[Official] Home Automation Thread

[grapey]

Hi guys, may I know if the Aqara H1 Rotary Dimmer (wired) requires a specific type of LED dimmer light? What should I tell my contractor/electrician?

 

[Dexter71]

I think Dooya comes with "smart function"? U should try that if u need more seamless integration. Not sure what app they connect to thou.

Voice activated commands are the best. I tot it is a drag to use it initially but everyone in my family loves it. We use voice even though the switches are a few steps away.

For me, I brought normal dooya RF-controlled motor for my blinds and controlled it using Tuya hub- Smart Life app using the programmable remote function and use IFTTT to control using google assistant. I use Tuya Hub to control my aircon as well. Smart Life can be integrated with google assistants. Depending on ur remote control (IR or RF), you can't use Aqara to control RF remote.

For light switches and fans, I use Aqara. Even though i am controlling multiple items with diff app, I use google assistant to control all the items so it doesn't bother me if I have to do the initial setup using multiple apps.

I am using Xiaomi Pro lock. For that, I automate it with some Aqara switches to create scenes. The downside is that i can't control using google assistant but since it is automation, doesn't really affect me too other than i have to connect to a phone to use the camera function..

For the camera and door lock, you should buy something that can be integrated with your main choice of voice-activated app or display. My google nest hub can't be connected to my door lock and camera so it is always something that irks me.

Thanks Buddy

So in your experience, are you running both aqara hub and tuya hubs can then combine with google home as the central command centre?

 

[jameschen]

Hi All,

I'm trying to search for smart light strips on shopee for my ceiling cove but they all seem to be "plugged in" types instead of "connected to main wires" types. Also, these seem to be for ambiance instead of main living room cove lighting (i have no otherr ceiling lights besides this). I'm currently using a transformer to drive my current non-smart led strips. Does anyone know of any suitable smart, preferably colour change-able and bright type of LED strips which i can use and where to find these? I was interested in the Philips Hue LED strips because of its high luminosity but they are waaay too expensive =/

 

[sabotender]

question for Smart Life app users: can Yeelight lights be added to Smart Life? or does it depend on the specific product? for e.g. some Yeelight lights specifically boast Homekit compatibility.

I already have my Tuya water heater switch and ceiling fans added to Smart Life, would be nice if I can also add my Yeelights instead of having to use (another) standalone Yeelight app.

 

[shin7829]

Thinking of installing motorize curtain rail to synchronous with google home, alexa.

Any china product u all know can be used for this?

Local i think too expensive


I am going to make curtains auto close when i switch on my home theatre system.

 

[Shadowlite]

question for Smart Life app users: can Yeelight lights be added to Smart Life? or does it depend on the specific product? for e.g. some Yeelight lights specifically boast Homekit compatibility.

I already have my Tuya water heater switch and ceiling fans added to Smart Life, would be nice if I can also add my Yeelights instead of having to use (another) standalone Yeelight app.

Nope, they are on different platforms. Smart Life app can only be used to add Tuya / Smart Life product, same for Yeelights.
That's the issue with the current Smart Home / IOTs. One simple way is to control all of them is to link them via Google / Apple / Amazon, or use IFTTT if you require automation across different platforms.

 

[assertives]

Thinking of installing motorize curtain rail to synchronous with google home, alexa.

Any china product u all know can be used for this?

Local i think too expensive


I am going to make curtains auto close when i switch on my home theatre system.

I saw lazada got a few that says is compatible to google home and alexa. What's your budget? Cos I saw a local listing for tuya at $58. Sounds pretty ok.

 

[Shadowlite]

Hi All,

I'm trying to search for smart light strips on shopee for my ceiling cove but they all seem to be "plugged in" types instead of "connected to main wires" types. Also, these seem to be for ambiance instead of main living room cove lighting (i have no otherr ceiling lights besides this). I'm currently using a transformer to drive my current non-smart led strips. Does anyone know of any suitable smart, preferably colour change-able and bright type of LED strips which i can use and where to find these? I was interested in the Philips Hue LED strips because of its high luminosity but they are waaay too expensive =/

Hmm, my take is that LED strips are not really meant to be used as ambient (general lighting), but mainly as accent lighting (ambiance lighting). That is unless the room is small enough, or you have a lot of strips and / or max out their brightness. (Not saying there's anything wrong with it, as long as the user is happy with it.)

If you are still interested, Gledopto makes LED controllers that can be wired to LED drivers. You can buy LED strips in whatever configuration (No of chips, RGB/RGBCCT, etc) and wire them to the controllers to control via Zigbee gateway. This would ensure you can get bright enough strips for you own usage, as long as your LED driver supplies enough power.

Or you can explore Govee LED strips, which are Wi-Fi enabled / plugged-in type, but that would mean you are limited how much lumens the model produces.

 

[jameschen]

Hmm, my take is that LED strips are not really meant to be used as ambient (general lighting), but mainly as accent lighting (ambiance lighting). That is unless the room is small enough, or you have a lot of strips and / or max out their brightness. (Not saying there's anything wrong with it, as long as the user is happy with it.)

If you are still interested, Gledopto makes LED controllers that can be wired to LED drivers. You can buy LED strips in whatever configuration (No of chips, RGB/RGBCCT, etc) and wire them to the controllers to control via Zigbee gateway. This would ensure you can get bright enough strips for you own usage, as long as your LED driver supplies enough power.

Or you can explore Govee LED strips, which are Wi-Fi enabled / plugged-in type, but that would mean you are limited how much lumens the model produces.

Thanks for the tip Shadowlite!

Will look into these two brands. Yep, in fact I have about 21 metres of LED strips and 10 downlights currently in a relatively small living room lol. I'm still trying to learn more about how to go about finding the right LED strip to replicate that of the Philips light strip v4; which I believe is about 1800 lumens, dimmable and RGBW etc.

Quick question though, if i'm not planning to use zigbee but wifi or bluetooth to control these lights -- is there a Gledopto alternative?

 

[Shadowlite]

Thanks for the tip Shadowlite!

Will look into these two brands. Yep, in fact I have about 21 metres of LED strips and 10 downlights currently in a relatively small living room lol. I'm still trying to learn more about how to go about finding the right LED strip to replicate that of the Philips light strip v4; which I believe is about 1800 lumens, dimmable and RGBW etc.

Quick question though, if i'm not planning to use zigbee but wifi or bluetooth to control these lights -- is there a Gledopto alternative?

For Wi-Fi / Bluetooth controllers, there might be Tuya-branded controllers, not very sure how good they are as Tuya just licenses the software platform, hardware is made by OEM manufacturers. Hence there will be hit and misses with the qc and etc.

 

[shin7829]

Problem is trying to save cost by buying the rail and curtain from china.

But many id say no they cant help to install sia

 

[shin7829]

Thanks for the tip Shadowlite!

Will look into these two brands. Yep, in fact I have about 21 metres of LED strips and 10 downlights currently in a relatively small living room lol. I'm still trying to learn more about how to go about finding the right LED strip to replicate that of the Philips light strip v4; which I believe is about 1800 lumens, dimmable and RGBW etc.

Quick question though, if i'm not planning to use zigbee but wifi or bluetooth to control these lights -- is there a Gledopto alternative?

I saw yeelight at xiaomi shop.
Wonder if this suits u.


I also wondering should i use this for my cove lighting..

 

[quarkz]

Hi, I am considering between switchbot mini hub and broadlink to control my IR and RF devices. But after some searches, I found from some posts mentioning:

I have broadlink rmpro+. By default it needs internet. But once I enabled local control for it, it is awesome! Broadlink rmpro can also do RF

switchbot hub needs internet. Only does IR. Switchbot hub gives you remote control of other switchbot devices but there are also local options that don't require the hub. No local control for IR yet though

So if I need to control IR and RF, I can only choose RM Pro. Also, broadlink can use local control.
Are these true for the current model?

 

[ho_kuku]

Recently the child devices that I added to Aqara M2 hub doesn’t appear in Google Home (used to be ok linking my ~40 child devices). Mine is the M2 global version. On Homekit things are ok though.

I tried to unlink aqara from google home and link it back - big mistake. I realised there is a problem with aqara/ google home integration. On IOS Google Home device - it says “account is linked” shortly followed by an error “something went wrong, try again”.

on the Android google home app - the error was something like “could not connect to aqara server”.
Anyone having problems with aqara/ google home integration too.

oh - previously linked devices should work - just that if you’re adding new child devices- those will not get exposed to google home. I was so stupid to try unlinking aqara from google home altogether. Now all my child devices are gone in google. Quite frustrating

Update: Contacted Aqara on the Google Home integration - they fixed the problem already - seems like a server thingy but I am glad its fixed.

 

[b0ib0ii]

Recently the child devices that I added to Aqara M2 hub doesn’t appear in Google Home (used to be ok linking my ~40 child devices). Mine is the M2 global version. On Homekit things are ok though.

I tried to unlink aqara from google home and link it back - big mistake. I realised there is a problem with aqara/ google home integration. On IOS Google Home device - it says “account is linked” shortly followed by an error “something went wrong, try again”.

on the Android google home app - the error was something like “could not connect to aqara server”.
Anyone having problems with aqara/ google home integration too.

oh - previously linked devices should work - just that if you’re adding new child devices- those will not get exposed to google home. I was so stupid to try unlinking aqara from google home altogether. Now all my child devices are gone in google. Quite frustrating

Mine is also acting strangely too. I am able to linked and see all my child devices, but not able to see the lights status in real-time. So if I switch on the light in Google Home, it show the Yellow bulb to indicate that its on. But if I quit the Google Home app or refresh the app, the indication is gone. Sigh... My homeKit is fine as well.


Have you tried to restart the hub and try linking again?

 

[ho_kuku]

Mine is also acting strangely too. I am able to linked and see all my child devices, but not able to see the lights status in real-time. So if I switch on the light in Google Home, it show the Yellow bulb to indicate that its on. But if I quit the Google Home app or refresh the app, the indication is gone. Sigh... My homeKit is fine as well.


Have you tried to restart the hub and try linking again?

I restarted the hub a couple of times. Same problem. One thing I haven’t try is to reset the hub - but its gonna be a big effort to add my 40 over child devices back. There is no guarantee that it’ll work too. I wrote to both google and aqara - hope it’ll get resolved soon.

One thing for sure - now I know that homekit is very reliable. May go full force on homekit

Quick update: I contacted Aqara support and they resolved this problem already. FYI

 

[b0ib0ii]

Mine is also acting strangely too. I am able to linked and see all my child devices, but not able to see the lights status in real-time. So if I switch on the light in Google Home, it show the Yellow bulb to indicate that its on. But if I quit the Google Home app or refresh the app, the indication is gone. Sigh... My homeKit is fine as well.


Have you tried to restart the hub and try linking again?

I have once again checked, it is working on my Google Home app once again. It just worked suddenly, I'm not sure what happened.

 

[ho_kuku]

I

I have once again checked, it is working on my Google Home app once again. It just worked suddenly, I'm not sure what happened.

I asked Aqara what happened - think apparently their developers messed up some backend config. Din provide any further detail. Happy to know its working well again for you

 

[quarkz]

Hi, can someone recommend a video doorbell for a terrace house, where there's door and outside gate? I should be able be alerted whether I'm at home or outside, and communicate with the person 2-way. I read about the different Ring doorbell but they are quite expensive. Also read about the Wyze and Xiaomi door bell. But I'm not sure if they are suitable for my needs. Anyone can recommend? Thanks.

 

[Evilbear]

Updates from Aqara after CES on Matter. Might want to consider getting the thread supported products in 2nd half of 2022 instead. It is important to future proof your smart home investment so I think Aqara is heading the correct direction.