Home Automation

Smart switches and local automations are the key, not smart bulbs in the cloud.

Every light in my house is smart in one way or another, but if HomeAssistant and my internet connection both went down, basically everything would still function totally normally. Light switches would still turn on lights, etc. They'd just lose their voice control and wouldn't be turned on by motion sensors, etc.

I do have some smart bulbs in the house, but they're in accent lighting (pendants, etc), they run 100% locally, and they're turned on and off by automations that are triggered by physical light switches. For example, you turn on the main kitchen lights with the smart switch, and that triggers the pendants to turn on. Its reliable enough that I've only seen the bulbs miss a trigger or get out of sync twice in two years, and toggling the light switch and extra time fixed it both times. If the bulbs ever had a network issue (which they haven't), they're accessible without a ladder or much fuss, and can be easily unscrewed/reseated for a power cycle.

My family doesn't share my interest in home automation, but as long as everything works reliably and in an intuitive way, they're fine with it.

Lutron Caseta. No one has to learn anything unless they want to.

It's a personal preference thing, but my official policy is to not break the traditional operation of any light/device. So I will automate a light, fan, appliance at the switch, but the wall switch will still turn it On and Off as it always has.

This means that remotely controlled bulbs and LED strips will only be used where previous switched lights did not exist, or for setting color, rather than On/Off. An example of this is cabinet or painting lights that never previously existed and don't really require manual switching can be operated by automation only. But the overhead lights or lamps in a room must continue to be operable from the wall switch.

If the home automation controller is removed, the house should still function as it did prior to automation.

I've had smart lights since the 80's, things I've learned.

Everything needs a traditional switch/dimmer where people expect them to be.

Switch functions need to override automations, I turn the lights off they stay off until automations figure everybody has left the room and now come back.

Voice is the worst way to control HA, I love the Star Trek TNG computer lights as much as the next guy it's just not efficient.

Colors nice for accent not realy good for primary unless your throwing a rave in your living room (at which point you want DMX).

People are very sensitive to latency, they expect an immediate response so cloud anything works poorly. Even local logic can be a problem some things you want a direct link, dimmer talks to bulb directly.

From the sounds of it a pico remote that looks like a normal switch could take care of things. better would be a matter dimmer that can direct address those bulbs.

There is rather a lot of language in the NEC on the subject of residential lighting and light switches. Here is the main part of it:

NEC 210.70(A)(1) Habitable Rooms. At least one wall switch–controlled lighting outlet shall be installed in every habitable room, kitchen, and bathroom. Exception No. 1: In other than kitchens and bathrooms, one or more receptacles controlled by a wall switch shall be permitted in lieu of lighting outlets.

Accordingly, people expect the light switches to be present, and to control the lights. That is a reasonable expectation. So I use smart switches for the switch-controlled lighting, and the switch over-rides the automation. If a guest operates a switch, the light must behave as expected.

A switched outlet is allowed, instead of or in addition to a ceiling fixture. And, where a lamp is plugged into the switched outlet, it is still allowed to turn the lamp off manually. But the wall switch must be present, and must control some kind of lighting outlet (either a fixture or an outlet). And, it is usual (though not required) to leave the lamp turned on.

All of this is actually about safety, not just design. Without lights, people trip and fall. I don't want my guests getting injured in my house. So I make sure there is light, and that the conventional controls do work.

I will present an answer different from most of the other responders of how I was able to integrate automation in my home.

While I am pro-automation, my spouse was less excited. So I started small. I already had an echo dot in a room with the main light switch in an inconvenient place. Using a smart plug activated by voice command was accepted by her as an clear improvement.

After a year, I installed smart bulbs into my garage lights. Again, the original physical switch was in an inconvenient location so the activation by voice was accepted.

I have since replaced many bulbs and setup routines. My spouse only uses voice, and will not use the app.

My smart switches add functionalities, as if my Wi-Fi is down, I can still turn on my lights by using the light switch themselves.

I don't use smart bulbs.

Papa smart button over the switches. However, in our house, most of our built-in light fixtures are not smart yet.

That's a great topic!

For family members unfamiliar with smart products, traditional switch control remains the most intuitive and straightforward method. However, the convenience brought by smart lighting systems, including multi-light control, scene setting, and dual control, not only greatly enhances lighting convenience but also meets the needs of modern households.

It's important to note that relying too heavily on cloud services or gateways for smart lighting control can lead to delays or other malfunctions, causing inconvenience.

To address this, we have developed a smart lighting system that supports the Matter protocol while utilizing the standard Zigbee 3.0 "binding&group" control features for gateway-free control. This system is set to launch on Amazon soon. If you're interested, you can search "Xsky" in Amazon, I am more than happy to share further details and look forward to discussing it with everyone.

Here is the link of starter kit, and the switch kit will coming soon:

Xsky Smart Recessed Lighting 6 Inch, Smart LED Recessed Lights with Matter Bridge, Compatible with Alexa/Google/Siri, RGBCW Color Changing, 2700K-6500K,13W 1100LM, CRI90+, 4 Pack - Amazon.com