Connected Home from Day One - Tips Needed

[adamjackson]

I have a contractor who has asked me to identify things I want in my home that we're building. Standard stuff like toilet, faucets, paint colors, floor materials, etc.

I indicated I wanted a connected-home in everything short of window-shades (simply due to cost) and he asked me to build a list of things I wanted.

I want Home Kit compatible items that will be controlled by my iPad Mini on iOS 10 that will be docked into the wall of the entry-way. There is also a 4th Gen AppleTV in two rooms of the house and one could be always-on.

Here are devices I want to be connected:

• Lighting (both bulbs and a strip that will be under my cabinets in the kitchen and under the cabinets where I make espresso every morning)
• Thermostat (upstairs & downstairs or one w/ sensors in various rooms)
• Dead-bolt Two doors, one single hung door and one double hung french door
• Waterproof outside cameras and one in the entryway
• Wireless Audio in 3 of the rooms and eventually 2 outside (thinking Sonos)
• Inside weather sensor but I'd like one that has inside & outside on one control monitor and feeds data to Wunderground
• I think i want those Elgato window sensors but I have 20 windows. Not sure there's a real need at this point
• Three ceiling fans that are home kit enabled
• An automatic flood light where I'd get a push notification if motion is detected
• Plugs that are HomeKit enabled so I can see how much watts are being used and kill power to the plug if I want. I'd like to know watt usage independently per outlet.
• HomeKit smoke detectors (4 of them)

I think that's it for stage I but more stuff will be outside next year when I get the lawn done w/ a patio setup.

It seems like shopping for this stuff, there's very few HomeKit devices and every device has pros and a lot of cons. I'd like a system that works w/o an outside server and can just be self-hosted in my home. AppleTV can act as the bridge and I have server space in my house to host any gateways that are needed.

Since walls aren't even up, I have an opportunity to do everything right from the start. There will be Cat5e ports in every room, 3 wireless access points, two apple notebooks, 2 iPads and one iMac.

 

[adamjackson]

Follow Up Question.

Can I mix Lutron & Hue's setup? I like Lutron's smart-dimmers which work with any LED bulb but I also really want to use the Phillips Hue Light-Strip under kitchen cabinets to illuminate food I'm preparing or dishes being washed.

So while I don't think I can use the Lutron Wall switch to light up the Phillips light-bar, could HomeKit turn both on w/ a siri command? Assign both systems to "kitchen"?

I thought an additional option would be the Hue bar could be powered by the motion sensor and i can put the Lutron switch next to it.

 

[cdavis11]

I mix lutron and hue with no problem at all. Lutron dimmers and their rather expensive on/off only switches are rock solid - and as some have said they easily pass the "wife test" of being able to control things normally.

Yes, home kit can turn both on through siri with no issues.

 

[vondo]

Here are devices I want to be connected:

• Lighting (both bulbs and a strip that will be under my cabinets in the kitchen and under the cabinets where I make espresso every morning)
• Thermostat (upstairs & downstairs or one w/ sensors in various rooms)
• Dead-bolt Two doors, one single hung door and one double hung french door
• Waterproof outside cameras and one in the entryway
• Wireless Audio in 3 of the rooms and eventually 2 outside (thinking Sonos)
• Inside weather sensor but I'd like one that has inside & outside on one control monitor and feeds data to Wunderground
• I think i want those Elgato window sensors but I have 20 windows. Not sure there's a real need at this point
• Three ceiling fans that are home kit enabled
• An automatic flood light where I'd get a push notification if motion is detected
• Plugs that are HomeKit enabled so I can see how much watts are being used and kill power to the plug if I want. I'd like to know watt usage independently per outlet.
• HomeKit smoke detectors (4 of them)

Lutron for the switches as you say and perhaps hue for the under cabinet. You could go Lutron here too.

Thermostat: Ecobee3 (or more than one if you have dual zone control). It's a nice thermostat. HomeKit integration is next to worthless since any adjustment is "permanent" not temporary.

Dead Bolt: I think Schlage is your only real choice here. Hopefully the trim options are OK for you

Cameras: None home kit yet, Canary+ should be coming soon, but no specs. If it follows the Canary (non +) you can eliminate the indoor temp/humidity/air quality sensor. Canary also just announced an outdoor camera, but it is not HomeKit.

Sonos: there is control integrated with the non-HomeKit side of Lutron.

Not sure about the rest. Also, I'm not sure what the point of $400 worth of internet enabled smoke detectors is compared to $120 for the non-internet version of smoke/monoxide detectors. Especially since these things only last ~5-10 years.

 

[cdavis11]

Dead Bolt: I think Schlage is your only real choice here. Hopefully the trim options are OK for you

I'm holding out hope for the Kwikset Premis. If Schalge would put their device out in polished brass i'd be all over it, but I don't really want to change out every fixture and door handle in my house to match a couple of smart deadbolts.

 

[vondo]

I'm holding out hope for the Kwikset Premis. If Schalge would put their device out in polished brass i'd be all over it, but I don't really want to change out every fixture and door handle in my house to match a couple of smart deadbolts.

Yeah, I understand. I had to switch out the rest of the outside door to the brown finish. But I'm not swapping all the inside door handles in the house. But I wish they had them in the full range of finishes.

 

[simonx314]

I outfitted my entire home with HomeKit.

Two Schlage Sense deadbolts.

Ecobee thermostat with multiple room sensors. Does this count as an indoor weather station? It shows temperature per room and humidity at the thermostat.

Philips Hue colored bulbs to help get sleepy/alert in the bedroom evening/morning. Philips Hue light strips above the kitchen counter.

4 iDevice smart plugs. They also track power usage. I plugged a dumb coffee maker into the smart plug, now I can turn on the coffee before I get out of bed, or program the schedule from the iPhone.

At night the lights turn orange, and then everything automatically turns off and locks. In the morning, the white noise machine plugged into an iDevice plug turns off, the Philips Hue bulb turns bright white and the coffee maker turns on.

I'm not sure about a good HomeKit solution for the cameras and motion sensor. I automated a lot of the other stuff in my house using z-wave switches and network cameras but I am using Homebridge running on a Raspberry Pi to do that. Home Assistant is nice too if are up to the IT challenge of setting it up.