HomeKit HomeKit: My Planned New Setup (2022)

[pygolpher]

As I've been doing my research and have an upcoming plan to completely re-do my home automation setup, I thought I'd outline what some of my plans are and some of the decisions that went into it.

First my current environment. It was built around SmartThings many years ago. I have done some iterating on ZigBee/ZWave network devices. Most of this was around the thought that I would want to have color tunable down lights. I don't think I need/want that any more. During this time I have also had some outages of SmartThings that brought me to HomeAssistant, so that I can have local control without Internet access. That however brought other challenges and outages.

My next strategy for automation of lights is going to focus on switches (switches and plugs). This way there is not a reliance on only the automation platform that I can move to the "old fashioned" way and control with the physical switch (or button on a plug).

For the switches I do have Lutron which is a very solid platform. But the expense is something that I've got a little bit of a concern on. I am now seeing a fair bit of innovation coming out of Cync by GE Lighting. The GE reputation doesn't quite give me high tech feeling, usually kind of the low tech and works. But I like what I saw out of the announcements at CES this year. And they have a bridge that will allow for me to interact via HomeKit as my "smart hub". They have also committed to having support for Matter this year. So that is encouraging. There is also a Cync Motion and Ambient Light Smart Switch. This I think will help with having to have additional motion detectors maybe??

For the advanced automations, I am going to continue to use HomeAssistant. There are automation features there that just are not in HomeKit today. Such as only activate a scene when a particular Roku is in a given state (turn off the basement lights when no motion for period of time and the TV is not playing).

For blinds I am planning to go with the Eve MotionBlinds. This is perhaps the biggest feature that I'm looking forward to having get setup and having some automations setup with these.

I am also looking to move forward with Schlage Decode Plus to get the unlock through the NFC chip.

The last piece that I think I am going down is the camera front. I'm going to look to go with Nest cameras. In my list that I've had experiences with is Ring and Wyze so far. A friend has indicated that Nest has been good for him. Recording everything, while only notifying on particular events. Ring missed things this year when I had a Ring and Wyze cam system going at the same time. Like interesting large tree limbs moving/breaking off and blowing. Wyze gives too many notifications for my liking. So I'm hopeful that Nest is a happy medium. I will probably do some testing of that before buying a bunch of them.

What are some of the holes in this plan?

 

[srl7741]

I've been thinking about HomeKit going forward in 2022 for a few months. I've decided to put a pause/hold on any new purchases or additions until I see they are Matter compliant and utilizing Thread. Cameras are going to be a different animal and won't be Matter compliant from what I have read.

I recommend keeping it simple, if you can figure out how to only use HomeKit compatable devices it might help. I almost feel like we are in a grace period or limbo while companies switch over from their own products with their own apps and sometimes a Hub to a more universal works with everything product. The down side is waiting for everyone to commit and release new products that are Matter compliant and use Thread.

As for the Nest cameras idea you mentioned? I don't recommend the new cameras recently released. I'm a user of 9 of the older Outdoor/Indoor IQ cameras and they work great however the new ones are completely different and no longer use the Nest app. The Google Home app is terrible and I will leave it there otherwise this post would be way too long.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

As I've been doing my research and have an upcoming plan to completely re-do my home automation setup, I thought I'd outline what some of my plans are and some of the decisions that went into it.

First my current environment. It was built around SmartThings many years ago. I have done some iterating on ZigBee/ZWave network devices. Most of this was around the thought that I would want to have color tunable down lights. I don't think I need/want that any more. During this time I have also had some outages of SmartThings that brought me to HomeAssistant, so that I can have local control without Internet access. That however brought other challenges and outages.

My next strategy for automation of lights is going to focus on switches (switches and plugs). This way there is not a reliance on only the automation platform that I can move to the "old fashioned" way and control with the physical switch (or button on a plug).

For the switches I do have Lutron which is a very solid platform. But the expense is something that I've got a little bit of a concern on. I am now seeing a fair bit of innovation coming out of Cync by GE Lighting. The GE reputation doesn't quite give me high tech feeling, usually kind of the low tech and works. But I like what I saw out of the announcements at CES this year. And they have a bridge that will allow for me to interact via HomeKit as my "smart hub". They have also committed to having support for Matter this year. So that is encouraging. There is also a Cync Motion and Ambient Light Smart Switch. This I think will help with having to have additional motion detectors maybe??

For the advanced automations, I am going to continue to use HomeAssistant. There are automation features there that just are not in HomeKit today. Such as only activate a scene when a particular Roku is in a given state (turn off the basement lights when no motion for period of time and the TV is not playing).

For blinds I am planning to go with the Eve MotionBlinds. This is perhaps the biggest feature that I'm looking forward to having get setup and having some automations setup with these.

I am also looking to move forward with Schlage Decode Plus to get the unlock through the NFC chip.

The last piece that I think I am going down is the camera front. I'm going to look to go with Nest cameras. In my list that I've had experiences with is Ring and Wyze so far. A friend has indicated that Nest has been good for him. Recording everything, while only notifying on particular events. Ring missed things this year when I had a Ring and Wyze cam system going at the same time. Like interesting large tree limbs moving/breaking off and blowing. Wyze gives too many notifications for my liking. So I'm hopeful that Nest is a happy medium. I will probably do some testing of that before buying a bunch of them.

What are some of the holes in this plan?

Our set up relies on HomeKit and we only purchase compatible hardware. We have 3 doors with Schlage locks, which work great; Philips HUE bulbs (just added a second hub and am trying to separate bulbs by hub.....PITA :0)). 2 Ecobee Thermostats which work great; 2 Onelink Home combo smoke/CO2 detectors with voice warnings that can be tested and shut off via iPhone which works great; 4 Apple TV's; 5 HomePods. I don't use any Nest products due to security problems, so cannot speak to those. I will warn you, however, that as great as the Lutron Maestro wall switches are, I have had a few glitches with the Philips HUE, as in blinking when turning them off and inability to use wall dimmer switch with them. They stay dimmed and at the same color when on automation without any problem and, of course, when controlled by phone. But IMHO, the integration still is a bit lacking when trying to control from a wall switch. Good luck! Please share your experiences :0))

 

[bbednarz]

If you’re going to be using home assistant I am fairly confident there is a plugin to have everything that is in home assistant available in homekit through homebridge. With that you wouldnt need to worry about homekit support from the vendor.

 

[SmartHomeGuy]

I would keep HomeKit separate using HomeBridge for SmartThings integration. I would also keep camera system totally separate and out of HomeKit. This also goes for any home alarm system.