hornbyben You are a waking library on these things! It’s time to share the windows supplier as well. Is there anything that you know that we do not know in the energy efficiency and home automation side ? 😂
If the blinds are not as good as curtains, don’t you guys feel cold?
Appreciate it mate. What a thread this is turning out to be! 😊
LMSC For windows we used https://velfac.co.uk/ for the extension and https://rationel.co.uk/ for upgrading the rest of the house at a later date. They’re sister companies, and have a similar look. Outside is powder coated aluminium, inside is wood. Very thermally efficient and long life. I think the rationel have the edge, as they have a better friction break mechanism to hold the window open.
I don’t feel the cold 😀. Good windows are for staying warm, the blinds really just to block the light out. We have curtains in the bedrooms, but I didn’t find opening and closing them a hassle.
With loxone you can use your curtains/blinds as part of your heating system though. For example you can get them to provide shade when the room is too hot and the sun is shining in.
LMSC A lighting designer recommended Loxone, and I thought it looked like a good system so went with that.
Probably the main thing that swung it was that the programming looked within my skill set, which meant I could tweak and upgrade without needing a consultant.
FYI Loxone has a KNX extension, which allows you to integrate KNX devices into the system.
I’m pretty happy and don’t think I would change anything with hindsight.
LMSC is there a reason you’re against their cameras?
It’s nice to see others using their access points!
hellojava They have made enterprise grade at prosumer price point. They are very popular and make pretty good equipments.
Unfortunately, the UniFi choices are a bit of a mess right now (UDM/UDMP still flaky; UXG under-developed; USG/USGP old and underpowered, and connectivity, no response, … in the camera space). If we google, we know. You might be ok with one or two. I’m not sure if they have addressed these in recent months, as I haven’t followed closely.
I will get their AP for sure, but will stay clear in other areas. Obviously check if their external APs and mesh are weather proof.
Baldrick To my knowledge, their Flex HD wasn’t used to be weather proof or IP rated. I was looking at it some time early last year. I was advised to place it under the roof overhang or the Eve.
Based on your noting, they now are! As I said, their APs are great. We will be adding a couple of more and we won’t look at anything other than Unifi APs.
LMSC I don’t think you’ll be unhappy with their WiFi offerings.
I install data and fibre cabling for a living - ubiquiti is what I’d use in my house 😁
I’m often surprised by the reach & coverage those little AP’s push out especially at their price point. They’re probably the most popular unit I fit outside of Cisco which would be massive overkill for a domestic install, and to be honest they’re not as nice looking as the ubiquiti offerings 😉
Whaaaat… How did I miss this thread? Home automation is probably more of my life than coffee!
Some great advice above. I think the best comment is make your house less attractive than your neighbours. If they know you have a safe, they are still coming in whatever you do. Forget internal cameras, they only know about those once in. I think best bet is external cameras, either on front door bell, or round the side and back. If someone looks over my gate they can see 2, with red IR lights at night.
Wifi and routers agree that Unifi is the way to go. Best is separate cable modem from router (USG) and separate wifi access points. I have multiple internal and the external one as well. All solid.
Wouldn’t recommend their cameras as needs their system unless you are really spending money on their high end gear. NAS and any 3rd party camera probably as good and cheaper or go with Apple HomeKit ones but you don’t get 24/7 recording there.
Home automation - Loxone is great if doing whole house rewire, but not the easiest to build out slowly. I use Indigo which is a Mac based software, is local only (but with external secure connection if required) that runs my lights (via z-wave modules behind the switches) so no changing bulbs or switches and still works if someone uses a switch, unlike Hue bulbs
Also does my TV, alarm, heating, Sonos (Sonos comes on playing ACDC full volume throughout the house if alarm goes off!), cameras, cable tv, basically anything electrical in my house and links all to HomeKit and Siri and Alexa. Built up slowly over a few years. Much much easier to use than the free raspberry pi systems but more expensive to buy, and needs always on Mac. Hubitat which I also use seems a cheaper easier system to setup but reasonably configurable and extendable.
If I had the money and was doing rewire then Loxone looks good. Be careful of things like Control4 etc as you don’t want to have to pay hundreds to company to add a new light or change logic.
Also be aware of what you want. Lots of companies will provide connected houses, ie one app on phone controls lights and blinds and alarm. But do you want to pull phone out to turn on a light or open a blind. You likely either want voice control or physical switches (and ability to easily change their logic) or you want smart. Smart requires some great logic and will be changed over time, again you don’t want to pay someone to do that. I don’t think I have touched my kitchen light switch in years. Motion and time controlled and depends on outside light levels outside, ie they come on if dark clouds during day.
We live in a relatively low crime area but recently some little tykes have been going round in the early hours (obviously their parents don’t give a toss) targeting cars. We have installed a Eufy video doorbell and window, door and movement sensors which link up to our phones. When we go out or to bed we set it all to go off (there is also an alarm) if an intruder tries to get in. The video doorbell records any human movement. However, our front door is actually at the side of the house (lots of pics of our post lady) so we are getting a Eufy video camera with floodlight that points directly at the front of the house where the car is and again is connected to the whole system. We also have the Hive system that shedules when the lights go on and off too, which is good for when we are out or away after dark for any length of time.
Not very sophisticated but hopefully a deterrent. Having said that, our next door neighbour has a house alarm fitted that makes a right racket if tripped. We have a key to go and investigate if it goes off when they are away. Over the years it has gone off a few times…spiders! and not a soul has come out to even look. So, is it all worth it? If it makes the thieves go to someone elses house, then yes…not very charitable I know, but hey, as Tarzan once said to Jane…
’it’s a jungle out there’
Installed a Eufy doorbell and homebase courtesy Costco offer then added three more cameras benefitting from Black Friday deals. Been really pleased with the set up. Scared the bejesus out of Mrs Systemic when she triggered the garden one using the inbuilt speaker. My son had an ADT system installed recently that was really expensive compared to my Eufy set up. It captured storm Franklin doing a fair bit of damage to one side of his roof. Given the size of some of the pieces that came off the roof and bounced on the garage roof, surprised they didn’t go straight through it.
I love my smart home tech. I’ve had a Nest video doorbell for a number of years as have a lot of Google Home speakers that it links to. We have a nest thermostat, hue bulbs, smart life and meross smart plugs which are all great with Google integration so have automations set up for when we’re home and away, including the coffee machine of course.
When we moved into our current house just over a year ago, the previous owner left a power over Ethernet 4 camera CCTV system with recorder. He was an electrician and did a great job wiring the house up. I changed the NVR this year to enable better remote viewing and next up will be better cameras at the front of the house that have person detection as these are so sensitive they alert every time it rains. Also have a standard alarm which weirdly has the ringer inside the house with nothing outside but accidentally triggered a couple of times and it’s so loud you’d want to leave.
Although there’s no guarantee it will put thieves off, we’ve had cars broken into down the road recently and each time we’ve been left alone so think CCTV does play a part.
I also fitted a TP Link Tapo wireless camera at my parents and that’s a pretty good budget system that lets them check who’s coming to their door now they’re getting older.
simonc Some great advice above. I think the best comment is make your house less attractive than your neighbours. If they know you have a safe, they are still coming in whatever you do. Forget internal cameras, they only know about those once in. I think best bet is external cameras, either on front door bell, or round the side and back. If someone looks over my gate they can see 2, with red IR lights at night.
Wifi and routers agree that Unifi is the way to go. Best is separate cable modem from router (USG) and separate wifi access points. I have multiple internal and the external one as well. All solid.
Wouldn’t recommend their cameras as needs their system unless you are really spending money on their high end gear. NAS and any 3rd party camera probably as good and cheaper or go with Apple HomeKit ones but you don’t get 24/7 recording there.
Home automation - Loxone is great if doing whole house rewire, but not the easiest to build out slowly. I use Indigo which is a Mac based software, is local only (but with external secure connection if required) that runs my lights (via z-wave modules behind the switches) so no changing bulbs or switches and still works if someone uses a switch, unlike Hue bulbs
Also does my TV, alarm, heating, Sonos (Sonos comes on playing ACDC full volume throughout the house if alarm goes off!), cameras, cable tv, basically anything electrical in my house and links all to HomeKit and Siri and Alexa. Built up slowly over a few years. Much much easier to use than the free raspberry pi systems but more expensive to buy, and needs always on Mac. Hubitat which I also use seems a cheaper easier system to setup but reasonably configurable and extendable.
If I had the money and was doing rewire then Loxone looks good. Be careful of things like Control4 etc as you don’t want to have to pay hundreds to company to add a new light or change logic.
Also be aware of what you want. Lots of companies will provide connected houses, ie one app on phone controls lights and blinds and alarm. But do you want to pull phone out to turn on a light or open a blind. You likely either want voice control or physical switches (and ability to easily change their logic) or you want smart. Smart requires some great logic and will be changed over time, again you don’t want to pay someone to do that. I don’t think I have touched my kitchen light switch in years. Motion and time controlled and depends on outside light levels outside, ie they come on if dark clouds during day.
Wow! Quite a lot to digest. Will do.
Modem —> Router —> Switch for Cat6 all over the house —> unifi APs are our current set up. The Unifi is only for APs.
We don’t see the need NAS yet.
Waiting for the Laxone guy to pay me a visit. I have already spec-ed out what I need in terms of switches and sockets. No Smart Bulbs for sure. This will be the first step.
I am kind of open if I want to shell out loads of money or go the DIY route. We don’t want to call some body for every upgrade or a change of gear.
Home Kit is one choice but is it not kind of restrictive - not as flexible or powerful . We want everything local. If we want remote, it will be a VPN.
Also, watching Matter compliance Thread for IoT network. Evo smart devices are Thread compatible, which will anchor Matter this year. Z-Wave is another choice. Hubitat, OpenHab are good; if combined with Z-wave or Evo, we can cut out the installer. I can call my electrician while dealing with electrical cables. It will give us flexibility to expand at will in the future.
We are not a fan of video cameras; but ok to put out 2-3 outside for extra security. But, nothing inside. I am also not letting a 3rd party to monitor the videos. That’s a big no. We do have ADT and we are ok with what we have with them. No Smart doors as well.
Smart Curtains or Blinds in a few places are just from holiday point of view. They won’t even fall in place in the first round.
I will create Vlans to isolate the IoT devices on my local network.
Did I miss anything ?
Thx
Eufy seems popular in the video space.
There is the lots of money and buy a complete package, like Loxone.
Buy a really good non cloud properly robust diy solution like Indigo
Buy cheap diy solution.
The user experience and customisation opportunities differ between all.
HomeKit itself is limited with approved devices. However you can emulate devices so I have all my non HomeKit approved cameras routed into HomeKit and display, they just can’t record there (but do in NVR). Every device in my house can be controlled there, very few are HomeKit approved but all work flawlessly. This can be done within your controller or with a tiny program running on an always on pc, a NAS or raspberry pi
It’s a great app , and has 3rd party versions and whilst think about Alexa and other cloud offerings, I have not heard any concerns about Homekit remote access to your house. The value Apple attaches to privacy I think you’ll be fine there. I do use VPN via USG but happy with HomeKit without.
Zwave is separate from hubitat and open wave. Zwave is the hardware and hubitat and open wave (and Indigo) are the control software. There will also do zigbee and many other hardware devices.
I’d take anything to do with Thread and Matter with a bucket of salt. Don’t count on anything stable and easy to use for probably several years.
