Smart Home Tour 2024!

[@bromide999]

I have been watching KZbin for 15+ years and I’ve watched a lot of videos as I love to research before I buy. Now I can honestly say that this has been the most enjoyable and informative video I have ever watched in those 15 year. The down side is that you have cost me a small fortune with upgrades and new purchases but well worth it (I’m like you with my wife) 👏🏼👏🏼

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thank you so much, this is one of the nicest comments I’ve ever had and was really great to read.

[@JamesEdwards860]

Thanks to you I now have a contact sensor on the letterbox with Alexa integration announcing when we have mail. The wife is absolutely thrilled 🤣

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Welcome to the club! When I first installed the sensor I tried to use the vibration sensor part of it to detect door knocks but I had so many false positives due to wind blowing against the door that it got called Stupid.

[@tarkadahl1985]

3:43 that door sensor on the letter box is brilliant

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It's so useful! You're in another part of the house and someone posts something through the door, you get an alert to go fetch it. Contact sensors are much smaller than that one now so if I did this again I might use a small Aqara one instead to be more discrete.

[@skoodledoo]

I have a basic Smartthings setup. I live in a house with a door directly on pavement with no doorbell. The front door is in a porch that I can't hear anyone knocking from in other parts of the house. If the door sensor detects vibration (a knock) without it opening, it plays a doorbell sound on my speakers around the house. If the mail flap sensor is opened, it plays "you've got mail" on the speakers. Such a simple thing, but OH MY GOD it makes a huge difference.

[@darrenadams2640]

Does sound good but then why does you need it? Firstly, if you are expecting an urgent delivery you will be alert to it and hear the flap go, secondly in 99% of cases it won't be an emergency to get your mail and you'll see it next time you walk past.

[@darrenadams2640]

@@skoodledoo It makes great sense in your case.

[@ionlywanttrains]

Wow! Great to see both the simple front end (nice simple switches, voice and automations) and the more complex back end how you link it all together.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thank you very much!

[@cals.9269]

Phenomenal tour ! I am blown away by how cool this house is. Many thanks for sharing.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@lordstevewilson1331]

Poor girl, dad is so obsessed with cutting power and heating she has to sit in the house with a hoodie on. Bad bad dad. 😂

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Haha she says she agrees with you

[@MrPurle]

That was nowhere near as OTT as I had envisaged! 😀 Lots of well thought out, useful yet unobtrusive additions - properly smart. Having seen yours, I feel I now need to "up" my bathroom automation game... 😀

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Motion detected in the bathroom could be misinterpreted if not careful :)

[@davidcoates6768]

Wah loads of tech stuff, even more than I was expecting. Thanks for showing us it all!

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

And there’s plenty more I didn’t get chance to show :)

[@chrisholland4952]

I cannot wait to start making my home more “smart”. This has taken smart home up another level.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Best of luck, it’s a fun hobby for sure :)

[@richchapman5011]

Just subscribed as, for some reason, I’ve only just found your channel. Enjoyed the content tremendously and about to binge on old episodes. I understand about how hard a conservatory can be to automate as in the UK it’s either too cold OR that hot that everything melts “when” we get the sun.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Welcome! I hope you enjoy the other stuff too.

[@DanEVSolar7]

Great video and also love the sticker in your TV cabinet. 😁

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Isn’t that where everyone keeps their DanEVSolar stickers?

[@mariusg6684]

Hi, I am just setting, or actually just started to play with Home Assistant and found handy few of your previous videos. As well, I do like this one, as it shows actual utilisation of devices for your smart house. I did research and decided to go with human presence sensors, rather than PIR's. What else I do find handy - house alarm system integration to smart home system. I will do everything me self now from sensors to controller, but will go other way - probably zigbee sensors to HA only. And as from this video, my next step is to do check ups against Off-grid side of the smart house, as I noticed your heat pump and solar energy battery packs!

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Best of luck with your smart home journey!

[@Theoriginal1981]

Clear Starmer 😂 love it! All you need now is some WLED 😀

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I do have a WLED controller which I used in my Halloween video. It hasn’t found a place in my home properly yet though

[@stefanholthaus9744]

Tip:😊Put the wled in your garagedoor,when Open make different light scenes

[@homegadget-mark]

Great tour, always interested to see how other smart home users set things up.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@SmithyScotland]

It's god to see what smart tech is actually used beyond the original video.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

There’s so much more too but it was going on a bit. Editing that video I kept remembering all the things I’d wanted to say but forgotten

[@kigtod]

Very interesting and yes, I was also curious to see your house and how to locate the burglar alarm control 😉! I have the same model dishwasher as you so I might try the remote button schedule trick as I have an unused ‘long press’ function on an existing Sonoff button I have in the kitchen. One bit of smart technology I’ve just implemented is to use the Home Assistant Waste Collection integration to show which colour bin to put out and when. I display this on my home-made central heating controller which uses Blynk IoT and I use the HA RESTful interface to talk to it.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I’ve recently done the same for waste collection in my area… not got it very reliable yet but hopefully I’ll crack it

[@mluton123]

Superb video, a great watch, from an old Woodrush friend.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Hi mate, thanks so much!

[@DavidBond668]

Wow you have invested a lot in tech. Lots to learn from. I might look into Eufy scales as like my eufy robot hoover. 🎉

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Those scales are extremely good value I reckon. Please use my links if you do buy, the affiliate earning really help! I haven’t tried a eufy vaccine yet but they seem pretty solid from the reviews, it would be good to compare to the SwitchBot ones I have.

[@djhworld_]

Nice tour thanks! Noted down some good ideas from your setup, the letterbox contact sensor thing is almost certainly going to be my next upgrade! I'm new to the channel and noticed in this video your network switch had quite a number of ports/cables - do you have a video on how you've wired your house, I'm presuming you've put drops in every room

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

That letterbox idea has got quite a bit of love! No there’s no network wiring video, I honestly never thought it would be that interesting. I put a patch panel in my garage cabinet, ran 12 cables through the wall cavity into the loft where I drop down into various places including down the opposite side of the house into the conservatory. Inside the house there’s cabling under the laminate floor supplying the study, living room in two places, and the cupboard under the stairs.

[@PhillHills]

great idea with the letter box!

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thanks! That simple little hack appears to have got the most attention in this whole video from the many comments about it!

[@ry4kings]

Love my harmony remote as well, shame you can't get it anymore. Just be careful how many ir booster you have, I had problems with mine double clicking seemed to be down to to meany ir booster.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I'll keep an eye out for that, thanks

[@GavinFolgert]

What are the IR blasters in the cabinet?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

They send IR control signals to the kit inside the cupboard, like the Freesat tuner, Apple TV, and AV receiver. It means that the doors to the cupboard can be left closed and the kit all kept hidden, but they can still be controlled.

[@wilson87j]

Git some good inspiration. Cool video. Fir your bathroom though look at shower humidity on the hime assistant community. Ive got the motuon sensor, but use a sensor made up from 2 humidty sensors. Ine in the bathroom and one in my bedroom to look for a change in humidity and thats turned into a binary sensor so when humidity is detected in the bathroom, it turns the fan on and light until the humidity is back to normal. It does make you feel like youre in the future! Although now a days a presence sensors probably better 😂

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I did try a humidity controlled fan but found that it would turn on at very inconvenient times. I’m sure things have improved since then so perhaps it’s worth another try thanks

[@wilson87j]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech mines been set up a few years now. I had false readings when only using one humidity sensor in the bathroom as you know the UK has a humid climate, but I did find something that compares the rise between 2 humidity sensors and that's been pretty solid!

[@wyx087]

Can you show us how you did the button? Which integration for your Bosch? I’m using Home Connect Alt integration (Home Assistant HACS) for my Neff dishwasher. I think Neff, Bosch are all using Home Connect. But I can’t figure out how to set the delays in HA.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It's a bit out of date now because the way you authorise the Home Connect Alt integration has changed, but I did show this in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmXEfoGsitOAiNU

[@wyx087]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech Brilliant. Got it working with help of your video. Thank you so much, I can now delete the Home connect app and use something via HA.

[@AndyKennedy]

I spent £600+on the IKEA thermal blinds and had nothing but issues with them too. Often they don't respond, they have strings in which get messed up a lot, some mornings I've come down and they've managed to tangle themselves up ABOVE the bar somehow! 🤦🏻‍♂️ If you still have issues, try delaying the blind commands on H assistant so one closes 10 seconds later or something, they seem to get confused when multiple commands sent at once I've noticed.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thanks for that tip, I'll give it a go. At the moment I have the two kitchen blinds grouped and control them as one, but I'll separate them out in the automations to see if it improves it.

[@ar-singh2080]

Great video! Learnt a lot. I want to make my upstairs landing light into a smart light so I can set a time schedule for it. What module would you recommend? It’s on a 2 way switch currently so a switch down stairs and a switch upstairs. Thanks for your help :)

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It really depends on what else you have in your Home Automation system - personally I use z-wave modules from either Aeotec or Fibaro. But they are more expensive than alternatives and require a dedicated z-wave controller (like a z-stick). If you have Zigbee then you can look at relay modules from Aqara. Or if you want to use Wifi then Shelly modules are probably some of the best quality around. But choosing a module aside from the wireless protocol you want also depends heavily on how your light circuit is wired. I actually started by drawing out each light circuit, the locations of the switches and the bulbs and which wire is connected where. That way I could figure out how to fit a module into the circuit based on the wiring diagrams for various types. Back when I originally specced mine up, in some places I could install volt-free modules (so the wall switches connect directly to the module only, no high voltage is sent down them) and in other places I needed 240v switch contacts. Most modules tend to support higher voltage switch contacts now, but you still need to double check all of the wiring diagrams and be certain you know what you're doing before wiring one up. I know from experience that if you get it wrong they make a nice popping sound.

[@ar-singh2080]

@ is Quinetic a good brand? I saw they do similar modules too

[@robb8954]

Thank you so much for the tour of your house, it was very fascinating. I loved the switchbot blind tilt motors. Are your blinds chain driven or wand? If they are chain driven, how have you managed to get the switch bot to operate them? Please, thank you.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

They’re chain driven but I converted them, see this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaatiYtpZZyJhaM

[@MartinHiggs84]

Nice, a mmwave sensor will know if someone is in the bath or not to keep lights on.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yup I could do with a few of those but they are all (?) mains powered so I’d need to divert power from somewhere to deal with that.

[@01mememememe]

very insight full, thanks

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TheRatty2e]

Love the home made energy alert, could you do a video on how you did it?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yup, it was one of my early ones. You can just use a regular RGB LED bulb if you want, but I obviously decided to make it more complicated! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGbclIhtn9-je9k

[@moonified4561]

no mmwave sensors for light control downstairs ? I am so used to not having to turn my lights on or off at all these days. Also, in the bathrooms, how come no humidity sensor to control the fans ?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

mmWave sensors are relatively new tech and I will eventually install them around the house. The problem is I have all of these existing PIR sensors from my alarm - if I can strip the alarm out and use the wiring to power mmWave sensors instead then I will, but I'm waiting for a few more options on the market first. It was only a couple of weeks ago at CES that a battery-powered mmWave sensor was launched, so I may try that out in the bathroom as a test. Humidity sensors in the bathrooms has also been tested but because the UK is a very humid place already they don't work reliably for fan control (lots of false positives!). I've found using timers, lights and motion sensors are more reliable.

[@moonified4561]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech for the humidity sensors, I use a derivative helper to track the rate of change, not the actual value, as you're right. Without that, the actual value can vary enormously during the year, making it impossible to set a baseline.

[@timothyfeilinger6806]

Great video. What button are you using for the dishwasher?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It’s an Ikea shortcut button

[@mikepayne6114]

Great tour, many thanks. Theres lots of great ideas in here. Can you point me towards your momentary loght switches? I've been looking for a while bit can't find a two momentary switches in a single UK faceplate

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

You have to buy it modular - you can get momentary / retractive switch modules and fit them in a faceplate. This isn't the one I used, I can't remember the brand, but it was similar to this: www.toolstation.com/click-mode-grid-module/p43236?store=OW&gStoreCode=OW&gQT=1

[@mikepayne6114]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech Awesome. Many thanks

[@SteveRobinson-r4j]

Great Video as usual, nice to see all your smart kit. What benefits do you get from the alarm being integrated into HA, have you done a video about it? Or know of one. I have done a search but not much comes up.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I haven't done one on the alarm at all really mainly because it's extremely niche, and also it's not a part I really wanted to divulge too much information on in public for security reasons! But, the main use is as motion sensors around the home.

[@SteveRobinson-r4j]

@ Thanks, yes that’s understandable, I’ll do a bit more research. Thanks for the quick reply.

[@JurassicJungle]

Interested to know what your base "phantom" load is with all of this gear.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Very good question :) I wondered the same thing - I monitor the whole of my server rack which uses 65-70 watts. Most of the other devices around the house are tricky to monitor but they tend to drawer almost nothing most of the time (probably 10 watts total from experimentation). I have a high baseload but it’s from the server rack and computer equipment rather than the various other gadgets scattered around. I am working on a whole home energy monitoring video but that’s probably a March release at the earliest

[@JurassicJungle]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech I was a beta customer for E.ON a few years back and we have Zwave sockets that we used for all appliances and a whole home meter. It was very interesting to see where power was used and what you could change. For us there were some surprises like a Tivo box we hardly used which used 70w most of the time. We got rid of devices like that. Our home is 100% electric so we do use a lot but I also have so many small devices it does add up.

[@samlawrence7435]

For all you ikea switches etc, do you use the ikea hub or run off the z-wave/zigbee usb dongles?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I connect them directly to my Conbee II stick. I do have an Ikea hub but it's powered off in my test gadgets box!

[@samlawrence7435]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech Are you able to control all of your devices hands-free with alexa aswell as the home assistant?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yes, for the specific devices that I have shared with Alexa from Home Assistant. I have specifically chosen not to share everything (for example, doors and locks are not shared!)

[@samlawrence7435]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech👍 Cool system dude

[@GilbertP57]

Hi there. Please can you tell me if the Switchbot K10+ is integrated into your HA. If so, how?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Sort of, yes, but I don't really use it. If you have a SwitchBot Hub that's Matter compatible then the K10+ can be shared with Home Assistant. But all you currently get is a simple on/off toggle switch. I think this is because Matter has only recently added vacuum support to the standard so the full features are still trickling out. Hopefully soon it'll be feature-rich and I'll make a video on that as soon as it is!

[@stephentraves4637]

Hi what temperature sensors do you have?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I mostly have these Aqara zigbee ones but they are currently unavailable for some reason. amzn.to/4jfReuG

[@simonlight1285]

Great video! Can you share details on the “push light switch” you mentioned ( 8:06 ). I have been trying to find something that “looks normal” but can act smart

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

The wall switch is just a double momentary wall switch plate, absolutely nothing smart about it at all and it looks pretty normal which was the intention. The switches are connected to a pair of Z-wave dimmer modules behind the blanking plate higher up the wall which in turn control either my wall lights or ceiling lights. The wall there is quite thin and there wasn't enough room to fit two z-wave modules behind the switch itself which is why I installed a box higher up on the wall out of normal line of sight.

[@simonlight1285]

@ wow okay! Were you able to just pick the momentary switch up from Screwfix et al or was there a specific manufacturer? This is what I have been after for a while but not able to track one down

[@rozowyrower1]

How do you connect the motion sensor to turn lights on /off please?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I use the automation that I demo in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/hoHYopKhfKecmbc

[@rozowyrower1]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech thank you

[@StHabibiJohnsonAhmedFranklin]

Came for tech, stayed for the norty torty!

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Haha that little pest gets everywhere :)

[@constructioneerful]

Be great to see a Give Energy ev chargers home assist integration special? Any sign of octopus tariff integrating with it?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I've already made one of those - this method is the one I still use to this day: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3PQo5RoeLySa7M but I think there might be a pre-made integration now that does the same thing. You can of course use GivTCP to control it locally but I haven't found that method particularly reliable myself although I do know others using it without issues. And no, there's no sign of Octopus adding it to IOG yet, but honestly with the extra hour now available on normal Octopus Go and its associated export rate equalling IOG there is very little difference between the two tariffs for most people. You'd save a little bit with IOG compared to OG but it's a couple of pounds a month rather than the tens of pounds it was previously.

[@Bigbad46]

Great video as usual. Out of interest why did you go for the separate batteries and inverters rather than just another 9.5 battery?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It wasn't a planned thing - the All-in-one was an early release installed for promotional reasons. Initially it totally replaced the older AC3, but I have since re-installed it to make the most of the capacity I have available.

[@noz3m]

Ive been running deconz II for a few years now, all works fine. Where are you upgrading to?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I currently use the Conbee II with zigbee2mqtt not deconz, but I plan to switch the Conbee II over to an SMLight controller still in zigbee2mqtt

[@Paulruk]

How are you finding the Reolink cameras, had 3 of them and 2 of them let in water within a year. Slowly replacing them in dahua which I’ve had a couple for 2 years without any issues. Also how much did your solar setup cost and have you worked out how long to pay it off? Had octopus quote me £8k and about 9 years to break even. Thanks

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

So far they seem to be great. I haven’t had them a year yet though so time will tell on that issue.

[@ChrisTaylor-nd2ek]

I love all the smart tech. Proper geeks home but I do find it absolutely baffling how you can have all that cool tech which must have cost £000's but still have a TV that really belongs in a museum. For a couple hundred £ now you can get a far better TV.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It’s very tempting to replace, but isn’t part of you curious as to just how long it will last? Purchased in 2008 and it was an old model then!

[@Richardincancale]

2:36 What’s the thing that looks like a plastic loudspeaker box just above the kitchen(?) door?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I had to go and look to find out! It’s the indoor siren for the old alarm system. All it does is bleep to warn you if the system is armed and you need to quickly enter the PIN to disarm it.

[@Richardincancale]

@ Thanks! Sorry to disturb your Saturday morning peace!

[@tarkadahl1985]

30:26 "hello daughter" 😂

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

We’re very formal in this household. She only ever refers to me as “father”

[@jamiehayes2124]

Hope your neighbours haven’t got a flipper 😂

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

What like a dolphin?

[@jamiehayes2124]

@ something like that but seriously I hope not. Someone could have a field day

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Ah the pen test tool

[@nickosullivan5456]

Can you clarify why ufh is so expensive when you have solar heat pump and battery. thought this would be cheaper with all your kit?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

The underfloor heating in the conservatory is a 1.5kW electric one and separate to the heat pump unfortunately.

[@nickosullivan5456]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech thanks moving house soon and was hoping to put ufh in. you have a lovely house don't think I will be doing my house on that scale .👍

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Thank you, that's very nice of you to say

[@UpsideDownFork]

Crikey! Whats your base load with all that stuff? Does it add up to any meaningful consumption?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Too much! That old alarm system on its own pulls about 30 watts and I would love to replace it at some point. My server rack in the garage draws 65-75 watts continuously too. The Echo and Sonos speakers pull about 50 watts total between them. It all adds up and means we have a high baseload but I consider that partially the price I pay for my hobby. As a consequence you are aware that I also use that hardware to try and minimise my energy consumption in many other places around the home so the net effect is less than it would be otherwise. Honestly, there's a lot more tech in the house than shown in this video, I just forgot / ran out of time!

[@PhilEdgarYoutube]

I’ll be honest, I found that to be really strange. It felt like a massive hodge podge with a mix of decent stuff and ten year old stuff. Almost all of the smart stuff was entirely pointless. But maybe I just didn’t get the joke.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

No joke, it’s a real mixture of stuff that’s grown over the years. I’m not going to chuck something that’s working perfectly just because it’s old. I think the point is you can but new stuff or use old stuff if you already have it and link it all together with Home Assistant.

[@3litepker]

Your setup looks quite clunky. Maybe I’m missing something here but the switchbot solution for your door lock looks like the most clunkiest solution I’ve seen for a door lock yet. Really curious as to what made you choose that over a fingerprint lock or face id type unlock. Also, what’s with the extra blanking plate when you could easily just use something like moes switch or any zigbee switch?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

SwitchBot provided the Lock Pro for review. It's a retrofit option and the size is because it takes regular AA batteries as a convenience. It's large, yes, no getting around that and you'll see me mention that if you go and watch the review for the product. It is a fingerprint lock (pad on the outside), but it's also crucially a manually operated lock with a key too. As for the blanking plate, the wall doesn't have the depth for any specialist wall switches which is why the modules are placed in a separate location. It was also important to me to make the house look as normal as possible and regular looking wall switches were part of that. Zigbee wasn't mature enough when I installed any of these modules, but the z-wave ones are rock solid.

[@janetmorris6792]

Never saw your home assist panel in the tour, I want a Home assist panel but have to go through all that programing gaff

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I don't have a panel as such, I've tried to keep as much of the tech as subtle as possible and a glowing control screen would stand out. You can shout at Alexa or Siri, or use the app on our phones to control things, or stuff just happens automagically. I might create a control panel, I have seen several examples of nice looking ones in other videos but nothing that makes me think it'll fit in nicely with my home. Apart from e-ink. I may be working on some e-ink ideas :)

[@roguebullet4220]

My dream, my wifes nightmare 😂

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

You've got to keep the tech hidden and ideally still operated totally manually when needed!

[@AlanS-uu5sy9vy8o]

Wow, you must have a very tolerant wife 🤔🤔

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I’ve just shown her this comment… she made no comment

[@M3Benn]

cameras in arms reach is such a no no.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yeah, two are out of arms reach. The one on the shed is vulnerable yeah, but that shed is going this year so I’ll have to come up with a better solution when that happens. Difficult to put the doorbell out of arms reach though cuz nobody can reach it then :)

[@mezza.7]

All this tech and then you have a TV like that????!!!

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yes I know I need a new TV!!!!! :)

[@brianrussell6988]

What does your wife think about all this tech?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I try to keep it as hidden as possible as you can hopefully see. But if it doesn't work it gets called Stupid and I know I've failed :)

[@darrenadams2640]

Those Energizer smart bulbs are rubbish. Several months after buying 3 of them, 2 of them now occasionally lose their Wifi connection on start-up and flash rapidly until you go through the setup again - not great when going to the bathroom half asleep in the middle of the night, actually a safety hazard. You really should upgrade your motion sensors to presence sensors which took over a couple of years back - nothing like having to wave your arms about to avoid darkness while still having a shave or sitting on the loo! Some of the tech is just spending money for the sake of it, e.g. warm up the shower from bed - I turn the shower on by hand and by the time I have taken my clothes off it is hot, no need to spend several hundreds on a digi shower! And you paid for all that kit to convert the keyfob operated garage door into a wireless button operated garage door - huh? Not sure why anyone would want to pay out to have the curtains auto close - its quicker and less hassle by hand (not having to deal with jams, etc) - maybe a useful security feature when you are away but again, not always reliable and costly to setup. Why do you need a smartlock, and what happens when it fails - does your house just end up open in the middle of the night or when you are away? Some of the door sensors sounding a warning beep and an alert are a great idea, and the good value scales that send all the health data look good. I like the normal light conversations to motion activated using the Zwave devices. Matter was supposed to reduce the poor compatibility and nonsense of needing loads of different hardware adaptors - doesn't look like its working yet with the amount of kit you have, just to do what should basically be in software. Even that Ikea kit still requires an expensive hub and a bridge just to do basic things, according to their website. Could you explain what benefits that extra board gave you in the alarm system as you didn't talk much about it?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

It sounds to me like smart homes aren’t for you then! If you have to ask why… you’ve already missed the point :)

[@darrenadams2640]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech Oh, I guess they were sponsored then and you don't know either. Nevertheless, thanks for taking the time to give the detailed response.

[@matt_ldn5441]

The things nightmare are made of. Would suggest getting a professional in to streamline and fix. Good attempt with the tinkering though.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Streamline and fix what?

[@Leeterry52]

Complains about the cost of running underfloor heating but spends 1000s on tech 😂😂

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Lol, valid point! The way I look at it is I can heat my whole home excluding the conservatory using my heat pump with 1500 watts average maximum, or I could heat just my conservatory with electric underfloor heating using the same power. Seems a bit of a waste :) Also, the 2kW convection heater which is totally not-smart actually heats the whole conservatory up in about 30 minutes if needed so despite being higher power, I don't need it on for anywhere near as long for short-term use of the room.

[@philipperostin]

As soon as I heard home assistant, I closed the video

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

And then reopened it to add a comment…

[@philipperostin]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech yup cause it is worth it to bs HA users