Hey Guys


i recently bought a house and im gonna be basically gutting it and rewiring /plumming etc so while its all in a mess i will run cabling for my home network at the same time, probably have cat5e or cat6 outlet in every room just to have it, but mostly i will be going for as much wifi/bluetooth as possible.

While im at it i am gonna have as much Smart devices as possible, i looked for a thread but couldn't find one on "Smart devices"

So far having never had one before i have bought:
2x Alexa echo dot 4th gen
Ring Chime, White
Ring Video Doorbell Wired
TP-Link Tapo Smart LED Light Strip, 5m, WiFi App Control
Ring Alarm 7 Piece Kit (2nd Generation) bought some extra sensors and motion detectors
Ring Plug-In Adaptor (2nd generation) (not sure but i bought on amazon prime day and it says delivery NOVEMBER??

Anyways i wont be moving into the house for several months yet while all the work is being done (ill be doing a lot of it myself) and was wandering are any of you smart geeks, that could offer me some hints tips tricks recommendations on making the most out of a smart device house, i will be buying some of them phillips hue bulbs too but waiting to see what type of light fittings i decide on.



ill aslo be fitting some ceiling mounted speakers and access points (wifi) (i got tips in another thread) and was hoping i can control all volume etc by voice if i wanted to

thanks in advance,

i already have a question about my alexa - echo dot , i have prime amazon but when i ask alexa to connect to prime music she says "to subscribe to amazon music pro (or something like that) i dont want to pay more but i read and it says 2mill songs free to amazon prime members (basic) and if u pay more u get like 90million or something. anyways i cant figure out how to connect the dot to my prime acc, yet i got it to connect to my PC phone lights etc

I'm pretty smart, just not nearly as smart as I like to think.

Which Amazon account is it connected to right now?

My brother recently did a remodel and got heated floors that can change the temperature based on if somebody is in that area of the room. Kinda cool but also somewhat gimmicky.

One thing that can save you a decent amount of money without sacrificing comfort are smart thermostats. That way you can turn on heat/air from your phone when you leave work and have the desired temp when you get home without heating/cooling the house all days while you're gone. I think the Google Nest Learning Thermostat can even do that automatically for example when your phone realizes you're leaving your office in the afternoon.

One "smart" thing on my iPad that at first freaked me out a little was when it started asking me if I wanted to open the Zwift app because it noticed I walked into the home gym.

Me too. Losing IQ ground to my house every day it seems.

I think I'm from a different era -- or century, or epoch -- it that helps.

I'm too smart to have smart devices

If I had an Alexa I'd set her up with HAL

Going full smart like that feels like you're paying to install surveillance equipment for Amazon to monitor you. I'd rather click a couple extra buttons than have something listen in to all my conversations

yes im looking into the home heating smart stuff too,

I am connected to my amazon acc that the echo dot was purchased on, i cant figure it out,

I have 2 amazon accounts, one is .co.uk and one is .com

i only use the .co.uk one for the last few of years, i used the .com one way back when i was new to amazon and didnt realise there was a different site for different regions, but my log in still works.

https://www.amazon.co.uk › music › prime
Enjoy free Amazon Music Prime streaming service included with your Prime membership. Stream millions of songs for free. Available on all devices.

i click on the above link from PC
it loads log in page i log in with my correct acc details




i click on play any song and it says the below (same for the last week or so as i never tried it before) now the only thing i can think of is that im actually in ireland , but there is no amazon.ie site.

Service error
Sorry something went wrong. Please try one more time or contact customer service if the problem persists.

I'll add some thoughts I've gathered since I started installing smart home devices in 2018.

My current setup in my 4br/3ba house:
11 Echos (various models; Studios are nice)
Integrated wired outdoor speakers with Echos (this took some serious trial and error)
~40 Philips Hue bulbs (various models) and accessories
Philips Hue Sync
5 outdoor camera Blink system
SimpliSafe home security with 2 cameras
3 baby monitoring systems (though 2/3 are not smart because some stuff doesn't need to go over Wi-Fi)
I use Spotify for 95% of my music streaming. Occasionally, I will use Amazon music (free) if my wife and I are stepping on each other using Spotify.


In my experience, the biggest factor in smart devices functioning as desired is how good your internet/Wi-Fi service is in your house. When I started really expanding my smart home, I saw a degradation in responsiveness and upgraded my internet from 100Mbps to 800Mbps and switched from the AT&T gateway to my own Wi-Fi (Amplifi router, 2 mesh points). This has made a dramatic impact on how well stuff works.

If you want outdoor audio with your whole house integrated, don't goof around with Bluetooth speakers. Buy an amplifier and wired speakers and connect a Echo Dot or Echo Link to it. I am meaning to upgrade to a Link for mine. I don't think you can set up Bluetooth speakers with multi room music.

When you get the Hue up and running and are comfortable with the products, look into automations. I use mine for security and because I don't like to worry about turning off lights manually. For instance, I have an automation that is "Economy Lights" that runs ~1 hour after I go to bed which allows me to not worry about shutting off lights in the house or if I have adequate security lighting. Motions sensors augment automations well.

There's a list of your devices in the Alexa app. Do you see the Dot in there? If so you can go to the settings, log out and then set it up for a different account. All the devices are initially linked to the account that purchased them. Couple years ago we got my parents some Echo devices for Christmas. When I went there again a couple months later I noticed they were all still linked to my account..

I've had several repeaters and stuff in the past until I decided to switch to the Google mash points last year. Works perfectly and is much easier than all previous things we tried. With one next to the patio door, we now even have WiFi in the shed and all the way to the property line so I can keep streaming ESPN+ while pushing the kids on the swing set.

Thanks Mark
ah sounds like a nice set up you have, the automated lights timings look good too, for security purposes too if you are not home you can have a light inside come on at certain times and go off at bedtime etc so people think youre home im new to the smart stuff but im a network engineer so setting up the home network should be handy for me.
i will be buying a mesh system also, some ceiling mounted APs probably ubiquiti but will check prices at the time.(when ready)

40 hue lights! ha sounds amazing - out of curiosity can you say "alexa all lights on" for example and all 40 come on at same time ?
im still new to this and watching videos everyday and different peoples setups and really enjoy the novelty of it tbh, like having different zones in the house etc

i will look into spotify too, i really havnt been using apps in years, and all my music is stored on a hard drive and thats usually how id listen to music but im gonna go to apps now.

Thanks for sharing



@madlex

on my phone app - it lists , my echo dot 1 , echo dot 2 (the one im using), tp link strip lights, my app for PC, alexa on this phone

If i remember correctly the echo dots automatically show there from when i purchased them as i havnt even opened the echo dot 1 box yet.


if i go to my echo dot 2 (the one im using) and click settings - i have a deregister option is that what you are saying to do ? i do not have a logout option. (that i can see)

You can also add randomization to the timings, so that is nice too.

You can definitely trigger all lights to come on at once with one verbal command.

Deregister sounds right because that way you can register it to another account. Second option from the bottom for me. (Had to switch my iPad language so not 100% sure what that option is called in English)

Depends on what people are around me.

Re: Hue lights, they have several different sets available today on Best Buy's "deal of the day" for 25% off. You'd want to check prices elsewhere as it's 50/50 whether it's really a good deal. Sometimes their DotD is a really great deal and sometimes it just gets them down to normal price.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/promo/p...er-kit-savings

This is a good point. Hue bulbs vary in price a lot with respect to time. Paying full price is a major leak.

Congratulations on the house purchase!

It sounds like you have some very ambitious projects ahead of you. While it's not for me, I have a couple of friends that have gone full blown smart home with lots of automation and connected devices and they love it.

Regarding the home network, I would advise against cat6 outlets in every room. Maybe a couple in a home office, but everything else should be wireless. Installing a bunch of ports that aren't needed is just adding unnecessary costs. Not to mention it kind of contradicts the modern tech of a smart home. For home use, ethernet is a dying technology. The only cat6 runs I would recommend would be for exterior security cameras.

Unless you have an extremely large house or unusual building materials, one or two well placed wifi6 access points will provide excellent coverage. My recommendation would be to get the most bandwidth you can get from your provider and, if possible, buy/install your own router and access point(s).

Good Luck.

^

sigh

just found out Amazon Prime music is not available in Ireland.


So my options are to pay unlimited amazon 9.99 a month or the likes of Spotify,

Tbh i listen to music but not enough to pay 10 a month for a subscription. altough i will try the 30 day trial and see if i miss it when its gone.

I can get Tunein Radio and listen to radio anyways and know some good stations that play just music.

you live n learn

confident in my smarts