Why the need for a dashboard?

I have no use for one whatever

Why do you need/use one?

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My home runs with mostly background automations to handle room lighting etc. Use button controllers for manually turn lights off and on etc.

But the dashboard is a great view of what is happening around the hose and options to go into each room and override the current scenes that are running. I have temperature indicators, occupancy indicators, and current weather on the main dashboard.

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I have many automations around my house. I have 5 dashboard pads mounted around my house, each with site specific automations or system controls. My wife and I have the same dashboards on our phones. Dashboards are a super easy way to manage home automation and daily routines. I control all of my whole-home music/HVAC with these dashboards. I control nearly all of my Christmas decorations/lights with the appropriate holiday dashboards. The WAF of our dashboards is pretty good. However, my dashboards are not a fire-and-forget system. Frequently, I have to manage/update/reboot/trouble-shoot. BUT, I love working with the Hubitat/webcore/dashboard environment and I tinker with things nearly daily, oftentimes to my wife's frustration :slight_smile: . When we travel, remote dashboard use can simplify many of the tasks that may present when we are away. All-in-all, I love my dashboards and use them constantly. When I die, I pity the person who has to come in and maintain/remove my system. It is quite integrated throughout my home.

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Do you have a dashboard to keep an eye on your dashboards?

@zapbust I don't really use them except for testing and one simply to have on hand for locks and temp. Beyond that everything is automated.

Locks, that's another thing I wonder about, how many people trust them and how many people do or don't check the door manually

I use device status announce app which tells me if it didn't throw properly. Kids don't close the door all the way sometimes.

Are there locks that don't have an external door handle so they don't need to be checked once the door is closed?

I donโ€™t typically double check my front or back doors if Hubitat has locked them, the locks are reporting locked, and the doors are reporting closed.

Sounds like youโ€™re describing a deadbolt? For example:

I mean my shchlage doesn't have an external door handle. It has a keypad. I have a separate knob for basic latching but the deadbolt is for security.

I sent a Yale lock back a few years ago that reported as being locked however the lock actually locked the door handle outside still opened the door
It was only partially locking the door similar to me just lifting the handle but not operating the turning of the key, despite it making locking noises and supposedly being of the correct type of lock I required

I mean this is your typical smart lock style. Then below that I have a regular handle that has no key it's just a thumb handle

I have several around the house and they are a valuable part of my home automation system. Mine is a tabbed interface with various areas of interest in tabs at the top. The last tab is "More ..." which takes me to a selection of dashboards that are used less frequently.

Primarily the Home screen is just everything important at a glance - modes, indicators (like "You have mail!", the weather radar, how long the dishwasher has left to run, etc.). There are also switches to set exceptional conditions. I can disable all lighting automations, tell the irrigation system that I'm mowing the yard in the morning so don't run, tell the vacuum cleaner that it should not run next time we leave as we've left stuff on the floor, and other exceptions to alter automations.

The Activity screen shows all motion and presence related sensors and where motion was last detected.

The Water screen shows all leak sensors as well as controls for valves. Turning off the main valve when a leak occurs is automated of course, but here is where I turn it back on.

The Weather screen shows more detail on weather, doppler radar, pollen levels, etc. The Battery screen shows battery level for all devices on one screen. Internet screen shows me diagnostics on my LAN, cable modem, and Internet connectivity useful for troubleshooting.

My dashboard is not there to turn on lights or set scenes, for example. It is there to present me with information at a glance, and to give me a place that I can with a tap, introduce unusual circumstances. Some people say that if you are using a dashboard you are doing it wrong and it means you don't know how to automate. If that works for them fine, but I can't imagine trying to cover every contingency such as knowing when I'm going to mow the yard or when a kid is sick in bed and shouldn't be disturbed with lights/shades. And I wonder if these same people go into the Hubitat console to do things like that. The spousal acceptance factor on that would be nil.

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The setup in our (physically) small house is on time-based, motion-based, or presence-based rails, and I have wired & remote scene controllers readily placed, so we have little need to ever make any other ad-hoc adjustments.

Just me and the wife in our house -- she likes the automations, but doesn't want any of it to be work for her... So I have the basic stuff added to Google Home for easy voice control (rarely used), and she can access those devices via Google Home app or Homekit when necessary (again, rare) -- she is used to both of those app interfaces.

So just me using the Hubitat dashboards -- mine aren't pretty, since I'm the only user -- they are bare-bones basic but very functional for managing stuff as necessary when away from home or just not at my laptop.

I don't use any of my dashboards to routinely control anything though - they are primarily for reference / verification.

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Like @hydro311, our dashboards here are primarily for reference and verification. I've got one for all the door locks, one for the freezer/fridge temps, one for all the random color-changing LED strips around the house, one for temp/humidity sensors around the house, one for the status of our 3 hubs, and one for "presence" which also monitors our ADT system and various related options (like "VACATION" mode).

I have a dashboard of links to those dashboards set as my "Custom Dashboard" in the new 'droid app, for easy access.

The turning off of the main valve is totally useless for me as I regularly have to turn the water off in the road due to the constant water main bursts and my valve jamming with small stones and having to clean the valve out

However I would like one eventually when my water supplier gets it act together and replaces the 400 yard length of pipe that collapses 4-6 times a year followed by a month or so of regular low pressure due to blockages in my valve that I have to keep clearing

I'm not quite following what that means. Which model Yale lock was it?

After 4 years I cant remember, but the spec was for my type of lock

I use dashboards mainly for verification when not at home....Temperatures inside the house and outside, pumphouse and shop temperatures. Verification that heaters are operating in outbuildings in freezing weather. A quick look to verify whether doors are open or shut, locked or not. If I'm not home and the dog is inside the house, I can quickly open the gate for a delivery driver, if my dog is loose in the yard, the gate stays shut.

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My setup is very similar to @HAL9000. I track and control multiple things in and around my house, including locks, closet lights, TV bias lighting, recipes, HSM, security cameras, motion sensors, battery chargers, water leak sensors at every toilet/sink/dishwasher/laundry, smoke/CO detectors, accent lighting, garage doors, security lighting, irrigation, LAN, network connection, online status of various devices...the list goes on. I do have two of the Schlage deadbolts pictured above and a Yale, all monitored. I have a goodnight routine that checks all locks/door/window/smoke/motion sensors and alerts me of anything that I may need to check before bedtime. I frequently visually check my automated door locks because I just feel the need. But my pads display most of this information as easily seen indications of all of the above. I personally think that having dashboards for all of this adds another level of comfort. And, controlling/monitoring all of this on my phone with that limited real-estate would be frustrating. Again, I think my wife would be perfectly fine without all of this. But she does use these things and complains when they malfunction. YMMV

Edit : I do use HD+ Android Dashboard for all of my dashboards. Sorry, no iOS. I did use Sharptools and ActionTiles before trying out Hubitat dashboard. But the HD+ software is excellent and I highly recommend it.