ignore the notifications on our phones again, we'll know about the flooding the moment it happens. This same dedicated "warning" lamp is set to give off a green light whenever the front door is open, and it doesn't turn back off until the front door is closed.
Overall, it's pretty nice for what it does. I set up a routine in Google Home so that saying "OK Google, I'm leaving" will automatically set the smart thermostat to "Away" mode and save money (otherwise, it can take a long time for the thermostat sensors to figure out that the whole house is unoccupied and set Away mode).
I've linked the satellite receiver to Google Home, but to be honest, nobody bothers using voice commands to control the satellite receiver because it's easier and quicker to pick up the remote and press a button.
One thing we've learned is that every room with smart lights should have regular dumb lights in case something goes wrong, because things do indeed go wrong from time to time.
We also learned that the motion sensors from Philips Hue work better than the ones from Samsung (or other compatible motion sensors) because they have luminosity sensors and it's much more useful to say "turn on the lights when motion detected and luminosity below X" than to say "turn on the lights when motion detected and time is between X and Y o'clock." In fact I've learned that I only care about luminosity and time of day not at all when it comes to smart lights and motion sensors.
As long as we're talking about smart-home stuff, one things we learned the hard way is that those fancy smart thermostats work better if you have separate sensors in every room likely to be used. You will be more comfortable and save more money that way. It's well worth spending the money on the extra sensors.
Anyway, I'm hoping to turn this into a general thread for smart-home discussions, since I figure we have more than a few tech heads who like to tinker with this stuff.