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.

Warning: Working with electricity can result in injury, property damage, or even death if it is not done properly. Please keep this in mind while assisting others. If you are not sure about what you are doing, hire a licensed professional.

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Whole Home Solution (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by OutsideTheme1158@alien.top to c/homeautomation@selfhosted.forum

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Hello! Looking for a whole home solution. In my prior house I had an assortment of zigbee and z-wave devices compiled over the years.

For our new home I would like to replace all the switches in the home with some nice brass switches from buster and punch or Forbes and Lomax but what I can’t figure out is a good solution for the dimmers and fan controls.

I was thinking some form of smart relay so I could have the nice brass switches for the dimmers.

And maybe wire the DC motor fans to always have power and control them with some sort of scene controller or smart switch via Home assistant

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[–] OutsideTheme1158@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I STUMBLED ACROSS INSTEON!!! They seem to not only have a relay that is dimmable and regular on/off relay but they also have a nice ceiling fan solution, a relay for blinds and it all runs on a low cost 900mhz mesh network. What?!? How have I not discovered this before and why is no one talking about it?

Does anyone have experience with Insteon? Did their abrupt shutdown in years past scare people away? Could this be the unified solution I’m looking for or is there a better system out there?

[–] Z-Waver@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Ha! I didn't know that Insteon was back in business.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/04/insteon-finally-comes-clean-about-its-sudden-smart-home-shutdown/

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/06/insteon-smart-homes-resurrected-as-abruptly-as-they-were-bricked/

[–] flurec@alien.top 1 points 10 months ago

Insteon is great. I have close to 200 devices for over 15 years. You would want an Eisy (new) or Isy Pro (used eBay) from Universal Devices plus a PLM. At any scale past a couple of switched you want to use the PLM. I don't recommend the insteon hub.

Integrates with HA. I can do anything in my house. Drives my wife crazy. One of my favorite things is to automatically set on and ramp levels based on time of day. I have home theater lights that fade up when movies are paused and fade down on play. My home theater lights also only turn on if no one is watching a movie. Possiblities are endless with a learning curve.

I really don't understand the hate.