My electric bill has gone down a bit YOY since running SmartThings with the Smart Vent Manager smart app with custom device handlers for Nest Thermostat, KeenSmart Vents, and GoControl Motion/Temp Sensors to put less heat/cooling in less used/unoccupied rooms. Took some Iris Zigbee/Z-Wave outlet/repeaters to build up my mesh, but now works flawlessly. Did my costs outweigh my savings? Doubtful.
Biggest saving for me probably came from going to LED lighting and controlling exterior lights with Honeywell automated switches.
I replaced almost every light switch in my house with Insteon brand smart switches. They can be programmed into scenes, so one switch can control several devices with one key press.
I use an ISY from Universal Devices to program all of the switches. I used to use my tablet and wrote a web application to control everything. When Amazon came out with their Alexa devices, ISY made a subscription based portal (a very reasonable $25 for 2 years) that you can use to control your system. I was amazed that after 5 minutes of setup I was able to say āAlexa, turn on readingā and it would execute the scene Iāve been using on my iPad for years. Itās so good, I never use the webpage anymore.
I even have it controlling my TV. Really cool stuff.
First gen robo floor washer. More trouble than itās worth, considering I have a 2000sf house with thresholds over each doorway that block it from moving room to room. Probably ideal for a smallish apartment with modern wood or concrete floors.
Useless for me as well, between the setup, all the things that went wrong (bad dock, battery replacement eventually) it wasnāt worth it.
I got one of those bissel stick vacuums recently and that thing is so much better. I can vaccum the entire downstairs in about 3 minutes using it. It cost me $16.
Interesting. We have ~1800 sq. ft. on one level, hardwood and tile floors and minimal threshholds. Just a few throw rugs. The attraction to us is that we have two cats and a high level of dust generation from art materials (mostly pastel dust and yarn bits from weaving). We use a air filter system in the studio area but having something run over the floors every day with little handholding is appealing. Our quick vac is really a dustbuster on a stick and itās pretty bad, but was here when we moved in.
I have a Neato Botvac that does a great job cleaning every last part of each room it goes into and picks up plenty of our catsā hair. I enjoy watching it work, it maps the perimeter of the room and then zig zags back and forth methodically until the whole room is clean.
It has a scheduling function built in but in our house itās impossible to use. There are a couple pieces of furniture like the kitchen chairs that it is pretty much guaranteed to find its way under and get stuck. It will also suck up the little stuffed mice that our cats play with and jam.
We have to clean up the house and put the kitchen chairs up on the table before running the vac which basically means it canāt run unattended as advertised. If your house is generally well kept and there is never anything left laying on the floor you might have a better experience. Iām still happy with the purchase, it means I donāt have to bring out the regular corded vac and drag it around but I wish it was a little more autonomous.
We found it was easier to keep half the house pet-free and just vaccum the rest. Fairly easy in a 100 year old before the open floor plan was invented.
Weird, I have the opposite experience with our roomba. I love the thing and havenāt had problems with it. It does get full quicker over newer carpet though, which is probably my only issue with it.
Cool OP. I have been thinking of doing this for a while now and I think the technology is finally mature enough.
After my house break-in. I have now installed wifi cam and also a wireless security system. I also have a motion triggered light around the house. One of the light is a triggered by a remotely mounted PIR sensor to a wall switch. Heathkit makes it but itās discontinued now so Iām thinking just bite the bullet and start with zwave. I guess I can start with motion sensor + wall switch + hub.
Done a bit of search on hub. Sounds lie Samsung is the best overall? suggestions?
Oh, my remote battery powered motion sensor for my front light just died. Zenith does not carry this sensor anymore so if I figure a minimal of $50 or more to make my front light motion triggered again I might as well go all out.
I have one of the early 4000-series Roombas. I used it all the time for years when I lived in carpeted apartments, and loved it. It doesnāt work so well now that I have tile and laminate ā it just pushed the dirt out of its way instead of ā¦ vacuuming. I havenāt tried a newer model, theyāre quieter and smarter and might work better. For now I just use a shopvac and a handheld when needed. Since I donāt have to go back and forth as I did on carpet nor vacuum as frequently, itās less of a chore.
Samsung Smartthing hub is on sale at Bestbuy and Amazon for $50. Iām so tempted but the sensor and switches are pricy. A simple on/off wall-switch is about $40.
I started with the hub and a single light bulb. I added door & window open/close sensors and then later added switches. I like that I could add things piecemeal in priority order so I could spread the spending out and see how things worked.
I prioritized the switches I wanted to add so I didnāt have to spend a whole lot of money at once. At first I added switches in my living room, kitchen, master bedroom and basement because those are the areas used the most or the areas I wanted to automate. I use those all the time. For the other switches in my house, I havenāt gotten around to updating them yet and probably wonāt unless Iām changing the switch for another reason.
The other main reason Iāve stayed away from home automation. Until they come up with hubs that donāt require phoning home to do anything this feels DOA.
My main reason is I donāt like the idea of something listening to everything in my home all the time.
Like @BostonOne said you can start small and add to your collection over time, I did it this way as well with a SmartThings hub and a single dimmer switch for my porch lights. Then I added a motion sensor to the porch and just last month I replaced both porch bulbs with RGBW bulbs for some holiday flair (this required replacing the dimmer I bought with a z-wave accessory switch that doesnāt control the power directly, dimmer will be re-purposed elsewhere).
The switches and modules can be found at pretty good deals sometimes as well. For example, Walmart just put a lot of their GE Z-wave wall switches on sale/clearance. My co-worker bought 6 of them at $15 apiece when they normally go for $40 each.
So, how much programming ability is there? For example, can I blink the outside lights if motion is detected between the hour of 11PM to 6AM? I also havenāt found a good outside motion sensor for some strange reason.
I found Lowes also have the hub for $50 until 12/2 so I got a few days to think it over.
Thatās why almost all of my devices are zwave. While the hub Iām using may not be supported in the future, the lifetime of the zwave devices is likely to be much longer and I can replace my hub if the current one stops being supported.