New to Hubitat

I am new to Hubitat and trying to make my home smart. I would like to make it totally automated with sensors but not trying to spend a lot of money. Are there any suggestions to do this in a relatively cheap way?

Iris v1 stuff

Very cheap and Hubitat is one of the few platforms (maybe the only platform) to support it.

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There is a price on everything. Smart homes don't happen over night. Don't try. You'll find some things work better than others. Cheap is not always the answer. In my home, we started with 2 switches and a hub. Then worked out from there. Start your automation close to your hub and work out. Just one or two things when you can. You'll get there. Slow and steady gets it done. That's what I did. Welcome to Hubitat.

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If you want some inexpensive, decent quality sensors, I recommend Iris v2 Motion, Contact, and Leak sensors, along with Iris v2 outlets to build a strong Zigbee mesh network for all those sensors to connect to. These are still available from a reputable seller on eBay.

These v2 Iris sensors can be used on any ZigBee compliant hub, like Hubitat and SmartThings. The v1 Iris devices, while cheap, can only be used with Hubitat.

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And a search of the forums will reveal that people have had mixed luck with them--probably the worst luck coming from those who didn't already have them (on Iris and updated) and found them cheap on eBay with unknown firmware, though that's mostly a guess on my part based on what others have posted.

As noted, however, there are lots of Iris v2 sensors for cheap on eBay (some also with odd firmware like 6-second motion resets but nothing problematic I've heard of so far), and those are standard Zigbee that should work well on several platforms. I have lots of those motion sensors and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, especially at that price. (Cheap often comes at some price--like that $20 Monoprice Z-Wave sensor not turning your hallway lights on until you've already tripped your way all the way down the stairs--but these possibly-used Iris v2 [and later] devices are notable exceptions.)

If you're opposed to eBay, the "new"/2018 SmartThings sensors (and outlets) are pretty good too and available from Amazon and directly from Samsung. They aren't as cheap as these used ones, but they're pretty good for new, and Samsung currently gives you discounts if you buy more than a few. (For example, motion sensor is normally $25--already quite cheap, since I remember being excited that the Iris v2 sensors new were only $30 a few years ago--but if you buy three, it's $22.50 and goes down from there.)

If you prefer Z-Wave, TheSmartestHouse seems to have had a sale on at least one item every week for the last few weeks, so that might be a thing they're doing now and maybe some week you'll find something you really want for less than normal. I do find Z-Wave motion sensors categorially a bit slow for my tastes, but it depends on what you're using them for.

But basically, you have a lot of options--again, nearly anything Zigbee (really just Zigbee 3.0 or Zigbee Home Automation/ZHA 1.2) or Z-Wave will work, with rare exceptions. The Compatible Devices List is a good place to start if you want to be sure, but a Community search may also be helpful if you find a device you like.

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Welcome to the Hubitat Community!

You didn't mention how you wanted to make your home smart. Start by visualizing what that might look like, if you have not really given that consideration. Certainly, as has been suggest here, do take your time. Don't be in a race, and the system will come together more how you prefer, once you really determine what that looks like, and how you prefer your home environment. Since the radio technologies Zigbee and Z-Wave used by Hubitat will benefit from being built up over time, that will do well for you to build gradually.

There is a lot to learn, but if you're not intent on doing it all, then you will do well to add things that serve a need, rather than add a feature. That looks different to everyone, so you need to find out what really works for you, that way you won't be frustrated and feel that you wasted money.

Starting here will help guide you and the community as you can see is very helpful.
As far as cost, have you considered certain device types, and if so what were the reasons other than cost alone? Going on the cheap is possible, and it can be reliable, but it takes careful planning, and there's for sure a cost associated, and it is not just monetary. It may not be dollars, but it could be patience, the level of difficulty to add and use the devices, their overall reliability, or the overall complexity of your system.

As an example, I just ordered a Sense energy meter to use with my Hubitat hub. Since this device is relatively expensive, there is an up-front cost. The benefit will be that (hopefully) Hubitat will be able to locally know when many devices that are not smart, have started or stopped. With that, it will be like a sensor was added to every electrical device in my home. And from that I can create many useful rules and text to speech notifications. Eventually, this could be a lot less expensive than adding physical sensors to every electrical device in my home, but it is going to take a long time before everything is discovered accurately, and I have to properly label devices as they're identified by Sense. So for me to do this, there is a large cost in patience and time investment.

Generally, my smart home to date has been expensive if you look at my total dollars spent, but that is because I'm a nut and can't resist this stuff. However, I'm not wealthy, so a budget has to be maintained, and so certain aspects of my setup are very inexpensive, but that doesn't make them less reliable. My technique is not necessarily how I would suggest everyone do it, and I'm still learning all the time. There have been missteps along the way. I'm sure I'm not done making mistakes :wink:

Have fun is the best advice I have, otherwise it doesn't make sense to do it yourself? :grin:

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