Weekend Open Forum: How "smart" is your home?

[Jos]

Home automation has been around for a while but it often involved expensive installations done by contractors, and systems that weren’t always flexible or intuitive. There’s still a long way to go but now it’s easier to find affordable, less intimidating solutions you can setup yourself and control with a smartphone.

If anything, Google paying over $3 billion for Nest is an indication of the promise this market holds. With that in mind we want to know: how smart is your home? Have you bought into any smartphone-controlled systems -- whether to control lighting, home security, thermostat? Are you waiting to see how integration and standardization plays out or not interested at all?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56945-weekend-open-forum-how-smart-is-your-home.html

 

[VitalyT]

How "smart" is your home?

It is usually not "smarter" than the occupants

 

[Guest]

Smart enough not to have any NEST gear installed.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

How "smart" is your home?

Smart enough not to spend $200 on a smoke detector.

 

[davislane1]

How "smart" is your home?

How about you ask... your mother?!

#OhNoHeDi'nt ::gasp:: ::shock:: ::disbelief::

 

[Jad Chaar]

My house is pretty dumb.

How "smart" is your home?

Smart enough not to spend $200 on a smoke detector.

LMAO yeah... I replaced all 10 or so in my house for less than that.

 

[Guest]

Dumb as a brick, and I am happy for it!

 

[cliffordcooley]

Has anyone heard the term "Dead as a door knob!"? There is nothing smart about my walls and flooring.

 

[Nobina]

I can flush toilet by pulling a knob, I guess you could say my house really has next gen mechanism.

 

[Guest]

Pulling your knob flushes your toilet? wow.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I don't know how smart my house is, I can't talk to it because it's always 'plastered'.

 

[misor]

My house is a "feature house".
if tv remote control counts as one, then it's the only thing that is smart in my house...including those who live in it.

although I'm interested in a "one local, small control gadget" for house lights, aircon, water sprinkler.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

My trailer is not very smart. Tornados keep finding us no matter where we park.

 

[TitoBXNY]

Love the funny comments. My house is good looking but ain't the smartest. My no frills PSE&G Thermostat does the job. I honestly thought hard about getting the nest Smoke Detector, but could not justify the exuberant cost. A few weeks later I read about how there was a major bug and a recall.

 

[gobbybobby]

Very dum. Disabled the smoke alarms even. WiFi router that barely covers half the house. Defo needs some upgrading here. Use homeplugs for lan that's smartish right!

 

[drjekel_mrhyde]

My house IS the short bus

 

[Guest]

My life would be so much more satisfying if I had an App which allowed me to open/close windows, switch refrigerator, microwave, washing machine, etc, on/off automatically, while I am not there.


From DW.UK

 

[madboyv1]

Between the dying wiring, the cut up walls/ceilings, the aluminum piping (in some parts of the house), I'm afraid if I put anything smart in my house, else the house will rebel against it and cause SOMETHING to happen for it to destroyed. This house has killed two cable modems and four routers in the time I've been in it. My house also routinely shocks me, drenches me, cuts me, and leaves me to die more often than not, and I barely register on the IQ scale. =p

 

[cliffordcooley]

@madboyv1, you need a priest. That's a bit more than a mere coincidence.

Tell ya what, just ship your diary to a movie producer. That bit about leaving you to die, sounds like a good movie filler.

 

[davislane1]

Between the dying wiring, the cut up walls/ceilings, the aluminum piping (in some parts of the house), I'm afraid if I put anything smart in my house, else the house will rebel against it and cause SOMETHING to happen for it to destroyed. This house has killed two cable modems and four routers in the time I've been in it. My house also routinely shocks me, drenches me, cuts me, and leaves me to die more often than not, and I barely register on the IQ scale. =p

I've got one word for you, 'divorce'. She just isn't worth it, man.

 

[madboyv1]

I like to think it makes me a stronger person by surviving, but sometimes it keeps me up at night, as I listen to the creaking in the walls and pipes.

 

[Guest]

I wireless automated my home 3 or 4 years ago with a Vera Z-wave system. I recently upgraded the controller to Vera Lite. The things that are automated are:
- All light switches/dimmers ($35ea GE)
- All smoke/carbon monoxide sensors ($60ea First Alert)
- Motion/Temp/Light sensors in all main living areas ($75ea)
- Thermostat ($100)
- Exterior Doors, including Front Door ($160ea Kwikset)
- Wireless Cams monitoring exterior and some interior areas ($100ea Foscam)

I use an iPhone and web-browser to monitor and control the home. Remotely set lock codes for contractors/guests. Remotely unlock doors. Remotely turn on/off lights. I use basic automation scripts for locking down the house each night. For setting up the house (lighting, temp, etc) intelligently based on who unlocked the door from the exterior.

On my to do list for this year
- Proximity sensors - Adjust and trigger automations based on who's home and where
- Moisture sensors / Wireless main water valve shut off - Turn off household water if leak detected
- Automated Blinds/ Shades - Raise/lower window blinds based on sun position, wall switch, or phone.