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Comment by ozim | Hacker News Reader

Home automation is for me exactly the same as designer kitchen or designer day room.

Yeah it was great for the previous owner but it sucks for me as I have different tastes and needs.

I am going to rip it all off and do what I want.

But in reality I just don’t buy anything that is advertised “one of a kind” because I know it will be more of a hassle to deal with it even if it looks cool.

For me cool looking fancy stuff does not add value but rather lowers the value because I know I will have to rip it all of which is just more work. I also rather buy apartment/home with some default IKEA kitchen because I know then it will be super easy to rip it out and replace with what I want. Where most of the time I think I would just stick with that default IKEA depending on how long I plan to own the place.

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I put in a bunch of Caseta smart switches. They are indistinguishable from normal light switches without any smarts, but if I want to, I can also control them via local network. It's nice to go to bed and turn off the entire house with one button. Lights turn off automatically when we all leave.

The thermostat is an ecobee, which is a pretty polished IoT device but I'm frustrated i couldn't get something _more_ local. It speaks homekit so I can do a number of actions entirely locally, and if the internet is down it still works, but I do wish it were more self-contained. So again, if I sell or get angry at technology and chuck my HomeAssistant Pi out the window, the thermostat will just work as a thermostat.

Likewise, my blinds are motorized--but they have a working remote paired directly to them. It's incredibly convenient to raise the blinds in the morning for some sunshine automatically and close them after sunset, but they'd work perfectly well without a smart home.

If you purchased my house, you probably wouldn't even know to rip out the "smart home" components because they fail over to just being normal components.

It is not particularly hard to make this method of operation happen, although it admittedly requires a budget above "dirt cheap."

> They are indistinguishable from normal light switches without any smarts

Except that most normal light switches (that I've encountered) are a toggle and not a momentary.

The kind of switches described are rocker switches with a small led to indicate state. In-person they provide every feature of a toggle switch, while also having a remote state change capability.

> The kind of switches described are rocker switches with a small led to indicate state.

Also, in most applications, a big LED to indicate state. Often installed on the ceiling in a central location where it's easy to see from any point in the room.

The new(ish) Caseta paddle switches are pretty indistinguishable visually from normal paddle switches, and operating them is natural even though they don't stay toggled up and down. If that's the sum total of my concession to "these switches are smart", I can't say I care.

I love the Caseta paddle switches. Even more that (strangely belatedly) they introduced the three/four way 'dummies' (each three/four way needs a smart switch, and the dummies can tell it about the state change, and reflect it, but they can't/don't talk to the 'hub').

I love my ecobee.

However with switches I go hard opposite. Reproduction push buttons, with antique brass plates acquired at auction.

The downside is perhaps that when someone encounters them for the first time, they spend 10 minutes flipping them on and off.

I would however install in a moment motorized blinds like you describe.

Home automation is a mystery to me. I have a coffee maker I can program to turn on in the morning, some ring cams for deterrence, and an automatic thermostat. I feel like everything else is overkill.

Also starting and maintaining a fire in the wood stove is something I enjoy.

It is and it isn't. It's definitely on the "you don't need it" side of the scale, but if done thoughtfully it can make everyday life just a bit easier.

Some of my favourite automations:

1. Whenever someone arrives home and it's started to get dark outside, automatically turn the hallway lights on if they're off 2. When turning off the TV in the lounge, and it's dark outside, and the lights are dimmed, bring them up to 100% warm white so you can see where you're going 3. Motion sensors in the hallway and landing to turn the lights on when they detect motion at night.

Do I NEED any of these? Of course not. But I like having them.

Talking about preferences I hate motion sensor lights I usually rather to walk in dark and get my eyes used to darkness. I still turn on lights when I get to bathroom or I get a glass of water in the end but somehow it feels better if I turn it on at the destination.

Other thing is I hade all kinds of status LEDs - it is just insane with the bright ones. I know it is nice for quick troubleshooting during the day to know if the internet is on or not - but in the middle of the night they should be lowest brightness on all appliances or turned off. But not all vendors provide the option.

I use electrical tape to tape over bright LEDs, especially ones in the bedroom. The light generally will still be visible and you can add layers to get the brightness you desire. The tape also comes in many colors so you can match the device you are fixing.

Red lithographers tape is also good for blocking the annoying light while still leaving the status of the LED visible.

> Talking about preferences I hate motion sensor lights I usually rather to walk in dark and get my eyes used to darkness. I still turn on lights when I get to bathroom or I get a glass of water in the end but somehow it feels better if I turn it on at the destination.

I agree, it'd be super annoying if it turned the lights on full power. I had a motion sensor light in my old apartment. It was part of a Hue system and it would turn on a single bulb in the hall or bathroom (can't remember which) to the very lowest dimness level if someone was walking to the bathroom at night.

I love the status lights on Caseta switches, there's no 'ambience' to them, you can see it's on, but even in a dark room it's not obtrusive, not even remotely (it's like a barely lit off white LED, and I do mean barely).

On my office desk with my computer setup, I have a pair of Vanatoo Transparent Zero speakers, which had a bright blue obnoxious LED that was way over the top... until I looked in the manual for some other reason and discovered you could actually hold one of the rear switches and turn a knob to dial the intensity all the way down, or off. I love that.

I have six can lights in my living room, 2 x 3 layout.

My partner has a corner desk and works from home 3 days/week. I also have a backlight "rope light" behind the TV.

During the day, when she's working in that space, the lights are 100% intensity daylight white, and the backlight a cool turquoise. At sunset the lights go to about 70% warm white.

Automations are also hooked up to my Harmony (I really hope someone dives in to this space, but I don't hold up hopes - there are a couple of options, but right now no-one seems interested in picking up from Logitech unless you're going to the ultra heavy, and ugly, last I checked, offerings from Creston, etc.), such that if you turn on the TV, then it turns off the front row of lights (parallel to the TV wall) so there's no reflection, and the second row, which is just behind the couch back, goes down to about 10-15%, slightly warmer still, giving a movie theater vibe. And the backlight on the TV turns off. I debated the Hue accessory to match color to HDMI output, but I think that seems like more of a distraction than an aesthetic.

Big use cases can be overkill, but I like to take on the small things as automation projects. Easy one - if everyone has left my house for a time, turn off all the lights. If we have left but the dog is home and the sun sets, turn on a few lights for her (my dog has a wifi collar). If I arrive home after dark and open the garage door, turn on the mudroom lights so I don't walk in to a dark house, then turn it back off 10 minutes later when I forget. I've left town before and had to let my parents in my house, and it was nice to be able to let them in without a key, and see that it was them on a camera. Then there are the fun ones, like setting the lights or closing blinds when I start a movie.

I'm glad you enjoy maintaining a wood stove. I like asking my house to turn things on and off when my hands are full, or automating my bad habits and forgetfulness away.

Or if you're on holiday - turn the lights on at certain points.

For top marks, have a train set with cardboard cutouts on and party music playing loudly every evening.

I used to travel for work, and would call a similar automation "Home Alone mode". Rocking around the Christmas tree with Michael Jordan.

> Also starting and maintaining a fire in the wood stove is something I enjoy

Funny that, I'm sitting on my boat and it's soooo pretty, but one thing I really won't miss about moving off it is maintaining the fire in the stove. And especially the temperature when it burns out or dies out...

Everything is more fun when it is opt-in

> Also starting and maintaining a fire in the wood stove is something I enjoy.

Yes, definitely. There's something satisfying about it.

I've spent the last few weeks splitting logs - some by hand, most with a hydraulic splitter - and it's been so peaceful and good having fires on the back deck the last few weeks. It's not super cold here (Texas) but just chilly enough to make it fun.

I finished this past weekend: https://twitter.com/CaseySoftware/status/1728507279001923983

Speaking of overkill, you might reconsider the Ring cams to be replaced with something more local. Public-facing Amazon data ingestion isn't the most polite home decor.

Lights. In my living room I have two spotlings over book cases, a bright center light, two standing lamps and a light illuminating my electric piano. I touch one button and they all come on together. Another cycles through modes (bright, movie, reading). I have the same type of setup in the kitchen. On my upstairs landing, the light illuminates dimly of someone triggers the movement detector (so they don't get blinded at 4am). In my bathroom if I walk in at night, a single spotlight illuminates very dimly directly over the "throne", but if i tap the light switch all spotlights light up.

So in some rooms I have many separate lights operating together, and in my bathroom I have a one of 6 spotlights (which are all in the same electric circuit) operating independently.

As for "hassle", i probably spent a week setting up Home Assistant on a raspberry pi a few years ago and haven't touched it since, apart from replacing switch batteries whenever they get low.

I'm never going back.

Having said that, I'm not interested in automating anything else. Maybe home heating. I have an old 2 zone system, so adding smart thermostats to my radiators would provide completely independent control from every room in the house, whereas right now I just have a dumb-dumb "upstairs" / "downstairs" setup.

I feel the exact same way about car modifications. I know you spent a fortune on those rims and you love them but I don't. Now it's a liability to have to replace them.

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