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.
My standard take on this is every room that will be occupied should have a switch that will turn on the overhead light no matter what happens to the network in case of an emergency. First responders need an easily understandable switch in case a room fills with smoke or worse.
Smart bulbs are great for secondary lighting like lamps and such, but the main room light should be on a switch.
I have some of both. Started building a hue collection when I was a renter, now I own and I still use hue but also some zigbee switches from Inovelli. I use home assistant and zigbee2mqtt so I don’t need a hue hub at all, and my smart switches and hue bulbs all join the same zigbee mesh. The inovelli switches do not require neutral wires, but they may require you to wire in a dummy load if the switch is only connected to one or two bulbs (this is a tiny $15 gadget that you wire in behind your light fixture) the smart switch was especially great for my dining room chandelier because it would have been like $250 to buy all the little hue candelabra bulbs whereas with the inovelli switch I can just use regular dimmable LED bulbs from Home Depot.
Any time I hear "wired in the 70's" I cringe a little. Have you had a really good inspection of your wiring? It's super common in the 70's that they used aluminum wire and if that's the case I'd look into upgrading that before I did anything else.
Copper coated Aluminum house wire is fine though. It is actually a better conductor than pure copper wiring. It doesn't expand and contract like plain aluminum wire. It was added to the National Electric Code in 1971.
I've had a few electricians out here as I had solar panels installed which required me to install a new more modern electrical panel.
None of them mentioned my wiring but I plan to take a look when I get a chance to see what the wiring behind the switches look like.
Whoever was here before me installed like GFCI outlets I don't know if that matters.
But yes, I was hoping to find someone to marry and have kids with here and then eventually move when I have more money lol. So, I ideally won't move in the next 5 years. Especially since I have a 30 year mortgage on 3.2% interest.
Just ordered a GE CYNC smart dimmer. No neutral. I have 8 led on the circuit so I hope they are not dimly lit. It comes today. Wish me luck. No hub. Figure I will try out 1 switch first.
I do have other lights that are on smart plugs and those work well.
My approach is:
Switches replaced with Smart Switches where possible. Especially for overhead lights.
Lamps that are not controlled by a switch get a smart bulb. Hue white ambiance mostly. They just work, plus Hue has remotes that can be used to turn them on/off either from a table or you can usually surface mount them.
If you want to change color temperature, a smart bulb is the only real practical way. But still a compromise in usability.
If you don't, then smart switches on a proper mesh protocol (thread, zigbee, zwave; not wifi) is the only answer. That way everything just works as everyone expects. There is no user training. You don't have to worry about your automation not working because somebody turned the switch off. Everything just works like you are used to, but now they are also smart.
Smart bulbs are superior in every way if price is no issue. You can avoid the physical switch issue with battery operated switches that go over the old switch (lutron aurora as one example)