Home Automation

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Home automation is the residential extension of building automation.

It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.

Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.

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Anyone care to share how they got their family kn the smart lights train? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by platynom@alien.top to c/homeautomation@selfhosted.forum

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I recently, maybe foolishly, replaced our apartment lights with some Matter bulbs. They’re mostly great, but yesterday the SO needed to turn on a light and it was such a chore for her. It’s had me thinking how I can make it work without voice. I’m guessing I’ll need a whole new setup, which sucks. I considered making a fancy Siri Shortcut to help her control things from her phone. Maybe a smart button on top of the switches? I’m a bit confused, if I’m being honest.

Any ideas on this are appreciated!

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[–] _mrMagoo_@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

This is it !

I think the key to successful adoption of home automation is to make the complicated easier and what's already easy, invisible.

In other words, if you turn a light which previously was as simple as turning on a switch into an app or a different button or something, it's not going to work.

In our basement (old 1920s house) we had a bunch of independent string lights, so you'd have to run around and turn on 5 different lights separately. I made the only switch into the room a smart switch (it's not even connected to a light anymore) and it now triggers the five different lights automatically. So while there is the odd chance of not being able to turn on the lights in the event of a failure (don't do this type of solution in important locations) the overall ease/improvement outweighs the inconvenience should it go down.

The only time I have issues with my installation is when I try to "fix" what was already working perfectly fine. I've definitely learned to resist the urge to update software when I'm not home / traveling :)