wegster

With the BF sales kicking off, and it being beyond time to replace smoke detectors, have been looking but also being disappointed in what I’ve seen. Expensive First Alert models seem to be abandoned, lots of reviews for false alarms all over the place, etc.

Running HomeKit but will be adding home assistant over the Xmas few week break. Have a baby and wife both of which would freak out on false alarms, and a few pretty high ceilings I don’t have an easy way to get to.

Was thinking something standalone + Zigbee with just rudimentary smarts, but not sure something truly reliable seems to exist.

Is it worth looking at anything ‘smart’ at this point? I’ve got 8-9 detectors or so to replace at this point.

I’ve been expanding our smart devices and with the holidays coming, I spent ‘too much’ on some Hue Festiva light for the tree among some other things like a pair of Govee curtain lights (would have gone Twinkle for both but just read too many gripes on ‘lasted one season then died’. Will see how the Govee HA integration works out eventually.

Meanwhlle, we also have had some ‘curtain lights’ on a rear ~6-7’ x 6’ fixed window, another on a roughly 8’x8’ front set of windows, and a third set over the kitchen sink roughly 6; wide x ~4’6” tall. The two big ones are plug powered but also have a remote for modes, and the smaller one is battery pack and remote.

Of course, when we originally got them, I nudged the wife towards warm white (~2700K-ish) but she wanted white, So yeah, now she wants the 2700K, so was going to surprise her before the holidays and replace them alll. There are a ton of all over Amazon, and thought I found a match - the big sets of lights I have on Thread outlets and group them to turn ‘window lights’ on or off, and they work well enough other than being the wrong color ‘now.’ The ktchen sink lights were never ideal but I found some that had both a battery pack and USB power, with the intent of putting them all on Thread outlets for on/off.

So, the problem. On power to the outlet, you still need to use the stupid remote on the set I got, and it doesn’t retain state, meaning iif I use the remote to turn on and pick a mode, then cut the outlet power then turn the outlet back on - you still need to then use the remote, which kind of defeats the purpose. We don’t desperately need all the remote modes, just solid and or slow blink is fine, but need them to at least go on/off via Home, voice, something.

Here’s an example of the type of curtain or ’fairy lights’ I’m talking about. Considering the $$ I’ve put in elsewhere into smart home bits and now the Festivia and Govees, really was looking for expensive and can work with smart outlets. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KLV417B

I haven’t checked the bigger sets yet but the one above is a fail at this point. They’re simple (but nt enough to come on when power s apple - meh), and they make my wife happy waking up in the morning when it’s still dark out or at night. I did try adding batteries as well as wall power, waiting to see if any magic smoke was let out, but seems like it’s wired as battery backup (or sole power if not getting wall power), so then when I turn off the outlet, it just goes to battery and doesn’t turn off, again defeating the intent. I have not looked at the tiny circuit inside the battery box switch and it’s possible I may be able to solder/jump a few pins but - has anyone found working sets same style that work as described, possibly being able to be cut to length, that aren’t outrageously priced?

I’ve been expanding our smart devices and with the holidays coming, I spent ‘too much’ on some Hue Festiva light for the tree among some other things like a pair of Govee curtain lights (would have gone Twinkle for both but just read too many gripes on ‘lasted one season then died’. Will see how the Govee HA integration works out eventually.

Meanwhlle, we also have had some ‘curtain lights’ on a rear ~6-7’ x 6’ fixed window, another on a roughly 8’x8’ front set of windows, and a third set over the kitchen sink roughly 6; wide x ~4’6” tall. The two big ones are plug powered but also have a remote for modes, and the smaller one is battery pack and remote.

Of course, when we originally got them, I nudged the wife towards warm white (~2700K-ish) but she wanted white, So yeah, now she wants the 2700K, so was going to surprise her before the holidays and replace them alll. There are a ton of all over Amazon, and thought I found a match - the big sets of lights I have on Thread outlets and group them to turn ‘window lights’ on or off, and they work well enough other than being the wrong color ‘now.’ The ktchen sink lights were never ideal but I found some that had both a battery pack and USB power, with the intent of putting them all on Thread outlets for on/off.

So, the problem. On power to the outlet, you still need to use the stupid remote on the set I got, and it doesn’t retain state, meaning iif I use the remote to turn on and pick a mode, then cut the outlet power then turn the outlet back on - you still need to then use the remote, which kind of defeats the purpose. We don’t desperately need all the remote modes, just solid and or slow blink is fine, but need them to at least go on/off via Home, voice, something.

Here’s an example of the type of curtain or ’fairy lights’ I’m talking about. Considering the $$ I’ve put in elsewhere into smart home bits and now the Festivia and Govees, really was looking for expensive and can work with smart outlets. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KLV417B

I haven’t checked the bigger sets yet but the one above is a fail at this point. They’re simple (but nt enough to come on when power s apple - meh), and they make my wife happy waking up in the morning when it’s still dark out or at night. I did try adding batteries as well as wall power, waiting to see if any magic smoke was let out, but seems like it’s wired as battery backup (or sole power if not getting wall power), so then when I turn off the outlet, it just goes to battery and doesn’t turn off, again defeating the intent. I have not looked at the tiny circuit inside the battery box switch and it’s possible I may be able to solder/jump a few pins but - has anyone found working sets same style that work as described, possibly being able to be cut to length, that aren’t outrageously priced?

Short background: I work in tech, and actually have worked with RF mesh types of devices in my career. I have a family + increasing work hours. Would like to eventually go to a more full-featured system like home assistant on one of my PIs, but for now, mostly have a ton of Hue lights and hub, a few switches, Ecobee, and….. Ring doorbell (I know, I know - but killer deal and nothing else Ring in the house), and a few cameras.

I want to be adding a front door lock, possibly a water sensor in the crawl space, garage door opener. We have a lot of glass/windows in the house, but automated blinds and the like are definitely some ways out. I do use scheduling when we’re away but that’s through Hue at this point, not Alexa.

Why do I want to change especially when I have nearly given up on Siri for being useful (soooo very far behind on ‘AI’ in general, but different convo..)?

1. Amazon data collection. Yeah, I trust them moderately more than Meta/Facebook, but that’s saying
2. Google’s no better and probably worse as they and meta both track you to monetize your habits and info for ad revenue and targeting.
3. I kind of dig what they’re trying to do/get to with Matter, Thread, etc. Zigbee and Z-Wave are pretty darned old, and while reading quickly it seems like the hw and software isn’t quite there yet, well - I’ll be adding stuff for a while.
4. I’m at the point where I don’t really have much single ecosystem investment, but that’s going to start growing, so now’s the time to switch if I’m going to.

The HUE lights, Sonos Arc, Ecobee can all do homekit. The couple of plugs can either do Homekit or I’m ok with replacing. I might keep a single Echo Show (2 5” bought during various Black Fridays for almost nothing) around until I replace the Ring doorbell at some point. The other misc cameras I’m ok leaving independent for now but eventually need to sort (Wyze intentionally as ‘know they will get replaced but don’t know by what yet, so why spend big?), and not worried if I need to replace a couple of switches here and there (although I think they’re all HUE driven vs Alexa specific).

I’ve got 2 Apple TV 4Ks (last or current gen), family is pretty much Apple (and Linux..) from watch, iPad, laptops standpoint. I’d be ok adding a couple of HomePod Minis if I really must.

I have scanned threads here, and interestingly saw numerous comments on having to repeat things multiple times for Alexa (which my wife seems to hit a lot but I don’t) while Siri, amazingly, got it right, while I’ve had an underwhelming experience with Siri just turning off an alarm or setting a timer on my watch I’m 3” from vs my ipad 20 feet across the room.

I don’t keep up on deep dive levels of info in home automation as it’s fascinating stuff, but just family and work time beat out hobby time nowadays, so pretty much open to any tips, DONT DO IT, and the like.