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Apple Working With Home Builders to Bolster HomeKit Adoption
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Well, since iOS 10, Homekit no longer can use the AppleTV 3, only the 4. So if this is the house of the future, where I have to constantly upgrade software and devices or check compatibility, no thanks.
Reminds me of the bluetooth speaker we got for my wife. First thing out of the box was a firmware upgrade via the computer to get it to work with the iOS app. We're happy with the speaker, but I was still bemused that this was necessary. Well, at least there was a firmware upgrade possible.
Reminds me of the bluetooth speaker we got for my wife. First thing out of the box was a firmware upgrade via the computer to get it to work with the iOS app. We're happy with the speaker, but I was still bemused that this was necessary. Well, at least there was a firmware upgrade possible.
I don't think that's right.
With iOS 10, nothing changed for the AppleTV 3 -- it continues to work the same as it did. However, if you have an AppleTV 4, iOS 10 adds some new functions (automation).
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207057
Personally, that's how I'd expect things to work, regardless of the manufacturer. Newer stuff comes out, with newer features, but the old stuff you've already invested in continues to work the same as it always did.
Z-wave is terrible. I'm not informed on how a lot of smart home products connect but Z-wave is a pretty bad technology. Theoretical distance is up to 75 feet, but real life distance is 35-50 feet. While that's fine for most homes, if you want to put a light integrated into your system both in a bedroom in the top left corner of your house, and one in the bottom right corner of your basement, they will probably not stay connected 100% of the time. I've also seen in some circumstances Z-wave connection not holding at around 10-15 feet from the hub, and these were normal homes without router or kitchen appliances nearby, not a metal warehouse. WiFi seems to be a much stronger connection.
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This bothers me a little bit too. It seems pretty obvious when thinking about the future that these type of products will be standard. However thinking about how everything will go about being implemented is kind of annoying. I will assume that eventually there will be 2-3 homekit type platforms and then different manufacturers and electronic/appliance companies will be able to integrate into these platforms and it'll be relatively simple. Once apple rolls out their "Echo" product, it seems that would be the integration base, and all other devices connecting to them would only need a certain base firmware.
What that leaves me with is the lingering feeling that Apple TV is going to get ditched hard though.
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Actually the comment didn't cost anything since I use my computers for many other things for which they were purchased. We have a rather large custom built home but did not see the need to waste money to turn lights on/off. We used that money for granite and stone work etc. But you feel free to spend your money in any way you see fit.
My point was that an automated home does more than turn lights on and off, just as your computer is good for more than making comments.
If you just want to turn lights on and off remotely, you will NOT be spending $30K. You can get up off the couch and change the channel on the TV, but most people find it more convenient to use the remote.
That has not been my experience having had Z-Wave systems in two houses over the years.
My current home system has a handful of Z-Wave wall switches, lamp dimmers, motion sensors, door sensors, and a few cameras interfaced through a plugin. Super reliable, no dropouts. Super impressed. All running off a Mac Mini.
Any Z-Wave devices that run off AC power (wall switches, lamp dimmers, etc) act as signal repeaters extending the range for the system through a meshed network.
Also, newer devices adhering to the Z-Wave Plus standard feature a range up to 150 meters (free space) and 50% greater batter life.
Interesting.
So they're claiming that Homekit will still be around and backward compatible in thirty or forty years, when it comes time to resell your house?
Seems more likely that you'd have to keep re-integrating new hardware during all that time.
Can someone with more knowledge please explain what parts need to be built in from the get-go, and/or will never change? Thanks! (Or if there's a post here already that does, what's its number?)
Edit: Ah. So things like motorized blinds and electronic locks, which hopefully are using a comm method that will be around for decades. That'd be okay, as long as they're NOT tied to a particular company's proprietary protocol which could stop being supported.
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I'm glad to see you've had better experiences. It more than likely depends on the equipment receiving said signals. I'm aware of the signal hopping. That helps when you have a lamp in the hallway between the hub, and the bedroom you want to also have a lamp in. I work at a security company that issues out equipment with z-wave transmitters in them, and have to deal with the issues that come from it, so I have a little bit of experience with the negatives - although of course there are many people who have no issues at all.
I'm just saying that I have experienced at least a handful of cases where people had relatively normal circumstances and could not get something like a z-wave door lock (schlage, kwikset, etc) to stay connected, from around 10-15 feet away from the hub (and I've seen the same from other devices). That's not the norm, but it has happened. It's possible we have weak Z-wave chips, so hopefully things improve in general - as we are still in the infancy of this market for the most part.
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That's the part that gets me with these platforms. Apple might have the best bet for longevity, but what "systems" are we talking about? Just lights that are installed and can connect to a portal hub? Doesn't seem too hard to do, as long as the hub gets updates, and everything remains backwards compatible.
Not much, really. Most of the Z-Wave sensors such as motion detectors and door-open sensors are battery operated with a CR123 (lasts more than a year). My Yale deadbolt lock uses 4AA batteries - lithiums last more than a year. Wall outlets and switches/dimmers are AC powered and also act as repeaters forming a Z-Wave mesh network to extend coverage.
The only things that are better wired are security cameras, though there are some using WiFi, which can be squirely. Power over Ethernet Cat5/6 is best.
I really don't think you need to be reintegrating over time. At least I can't think of a reason to. I haven't.
I've designed two systems. Pervious home used a Vera Lite hub. That worked fine but left a lot to be desired. For my current home I use a Mac application called Indigo, that runs on a Mac Mini, which is the perfect platform. Far superior, easier to get going, and much more extensible. And awesome technical support and a vibrant user forum. It's the best, IMO...
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For sure... And that's the difference between "Home Automation" (HA) and home control.
I'm not too concerned with the technologies themselves, but Z-wave's range is based on a mesh-network, so as long as one of your devices is close enough to your hub, the signal should be able to propagate though the whole network. It's the same with ZigBee. So for instance, the lightbulb in my bathroom probably isn't in range of my hub, but because it's close enough to the bedroom lights, which are close enough to the living room lights that are close enough to the hub, I can still control my bathroom lights. Every new device in your network is like having another signal repeater.
I certainly wouldn't worry about range with ZigBee or Z-wave. Some weather-monitoring systems in remote areas (my engineering department worked on this) use ZigBee to communicate so that they can monitor large areas by deploying ZigBee devices and only the ZigBee devices without hubs so that the information can propagate through the mesh back to the main hub without running a bunch of wires. It's also a low-power connection, so you don't waste power on a high-speed connection when all you need is a little bit of data to send a few numerical values.
Devices with hub-based/mesh wireless also don't saturate my Wi-Fi router with assigning ip-addresses and network data. This is important because the router can only talk to one device at a time except with the newest MU-MIMO routers, so whenever possible, you want to have the least number of devices on Wi-Fi at a time for the best performance. Because they're paired rather than set up with a password, I wouldn't have to log into every lightbulb either and change the password every time I wanted to change the Wi-Fi password. Overall for home-automation, Z-Wave and ZigBee have a lot of benefits.
Because HomeKit integration is the most expensive part due to the required chip, companies should consider making an expensive hub that works with HomeKit that they can upgrade when they need to in order to keep up-to-date on HomeKit, but then they can keep compatibility with their products. It also keeps network vulnerabilities focused on one network-connected device rather than a whole bunch of them in order to decrease the number of exposed devices in the event of a network hack or vulnerability.
Maybe we can buy this guy a ticket to Africa so he can start digging wells.
Right, and that is great in the future but for now you have to purchase tons of these devices to create an effective and consistent network. For now, if you just want a few devices here and there, and you have a larger home, it's just not going to cut it.
Yes, I can. Vivint is the largest home automation company in North America and is innovating much faster in this space than anyone else. Happy to get you a quote.