What Other Automation Platforms Do You Use?

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21

Me:

  • Pi/Home Assistant
  • NodeRed (for a while, but backed off as was not intuitive for me, a "me" thing).
  • Unifi Protect
  • Hue
  • Lutron
  • GH/Nest speakers

Wife:

  • Pokes me and says "Go do ______ now."

Wife wins: Low cost (coffee & Cheetoes), very reliable (she pokes hard), 100% local single-point of control, compatible with all of our home's devices indoors and out. :wink:

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22

X-10 in the early 1980s. Dim some lamps and control when the coffee pot comes on. Thought about making it smart with a X-10 card in my Apple ][e but passed. Eventually that faded. Next was was some WEMO plugs as a redo of the X-10 model. Integrated those with Google Home to add voice control. That lead to adding in wired WEMO switches.
Next concern was a home security system. I went with Nest which had a DYI self monitoring offering. So I installed Nest doorbell, Protects, the Secure System, yale door lock, and ismartgate garage door opener. Everything was good enough until Google Dropped Nest secure.
Google wanted me to migrate to ADT after they informed me that as far as they were concerned, it suxs to be me so seeya. I never understood a business model which relies on angering customers. I looked for an alternative and settled on Abode which claimed to also support z-wave and zigbee devices with their CUE automation. So I replaced Nest secure and sensors with Abode. But when I tried to get Abode to support a z-wave version of my door lock, they didn't to my satisfaction. I wanted more that just lock - unlock and the lock they sell and support I didn't like the looks of. Turns out that Abode support of z-wave was limited to basic functions. More research lead to Hubitat.
Abode now handles security sensors and cameras, Nest does the Doorbell and it's camera plus the protects and the mini hubs to maintain voice control. Hubitat takes the locks, the lights, the smart plugs, door opener, thermostat, automation motion sensors, and attic fan. It is able to leverage the Abode contact sensors for it's automations. WEMO is all gone, Nest is down to a doorbell, 7 protects and 8 hubs. iSmargate, which works well enough but was WiFi through their cloud was replaced with a Zen58 on z-wave LR.
Hubitat has a learning curve. But so did every other IT system I ever touched. DOS, CP/M, VAX, Linux, Checkpoint, CISCO, Juniper, Windows, Aruba, PaloAlto, Nortel, several programming languages, and on it goes. Nothing new so got busy with Rule Machine for it's granular control. Works good. Hopefully lasts a long time.

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