Ok, I may have had a little more fun than intended in the title than I can deliver on with more witicisms....
Basically, how do people approach educating those within arms reach on how to live a harmonious existence in what they have created?
I expect for the regulars there may be a lot of KISS'ing involved.... But for those less common visitors some more technological solutions may be desirable....
So how do people educate others about their home automation system and make it accessible for those less familiar with both their home and the norms we are used to? Are dashboards a thing....? Is simplicity a key feature....? What works for you and for those you invite into your home?
I don't. Everything in my home can be used without automation. Light switches can turn any light on/off, thermostats can be manually controlled, doors can be locked/unlocked with a key if necessary, etc.
Yes, but primarily for my use.
Yes, as per above.
I find that the people invited to my home, generally have no need to know about my home's automated systems. I want my guests to simply use the things that are available to them, without having to worry about how or why something works (or doesn't work) as they'd expect. Things like lights in the guest bedroom and bathroom should simply turn on/off via a switch and work normally.
Design your system such that no education is necessary in the first place.
I think this ought to be the prime directive of any home automation system.
This. Not just for guests, but for those you leave behind if you unexpectedly get hit by a bus. No normal person is going to know that some tiny little black box is responsible for controlling your house. Most likely they won't even know where that little black box is and when someone finds it, they'll simply unplug it. Your house shouldn't cease to function when that happens.
I have lots of common automations like turning on bathroom fans when the humidity rises, but there's no need to tell people about that. My brother noticed it last time he was here and commented that it was cool, but there's still a switch on the wall to control the fan.
Home automation should augment the standard systems in your house that everyone understands. It should not replace it.
Actually, we do have a pet sitter come for a few weeks at a time when we are gone, but the only thing she needs to remember is to press a Pico button next to the bed to set the bedroom from Day to Night (WAF ask). Pet sitter forgot about it once, and complained that the lights kept coming on in the middle of the night. So I guess even one switch is too much for some people.
Slowly. My wife if asked would not be interested in any home automation. However when I connected some lights etc to Alexa she tried it and now would be lost without it.
In my situation, the key is to make it non intrusive to not use. And of course things she is interested in.
For our household I think I'm the only one who uses the app / web interface ... everyone else just relies on voice control through Alexa - pretty seamless transition for them when I went from Insteon, to HA, to HE since they were ambivalent anyway.
Guests seem to catch on quick when I tell that what names I've given such & such...
but if your question is more how to school those so you can pass the torch - I'm not sure... I think there has to be a genuine interest from the padawan first
Plus, I wouldn't expect visitors to understand how to set a standard thermostat. Because it's mine, not theirs.
Ditto for anything else custom.
I see no reason to attempt to educate anyone on the ins and outs of my home.
Why should I attempt to have guests understand how to use a hub?
Smart systems should be able to improve our lives. They should not be a necessity for basic function. Walk inti a room, flick a switch to turn on the light. Flick again to turn it off. Everyone knows this
However, nothing wrong with having a motion sensor light up a room. Or put it into darkness if the room has been vacant for 45 mins.
ah no way - they learn or use the physical switch - I'm not that accommodating
some of it is not switchgear, like smart plugs or even Harmony for TV controls... but in that case so they can use remote ~ which is ultimately more confusing
re: the switches not to be turned off... I know this is a bit off topic, but I have a switch I want on most of the time that someone in the house inevitably / inadvertently turns off ... someone on this forum gave me a great suggestion to setup a rule to just reset it - so I do this "when between two times" and switch A is off, turn on switch A... it works great ... too good perhaps because sometimes I've caught myself wanting to intentionally turn off the group it's in and the thing comes right back on and I'm like oh that's right dummy you locked it out!
we keep a lot of stuff simple here. Mostly timed or motion based lights, contact alerts etc. The one thing my wife would miss is the middle pico button on our nite stands that shut down the entire house and her relaxing bath mode…. For others everything is still manually operable.
All our switches are intelligent. They all work to control the lights, either directly if possible, but in some cases through Hubitat for smart lights and light strips.
On top of that, rooms where the light always needs to be open will turn on automatically. All rooms will have their lights turn off when empty.
Heat regulates based on season, outside weather and inside humidity.
Air exchanger that switches to exhaust when there are too many VOCs or Particulates in the air, or when it is too humide. Exhaust fans will also turn on when bathroom humidity is too high.
Locks will lock as necessary, alarm system will turn on and off when appropriate.
Small solar panels will charge batteries for iPhones and iPads, but not let the connected batteries drain too much.
Automations that use Alexa to tell us when something needs to be checked or acted upon (doors or gates left open, windows open when it rains or gets too cold, etc.)
Hundreds of rules, which I enjoy maintaining as necessary (otherwise, I certainly wouldn’t!)… and most importantly, a family that appreciates the convenience, and to which I listen, to ensure their needs are also met!
Very little of my stuff couldn't be used by guests. Smart switches are used in most places, and they work like normal switches. For the couple table lamps that are not on a wall light switch, there are Pico buttons on their little stand next to the lamp, and that button (hopefully) is fairly intuitive.
A good portion of the lights come on automatically via motion, by time of day (sunrise/sunset) or other automation like doors opening and closing.
There are a few things like some of my RGB LED that may not be totally obvious how to turn on and off, but those aren't critical to use of the home, or if they were stuck to on they aren't in places like bedrooms where it would bother someone.
The biggest issue will be what happens if I was no longer on this Earth. I am not sure my other half could handle the automation system maintenance. There are things like motion sensor batteries, Hubitat updates, and so on that are beyond their skillset. That is why stuff has to work nearly completely normal if the hub didn't work for some reason or another.
Yes... I do like this approach. I don't have locks, but aside from that I would like to move towards this as well.
I think I am starting to come around to the idea I might want to get some smart switches to replace the dumb switches on the walls (which I rarely use nowadays, I'd be hard-pressed to remember what turns on what). I have up until now opted for remotes such as Hue Dimmers and Hue Tap Dials, which are great and I would likely keep using them, but the convenience of using a "traditional-like" switch would in certain situations make my life easier and make things easier in the rare cases when I have someone visit. The remotes could be used for one of the benefits they offer, allowing control in places where a light-switch cannot go.
While I don't have people over very often, an un-planned visit by a family member recently while I was not home was problematic. There were some complications with the Internet going down, but that was sorted out relatively easily. The needing to explain some of the simple stuff like operating the TV was not ideal, although I would not part with my Harmony setup.... Other things like lights are more my focus in this space....
If I get hit by a bus I expect it will be ageing millennials who I don't know moving in as first-home buyers... I'm sure they will either figure it out or rip it all out...
I see this as a valid solution for many situations, not just this topic
Exactly, this is where I want to end up as well...
Surely I've created enough of these for people to know I never try to create a coherent topic....
I think it would be too much to quote all of @Sebastien 's post.... But:
For a normal switch that shouldn't be turned off. But easily can be if you wish. Just push it aside. I have a few of these where the fixture is a smart bulb. Functional and almost invisible.
While I agree and practice this at home, I think the question is how to teach those around to take advantage of the simple conveniences. Yes, my switches and dimmers work like regular switches and dimmers. However, they also do other things when double tapped or triple tapped. The LED indicators illuminate different colors to annunciate different statuses/conditions around the house.
For the last 7 years I cannot seem to get my wife to remember that double-tapping off the switch closest to the door in every room of the house turns off all the lights/fans/TVs in that room.
Similarly, she cannot seem to remember that if an LED indicator is flashing, it means something requires human intervention. Just last night my wife was cooking ribs in the indoor smoker in the basement. She forgot to start the smoker back up after opening and tending to the ribs. So the smoker paused for an hour mid-cook. All the while, she walked past the bright flashing LED at the top of the stairs a dozen times and just didn’t connect the dots.
PS. My daughter remembers the double-tap off thing - she just doesn’t turn anything off when she leaves a room.
Our dining room has a Inovelli smart switch that controls three table lamps and an overhead chandelier. We use that room so seldomly that I have to "tap about a bit" to get things set right and I'm the one who set it up to start with. My wife has no clue. Fortunately, top paddle turns everything on and bottom turns it all off. In that same wall plate there is a fan control pico. Yesterday she was pressing it in an effort to turn on the overhead light.
