Category: Smart Home

Happy Grass, Smart Watering

Relaxed day: walking, reading, troubleshooting, …. Here I’m troubleshooting a plant watering schedule on a Hubitat home automation hub. I finally set up schedules for a water pump that irrigates the long line of grasses on our balcony. Back in the day, a plug-in mechanical timer would’ve done the job.

Rolling Green, Smart Scenes

Built a project box for wirelessly controlling lights on our mobile green wall via our Zigbee mesh network and Hubitat hub. Now, these lights seamlessly join lighting scenes controlled by voice, app, or household events.

When Tech Says “No”

I’ve now replaced all of our smoke detectors, including this one in the kitchen that also detects carbon monoxide. They’re connected to the Internet and Google Home, but I can’t silence false alarms with a voice command like “Hey Google, STFU” because UL standards disallow that.

Google’s Love Bug

When we leave our home we tell Google to turn off all the lights. In recent times, Google has decided to play cool jazz once the lights are out. This morning I reviewed the settings and concluded this is a bug. We’ll now avoid Google’s attempts at romance by using a different voice command.

Smart Range Hood Lighting

Satisfied my inner nerd, at least for today: modified wiring to make lights in the range hood smart, probably invalidating the warranty. The lights are now included in scenes with other kitchen lights, and can be adjusted by voice.

The Dishwasher has WiFi!

Today, after somehow managing without for 2 years, discovered the dishwasher has WiFi. We can now ask Google how much time it has left to run. It can automatically order supplies from Amazon, but I fear a truckload might arrive. Soon I’ll be able to get out again, a good thing.

Internet of Things

Completed moving our Internet of Things over to a new hub. We can control all lights, temperature, etc., via our iPads, phones, voice (using smart speakers), wall switches, presence sensors (motion), or events (e.g., bright sunshine). It’s a geeky hobby.

New Internet-of-Things Hub

Another at-home day: started moving 80+ Things managed by our Internet of Things hub to a different hub. Unlike the Samsung SmartThings hub I’m replacing, this Hubitat hub only needs to be connected to our home network, not the Internet. It’ll be more fast, secure and reliable.