[quote="darrenmonk87, post:60, topic:77758"]
m thats all, but thank you... i do like your notification... did make me chuckle
[/quote]I have an app that sets Time Of Use. It's not perfect, but good enough.
Basically, wehre I live, power has 3 tiers: off-peak, mid-peak, and on-peak. So, I have an app that changes the GLOBAL variable (global because I want other apps to be able to access it) to to 2 (peak), 1 (mid peak), 0 (off peak) based on the time of day, and what day it is, and what season it is. I didn't bother with holidays, but I could add it if I wanted.
From there, other apps for high-power-consuming devices (dehumidifier, garage heater, etc) have an "if TOD_variable=2 then ....."
plus every device needs it's own IP address, so you CAN run out of open addresses very quick! Especially when you have IP cameras on your network for security.
Change your subnet to /16 and you can have 65,534 devices per subnet. Though that's not really the point. Keep it all local! If you have a wifi device that is strictly local, go with it.
Works for me from Alexa for our Hue lights on the Hue Hub, which has an Alexa skill (in addition to Hubitat integration), and for Lutron devices on Lutron Pro hub.
Lights are in Hue and Lutron groups, controlled by Alexa as well as Hubitat.
That is true. Plus you can do alot more with a network, subnetting, VLAN, bridged connections, also the interference that would require access points/repeaters and wifi distance limitations, but what i was getting at was that for a non-network person, or someone that doesn't want to get real elaborate with their LAN, the usual stock IP/subnets are/can be limited.
I just didn't want to open a can of network worms.
Simple answer to a simple question. When family ask me that question I say... Have you ever tried to use motion sensors with cloud based Wi-Fi devices and Alexa routines? They usually say no. I then say don't try it because it will be embarrassingly slow.
Then I say it depends on what you are building towards. If you want Alexa as the 21st century "clapper" that's great. But if you ever plan to build something massive using WI-Fi and Alexa only will not cut it. Also if you want to build something better you will be sorry starting with Wi-Fi devices as your backbone.
