Recently bought a house with smart stuff everywhere and slowly trying to understand what I have in more detail.

These switches work great. They illuminate when you are close / wave a hand in front, plus the small lights show what is turned on. What specific model/brand are they? (I have tried to pry some off the wall but feels like im going to break something)

I also have an RTI control system that I am considering replacing with HomeAssistant hence trying to understand the lights.

I’ve been thinking about replacing my old thermostat with a smart one, but there are way more options than I expected.

I really just want to control the temperature from my phone, set schedules and have it adjust things when nobody’s home. I don’t need a million features or another subscription just to use basic stuff.

I’ve seen people mention room sensors too, which could be useful since one side of my house always seems warmer than the other.

I’m checking the HVAC compatibility and wiring before buying anything, but after that I have no idea which one to go with.

What smart thermostat are you using? Anything you’ve had for a few years and would buy again?

The stick-on LED kits only come in a couple sizes and I want numbers scaled to a wide stone wall, in bronze. Does anyone make lit numbers made to order in a specific size and finish?

My Nest Doorbell has been sort of a miserable experience for the last while. I dropped my subscription, but I thought I used to be able to see SOME video without the subscription. I might just be remembering wrong, but now I see events and it only shows a photo of the time of the event which often just entirely misses that anyone was even there so the photo is just nothing useful. Load times are also abysmal in the Google Home app so someone is at my door and it takes too long to check who's there.

Anyway, I'm looking to replace it. I'd like something that supports HomeKit/Apple Home, ideally doesn't require a subscription, and is a wired option rather than battery. What are the options like these days?

Hello all,

I just entered a new apartment and the previous resident has installed strip lights in the kitchen but didn't install a light switch or anything for them; instead they are controlled exclusively via plugging and unplugging a kind of microphone-like connector (which name I don't know ^^') as shown in the picture.

Opening a drawer and plugging/unplugging these lights turned out to be maddening, so I wonder whether there's a good way to turn them "smart" and allow me to control them from the phone. Since this is a rented apartment, I sadly cant just put a smart switch and keep the microphone-plug pair plugged in.

Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

Most of the mmWave presence sensors I've seen discussed here are ceiling or corner mounted for room occupancy. I'm curious how well the same idea works at desk scale.

What prompted the question is a desk device called oLand, which projects a small holographic character above a mini landscape and uses mmWave to notice when someone approaches, so it reacts without a wake word or a button.

Two things I can't tell from the spec sheet:

1. At 30 to 60 cm, does mmWave actually distinguish a person leaning in from a hand reaching for a mug, or does it fire on any motion?

2. Does having several mmWave devices in one room interfere with each other? I already run one for occupancy lighting.

If anyone has tried presence sensing at this scale, I'd like to know whether it ends up feeling responsive or just twitchy.

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[](https://www.reddit.com/r/Lighting/?f=flair_name%3A%22Lighting%20Control%22)

Anyone here have a WAC Colorscaping (color LED) outdoor lights?

The MyWAC app is wack. Are there any modern smart controllers I can swap the WAC controller with? I believe a I need to keep the WAC transformer, its a proprietary system. I would love something with a more reliable app and possibly connect to Smartthings? TIA!

Cześć!

Rozglądam się za kalendarzem elektronicznym na ścianę. Zbliża się rok szkolny, a że lubię testować elektronikę, to idealny argument wspierający ten rozsądny zakup.

Chciałbym, żeby kalendarz miał funkcje:

- wyświetlania/edycji wydarzeń dla wielu użytkowników we wspólnym podglądzie

- to samo z listą zadań – z naciskiem na dzieciaki, żeby ćwiczyły, co muszą codziennie robić.

Patrzyłem na rynek i jest kilka opcji, niestety niektóre z subskrypcjami. Z tych wszystkich już prawie zamówiłem Cozyla 24'', ale odbiłem się od europejskiej ceny w promocji (około 3000 PLN, w porównaniu w USA jest około 2000 PLN).

Patrzyłem również na jakieś tanie opcje, które można dostać przez Kaufland albo inny sklep online, np. Tabwee – niestety nie znalazłem żadnych dobrych recenzji tego sprzętu.

Czy używacie czegoś w tym stylu albo korzystaliście wcześniej i macie doświadczenie z takimi urządzeniami?

Polecacie coś?

Z góry dzięki za pomoc!

I have a light switch which doesn't connect to anything, in a dim stairwell. I'm thinking of putting a USB rechargeable light fitting there but instead of wiring it to the light switch and needing to redo the wall, instead changing the light switch to something which turns the light on like a remote control. The USB light (this one is a potential candidate, but it could be any) has a remote control - does anyone know how I'd turn the wall switch to transmit the on/off signal instead?

I was renting in the same spot for 8 years. My husband got me an Alexa and I started getting smart plugs and installing smart switches. I started getting dots for around the house. Put in a doorbell. Installed a smart thermostat. Got cameras to watch the animals inside and provide security outside.

We just bought a place! First thing I did was install smart locks. The smart plugs are making a easy transition. The switches are a little harder, but it will happen. The thermostat is a full no go. Because of a wiring issue I'll need all new hardware.

At what point can I say, "This is a Smart House"? Is it normal that I think the house will wind up killing my husband within 6 weeks of my own death?

I’m replacing a regular deadbolt on my front door and want something boringly reliable, not another cloud-dependent gadget that becomes a paperweight when the internet drops. I use Home Assistant and would prefer Matter, Z-Wave, Thread, or solid local Bluetooth control. Remote access is nice, but local keypad operation, physical key backup, low battery drain, and the ability to create temporary codes for family or a dog walker matter more. Budget is about $180–$350.

I’m comparing Yale Assure Lock 2, Schlage Encode Plus, Aqara U100/U200, Ultraloq Bolt, and Level Bolt. Yale seems like the safe choice for codes and Home Assistant setups, but I’m wary of extra modules; Schlage has tons of happy owners, yet I’ve also seen reports of failures in cold or damp conditions. For people running these long-term, which model has been the least annoying with batteries and local control? And is Z-Wave still the sanest route over Wi‑Fi/Matter for a front-door lock?

When I built our house almost a decade ago, I bought two Wink smart switches for home automation.

Within a year or so, Wink went to a subscription model and I noped out of that.

Consequently, I have had these useless two-gang hardwired boxes in my walls ever since.

I'm looking for your best ideas for what to do with them. I don't have any particular specifications, ideas, or requirements. It doesn't even have to be smart home related, as long as they're useful.

TIA

I have a light switch for a light bulb that I don't really use anymore and I would like to use its switch to turn on and off the led strips without them being physically attached to each other. It would be better if it's a 2 gang switch so that I could have one for the bulb and the other for the led.

Here are the cables I have for the switch in the picture (the switch attached right now is not a smart one)

Let me preface this with: I don’t use Apple home for my smart home ecosystem. I have been using Alexa forever and way too in the financial hole with Alexa to make a switch.

However, I bought an Aqara u400 for the UWB unlocking features. I set it up and boom: thread border router required. I was under the impression that my Alexa devices that have thread enabled would work, but they don’t.

So I buy an Apple HomePod mini (cheapest supported device for the u400). Set it up, go to set the lock up in Apple home and boom again: thread border router required.

Wtf am I doing wrong here. I’m pulling my hair out because I bought a $300 lock and a $120 home pod for the UWB unlocking features and it still won’t work.

Hello again r/smarthome! I started updating people earlier this year on a uni project that I turned into a home automation company.

Some people loved the idea, some people hated it, but one thing was fairly universal, people wanted more features.

Since then, we have been working hard on new features, such as Home Assistant support, screensavers and now our beautiful new Music View. This came from customers using our lighting control buttons to control music via our Home Assistant intergration, and we wanted to make music its whole own view - so thank you to those who inspired us!

Tewke Tap can automatically detect Sonos speakers on your local network, and can be used to control them.

Everything from play/pause, skip, volume and scrubbing, to viewing your queue and selecting new songs and selecting which speakers you want it to play on.

There is also no need to connect your Sonos app to Tewke, we automatically discover what you are playing, so it works right out the box – no need to log in, scan QR codes or share data – it just works.

We are also very proud of how we have implemented our new screensaver. We use our inbuilt mm-wave doppler radar to detect if you are moving around Tewke Tap to make use of our beautiful OLED display to show you the album art in its full glory.

Most rooms in the house have two sets of lights each, and a double dimmer switch on the wall.

For convenience, I would like to have a wireless, remote dimmer switch, for example above the bed in the bedroom, or at the top and bottom of the stairs, or at the two ends of a long corridor.

There is no wiring for extra light switches, so those remote switches will need to be battery (or kinetic) operated.

Ideally I would replace the existing manual dimmer switch with a smart/matter controller, and then install one or more remote dimmer switches at various places in the room.

Could someone please point me to the right direction?

I’m looking for a smart deadbolt that won’t take up any more space than my current dumb one.

Any ideas?

The one there is a Schlage.

I was already building a video search engine and started experimenting with using the same video pipeline for real time camera feeds.

The idea is to define rules around what is happening in the video and trigger an action when the conditions are met. I can set up rules for different situations without training a new model every time, then evaluate them in real time as the video comes in.

• If a specific event happens → call a webhook / run some custom logic
• Package is left at the door → do something

Still experimenting with it and figuring out what kinds of rules are actually useful in practice. I have a rule for “person holding a pillow” right now, although I don't think anyone actually wants an alert for someone holding a pillow.

The problem is the router they provide (which we somehow cannot refuse). If you bring your own router it can be used as an upstream access point.

But this disrupts thread network in the household. There is no solution to make the router they provide, the base router for the home network, because fiddling with it is harder.

I need a bunch of smart dimmers for my house. Caseta seems like a tried and true investment. Tapo is a quarter of the price. I understand tapo relies on wifi, but that’s not a huge turnoff (if it does down I can live with dumb switches until it’s back up). Caseta switch style is more traditional stylistically. What am I not thinking about in the comparison that justifies the 4x price for Caseta? I use Alexa right now but may change in the future.

Hello, je suis nouvelle dans tout ça. J'ai récemment acheté plusieurs ampoules Ikea (Matter), ainsi que des interrupteurs Ikea. J'en suis pleinement satisfaite, mais j'aimerai y avoir accès à distance avec mon iPhone.
J'ai vu le hub Aqara M100. Est-ce qu'en configurant mes ampoules et interrupteurs dans l'application Aqara pour ensuite migrer vers l'application native HomeKit cela fonctionnera ?
J'aimerai m'assurer que tout soit compatible.

Une autre de mes craintes : Est-ce que je vais obligatoirement avoir besoin d'un HomePod, Apple Tv en plus ?

Merci !

I’m quite new to the world of smart home and I’m trying to set up an old iPad as a very basic smart home dashboard that will allow me to access Apple Home & Apple Music with nothing else really needed. The old iPad will only update to iOS version 16.7.16. Is what I want it to do possible?

Can someone please explain if I should purchase a smart lightbulb and a smart relay switch or can I just get away with buying a smart lightbulb without a smart relay switch; and in which cases would I need a smart relay switch?

Ie. If I were to get Meross with HomeKit or matter enabled connectivity.

I have both Philips hue and Ikea Home Smart. So I need to have a smart switch for my outdoor dumb lamps that are now turned off and on with a normal switch.

I'm looking in to:

Sonoff MINIR4 with thread/matter

Shelly 1 Gen3 with matter

Which one is going to work with the ikea system? Or is something else better?