I have had an overall very good experience with Zebra blinds; they have had a couple active threads on the ST forum for years now, usually with discount codes that help a bit with the sticker shock. I believe their shades are basically the same thing as the Bali blinds, at least in terms of motor and z-wave module.
I use AA lithium batteries in both roller and cellular shades, I have automations that open and close each shade every day, and Iād estimate I get about six months per set of (eight) AA batteries. Definitely long enough that I donāt find myself grumbling about getting on a ladder to replace the damn shade batteries yet again.
LOL, I don't know if a HowTo thread is really needed. What I did was use Alexa Blueprints and chose the At Home > Houseguest skill as a base. From there, I just sat down and wrote out a script of all the various remotes, button controllers, motion controllers, and voice commands and entered them into the skill. It's actually REALLY easy to do.
I also started a supplemental one using the Custom Q&A as that one doesn't require the use of a "start" or "open" command. The only problem with the Custom Q&A skill is that the question has to be asked EXACTLY as typed. So, one person may say "How do I turn on the kitchen lights?" and another may ask the same question entirely differently.
I have read about all that before, but I was being a bit lazy and preoccupied, itās nicer when someone can just give you Clif notes or point you in the right direction quickly.
Whatever you choose, I still personally believe in keeping this separate. I really like the Abode (although not what I own). Nest secure is off the list for me. No integration with Ring (it is not integrated with HE), but there's potential through AVS at some point. No guarantees though. It might be too early if you're looking for an integrated solution. However, not having much more than arm and disarm integration isn't such a bad thing in my opinion.
It would be Flo if I were starting from scratch. Not integrated, but like break-in security, that's one I'm OK with it just doing its job. Doesn't need to be integrated, as long as the leak is stopped immediately and I'm notified. That's Flo, more than any other available.
Nest Protect. Hands down winner. I have four of them.
Schlage is one of those brands that people recognize, but unless you're buying the higher grade from a locksmith, you're getting equal quality to anything else you can buy on Amazon or in a big box store. I really like my Yale YRD256 and so does my Hubitat Elevation hub. I would not buy any different. Traditional NA deadbolts are not secured from aggressive break-in. So you might as well get a really nice lock, that works well with Hubitat. They're great for your convenience. Forget about them for strong security. Haven is the only secure choice available in NA and it's Bluetooth only. Does not integrate with HE.
This is the hardest one to answer. I have a mix of options, and they all work well. I prefer the Hue Integration and compatible bulbs with Pico. I would definitely rewire the house with neutrals if it's in the budget. That issue isn't going to get better. Not having neutral wires will be more and more challenging as time goes on. I'd suggest fixing the biggest issue first. Then you have less limits to your options
I'm an Ecobee 3 user since 2015. Love it. Don't care about not having full integration or wanting to change how their system works. Happy with the simple overrides. You sensing a theme with how I think? It does what it should, and does it well. I don't need to control it beyond temporary schedule overrides.
If you have budget for anything more than the upcoming IKEA Fyrtur and Kadrilj, I would instead shift it to the cost of upgrading the electrical wiring, unless you have budget for both. The only place I want block-out IKEA shades, it will cost me a lot more and will need multiple shades cut down because they aren't offering a single shade large enough.
Arlo is a quality camera. I'm happy with just Wyze though, so not really the right person to comment on them. Sirens and Keypads go back to my previous comment about security systems and my opinion that they should be stand-alone. I'm not saying Hubitat isn't capable, I just prefer the purpose built solution for this.
I'm going to avoid writing what you predict the reason I'm replying. However, this is a response I've never seen regarding the Protect. Completely opposite of my experience, vs the traditional models. Were these the wired type or battery? I have battery.
I went through 15 of them, all from different manufacturing batches and different vendors (some bought retail, some replacements straight form Nest). Out of the 15, over a year 5 of them started false alarming at various times - including one of the replacement ones Neat sent me.
While I've found a few other reports out there of similar false alarm issues (and not on the v1, but the current version). I agree that my experience does seem to be in the vast minority.
My iSmart Alarm spot sent me a smoke alarm detected notification while watching that video!
So it's interesting to note that he also has the wired type. So maybe if there is an issue in the wiring, then itās the reason why these are a problem for a small number of people. His is still communicating with the others even though it's disconnected because of thread. The others are reacting to the fault from the kitchen unit just as they are supposed to. No idea why the kitchen unit is still going off in his video, even though it's not connected, but being interconnected by wire is the commonality here.
Maybe there's an issue if you have a certain number that those of us with fewer units don't experience? Or maybe it doesn't happen with the battery units, and it's strictly an issue with the wired units that Nest has never been able to resolve because they can't duplicate it.
If they were 100% issue free I still wouldn't buy them. Why? The value they add (which is arguable anyway) isn't worth the cost over a traditional detector + HA integration. If they cost 1/2 what they do, maybe I would think about it - but probably still wouldn't buy them.
I will say, the one I found slightly tempting was the OneLink model w/Alexa built in. It was a pretty good speaker and could double as a whole home audio solution in some scenarios.
But at a wallet busting $200/ea I didn't pull the trigger on those either.
Good that you found a solution that works. I wouldn't know what to do if it weren't for the Nest Protects. They are the only ones that don't give me any false alarms. Including for steam thanks to the feature that avoids that.
Although I find the steam rejection comment funny/interesting... Serious question - Do people have a lot of steam on their ceiling on a regular basis? I never have... And I have a detector literally 2 ft from my bathroom door, never false alarmed.
It may be a very legitimate problem, and just not one I have had before.
I wondered the same thing when I bought my Nest Protects originally and saw that on the marketing material.
Don't have any teenagers? They take such long showers, that when they finally emerge, the blast of steam is detected as smoke and sets them off. But the Nest are not tricked by this.
I have never had a steam induced false alarm in any of the 13 houses I've owned over the last 25 years... Maybe I just got lucky in where the detectors are, or maybe my kids are good about running the bathroom vent when they shower. Don't know, but I'll consider myself lucky.
I can visualize what you are saying though. And the fact they market that feature certainly indicates it is a problem people have.
Thanks for explaining it to me. I was genuinely curious.
That could be it. Mine is not. Reason I'm putting a micro module on the fan to go with the Xiaomi temp/humidity sensor I have in there. Just not high on my priority list, but I have the parts when I get around to it.
I did that in the house I'm currently in (although I did it at the switch since the fan had a separate switch). Works great! I have it turn on when bathroom is +15% versus another room. That way it works in summer or winter as humidity levels fluctuate by season.
My iSmart Alarm spot sent me a smoke alarm detected notification while watching that video!
They take such long showers, that when they finally emerge, the blast of steam is detected as smoke and sets them off. But the Nest are not tricked by this.
