Home Automation

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Home automation is the residential extension of building automation.

It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.

Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.

Warning: Working with electricity can result in injury, property damage, or even death if it is not done properly. Please keep this in mind while assisting others. If you are not sure about what you are doing, hire a licensed professional.

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Recommendations for a novice (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Novice to all home automation here. My wife and I just bought our first home (Arizona, USA) and are looking to get into simple but useful home automation. I’ve seen friends/family have smart light bulbs and other small things connected to Apple TV/Homepods, but that’s about it. IMO I see these as done after-the-fact or “retrofit” and I’m the type of person that would prefer replacing the fixture (light switch, outlet, fan), cut into drywall if needed, get in the attic, etc. My wife and I are slightly into the Apple ecosystem (iPhones, IPads, newest Apple TV) mainly because the ease and beauty of their interface, but I definitely prefer functionality and reliability over looks when it comes to things like this especially if there exists some platform that could combine HomeKit and google/amazon products.

Things I have in mind that I would like to be able to control/monitor via phone are the garage, air conditioning, lights and fans throughout the house, robot vacuum/mop, and outdoor lighting.

I understand some of this can get complicated I’m not expecting all the answers from one Reddit post, only looking for a good place to start and over time add more and more.

If there are any recommendations to products, forums, quality YouTube channels where I could learn more about this topic they are much appreciated. Thank you!!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Good approach, KISS. Keep it simple and stupid.

Motion sensors for lights are a reliable and old school way to go. HOA wants a front porch light in for us once it’s night, my solution a light sensing bulb that drops in and turns on automatically once it’s nighttime.

Eufy 11s, robot vacuum with random navigation and remote. Cleans well, no app and due to no maps no issues picking it up and hitting auto clean button in whatever location I want. Can still set schedules, manually control it, etc it just randomly cleans till battery is low and charges.Ran daily I have no need to tell it to randomly clean when I’m away in an app, the house is already vacuumed.

A lot of things can be automated without going the smart home route which can introduce security and privacy issues. And reliance on software that may or may not be working in a few years. Figure out what works best for you.