Overview

As I am getting into Smart Home technology, I am going to share in a Q/A format what I have learned. It will also make a good reference for myself as I am using some of these things in my home and some in the homes of others that are interested. My initial intention is to right all of this in a first person sort of account as if everything I have learned is installed in one place.

Q/A

What companies products already existed in your home before you started doing Smart Home deployment?

I would draw a distinction not before and after Smart Home deployment, rather, before and after networked/integrated Smart Home deployment. With that in mind, the house had Windows PCs, Synology NASs, iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, Samsung Smart TV, Nest Thermostats, Lennox iComfort Thermostats and Nest Smoke/CO detectors. (10/19/19)

What is the difference between Smart Home and networked/integrated Smart Home?

I will use my Nest Thermostat to differentiate my thinking. The thermostat is a Smart home device, that uses an internet connection to enable many functions that previously could only be done manually at the thermostat including programming, switching modes and turning on/off. This also allowed for remote access via Web and via the Nest App. There is also some algorithmic tricks that can make things better or worse depending on what you want a thermostat to do. This is what I would call a Smart Home device. Every device that I refer to as networked/integrated is like this but depending on your setup not all are networked/integrated. I call something networked/integrated when I reach the point where I can use either the native app for the device or a more general interface like IOS Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, or Hubitat. Ideally the Smart Home world will evolve to a point where every device will be controllable by all of this interfaces and more. Today, however, most devices work with several, but very few work with all of them. (10/19/19)

Which Smart Home Devices do you have?

I have a wide variety:

Thermostats

• Nest Thermostat
• Lennox iHome Thermostat

Hubs

• Apple iPad as Hub
• Apple TV as Hub
• Ikea Tradfri Hub
• Amazon Fire TV Cube as Hub
• Amazon Echo as Hub
• Philips Hue Hub
• Hubitat HE
• Homebridge (running as a Docker instance on Synology)

Speakers

• Amazon Fire TV Cube
• Amazon Echo

Siren

• Dome Siren

Voice Inputs

• Amazon Fire TV Cube
• Amazon Echo
• iPads (Siri)
• iPhones (Siri)
• iPads (Google Assistant)
• iPhones (Google Assistant)
• iPads (Alexa)
• iPhones (Alexa)

Cameras

• Ring Doorbell
• Ring Security Camera
• Wyze Cam Fixed
• Wyze Cam Pan

Sprinklers

• Rachio

Switches

• GE/Jasco Light Switch (wall)
• GE/Jasco Fan Switch (wall)
• Zooz Central Scene Switch (wall)
• Wemo Switch (wall)

Outlet Plugs

• Wemo Mini Smart Plug
• Wemo Insight Smart Plug
• Wemo Switch Smart Plug
• IKEA Control Outlet
• 
  

Bulbs

• TP Link
• Ikea Tradfri
  • LED 600 lumens 8.6 W E26 Multicolor
  • LED 400 lumens 5 W E12 White (Round Globe)
  • LED 400 lumens 5.3 W E12 White (Candle)
  • LED 980 lumens 12 W E26 White
  • LED 1000 lumens 12.5 W E26 White
  • LED 600 lumens 8.6 W E26 White

Control Devices

• Xiaomi Aqara Cube
• Samsung Smartthings Button
• Xiaomi Aqara Button
• IKEA 5 Button
• IKEA On/Off Switch
• IKEA Round Dimmer
• IKEA Sound Controller (2) (White/Black)

Sensors

• Eve Weather DD7F (Temperature/Humidity)
• Eve Degree AEFB (Temperature/Humidity)
• Eve Motion (0C0F) (Motion)
• IKEA Motion Sensor
• Samsung Smartthings Motion Sensor
• Samsung Smartthings Water Sensors
• Samsung SmartSense Multi Sensor V4
• ??? Brand Zigbee Contact Sensor

Other

• Nest Smoke/CO Detectors (Wired)
• Harmony Hub for Universal Remote
• IKEA Signal Repeater
• XBEE XStick USB Zigbee Device

(12/12/19)

What are the key communication protocols for Smart Home Devices?

• Wifi-
• Zigbee-
• Zwave-

(10/19/19)

How do you join and Ikea Tradfri bulb to hubitat?

How

What are Challenges you faced and how you solved them:

1. Motion Senor/Closet Light Switch Conundrum

To Do Items

• Belt and Suspeners light automation

Build an alexa routine that is triggered by the question "What caused the alarm to go off?" which will in turn answer with which of the water sensors has been triggered.

1. Build a Virtual Switch in Hubitat that each Alexa device can trigger
2. Have Alexa flip the switch when the phrase is asked for
3. Have Hubitat rule engine examine each sensor when the switch is flipped
   1. For each triggered sensor, use Echo speaks to call out which