Smart Home (with a dumb owner!)

[puffernutter]

A few years ago I was a bit of a gadget man, most of which were a waste of time. In recent years I've got better and whilst I look at the various bits and pieces, I rarely buy. My wife is not a technophobe, but bitter experience has shown that the further I am away from the house on business, the more serious the failure of the infrastructure.

Which brings me to the point of this thread! My daughter bout me an Echo Dot for Christmas and rather that just linking to Spotify, I thought I'd see what else I could do. The restriction from my wife, was that whatever I automated had to have a "manual" backup, so if it went wrong when I was away, things would still work (bitter experience of domestic crises whenever I've been away in the US and Australia!!)!

I decide to try a light in the dining room. I bought a Smart controller from Sonoff and it requires a live and neutral input and provides a switched live (through a SPST contact). I had to load an App onto my phone (eWelink) which communicates with the Smart switch and then link that to Alexa (Echo Dot). To meet my wife's requirement I used the Sonoff output to drive a mains coiled relay with a SPDT contact that effectively became a second switch in a "two way" circuit, so if all else failed the switch could be used. This can be repeated in an existing 2-way circuit, but the retained switch would need to be changed to an "Intermediate". It all seems to work, so far! The current set up is chunky and the Sonoff and relay are in a cavity in the stud wall. I have dismantled the Sonoff and using a small RS mains relay I can fit this all into a deep metal box.

So far so good, I'll give this a month and see how reliable (and useful it is) and that will determine whether or not I extend the experiment further!

Notes of caution:

The downside is that the Sonoff needs a neutral (which is not present in most light switches) so you either need to have it near the rose or run a neutral to the light switch.

Be aware that that there is a button on the Sonoff you need access to in case there is a need to re-register, although I have found that turning the power on and off does not deregister and it will reconnect quite happily.

Finally, if the switch is used, then the Sonoff is out of kilter with the switch so unless the switch is put back to its original position, saying "turn on" will turn it off and vice versa!

Thanks for all your help in the past and I hope the above is useful.

Happy New Year all.

 

[Burdekin]

My wife has a few echo dots but she links it up to the Hive thermostat, light bulbs, and plugs, and the Sonos speakers around the house. She loves this stuff.

 

[skotl]

We have a Samsung Smartthings hub, into which we've got Amazon Echos plugged in as well as a Philips Hue Hub for the smart lightbulbs, and a Tado heating thermostat.

So we have control of the lights, front door, heating, alarm etc. and the Amazon Echo can process a lot of commands by voice.

What's good is that as we're away for a few nights it turns the living room lights on at sunset, then turns them off +/-30 minutes around 11:15. It also keeps the heating set at 16 degrees rather than the usual 20 degrees.
All of this is automatic as it know's we're both away from the house (technically, it knows our phones are away from the house).

It's all good stuff but definitely needs a technical head to get it all configured.

 

[Spark plug]

My head is hurting just reading this

 

[slim_boy_fat]

All this stuff is smarter than I am - I don't even use my smartphone to the best of its abilities......

 

[500e]

Smart phone ??

 

[mechman]

I'm not smart enough for a smartphone, are thick phones available?

 

[RonA]

“The restriction from my wife, was that whatever I automated had to have a "manual" backup”

Whenever our process development department at work instituted some new “improvement” we used to annoy the hell out of them by asking how to bypass it, when, as we knew it would, eventually fail.
RonA

 

[skotl]

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I've got light switches. Conveniently placed by the door as I walk in.

 

[pedrobedro]

One for you Skotl

 

[thinfourth]

I've got light switches. Conveniently placed by the door as I walk in.

I've gone even further

Mine are screwed to the wall

So no more forgetting where you left them

AND

Even better i have engineered them to work not only without WiFi but they also work when the internet is down

 

[Burdekin]

Another lazy feature is the shopping list, tell the Echo dot to add things on the shopping list as you remember them and you get the list on your phone. Don't know if this can be transferred to online shopping or not. Having lights and lamps timed is a help for security as well, gives the impression someone is in and awake.

We have voice recognition in the car and can control your phone through the car display. My wife does stuff with that as well.

The heating app to control the heating remotely is really good. We use that quite a bit.

 

[mechman]

I'm still on Whitworth.

 

[armalites]

Even better i have engineered them to work not only without WiFi but they also work when the internet is down

Unless your wifi/internet is down for the most likely reason ie the power is off

 

[thinfourth]

Unless your wifi/internet is down for the most likely reason ie the power is off

I wish i had that reliable an internet connection

 

[Kayos]

A few friends have the Echo things, I like to tell them to make animal noises and watch while they try to find the cat they can hear

 

[puffernutter]

We have a Samsung Smartthings hub, into which we've got Amazon Echos plugged in as well as a Philips Hue Hub for the smart lightbulbs, and a Tado heating thermostat.

So can you have multiple Echo Dots all controlling the same objects?

It would be a pin to have to go to one Echo Dot all the time.

Cheers

Peter

 

[wookie]

But that means you have to get up to operate them.

I used to have to get up to operate mine but I upgraded them to wireless...



...I tell the kids to do it.

Reminds me of the TV when I was a kid, I was the remote for many years.

 

[Cobbler]

When my son was about 10 & had a tv on a wall bracket in his bedroom, I went in one time, he was laid out on the bed & said "look dad, I've converted the tele to remote control" he had found a bamboo cane that he could change channel with without getting up. Lazy little sod!