All right, let’s hear YOUR opinion… does my home automation go overboard? Is that even possible?! 🙃 How I set up the automations: smarthomesolver.com/reviews/insane-automations/
Great video! For my robot vacuums, I have an automation set up such that in any room/hallway, you can double click the primary light switch (flashed with ESPHome), and the vacuum will come clean that room. I also have smart switches near trash cans on both of my floors, and when you double click either of those switches, the vacuum will head over to the trash can to be emptied. (One day I'll get vacuums that empty themselves!)
I use SmartThings multi purpose sensors (incl. vibrations) on all windows and doors. On the doors it will ring my doorbell and activate doorbell features if people simply knock on the door. Intuitive and practical.
I guess it is never overboard 😄 Is it possible to create a trigger from the distance remaining between me and my home ? say my map is on and I am 'x' kilometres away from home and it triggers an automation at my home . Sorry lf it sounds stupid 😬
We're using NFC tags behind switches as well, but it's designed to bring up the documentation for that switch, so at a glance you can see: - a reminder of what that switch controls - under what circumstances the switch fails ("unavailable if ZigBee repeater on 1st floor is down", etc.) - how to get the desired action done if the switch does fail ("alternatively, press and hold XY switch") Approval Factor is pretty good!
I have a label on all my wall plates (they're two part, so it's hidden) with a breaker number on them. This makes it easy to determine which breaker I need to turn off to work on a given light switch. (When I do my outlets, I will do the same.) Something like this might be another good bit of information to store in your documentation!
i have a similar automation to turn on the lights when someone knocks at the door. it is better than motion sensor as it doesn't get triggered by everyone.
Reed I'm really enjoying this series where you show different home automation examples. I don't care how crazy they seem keep it up because all of them are great for getting my creative juices flowing!
My best vacuum hack is making an area called "movie night" which covers under and front of the sofa so when we take kids to sleep, Roomba takes care of the popcorn bits AND this made me think of programming Roomba not only for areas but also - scenarios. Makes perfect sense for us.
I have a routine similar to your "Kids Out Of Bed" one but when their room doors open any time after their normal bed time, it turns on our lights under our bed to gently get our attention in case we need to help. If you're in a deep sleep, you can maybe miss it but being the light sleeper I am, I rarely don't react and it's been incredibly convenient.
I have a simple shortcut called "Hodor" that locks the front door. Also when going to bed my wife likes the fan on and thunderstorm noises and would always tell me to "do the thing." Well now the bedroom Google *cough* Nest Mini listens for "Hey Google, do the thing." Many of my automation triggers are based around how to get that wonderful first time eye roll from the wife. "Hodor" was one of the best eye rolls yet.
I've done the wall switch NFC tag idea. I did it by cutting up a oversize NFC tag and using masking tape, but it works. I'll have to consider adding some more for guest mode and that kind of thing.
it's easier to connect your vacuum to your voice assistant and just say "Hey Google, clean the bathroom". Assuming you have a voice assistant. This is more practical because you don't need buttons in every room and you can even start cleaning a room no matter where you are. So you don't have to walk to the kitchen to start cleaning the kitchen 😎
most of these were pretty clever. the two that got me laughing the most were the two that involved the kids: "go to bed, the monsters are awake" and "i need help....go jump on daddy." LOL.
We have presence detectors under all of our beds. You can activate a special mode that gives some attention in the bedroom when the detector in the kid room triggers. It's for the special moments the parents may have during the night. From triggering to entering the bedroom is enough time to get everything child friendly. :)
I have to agree with the Roomba button because by the time I’ve said “Alexa, ask Roomba to vacuum the bathroom” I could have just swept it myself. These long drawn out conversations with smart devices is getting old. It’s the with my weather station. By the time I’m finished asking if it’s going to rain at my location it’s already raining. I also like the idea of the vibration sensors because they could possibly alert me when the washing machine is finished or starting a different cycle so I don’t need to stand over it waiting.
but you have to buy buttons for each room and you have to physically go into the room to start the cleaning. With a voice assistant you save money and don't have to get up 😂
@@VPSmartTech where are you when you see dirt in the bathroom? Already in the bathroom. Also the entire concept of Smart Homes is generally not to save money because Smart homes literally are: You pay more money to live a more comfortable life.
Vacuum was awesome, but, for me, the fun factor biased the practicality score for the the nfc tags and vibration sensors. Both seem to be more involved than my current automations.
The vitamins example would also be good for pets to not over feed them or for those caring for others who have to take tablets. It can be easy to forget if they've taken them, or if there's multiple people caring for them, making sure each other knows what they've done... this could definitely help that process.
apart from guiding the kid back to bed everything else is great automation and not taking too farrrrrr. I love the way you have shown the spouse approval rating which is the most important bit in any automation
I ended up getting rid of all the remotes with the CEC via HDMI that turns everything on from one remote control. I know some brands have issues with CEC, but I am lucky that all of my stuff is from the same brand so it works well. But the old hit the TV to make it work better - I can see the fun value in that.
It's not just in films 😁 One winter, a professor turned on a heater in the classroom. It's one of those old ones with the tubes. Only one of the tubes was working so the heating was minimal. A friend gave the heater a careful slap and one more tube came back to life! 😁 We were all thankful to him.
The NFC stuff would be great if it was possible to scan them without having to unlock the phone first. That is the only thing that prevents me from using more NFC tags for my automations. Because if I have to unlock the phone anyway I can open the device controls shortcut and select the stuff I want in there.
or maybe put that button inside the trunk, so it won't look to ugly on the dashboard. Everytime your wife opens the trunk and needs help, she can press that button.
I absolutely love this channel. I have gotten a lot of issues solved by watching it. I do wonder if there's an automation that'll keep the wife from complaining about the automations. 🤣 Also not one automation in this video has gone to far, they're perfect.
I would have a reminder to drink water first thing in the morning, take my vitamins, have my coffee start automatically and a reminder to eat my overnight oats...oh, morning music.
Not too far! I have an automation that when I "knock on wood" (the table next to my chair), some fairy lights twinkle in response. It's fun when someone who's never seen it before comes over :)
Not really an automation, but I have two cameras in a room that I want to make sure I know when they are active. So I have a plasma globe turned on when the cameras are on, and turned off when the cameras are off. It's a great way to see if I'm recording at a glance. Since that room is public, and the cameras are hidden, its pretty convenient.
Would love to see a weekly or monthly video edition of crazy automations that you and your subscribers from around the world do. Unique things that we can all use if we need to.
I use a landing automation to tell my daughter to go back to bed in the night, it makes her think about whether she should go out without scaring her, but mine isn't as fun as urs
As much as I love the idea of whacking the TV stand to start the media stuff, it’d never work in my house. Given said unit is also used for putting post down, or as a coffee table or an impromptu “just dump it here” surface, it’d probably trigger every few minutes!
I put my kids bed side lamps on Meros smart plug that provides watt usage, if the lamp power draw goes above 4w (small LED lights) it sends a notifcation to my Wife and I via the HA app, and the Google speaker in our office annouces which kid is up. Lets us know who is up and who we have to put back to bed haha.
With the price of switches being an issue why waste one just to vacuum a room? I see you have an Echo device there so a simple verbal "Vacuum bathroom #" would suffice. NFC tags are great but once again a bit too much when a simple voice command would work and there is no need to take your phone out. I use them for owner's manual and for sharing guest wi-fi. As for grocery assist it can be a bit tricky as you need to know if the spouse is coming home from grocery or just coming home. In our case we always say if we will be doing grocery so when arriving home, it's a known issue so notification that garage door opens is enough to know. I like what you did with the timing thing but would switch to using a camera in the garage along with a whole house notification "Come help with the groceries". What if its only one bag or the person doesn't need any assistance? How about using a button? Find a good placement and it will be up to the shopper to press the button that announces, "I need help in the garage"?
It's got some pretty great sleep tracking capabilities too, I watched a video of a guy who really knew his stuff testing it, and it had seriously impressive accuracy. If you're on a budget, I regularly see them in used/like new condition available for about $50 online
I have a wake alarm going based on when I went to bed. Been using that well over a year. Maybe even a couple years. Currently it looks to see if my phone is in the bedroom and charging. Pressure sensor does not work because my wife will roll to my side of the bed sometimes. The alarm turns off if my phone leaves the bedroom to another place for more then 10 minutes. I also have a (preemptive?) "snooze" alarm button I can hit to extend the sleep time when I can't get to sleep.
I’m seeking the ultimate theater automation but have no clue how to trigger: I want the lights to do when turning the tv on but completely go out when starting a show/movie, then come back up to dim when the credits roll
I like the NFC tags for Spotify on the Echos. I've been considering doing something similar. Spotify connect can be iffy on whether or not it wants to let me connect to an Echo group, but asking Alexa to start playing on that group always works. I've got an automation in Shortcuts now where I can just tap it and it automatically asks Alexa to start playing music on the appropriate group for where I am. By using NFC stickers to trigger it, I hope to mimic the AirPlay handoff from HomePods
Reed, I'm impressed with all the possibilities you're showing here! It's so much more than the standard light bulb and scenes stuff. I'm still pretty new to this stuff, so excuse my possibly silly question... But can a ConBee 2 handle all these extra buttons and sensors? Since I wouldn't need a gateway for every brand it would seem like a good solution, wouldn't it? Thank you!
Any recommendations to organize the automations and devices? Name patterns for instance, a video on how to keep everything under control would be great.
For the vitamins, would a force sensing resistor pad work for detecting when you pick up the vitamins? I think it would cool to detect when vitamins are taken without any user input. Could pair the sensor with a Fibaro Implant if one doesn't already exist
These are the kind of things that sound great in theory but fail spectacularly in practice. Just think the amount of times you move stuff in your cabinets while just trying to get something from them. Too error prone. Also, what happens when you finish a bottle and get a new one? Now you need a way to distinguish if you grabbed those by accident, for replacement or to give it to your kids. Sure, you can then use a scale instead of a FSR to figure out weight differences, but how far down the line are you willing to go? Sometimes simple is best.
@@areks4397 moving stuff in your cabinet will not affect it in any way 🤷 You just place the original pill dose inside something that has the contact sensor attached to it's lid. You can buy a new pill dose and replace the old one, without changing anything on your setup. When you do the replacement you already gave your kids their vitamins, so no problem here at all.
Reed, thanks for another great video. I love all those ideas, particularly using vibration sensors - you don’t need to have your phone on hand to read an NFC tag, and it’s an easy action to remember. But maybe I’d use the term “knock” as in knock on the cabinet, instead of “hit”. 😏
Knocking works too but it’s fun to hit things. It’s more of a node to all the times it’s used in movies/tv shows ruclips.net/video/insM7oUYNOE/видео.html
4:35: “Alexa, kids have gotten morning vitamins”. Then put a contact sensor on the cabinet with the vitamins. When it opens, Alexa announces “the kids have gotten their morning vitamins”. Reducing device usage as much as possible, to reduce error as much as possible.
sounds great, but how exactly do you know if you taking out a pan for cooking or putting it back in the drawer after cleaning? Both times you have to open the drawer which will then trigger the lights
@@VPSmartTech it’s def not perfect. Unfortunately the lights will turn on still. But either way, you’re in the kitchen so you’ll need lights. You can just turn em off with a button press on your way out
@@VPSmartTech because there are different lights for different tasks. I don’t want the lights I use for cooking to turn on whenever I walk into the room.
I find vibration sensors challenging. Inevitably things get hit by other things - your kids at the end is a great example, but our cats, our robot vacuum, even us accidentally when manually vacuuming. Asking for trouble!
The scare the kids automation does have a better use. My youngest has autism, having the flex announce in our bedroom that he’s up wandering would be super useful. I wish set up details where not vetoed
Thanks for making me start my journey of home automation. I was able to create a automation of “clean everywhere” using a tag but now with same tag i would like to send it home. Thanks in advance.
I have an nfc tag automation that turns speakers up and plays Rick astley to Rick roll guests. It’s hidden in a spot I can easily hit when folks aren’t paying attention.
Trigger: 730 &745 everyday, Conditions: google cal says "WORK" today, weather temp below 10c, Action: Start FordPass Vehicle Starter Trigger: front door opens, Conditions: Fordpass Location is HOME, Remote Starter is Running or has not been off for over 10 minutes, Trigger: Unlock Fordpass Doors
One of my automations uses a button mounted above the hot water pot that will after 4 minutes pause either the dish hopper or FireTV stick if they are running and tell me my tea is ready, then resume the program. If it’s later at night it instead sends a message to my iPad and iPhone so I don’t wake the wife if she has gone to bed. Another tracks the current level of ink in our 3 printers and alerts when I need to order a cartridge, I can select ordered from the actionable message and I am no longer messaged. It resets after the cartridge has been replaced. The fun part of automation is finding what you can make it do. WAF is a huge factor.
I already had the idea and was planning to add hidden NFC tags in lieu of smart switches. Besides the expense and bother of switching out switches for smart switches, I rent in an older building and I don’t believe there are grounding wires everywhere, which means that many of them wouldn’t work anyway. Thanks for confirming that it’s a good idea! I sometimes have the same issue with bedtime. I may have to explore your solution at some point. I like how you involve your wife and kids with the jokes. If you keep it up I may even be able to get my wife to watch your videos with me on shared watch time, so I don’t have to carve out the time separately and get more of them watched! Haha (Edited to remove extra paragraph spacing.)
Off Topic … Your garage is huge. I live in the Atlanta area, and around here, two-car garages accommodate two cars … and essentially nothing else. In fact, when two cars are in the garage at the same time, opening car doors is difficult. It’s helpful if your car has a sunroof so you can climb out that way.
I'm working on laundry notifications. When my laundry is done I always forget to take it out. I need something that will send notification on my phone. I want to use smart power outlet with power consumption meter (my firend did that to check if his son was on remote lessons during lockdown, or play games - more power consumption = games).
For the NFC thing you could build a frame, draw 3-4 phone shaped black boxes, put them in there, write what they do above them and then hang it up. Could look really nice, imo.. sorta a hacky switch
I think it'd be cool to be able to just like walk into the room and knock on the door frame to turn on all the lights and then to knock twice if I want to put my living room into Media mode. Would be a cooler alternative for motion sensors. Are you able to set the motion sensors to detect whether or not they've been knocked twice or three times?
Normally the vibration sensors just detect vibration and not a number of knocks. There could be one out there that does it but I think it takes the sensor a few seconds to reset to no vibration again so it might be kind of difficult to detect multiple knocks. You could do that with buttons though using multiple types of presses.
The sleep thing should be easier with just a little programm on your phone. Could be something like "have not touched your phone for 6h between 22:00 and 06:00 he is sleeping" Set the alarm to the appropriate time" or something like that But the sensor is awesome for the get out of bed motivation with kids :D
All right, let’s hear YOUR opinion… does my home automation go overboard? Is that even possible?! 🙃
How I set up the automations: smarthomesolver.com/reviews/insane-automations/
Never thought about the possibility to just hit/slap something to start an automation. This opens a new world for me :D
Great video! For my robot vacuums, I have an automation set up such that in any room/hallway, you can double click the primary light switch (flashed with ESPHome), and the vacuum will come clean that room. I also have smart switches near trash cans on both of my floors, and when you double click either of those switches, the vacuum will head over to the trash can to be emptied. (One day I'll get vacuums that empty themselves!)
@@adarlington I actually have the same, only with separate light switches/buttons for these functions.
I use SmartThings multi purpose sensors (incl. vibrations) on all windows and doors. On the doors it will ring my doorbell and activate doorbell features if people simply knock on the door. Intuitive and practical.
I guess it is never overboard 😄 Is it possible to create a trigger from the distance remaining between me and my home ? say my map is on and I am 'x' kilometres away from home and it triggers an automation at my home . Sorry lf it sounds stupid 😬
We're using NFC tags behind switches as well, but it's designed to bring up the documentation for that switch, so at a glance you can see:
- a reminder of what that switch controls
- under what circumstances the switch fails ("unavailable if ZigBee repeater on 1st floor is down", etc.)
- how to get the desired action done if the switch does fail ("alternatively, press and hold XY switch")
Approval Factor is pretty good!
This is better than most companies run their networks
Wow that’s extremely useful! I could improve my documentation and that could be a fun way to do it!
Amazing!
I have a label on all my wall plates (they're two part, so it's hidden) with a breaker number on them. This makes it easy to determine which breaker I need to turn off to work on a given light switch. (When I do my outlets, I will do the same.) Something like this might be another good bit of information to store in your documentation!
That's actually really cool, we should definitely use those!
i have a similar automation to turn on the lights when someone knocks at the door. it is better than motion sensor as it doesn't get triggered by everyone.
That’s a good idea!
I've got the same. Vibration sensor on the back of the door.
And opening and closing the door doesn’t set it off?
Guess you don't have a video door bell! lol
@@morells09 it does but I want that. Like when I open the door lights turn on and then when I lock the door manually the lights turn off.
Reed I'm really enjoying this series where you show different home automation examples. I don't care how crazy they seem keep it up because all of them are great for getting my creative juices flowing!
Glad to hear! Thanks!
LOVE The robot vacuum specific room cleaning button idea! It’s so incredibly practical!
My best vacuum hack is making an area called "movie night" which covers under and front of the sofa so when we take kids to sleep, Roomba takes care of the popcorn bits AND this made me think of programming Roomba not only for areas but also - scenarios. Makes perfect sense for us.
I like it!
I have a routine similar to your "Kids Out Of Bed" one but when their room doors open any time after their normal bed time, it turns on our lights under our bed to gently get our attention in case we need to help. If you're in a deep sleep, you can maybe miss it but being the light sleeper I am, I rarely don't react and it's been incredibly convenient.
I have mine google a list of excuses why mommys naked so im always prepared for when the children come our way!
You should do a day in the life showing all you automations that you use
That would be a fun video! Thanks for the suggestion!
@@SmartHomeSolver did you do it?
Imagine banging a random part of a table and a gun shelf opens up
😀
To get up, i have a cat, smart bulbs mimicking natural sunrise, and alarms.
"Kids, I need some help, go jump on dad and wake him up." That one cracked me up!
"Alexa, Clean (or vacuum) the bathroom" problem solved. It's consistent with how we control the smart vac for the rest of the house.
I have a simple shortcut called "Hodor" that locks the front door. Also when going to bed my wife likes the fan on and thunderstorm noises and would always tell me to "do the thing." Well now the bedroom Google *cough* Nest Mini listens for "Hey Google, do the thing." Many of my automation triggers are based around how to get that wonderful first time eye roll from the wife. "Hodor" was one of the best eye rolls yet.
The Flex whispering at the kids had me 😂
The Echo Flex whispering the monsters are awake, made me literally laugh out loud 😂
Are the kids the monsters who are awake? 🤔
@@VPSmartTech now I'm not sure anymore 😂. At first I just thought it was something to scare his daughter back to her room. Maybe even both
It’s just to scare them, no double meaning. Maybe more like angry parent getting woken up in the middle of the night could be a monster.
The first automation is genius! I'm going to set this up right away!
Edit: The watch list reminder automation.
The scare the kids back to bed was amazing
I've done the wall switch NFC tag idea. I did it by cutting up a oversize NFC tag and using masking tape, but it works. I'll have to consider adding some more for guest mode and that kind of thing.
It' almos lik i yo coul actuall spel an punctuat properl thi scam migh b believabl..
Love your automaton ideas bro, sometimes you inspire me and give me ideas, so thank you
yes, automations are the best thing in a smart home and sharing automation ideas on the internet is amazing 😊👍
That vacuum button is insane. I really hope i remember to implement this when i get my HA lol
it's easier to connect your vacuum to your voice assistant and just say "Hey Google, clean the bathroom". Assuming you have a voice assistant. This is more practical because you don't need buttons in every room and you can even start cleaning a room no matter where you are. So you don't have to walk to the kitchen to start cleaning the kitchen 😎
most of these were pretty clever. the two that got me laughing the most were the two that involved the kids: "go to bed, the monsters are awake"
and "i need help....go jump on daddy." LOL.
We have presence detectors under all of our beds. You can activate a special mode that gives some attention in the bedroom when the detector in the kid room triggers. It's for the special moments the parents may have during the night. From triggering to entering the bedroom is enough time to get everything child friendly. :)
NFC tag in the light switch... the only thing I can think of is quagmire mode for when you get home after a date. Lmao 🤣
I have to agree with the Roomba button because by the time I’ve said “Alexa, ask Roomba to vacuum the bathroom” I could have just swept it myself. These long drawn out conversations with smart devices is getting old. It’s the with my weather station. By the time I’m finished asking if it’s going to rain at my location it’s already raining. I also like the idea of the vibration sensors because they could possibly alert me when the washing machine is finished or starting a different cycle so I don’t need to stand over it waiting.
but you have to buy buttons for each room and you have to physically go into the room to start the cleaning. With a voice assistant you save money and don't have to get up 😂
@@VPSmartTech buttons are cheaper.
@@VPSmartTech where are you when you see dirt in the bathroom? Already in the bathroom.
Also the entire concept of Smart Homes is generally not to save money because Smart homes literally are: You pay more money to live a more comfortable life.
@@thenamen935 I am in the bathroom room and that's why I tell my Smart Speaker in the bathroom to clean it 😀
Vacuum was awesome, but, for me, the fun factor biased the practicality score for the the nfc tags and vibration sensors. Both seem to be more involved than my current automations.
The vitamins example would also be good for pets to not over feed them or for those caring for others who have to take tablets. It can be easy to forget if they've taken them, or if there's multiple people caring for them, making sure each other knows what they've done... this could definitely help that process.
apart from guiding the kid back to bed everything else is great automation and not taking too farrrrrr. I love the way you have shown the spouse approval rating which is the most important bit in any automation
I think the NFC tag idea is genius!
I ended up getting rid of all the remotes with the CEC via HDMI that turns everything on from one remote control. I know some brands have issues with CEC, but I am lucky that all of my stuff is from the same brand so it works well. But the old hit the TV to make it work better - I can see the fun value in that.
For the vitamin reminder/counter button, maybe better application will be with an NFC tag below the container?
'Spouse' approval went down on the NFC idea as it meant having her phone to hand. He said that in the video.
It's not just in films 😁 One winter, a professor turned on a heater in the classroom. It's one of those old ones with the tubes. Only one of the tubes was working so the heating was minimal. A friend gave the heater a careful slap and one more tube came back to life! 😁 We were all thankful to him.
Wow, this is my favorite automation video yet. I need to get some of these setup, awesome!
Thanks Ethan! Yes set some of these up and I’m always down to help!
Just like Fonzie hitting the Jukebox to get it to play. I like it!
The NFC stuff would be great if it was possible to scan them without having to unlock the phone first. That is the only thing that prevents me from using more NFC tags for my automations. Because if I have to unlock the phone anyway I can open the device controls shortcut and select the stuff I want in there.
Great Video…. Never thought about putting nfc tags under light plates. Going to start doing that. :)
Glad to hear you like the idea!
...Did you already get all of the groceries..? 🤣 too real
We can have all the automations but it takes a human to put them to good use. Loved it , Pushing things too far is how innovation takes place.
The vitamins should be placed on some king of a button, so the vitramins action activates when you pick it up :D
Give your wife a button that she can press on the dashboard when she pulls into the garage to summon you to help with the groceries.
or maybe put that button inside the trunk, so it won't look to ugly on the dashboard. Everytime your wife opens the trunk and needs help, she can press that button.
the point is to help the spouse not add the burden of beckoning the husband.
Now I want to get a old school Jukebox, mount a vibration sensor and do a Fonzie impression every time I want to play some music
I absolutely love this channel. I have gotten a lot of issues solved by watching it. I do wonder if there's an automation that'll keep the wife from complaining about the automations. 🤣 Also not one automation in this video has gone to far, they're perfect.
I would have a reminder to drink water first thing in the morning, take my vitamins, have my coffee start automatically and a reminder to eat my overnight oats...oh, morning music.
Not too far! I have an automation that when I "knock on wood" (the table next to my chair), some fairy lights twinkle in response. It's fun when someone who's never seen it before comes over :)
Awesome! Those fun automations can be the best!
Not really an automation, but I have two cameras in a room that I want to make sure I know when they are active. So I have a plasma globe turned on when the cameras are on, and turned off when the cameras are off. It's a great way to see if I'm recording at a glance. Since that room is public, and the cameras are hidden, its pretty convenient.
cool 👏
Your wife nailed the scary whispers lol.
Your wife did the whispering but she also turned it off. 🤣🤣🤣
Love these ideas, especially the one that scares the kids to go back to their room! My wife would hate me hahaha
You should have an automation where if you hit your media cabinet, it yells ‘ stop hitting me’
😀
Would love to see a weekly or monthly video edition of crazy automations that you and your subscribers from around the world do. Unique things that we can all use if we need to.
I use a landing automation to tell my daughter to go back to bed in the night, it makes her think about whether she should go out without scaring her, but mine isn't as fun as urs
As much as I love the idea of whacking the TV stand to start the media stuff, it’d never work in my house. Given said unit is also used for putting post down, or as a coffee table or an impromptu “just dump it here” surface, it’d probably trigger every few minutes!
I put my kids bed side lamps on Meros smart plug that provides watt usage, if the lamp power draw goes above 4w (small LED lights) it sends a notifcation to my Wife and I via the HA app, and the Google speaker in our office annouces which kid is up. Lets us know who is up and who we have to put back to bed haha.
I love it!
With the price of switches being an issue why waste one just to vacuum a room? I see you have an Echo device there so a simple verbal "Vacuum bathroom #" would suffice.
NFC tags are great but once again a bit too much when a simple voice command would work and there is no need to take your phone out. I use them for owner's manual and for sharing guest wi-fi.
As for grocery assist it can be a bit tricky as you need to know if the spouse is coming home from grocery or just coming home. In our case we always say if we will be doing grocery so when arriving home, it's a known issue so notification that garage door opens is enough to know. I like what you did with the timing thing but would switch to using a camera in the garage along with a whole house notification "Come help with the groceries". What if its only one bag or the person doesn't need any assistance? How about using a button? Find a good placement and it will be up to the shopper to press the button that announces, "I need help in the garage"?
i never knew there is a pressure sensitive device you can put under the mattress, thanks
It's got some pretty great sleep tracking capabilities too, I watched a video of a guy who really knew his stuff testing it, and it had seriously impressive accuracy. If you're on a budget, I regularly see them in used/like new condition available for about $50 online
I have a wake alarm going based on when I went to bed. Been using that well over a year. Maybe even a couple years. Currently it looks to see if my phone is in the bedroom and charging. Pressure sensor does not work because my wife will roll to my side of the bed sometimes. The alarm turns off if my phone leaves the bedroom to another place for more then 10 minutes. I also have a (preemptive?) "snooze" alarm button I can hit to extend the sleep time when I can't get to sleep.
Scare kids back to bed can be used to implement on an alarm system with a scary message!
I’m seeking the ultimate theater automation but have no clue how to trigger: I want the lights to do when turning the tv on but completely go out when starting a show/movie, then come back up to dim when the credits roll
I dig the first one. And good call on Ted Lasso. Brilliant show.
Great video. Backfire proof automations are tricky!! I miss Luna!
I like the NFC tags for Spotify on the Echos. I've been considering doing something similar. Spotify connect can be iffy on whether or not it wants to let me connect to an Echo group, but asking Alexa to start playing on that group always works. I've got an automation in Shortcuts now where I can just tap it and it automatically asks Alexa to start playing music on the appropriate group for where I am. By using NFC stickers to trigger it, I hope to mimic the AirPlay handoff from HomePods
Expectation: something is automated
Reality: you need to press the button every time
'percussive maintenance', nice lol 😁
Reed, I'm impressed with all the possibilities you're showing here! It's so much more than the standard light bulb and scenes stuff. I'm still pretty new to this stuff, so excuse my possibly silly question... But can a ConBee 2 handle all these extra buttons and sensors? Since I wouldn't need a gateway for every brand it would seem like a good solution, wouldn't it? Thank you!
I like the Fonzi style media center activation feature. Something I should add to my setup.
this dude is fully automated. like he has everything.
Any recommendations to organize the automations and devices?
Name patterns for instance, a video on how to keep everything under control would be great.
For the vitamins, would a force sensing resistor pad work for detecting when you pick up the vitamins? I think it would cool to detect when vitamins are taken without any user input. Could pair the sensor with a Fibaro Implant if one doesn't already exist
That would be pretty sweet. I need to look into those more.
That would be awesome!
or a contact sensor mounted to the lid of the vitamins box, so every time you remove the lid, it will be noticed by your smart home 🙂
These are the kind of things that sound great in theory but fail spectacularly in practice. Just think the amount of times you move stuff in your cabinets while just trying to get something from them. Too error prone. Also, what happens when you finish a bottle and get a new one? Now you need a way to distinguish if you grabbed those by accident, for replacement or to give it to your kids. Sure, you can then use a scale instead of a FSR to figure out weight differences, but how far down the line are you willing to go? Sometimes simple is best.
@@areks4397 moving stuff in your cabinet will not affect it in any way 🤷 You just place the original pill dose inside something that has the contact sensor attached to it's lid. You can buy a new pill dose and replace the old one, without changing anything on your setup. When you do the replacement you already gave your kids their vitamins, so no problem here at all.
I really like the alarm timing thing a lot.
Cool automations, I love the Ferris Bueller quote!
Reed, thanks for another great video. I love all those ideas, particularly using vibration sensors - you don’t need to have your phone on hand to read an NFC tag, and it’s an easy action to remember. But maybe I’d use the term “knock” as in knock on the cabinet, instead of “hit”. 😏
Knocking works too but it’s fun to hit things. It’s more of a node to all the times it’s used in movies/tv shows ruclips.net/video/insM7oUYNOE/видео.html
That pressure sensor is genius! I'm gonna look for it immediately!
Dynamic alarm clock is really good idea!
4:35: “Alexa, kids have gotten morning vitamins”. Then put a contact sensor on the cabinet with the vitamins. When it opens, Alexa announces “the kids have gotten their morning vitamins”. Reducing device usage as much as possible, to reduce error as much as possible.
I do this for my kitchen cabinet with the pots and pans to turn the lights on. If you’re getting a pot out, your obviously cooking and needs lights.
sounds great, but how exactly do you know if you taking out a pan for cooking or putting it back in the drawer after cleaning? Both times you have to open the drawer which will then trigger the lights
@@VPSmartTech it’s def not perfect. Unfortunately the lights will turn on still. But either way, you’re in the kitchen so you’ll need lights. You can just turn em off with a button press on your way out
@@RhinoNigel if you always need lights in the kitchen, why not using a motion sensor to turn them on and off automatically?
@@VPSmartTech because there are different lights for different tasks. I don’t want the lights I use for cooking to turn on whenever I walk into the room.
@@RhinoNigel ok, makes sense 👌
I find vibration sensors challenging. Inevitably things get hit by other things - your kids at the end is a great example, but our cats, our robot vacuum, even us accidentally when manually vacuuming. Asking for trouble!
yes, I also think a button is more practical without that much of false positives.
The scare the kids automation does have a better use. My youngest has autism, having the flex announce in our bedroom that he’s up wandering would be super useful. I wish set up details where not vetoed
One of your best video's, make me smile all the way trough.
Wow that makes me really happy to hear! Thank you for the kind words!
Thanks for making me start my journey of home automation. I was able to create a automation of “clean everywhere” using a tag but now with same tag i would like to send it home. Thanks in advance.
Haha 😂. Luv it. That’s seriously the best idea I’ve heard of, hitting the tv cabinet.
As always super video👍🏼
just great to see how your family is participating. Adds a lot of fun 👌🏼😁
I have an nfc tag automation that turns speakers up and plays Rick astley to Rick roll guests. It’s hidden in a spot I can easily hit when folks aren’t paying attention.
Trigger: 730 &745 everyday, Conditions: google cal says "WORK" today, weather temp below 10c, Action: Start FordPass Vehicle Starter
Trigger: front door opens, Conditions: Fordpass Location is HOME, Remote Starter is Running or has not been off for over 10 minutes, Trigger: Unlock Fordpass Doors
Well, now you need a jukebox so you can be The Fonz and hit it to make it play.
😃👍
One of my automations uses a button mounted above the hot water pot that will after 4 minutes pause either the dish hopper or FireTV stick if they are running and tell me my tea is ready, then resume the program. If it’s later at night it instead sends a message to my iPad and iPhone so I don’t wake the wife if she has gone to bed. Another tracks the current level of ink in our 3 printers and alerts when I need to order a cartridge, I can select ordered from the actionable message and I am no longer messaged. It resets after the cartridge has been replaced. The fun part of automation is finding what you can make it do. WAF is a huge factor.
Wow those are really good ones!
I already had the idea and was planning to add hidden NFC tags in lieu of smart switches. Besides the expense and bother of switching out switches for smart switches, I rent in an older building and I don’t believe there are grounding wires everywhere, which means that many of them wouldn’t work anyway. Thanks for confirming that it’s a good idea!
I sometimes have the same issue with bedtime. I may have to explore your solution at some point.
I like how you involve your wife and kids with the jokes. If you keep it up I may even be able to get my wife to watch your videos with me on shared watch time, so I don’t have to carve out the time separately and get more of them watched! Haha
(Edited to remove extra paragraph spacing.)
Off Topic … Your garage is huge. I live in the Atlanta area, and around here, two-car garages accommodate two cars … and essentially nothing else. In fact, when two cars are in the garage at the same time, opening car doors is difficult. It’s helpful if your car has a sunroof so you can climb out that way.
I'm working on laundry notifications. When my laundry is done I always forget to take it out. I need something that will send notification on my phone. I want to use smart power outlet with power consumption meter (my firend did that to check if his son was on remote lessons during lockdown, or play games - more power consumption = games).
This is what I am doing with my washing machine. It's working great and one of my favorite automations.
Another Saturday, another smart home solve video!! Love the vids, keep it up ;)
Thanks Jacob! Will do!
For the NFC thing you could build a frame, draw 3-4 phone shaped black boxes, put them in there, write what they do above them and then hang it up. Could look really nice, imo.. sorta a hacky switch
These are generally great idea, you’ll have a yield to them, but they. Are entertaining at a minimum, awesome unique idea for some! Keep them coming!
I'd have the hallway speak let out screetching screams and scary monster sounds... i'd damaging my kids big time... mwahahahaha.
🤣
is there a way to randomize a timer in HA to turn some lights on at various times outside at night, but not always at like 3am?
I think it'd be cool to be able to just like walk into the room and knock on the door frame to turn on all the lights and then to knock twice if I want to put my living room into Media mode. Would be a cooler alternative for motion sensors.
Are you able to set the motion sensors to detect whether or not they've been knocked twice or three times?
Lol. Kinda like the clapper?
@@jamesbizs yeah
Normally the vibration sensors just detect vibration and not a number of knocks. There could be one out there that does it but I think it takes the sensor a few seconds to reset to no vibration again so it might be kind of difficult to detect multiple knocks. You could do that with buttons though using multiple types of presses.
@@SmartHomeSolver maybe a sound sensor?(cheap mic)
@@zsoltpeterdaniel8413 yeah agreed. A contact microphone seems like a reasonable choice.
Definitely not taking it too far, clever clever...lol
My kid had a stomach ache. Let's scrare them to not ask mom and dad for a pill. Really good 10/10.
The sleep thing should be easier with just a little programm on your phone. Could be something like "have not touched your phone for 6h between 22:00 and 06:00 he is sleeping" Set the alarm to the appropriate time" or something like that
But the sensor is awesome for the get out of bed motivation with kids :D
Media Center Vibration Sensor idea is awesome fun!!!
I need a Fonz way of making things work! Will def try that one!
Improvement suggestion regarding the vitamins: put a the vitamins bottle with NFC tag on top of a NFC reader In the cabinet
I love your videos with automation ideas, no matter how crazy they might be 😄😄😄👏👏👏