My Ultimate Smart Home Tour 2024!!!

[@myHomeKithome]

Impressive! I like how you've managed to take devices from so many different manufacturers and integrate them into what seems to be a pretty seamless set up. Also really like your saltwater fish tank and the automatic filter automation. Good stuff!

[@SteveDOES]

Glad you like it!

[@DalilaPayan]

Agree!! How to get everyone to work together?! The synergy is 🎉🎉

[@McCornville]

Really nice setup. I have a question and concern. My question is: are you using any centralized software like home assistant to manage all these devices. My concern is the wyze cams in the kids room. I’ve heavily invested in wyze cams since 2017 and still use them but their security is hot garbage. I would highly suggest taking them out of the kids room and switching to a local security camera like amcrest or ubiquiti. Also be careful with the brilliant light switches they’re in the process of going out of business and support has already been cut

[@jaybman2700]

I have a lot of that stuff, but got rid of my Wi-Fi cameras and wired in PTZ‘s around the house and I put in aluminum security doors with all that technology. Somebody will still kick that front door right in, I have Alexa and googles in every room, I spent over $3000 on colored lightbulbs throughout the entire house, which of course now are failing, technology is great until it starts going out and giving you problems. and believe me I know it happens more than not, but as long as it works it’s great but with that said it’s impressive.

[@sheldondmanson]

I don't think it was wise to show the camera's that's in the bedroom because of certain people on the internet. I also hope those cameras are isolated on your network. People know where you live from seeing the location on the weather display and you showed your live outdoor camera feed, someone that is smart enough could easily track your house. As It is you already have one creeper in your comments that you have failed to delete trying to get more footage of your kids.

[@SteveDOES]

After giving it some thought, the kids aren't really babies anymore. :( I've powered down all cameras in their room.

[@jenelle386]

Agreed I’ve done the same only use motion detection now

[@GeorgeLangabeer]

Great tour! The acrobatics across the bed were amazing! 😝

[@SteveDOES]

That was Nikki's idea. haha

[@xiaxiaoxi]

I'm curious about your monthly electricity bill.😂

[@vuleadventsite]

Are these smart devices are hard wire or wireless. It's very cool. I want to add some smart devide on my home I'm renovation thanks

[@NewHomeTech]

Great setup and thanks for sharing your home and cool automations ideas!

[@SteveDOES]

Glad you liked it!

[@nicholasshaw3211]

Can you do a video on the Aquarium what’s inside of it? also what tank and size do you have?

[@terry7344]

Wow this is fantastic! You are AI PROOF!!! I will definately improve my household with some of your ideas and recommendations.

[@arnoterhorst]

Wow, that is a lot of hubs. Ever thought of switching to home assistant or some easier alternative like homey? (I think, don't have homey myself)

[@victorassessing7]

I was wondering the same thing. Home assistant would make everything so much easier and maybe switch to Unifi/ubiquiti for cameras and home network

[@yanifeyaerts4168]

A lot of HA integrations will still need the hub of that brand to communicate

[@SteveDOES]

I'm in a unique situation of constantly testing out products and ecosystems so i leave the hubs up and running. A 'normal' house wouldn't need all that.

[@lisamir9937]

wait does your door bell just hang on there like that, what if someone just pull it out they can peep inside your home? won't there be safety issue, do you glue it in or something..

[@emilsecker7881]

Have you got/are you going to get electric window actuators?

[@abc123fhdi]

You can get the latest version of the ecobee premium thermostat which includes a temperature sensor of an extra room for half price using gas company rebate. So it's about the same price as the standard thermostat without the sensor and without rebate (though you can get that with rebate also). The thermostat can be used with the ecobee doorbell to display the camera feed, but this requires subscription for the doorbell, so not worth it. I recommend reolink doorbell if you don't have vivnt.

[@DGYtown]

I had Vivint 10 years ago and they were decent. Now you can DYI everything easily. At the time it was great but now a days I feel like it’s a waste of money. But hey some people drive expensive cars for no reason so do what is best for you.

[@cdarrigo]

Steve, do you have any switches controlling smart bulbs? How do you prevent people from turning off smart bulbs when they turn off a non smart switch?

[@SteveDOES]

I choose one or the other, not both. I lean towards using a smart switch over a light.

[@BreakTime10101]

Would a pet be able to activate that kitchen sink faucet? I wouldn’t want that to happen while you’re away. Do you use HomeKit to control everything?

[@SteveDOES]

A pet could trigger it but, it has a 5 minute safety shutoff timer. I mostly use Alexa to control my home.

[@rafsoto24]

Nice setup! I just bought a home and move in next month and this is definitely gonna be a project for me and I’m excited! Thanks for some tips and ideas!

[@woodsb123]

Hi Steve, nice video and setup. I have one question regarding your laundry room setup. you stated that you setup a "dumb/dummy swtich" to automate the light turning on/off, however, you have a motion sensor installed. My question is, did you setup the "dummy switch" using the actual switch there next to the motion sensor or did you use the motion sensor as the "dummy swtich"? I havve several of the same Lutron motion sensor that you have installed in place of old light switches and want to try using them as smart motion sensors, however, I'm not able to figure out how to do so because even though they are motion sensors, they aren't supported by Homekit(my home automation setup) at all, as far as I can tell, thanks.

[@SteveDOES]

Hey sorry for the confusion. Lutron has several different product lines. The Maestro brand that i'm using doesn't have the ability to connect to any smart home products. That's why i called it a 'dumb switch'. It can only use the onboard motion sensor.

[@cdarrigo]

Why did you sel3ct the aqara motion sensor for the garage over a presence sensor?

[@SteveDOES]

I've had this garage automation for a few years now. It was before the Aqara Presence sensor came out.

[@CarinRuff]

Steve, this is great. Can you tell me about the camera mount you use on your metal fence that we see at 00:06 seconds into this video. the clamp setup? Thanks!

[@SteveDOES]

That’s a gutter mount from Wasserstein. Here’s a link amzn.to/3UJ7gl8

[@CarinRuff]

@@SteveDOES Thanks!!

[@Dresan06aa]

Great video and setup.. Very impressive..! Ramdom question how did you activate the widgets on the Home Screen of the echo show 5? Thanks in advance.

[@SteveDOES]

I don't believe the Echo Show 5 has widgets.

[@dlorbieski]

Very informative and well presented as always...and a thumbs up to the camera person 👍👍

[@SteveDOES]

Thanks Donn

[@HaninaSayada]

I love your videos and the idea of smart home . I have one issue that i really think you have an answer that i don't know . I bought about 20 smart items (bulbs, switches, etc) my problem is that if i want to change different wifi company or even change the wifi i will have to reset 20 items one by one which is Very annoying. Am i doing something wrong ? Or is it because i buy from different companies (some i bought from ali expess )? I want a selution where i change one and hopa all changed automatically. Thanks

[@SteveDOES]

Unfortunately you can't update one device and have the network info replicate through the other devices. BUT, you can keep the same WiFi name and password. I made a video talking about this, check it out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6S2emBqlsljotE

[@androo829]

Does the washer/dryer ever trigger your Lutron motion switch?

[@SteveDOES]

No, they don't.

[@ShervinShares]

We need to get you an eight sleep in that smart bedroom

[@SteveDOES]

I’d love one. I’m always hot at night throughout the summer.

[@gria2003]

I have a smart apartment and I have a question for you. I would like to make my furnace smart but I do not have a c wire. Are there any thermostats that are smart that will work with only two wires?

[@SteveDOES]

Sorry, but i'm not sure on that.

[@BigMu2003]

Great setup. I am surprised though that you are okay with an internet connected camera in a bed room though.

[@rich4501]

I’m glad I wasn’t the first person to say something. Especially Wyze cameras which have been hacked several times. Including this past week. If his kids are getting older. Definitely time to ditch the bedroom cameras.

[@swiffben1003]

Plus the camera on the bed, I can't imagine an internet camera in the room, much less on the bed

[@LeadfootFabrication]

Having cameras on the cloud in your kids room is crazy

[@syedsubhani8345]

I have a question for you. I have connected multiple alexa devices and I have problem with the voice command. When I tell alexa to turn on light 1 or light 2. It is turning on the light 1 or light 2 from other rooms. Hw cn I get rid of these thing?

[@syedsubhani8345]

I want to use same command for all rooms...

[@SteveDOES]

Make sure you're setting up rooms in the app. (Living Room, Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Kids Room) and then add all of the devices in that room to the appropriate group in the app. Then when you talk to an Echo in that room, you can use general terms. For example, if you're talking to Echo in your living room. You can say, "Alexa, turn on the lights" and it will just turn on the lights in the living room. But you can also say to the Echo in the living room, "Alexa, turn on the Master Bedroom lights" and it will turn on everything that you've added to the Master Bedroom group in the Alexa app. Hope that helps.

[@Theloverboy2987]

Install security doors that way you can open your doors to people and talk to them through the security door, they have nice ones that don't look like security doors.

[@roykranz3276]

how did you get aqara and lutron to play together?

[@SteveDOES]

Alexa app.

[@TheSodFather09]

Where did you get the shirt?

[@SteveDOES]

Wish i could remember. My wife bought it for me years ago.

[@Chaybee12]

Hey Steve! I cannot for the life of me find an answer to this. What lights do you use that are triggered by Aqara motion sensors? I even wrote Aqara and they said they do not have bulbs currently in the US. So, do you actually automate them through Aqara or are they through HomeKit (which I don't have; sad Google Home user here). Thanks for any info!

[@SteveDOES]

I have them trigger lights through my Alexa automations.

[@Chaybee12]

@@SteveDOES Got it. So basically every video I've watched for years with people using Aqara sensors to trigger lights are actually automations through other platforms. That's a bummer because I really like AQ's automations and have been thinking about switching almost everything out to Aqara. Hopefully now that Best Buy is carrying their products they will release a US based bulb. Thanks so much for your reply. Been a subscriber for quite some time now. Have a great weekend!

[@lloydtoussaint8307]

Good video! Which lutton switch model for you use for the front door lights. Amazon giving me some options that does not look like the one you are using. Are you using Amazon for automations or aqara? Sorry my 9ers sent the packers home again.

[@SteveDOES]

I have links for the Lutron Switches in the video description and yes I’m using Amazon for my automations. As for the Packers, I’m used to them losing to the Niners in the playoffs. 😭

[@lloydtoussaint8307]

@@SteveDOES appreciate it man! Lol y'all took care of the cowboys so a win is a win lol

[@noz3m]

How do you mount your aqara sensors and other things to the wall without damaging it when removing later?

[@SteveDOES]

I'll use the double sided sticky tape that comes with it. The trick to getting it off is using a blow dryer to heat up the tape. When it gets hot enough it peels off pretty easy.

[@JonKaye]

Thanks for the great content Steve. Can you offer advice on my upcoming Synology purchases? I'm a video creator and noticed that you had two four bay drives. Did you run out of space with one?

[@SteveDOES]

No, I didn't run out of room. I'm only taking up about 9TB with work related data. I have 2 because I worked with Synology on 2 different projects. I really need to get one of those drives over to my parents house so i can use it as a remote backup.

[@Ethernet480]

Vivint is fine until you try to cancel. I’ll never understand companies like that.

[@plmpcharisma9686]

Do you have an opinion on the best hub max vs the echo show?

[@SteveDOES]

Hub Max is my favorite for it's ability to constantly show my family photos. The Echo show devices can rotate through a lot of other information on the screen like news and weather, but it's also starting to show ads. And they're getting more frequent. Now when it comes to smart home controls, I like the interface of the Google Hub over the Amazon Echo.

[@djjayblendz]

GREAT VIDEO 👏 WELL PUT TOGETHER

[@ramanbhandari6345]

Hi Sir, how and what you run on HP Elite Desktop with Sony Tv? it seems a great idea to be implement on my Sony tv, wanna know in brief though :)

[@SteveDOES]

I used to use it a lot with all the streaming services before i got the new TV with Google TV built in. Now i use it for watch sporting events on NBC Sports or other platforms that don't have an app. I also use it for watching older movies that i have on my NAS. So i don't use it as much but, it's still useful.

[@ramanbhandari6345]

@@SteveDOES Thanks for a quick reply:)

[@volcolby]

The links - wow! That took some time too. Thanks.

[@SteveDOES]

It took longer than making the actual video. 🤦‍♂️

[@user-zr7kz4vs7c]

why you need poe on the switch ? are you using poe wifi AP?

[@SteveDOES]

I installed the PoE switch for testing out some Netgear products that i'm not using anymore, but kept the switch installed. I currently don't have any PoE devices in use.

[@kevinpoinsett]

Love it Steve does is the Everyman guy❤

[@SteveDOES]

Glad you liked it!

[@emilsecker7881]

17:12 wouldn’t it be annoying that it blocks part of the screen?

[@SteveDOES]

It is at first

[@donnastucky5576]

Great smart home tour, but still like your wife’s frustration video the best🤣

[@chrisrock9937]

great tour - some automation but still too many buttons to press. there is much room for automation still!

[@SteveDOES]

Oh for sure! And that's something i want to dive deeper into.

[@movingloz]

Omg luv the network setup you’ve got. Have to watch that vid next. lol.

[@oleeiii]

If the sound in the bedroom at night is the problem, why not just pair your TV to Bluetooth headphones and watch the TV?

[@SteveDOES]

It's sound and light. These LG tvs are pretty bright. I also like to turn the brightness all the way down on my phone to help my eyes adjust and get ready for bed.

[@seankelly5223]

hank you so much

[@davidbeiler]

Doesnt even use a smart home controller like home-assistant?

[@jaybman2700]

So you’re like me if Wi-Fi goes out you’re back in the Stone Age

[@SteveDOES]

Yea, the "fun stuff" might not work. But the important stuff should keep chugging along. :)

[@HajiVarsani]

Well done

[@eriks6693]

I like the setup

[@SteveDOES]

Thank you

[@dularakavindu1743]

Great video. 🎉❤

[@Shadd0724]

Hope it is ok to ask a step up question? -- Wondering how you got the Aqara hub to connect to the decco wifi? i know it needs to be on 2.4 connection and wondering if you can offer some advise (i have gone the route of adding a switch and a 2nd router with only the 2.4 enabled) any tips you can share would be great. thanks

[@SteveDOES]

I didn't have any trouble connecting the Aqara Hub to the Deco WiFi. When i was going through the Aqara setup it asked me to pick a WiFi and i selected my Deco.

[@car_tar3882]

Wow what an incredible set up I think your at a point where the next step is to start simplifying you have so many different switches and I think they should all be the same but I’m kinda a novice also I am very concerned about the number of cameras in your home especially in your daughters room one bad person hacks those cameras and the damages are forever

[@SteveDOES]

I have a lot of hubs because of all the testing I'm doing with different smart home Echo systems.

[@The_Y_Podcast]

I’ve learned so much from this channel then Actual school

[@OmnipotentLife]

Great video

[@SteveDOES]

Thanks!

[@GhettoHuerta]

Ayo whys there multiple cameras in the kids rooms???

[@aquaeyed82]

wow, liked it very much. thank u. subscribed =)

[@SteveDOES]

Thanks for the sub!

[@maidbloke]

Worth a like for the Guess Who game

[@SteveDOES]

haha, thanks.

[@MonoChen-v2m]

Wow cool

[@TriPham-j3b]

Use computer to control energy use , aging control safety , lighting and telecommunication to all people away , family memory and scanner

[@PaulsVlogs42101]

somehow I would feel extremely vulnerable to hacks and scammers. I am handicap and always thought about a smart home other than the security issues.

[@aidanpyper2840]

Feel like I’ve just been on a smart hub tour

[@hvardrino]

I love everything, but why are all the contact sensors in the most visible spot?😂😂

[@SteveDOES]

Probably for filming sake. :)

[@MbakiMpuchane]

24:01 Whats that?😂

[@kennedyespinosa7272]

Time to get rid of that google nest thermostat Not future proofing your smart home

[@iamchip]

A lot of products with questionable security. I mean not my home but I found that interesting that you didn’t mention it.

[@SteveDOES]

What products are you most concerned with?

[@PaprikaPirukas]

This is how to go overboard with tech and achieve what exactly ? You have buttons that replace physical buttons. You have cameras through the house including kids room --- When you think your network is safe, you have 5 guys already in and watching every move. You can print in the bedroom... who else sees this and thinks that this is something missing from their life ? Blinders controlled by remote as we can't physically pull a cord to turn them on/off anymore. Motion sensors for lights are ok at night when kids go to bathroom. Sensors in laundry room ? Flick a damn button on and off.. It's not that hard and you did this 40 years ago without breaking any finger. There's more to judge, unnecessary tech, but i'll stop here

[@SteveDOES]

Well... what passion you have. You've convinced me, I'll rip it all out!

[@michaelmock4894]

If this is a laser printer, I would reconsider the placement. Toner Particles are not something I would want in the air where I sleep.

[@SteveDOES]

Thanks for the concern. We use it about once a month, if that. So i'm not too worried about it.

[@walterwhite4604]

Lost me at ring doorbell.

[@CCCC-tq8yo]

It's 4 months old now

[@mpjvending]

Nightstand printer? 😂

[@SteveDOES]

It's a great fit! haha Also right next to the port on the wall.

[@marcelobienes]

wow

[@Kevin-oj2uo]

You dont need Wifi7 😂

[@robertdalga128]

Doesn't look like you have 'spouse approval' based on that youtube picture?

[@SteveDOES]

Well, i can say that she's not thrilled with the constant testing and changes going on from week to week.

[@Theloverboy2987]

Why are you wearing shoes in the house?

[@rinGst1729]

Most People do that

[@philchapman90]

Not much about saving energy.

[@BB-fc3it]

Mind your business

[@Daniel_Johnson001]

Why do you love Sony products?

[@airbluehvac]

smart home with NEST thermostat lol)

[@SteveDOES]

Having both, I prefer Nest over Ecobee

[@airbluehvac]

@@SteveDOES comment was about low technology level of nest thermostat or ecobee. advanced hvac system will not come with either nest or ecobee, to show off need something more advanved

[@SteveDOES]

@@airbluehvac Ah ok. Hey, do you install Whole Home Fans, like the ones from Quietcool?

[@airbluehvac]

@@SteveDOES what for? get true variable speed heat pump system and in lowest speed ac or heat it will cool and dehumidify and use less energy than whole house fan. add erv if want fresh air intake

[@SteveDOES]

@@airbluehvac during the summer heat, I want to be able to suck in all the cool evening air without running the AC.

[@purplesabbath]

Vivint is a horrible compamy!

[@SteveDOES]

Really? I love having them. I've recently met 2 other people who have really been enjoying them too.

[@yuhzeetsite]

Facts

[@AntLive29]

please explain

[@fischbiskts]

Um… explain..?

[@nonamebae]

I have Vivint & it’s great

[@fkabarca]

All this tech and security for what..? You’ve just exposed everything you’ve got including your entire family. Rethink it man! Not worth the views.

[@homegr8997]

Definitely to much for normal.. home

[@DalilaPayan]

But he has a smart home

[@YH-Horizons]

Nothing is controlled by phone. Everything is manual. Not ultimate smart

[@smaterhomes]

note to everyone do not go with vivant lol 2GIG is dogshit also, wifi at this dudes house is so fuckin trash running IoT lol cool ideas but just bottle networking his network

[@SteveDOES]

Teach me... Looking forward to your video tutorial.

[@gamlielu]

Film the kid more❤

[@deepakvrao]

You missed the Lectrofan on your bedside table. Fantastic device. I think it saved my marriage 🙂

[@stehlik]

How is it a good idea to be able to get to your home by stealing your watch? ;)

[@RupertDsilva]

Useless