-Gus- I'm digging stringify. Very cool stuff. I'm not going to lie I just put my daughter in timeout simply to test the timeout flow.
I know you hate hubs but with my SmartThings, a guy wrote an app to control the Schlage codes lock. So I can update codes on the fly and lock or unlock. Buddy came over yesterday and we took my truck to go grab some food. I totally forgot to lock the front door since we left through the garage. I opened up the app and hit a button and the door locked. Also you can set codes to only work on certain days or times. Or both. So I can have my house keepers code only work on Mondays from 12-5. I know you hate hubs but it’s not that bad.
Cool. Hadn't heard of Schlage. Looks like Amazon's best seller and excellent reviews. I may not act like it at times but I really do keep an open mind when people mention new things. I'm not 100% anti-hub either. My theater room lighting is via Lutron Caseta and it uses a bridge, so my bridge/hub cherry has been popped. My thing is however, if I'm going to use a hub/bridge I want to be very confident the product is worth it. Appreciate the post. edit: one thing I forgot to add, the new echo seems to be eliminating the need for hubs for many devices as it has a built in hub that is compatible with many different applications
I decided to wear the pants in the family today and returned the daycare center rug and picked out the first decent rug I saw. Brought it home and set it up with a few Xmas decorations. Mrs. topssuite called me from her work cell on her way home, I told her I had a surprise for her. She wasn’t as mad as I thought she would be.
So, our dishwasher isn’t draining. I pulled it out and it drained it by hand and it doesn’t appear to be a clog. It’s probably 10+yrs old and was here when we moved in. Rather than pay a repairman to come look at it and see if he can fix it, I’m just going to replace it. Do any of you have experience installing one? Pretty easy?
Installing a new dishwasher is not particularly difficult (hardest part is just operating in a tight space) but for warranty purposes I’d consider paying the retailer to do a “professional” install. That way if you have to make a warranty claim you can skip the bullshit hoops the manufacturer will make you jump through if you didn’t have it done “professionally.”
a heart surgeon i know flooded his brand new kitchen because he was smart enough to install his own dishwasher that said its super easy
Just a regular lock that is programmable would be fine. That way you're not counting on other people to make sure the door does its thing correctly every time they come and go. People get lazy when it's 'automatic' imo. I have a schlage electronic deadbolt that you can put all sorts of combos in and change them real easily if you need to. I assume you don't want to remotely lock and unlock the door for all of these people as they come and go anyways.
The nice thing about my smartthings hub is it works with both Zigbee and Zwave devices. So it can replace a lot of the hubs out there. Once you have the ST hub you are basically done. It uses a mesh network so the devices can talk to each other to pass info or commands back to the hub in case you are a doctor and have some big ass house or something. When you add on things like CORE which is a rules based system you can have it perform tasks based on activities or things. For example for a while my bedroom sits on the far back corner. If I shut my door then in the winter the temps would drop to where it was significantly colder than the rest of the house. So I built a rule that used a temp sensor that if the temp got below a certain degree it would trigger the hvac to run the house fan to circulate the warm air into the room and the cooler air into the rest of the house. This would in some cases trigger the heat to come on and heat the whole house up. It’s a Samsung product so the support has been fairly positive and the system has a decent community of independent developers who are consistently adding functionality and pushing the device to do new things.
What I did was bought a standard keypad Schlage lock. It has a key hole but also accepts 4 digiti codes. You can pick up a SmartThings hub for $99 and add the app called Lock Manager. Pm me if you have any questions.
I installed one about 6 months ago. The hardest part would probably be hooking up the electricity. It doesn't come with a plug you plug into the wall. You either have to hard wire it or wire a plug on to it. Otherwise it's a piece of cake.
It's not terrible. I replaced mine a year ago, added a garbage disposal and an outlet under the sink and it all took about 4 hours. Just turn your power off and make damn sure your hose connections are tight.
Noticed stores are advertising dishwashers with a fan that may actually get dishes dry for a change. Anybody have one of those yet?
Same. All these people trying to sell me on the 8hr drying time and I wasn't buying a moment of it. Give me that heating element.
Saw this on reddit and figured I would share. SmartThings hub is 50% off right now on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B010...36_SY340_QL65&keywords=smartthings&th=1&psc=1
somebody explain to me what a smarthub will do that i cant already do? one of the main advertised things is thermostat, yea my ecobee works directly with alexa my tp link outlets work directly with alexa i see light switches listed, yea those are $40 a piece and the $40 lifx bulb i have works directly with alexa so, why do i need a hub again?
Ah, thought this was a new solution for constantly wet dishes... despite a heating element (which i also have) Dream is a both/and energy hog... if it would only get rid of the puddles on top of my dishes
Pre-drywall meeting next wednesday. Anyone familiar with home construction have any tips/pointers/questions I should be asking?
Are all your outlets and tv connections where you want them? To hang my TV above my fireplace I made sure they ran the conduit so I can run wires as I expected. Also had them run it into my basement so I can easily add new wires if needed. Add on: My light switches aren’t how I would have arranged them either. It’s minor but annoys me.
Well for me it allows me to control devices further than what Alexa or Google Home can do. It also serves as a central location to load and control all my devices. For example my hub has a lighting automation function, where 60 minutes after sunset (this changes daily due to the sunset timing) my exterior light on my front door, my bedroom lamp, my lamp in the front room, and the LED lights mounted under my cabinets in my kitchen, are all turned on. I also control my schlage front door lock through a program a guy wrote to allow me to load and erase custom codes in the door lock. Also it allows these disparate systems to work together using the Hub to link them. For example, with my Ex GF, I had it set to where when the front door was unlocked or the garage door opened, every light in the house would come on so that she wouldn't be walking into a dark house trying to find light switches. The lights and lock and garage door were provided by different makers and don't have a way to connect them without the hub. I have a Samsung wireless camera in my living room which is turned on when I leave and turned off when I get home. It also takes 2 minutes of video and saves it if any of the motion sensors detect motion when the Hub detects my iPhone is not at home. This actually got me on the news last year lol. Overall it gives me a central spot to manage all of my devices and allow my applications to control them all. I can still use my Alexa to manage them as well as use their native apps but I can leverage the environment they give me to load these community sourced apps they are building.
Prewire everything you can. I would be doing CAT6 and speaker wire to the whole house. Also I would be running things like HDMI to the kitchen and garage. Also might pre-wire for security.
I also walked around my house and shot a video of each room so I know if I ever have to cut into a wall I’d have a good idea of what was behind it (wires).
I would be happy to help if I can. I learned a lot of what I know simply from browsing the SmartThings forums and walkthroughs. https://community.smartthings.com/
Mentioned in the Black Friday thread and BayouMafia responded from his post in here. Arlo security system A couple questions for anyone with one or a similar brand that may be more appealing. How many do you recommend? I’m looking at 3/4. It would be for my parents house, dad works out of town and mom freaks with no security system. How long do the batteries last realistically? Looking at the arlo pro but damn, the arlo hd sure is a lot cheaper. Everyone recommend pro over their basic unit?
Most was already mentioned but for emphasis... spend a lot of time envisioning using each outlet and switch. Run the Cat6 and HDMI as suggested. Think about surround sound wiring. Get some extra support between the studs if you plan on hanging anything heavy like a gigantic tv in your living room, consider rough plumbing for an extra sink in your laundry room, or a water heater in the garage or a pot filler in your kitchen, etc. Do you want a tv in your garage or on your patio? Pre-wire for a security system. Run power to your front yard for landscape lighting or a security camera. Install exterior outlets and make sure you have enough water bibs outside. Finally get a pre-drywall inspection by a 3rd party home inspector.