HomeKit HomeKit integration, new home installation

[LouK]

I am framing a new home. The last home I did was before the advent of smart home access and phone apps. Please forgive this neophyte and these elementary questions, but I have not been able to resolve yet from the HomeKit tutorials I have read so far, these questions:

• What wiring if any, should I be running in wall to optimize HomeKit?
• Can HomeKit be integrated with intrusion and fire alarms? Water sensors?

Any information, advice, links that address these basic questions would be greatly appreciated.


Thnks.

 

[Itinj24]

I am framing a new home. The last home I did was before the advent of smart home access and phone apps. Please forgive this neophyte and these elementary questions, but I have not been able to resolve yet from the HomeKit tutorials I have read so far, these questions:

• What wiring if any, should I be running in wall to optimize HomeKit?
• Can HomeKit be integrated with intrusion and fire alarms? Water sensors?

Any information, advice, links that address these basic questions would be greatly appreciated.


Thnks.

Most HomeKit accessories are wireless. Only ones I can think of that aren't are the cameras and Hubs like the Philips Hue. For that I use Logitech Circle 2’s and run the wire through wire raceways placed neatly against door and window moulding. Only thing I would recommend is running Cat 6 Ethernet cables in the walls for a wired backhaul of a mesh network. Since I upgraded to the Eero Pro Mesh, my HomeKit accessories have been working great.

As for Smoke/Fire and CO, I use First Alert One Link which integrates nicely with HomeKit. I use the wired versions and I set up scenes in HomeKit so that if there is smoke or CO detected, it runs a scene called emergency which turns all the lights on, opens my garage doors and unlocks my front door. I have the wired ones which have a 10 year battery backup but a house should be prewired for smoke detectors anyway.

I don’t have water leak sensors yet but there are a few on the market. I have an Aqara gateway and plan to use their water leak sensors. All wireless.

 

[Itinj24]

Also as for intrusion, you can get door and window sensors which are wireless. For that I also use Aqara. The Aqara hub has an integrated intrusion alarm and a multitude of different accessories with HomeKit support. It works great. I have the Hub set up to have a dim red glow to remind me it’s armed and dim green glow when it’s disarmed.

Honeywell and Iotega have alarms that work with HomeKit but I prefer self monitoring which is what the Aqara does well for me.

If you go to the HomeKit app and click on the + button on the top right, then add accessory, then learn about Home accessories, it will show you a whole list of supported devices. It’s not a full list though but pretty long.

 

[sclawis300]

As stated there isn’t any real special wiring that you need. I am Getting ready to instal all my smoke detectors and didn’t even think about setting an emergency scene. That is a great idea. Thanks.

 

[Itinj24]

As stated there isn’t any real special wiring that you need. I am Getting ready to instal all my smoke detectors and didn’t even think about setting an emergency scene. That is a great idea. Thanks.

Just be careful not to accidentally activate the scene at 3 am like I did lol.

 

[cynics]

Here is a couple ideas for new construction. This isn't specific to home kit.

Go with switches over smart bulbs. Smart bulbs from Lifx and Philips are great however consider other people that will need to operate them. A smart switch is a switch even grandma can use with the added benefits of all the smart features.

Often times, even in modern construction you'll find switches without a neutral in the junction box, usually at one of the switches when set up in a 3 way configuration. There are exceptions, but neutrals are required to power smart switches. So you'll want to make sure a neutral wire makes it to all the switch junction boxes.

Exterior cameras often require power and many of the battery power cameras benefit from having constant power. Usually people put exterior cameras in place of exterior lighting however that isn't always the best choice since lighting can be more decorative and cameras can be more functional with specific placement. During construction consider camera placement and have wires pulled to those locations.

Door locks often utilize bluetooth LE due to them being battery powered devices. This conserves battery life and lets it detect range. The unfortunate side effect is Bluetooths limited range. For that reason locks require a hub to take the BT signal and relay wifi to the network so you can operate it away from home. Consider discreet placement that's in range.

Certain smart doorbells (Ring Pro for example) require a voltage that is often not met by the transformer suppled with typical doorbell systems. You'll need a MINIMUM of 16 volt 30 VA transformer.

Have a central location in the house dedicated for your network equipment (modem, router, NAS, etc) or plan to get a mesh network if your house is large enough to require it. I would consider smart devices that use hubs (using a network switch if required) if you plan on getting more than a few of a particular device. I say this because I have 24 Leviton light switches/dimmers all connected to the network. Its not a problem yet however if they connected to a hub like Lutron it would be easier to manage/reset/update/etc.

With HomeKit the AppleTV 4/4k and HomePods act as hubs to talk to your devices for remote access. A couple TV's with AppleTV's spread across the house can be beneficial for reliable reception. HomePods work great with the added benefit of Siri voice control.

Heating and Air Conditioning equipment often uses and benefits from that companies proprietary thermostat. These aren't technically thermostats they are "controllers" that are communicating with the equipment (thermostats are just dumb switches activated by temperature). Many of these proprietary controllers work with various home automation setups. For example Lennox's S30 Ultra control works with HomeKit while still communicating with the HVAC equipment. You can use a smart thermostat (I have an EcoBee) however this functionally dumbs down the equipment.

There are probably other things I'm forgetting but good luck!!

 

[malcky77]

Not homekit specific, but will help you out in the future and was mentioned above.....but while you're in the building stage I would 100% agree that you run cat6 ethernet cable to as many rooms as you can, possibly even more than 1 run to certain rooms too.....just to future proof.

If you have an area that can be dedicated to the important network equipment like the modem, router, main 24 port ethernet switch (as a minimum, better to have too many ports than not enough), NAS drives, UPS and the likes.....so this is where all the cat6 cable with come from to reach all the other rooms.

I personally have ALL NON PORTABLE devices in the house connected via cat6....so 4 games consoles, 5 smart TV's, 4 desktop computers, 2 Apple TV's, 1 audio receiver, 3 airplay speakers, 1 hue home hub & 2 wifi access points all hard wired to the internet.....leaving proper portable things such as phones, tablets & laptops to use wifi.

I did not have the luxury of having the wiring done during the house being built, but have managed to hide as many wires as I can....I have a 24 port switch as my main switch, which then has a run to 4 bedrooms and each bedroom has an 8 port switch to connect whatever devices are in there.

This should make for a solid and reliable home network.

 

[LouK]

I so greatly appreciate your replies. It will probably take me a couple of days to get back to this, but quickly:

• Brand new, have never set up a scene.
• Want to avoid wireless and batteries wherever possible. I'm in framing, I can run anything. Assume double Cat6 everywhere.
• Am I wrong? Thinking RG-6 everywhere fpr MoCa.
• Where should I place an alarm panel these days?

Again, many thanks. Tough to get info. Maybe I'm overthinking everything.

Will get back to you soon! 😀