Hi guys,
I wonder what you have automated in a smart way in your home?
What has really satisfied you in regards of home automaton? ...not limited to or exclusively using Hubitat.
I for example use some smart plugs to turn of every wifi device when I'm in away mode, so my router can enter green mode. therefore it uses only a fraction of the energy it would normally use.
I was also able to mod my old dumb robot vacuum so I can trigger it by a rule.
looking forward to your stories and perhabs ideas to enrich my automaton.
My water heaters are controlled by zwave relays, come on 30 minutes before I wake up and go off an hour later. That's enough hot water to last me an entire day, and has cut my energy use by ~70-100 kWh per month.
The hot water recirculator pump comes on for 3 minutes when I first enter the bathroom in the morning. Perfect to not experience cold water during my ablutions and shower, out waste water by running it down the drain.
The electric bidets come on 30 minutes before I wake up, go off when the house is unoccupied, and turn back on when occupancy (using presence sensors) is detected.
I have leak sensors in major locations where leaks are possible, and an automated water valve. This has saved my butt at least once.
The thermostat adjusts based on occupancy.
Zwave locks let me hand out codes on a temporary basis, and I can be sure that all doors are locked when I go to bed.
The zwave garage door opener also lets me control it as necessary when I'm away from home.
Energy monitoring outlets let me announce through Alexa when the washer and dryer are done.
Motion lighting in the kitchen, garage and bedroom closet are nice.
I might have S.A.D, so waking up to a night stand that gradually brightens is a good way to start my day. Making it gradually dim puts me to sleep a little better.
There's one more that uses IFTTT + HE. I have a wyzecam focused on the cat litter box. 5 minutes after occupancy is detected, there's a fan and air-freshener that turn on for 20 minutes. Works pretty well to keep the smell down.
I have a set up in my babys bedroom that depending on the mode and if it's dark enough different lights come on at different Kelvin's levels, but if the blind is closed then the lights become manual ON Auto off (if needed). But they also come on RED at 1 % from the switch then if the blind is open that same press of the switch brings the light back to the relevant white. So basically the blind is the condition that that room is in sleep mode
This is the same throughout the house in night mode but it's Auto on and off in general areas. Then if I hit the switch it knows that because it's ON, night and in a colour mode it needs to turn on white and bright because a situation has occurred that needs light!
From this same switch Fibaro dimmer 2 S2 input I'm also available to dim and brighten the same ZigBee lamp. It took alot to work out how to do that so was chuffed when I got it working and super fast/ perfect every time.
Push alerts for all doors and window opening while mode is away.
Interior motion alerts when mode is away. (Pet proof. No false alarms. Even with cats!)
Passive alarm set depending on presence. No keypads needed.
Automatic door lock/unlock depending on what door was used for exit.
Earthquake notifications.
Notifications for Smoke/CO2 (where and on what floors)
Notifications for water leaks for HVAC, Water Tank and bathrooms above finished rooms.
Notifications for open garage, doors and windows as well as unlocked doors
Notifications for high freezer and refrigerator temps as well as doors left open.
Notifications for power outage, plus resetting all the smart bulbs to their prior setting before the outage.
Visual notifications for hub connectivity, online/offline.
Push notifications for hub being offline (this is sort of a cheat because I use SmartThings automation to deliver the message if the Hubitat is offline)
Notifications for mail delivery.
Notifications for naughty cat being on kitchen counter tops.
For the Elderly;
Notifications for not taking daily medications .
Passive wellness check. Uses a combination presence sensor, motion and doors sensors to determine if the person is incapacitated and unable to call for help. Wellness check isn't fooled if motion is active in only one area. Must detect activity throughout the house. Timeouts change depending on awake and sleep times.
Panic button to send notification indicating help is needed.
Lighting control;
Exterior lighting based on LUX. "on" times change throughout the year.
Interior lighting based on the same principal along with motion activation.
Miscellaneous control;
Automatic power on/off shop air compressor when working in the shop
Automatic computer monitor control based on presence at desk.
Climate control;
Thermostat temperature control for different modes and/or time of day.
Automatic Enable/Disable when doors or windows open.
Notifications to open/close windows based on forecast highs/lows along with current indoor and outdoor temperatures, including high dew-points for summer months.
Window fan control based on inside/outside temperatures with set-points high and low temps.
Elapsed time tracking of how much time is spent heating, cooling as well as hours on fan used for notifications on filter change.
Space heater control for extra spot heating when necessary. Also keeps track of energy used.
Weather;
(weather data provided from weather station in back yard. (Not through TWC)
This allows much more refined information at a more rapid update.
Current temp. High/lows so far that day. Is it currently raining? How much and at what rate.
How much rain for the day along with how much rain in the past 7 days
Average temp for last 24 hours as well as the past month.
Current wind speed and direction as well as current gust along with high gust readinf over past hour.
Plus all the other data points I forgot to mention.
Irrigation;
Smart irrigation control that keeps track of when the soil dries out too much. How much rain has fallen over the past 7 days. Calculates what the water deficit is and delivers enough water to make up for 1 inch of rain per week. Other smarts include delay watering if wind is too high, the probability of rain is high or if the soil moisture is sufficient that watering isn't needed. Plans are to include water evaporation rate but that is for future revision.
I could see this kind of automation very useful to farms.
Anyway that is most of what I have done. I use to be an applications programmer analyst so I guess that's why I like this home automation stuff. Cheers!
Oh, and I forgot to mention the hub is on battery backup and connected to cellular. I use a USB battery pack instead of a UPS because the power pack has enough power to run for 3-4 days before the pack exhausts. A UPS only gets you a few hours at best.
I'm also interested in the "soil to dry".
Further I d'like to know how you do it with your nasty cat in the countertop? We have 4 of them and all are nasty beasts.
The cat is very smart and will do its best not to be detected because it knows its being a little stinker. I have my normal motion detector in the kitchen. It is strategically placed and tuned so only a person can trigger it. Then I have a second one placed on the counter top. If motion is detected on one and not the other then the cat playing where it shouldn't. At first I had a webcam in the kitchen and could see what it was doing but don't want to have to look at a camera all day and night.
Punishment / behavior modification is done using heavy duty packing tape (2 feet) placed sticky side up. It is laid on the very edge of the counter so when the cat jumps up it solidly plants all four feet in the tape. Of course it hates it and jumps back down but the tape is stuck and the act of jumping down causes the tape to wrap up onto its body. Now it's really irritated and will run around for awhile trying to get it off. After about 20 minutes I will get a pair of scissors and cut the tape off. This stops the counter top jumps for four to six months and eventually it will test the area again. Then its just a matter of rinse and repeat.
Curious on what you did to the old roomba? I did a quick Google search and it looks like you can add wifi for under $10 and trigger cleaning/docking through a rest api.
This is a fantastic idea! I'm definitely going to do this. Already have a UPS in place, but this is way more efficient/long lasting.
I also like your design for a passive wellness check. Great ideas!
Here are some of mine:
Perfect lighting for every situation without thinking or doing anything is my goal: Automatic lights and ceiling fans in every room based on motion and temp. Only activate in modes that make sense for a certain room. For example, closet light turns on regardless of mode because even during day I need more light in there. On the other hand, master bath light does not turn on at night because I hate being blinded while I'm half asleep. Hallway lights come on very dimly in night mode, brighter in evening mode.
HVAC enable/disable automatically if window/door left open - using Ecobee 3's. Implemented this with RM triggered by any door/window opening for more than a few minutes - turn off HVAC. I use this often on cool evenings when I open windows to cool house. Then I run another RM trigger when any door/window sensor closes which then checks a rule to make sure all other sensors are closed. If all closed, then resume schedule.
Auto fan off - At night when it's warm I like going to sleep with a fan blowing on me, but as night goes on and the temp drops I find myself waking up and being very cold with the fan on. A trigger that turns off fan based on temp solves this problem
Agreed, but I still need to see in the middle of the night. After 1pm, only one of my Hue bulbs (small bathroom) comes on at its lowest level so we are not blinded. At 6am they turn on normally, unless it’s light enough at that time of the year, in which case they don’t turn on at all.
Is the driver code publish somewhere? I would like to make use of the two sensors I have burried in the yard somewhere. Now if I can remember where they are located.
