Black Friday planning thread.

Stoner

Have we started one already?
There was a good one last year.

I'm looking at hue gu10s and a few taps?

bk

- 2 x Hue GU10's (need to think about White Ambiance or Colour based on the recent Halloween fun!)
- 1 more Hue Motion Sensor
- 1 more Hue Wireless Switch
- Google Home Mini

I'll keep an eye on, but if the price is right:
- Nest Protect
- Logitech Circle Cameras
- Netatmo Smart TRV's (don't really need them, but you know!).

Nothing really major left to get. Mostly I'm waiting on the Xiaomi gear to arrive to play with.

Stoner

I'm seriously thinking of the Echo Plus. Haven't read into them.
It has an audio out I'd pop one on my amp and get rid of the hue hub.

There's something we'd all spend money on, a single device

Will we talk about the Onhub again Back

IEEE 802.11ac/n/a 5GHz Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Bluetooth® Smart Ready 802.15.4 ready
Google Weave ready, 2.4Ghz zigbee and Bluetooth.


Anyway the Echo Plus with audio out and a zigbee antenna, you'd use one too BK right?

THE ALM

Looking at the Echo Plus as well for the built in hub. Early reviews not great and seems to be limited with the commands available and app functionality, I expect this to improve with updates mind you.

Also looking to add a few more Hive bulbs, sensors and plugs.

Some of the Xioami Aqara gear although don't expect to see major changes on price as it tends to go up a bit before coming down again for Black Friday.

The Ring Floodlight Cam is there was a good deal going could be on the list.

bk

Stoner wrote: »

Anyway the Echo Plus with audio out and a zigbee antenna, you'd use one too BK right?

I already have an Echo. Though I think I'm going to go all in on GHome. The Echo is currently in the bedroom, plan is to replace with a GHome Mini and move it into the kids room.

I'm not sure what I'd use the zigbee radio in it for. I already have Zigbee in the Hue Hub and the Xiaomi hub when it arrives. I suspect the next project is to set up Home Assistant to interface with those, maybe get a zigbee/zwave dongle for that. But that is for the future, not Black Friday.

SachaJ

I’m done as far as Hue bulbs. Bought 18 of them in the last few weeks during the 3 for 2 offers, all E27s.

If the Nest Protects are back down to £79 I’ll buy a few. Maybe try the Hue motion sensors and maybe something z-wave to play with on Homeseer. Maybe a Google Home.....

Stoner

bk wrote:

I'm not sure what I'd use the zigbee radio in it for. I already have Zigbee in the Hue Hub and the Xiaomi hub when it arrives. I suspect the next project is to set up Home Assistant to interface with those, maybe get a zigbee/zwave dongle for that. But that is for the future, not Black Friday.

Well if I get one I can ditch the hue and smart things hub, possibly the xiaomi too.

bk

Stoner wrote: »

Well if I get one I can ditch the hue and smart things hub, possibly the xiaomi too.

I'm of the opinion that you will then end up with a much worse experience.

The problem is that you will then lose support of the Hue Apps and API and ecosystem and I figure integration with IFTTT, GHome, etc. and then basically locked into Amazons inferior app.

That is the problem with the idea of these all in one hubs. They are usually far inferior compared to the original companies app and ecosystem.

Which is why I'm thinking of going with Home Assistant which builds on top of all the existing hubs, rather then trying to replace them.

But if you want to go for it, give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Stoner

bk wrote:

Which is why I'm thinking of going with Home Assistant which builds on top of all the existing hubs, rather then trying to replace them.

Echo Plus won't be there yet

Five or six hubs does not make sense either though.

SachaJ

Stoner wrote: »

Echo Plus won't be there yet

Five or six hubs does not make sense either though.

Stupid question maybe, but why does it not make sense? I’m thinking along the same lines of HomeSeer was the controller of multiple separate ecosystems. The number of hubs doesn’t bother me in the slightest as they will all be in the equipment rack.

SemperFidelis

Google Home
Home mini
Fridge
Netatmo Weather station
few nest protects

bk

Stoner wrote: »

Echo Plus won't be there yet

Five or six hubs does not make sense either though.

Like SachaJ, once setup I never touch them again, hidden away with a load of other equipment in the study/server room.

Compared to the massive server, NAS's and AV gear I've in their (plus boxes and boxes of cables), a few hubs aren't even noticeable.

I get that people living in a very small apartment (I live in an apartment and still have plenty of space for them) might benefit, but I really don't think it is worth worrying about for most people. I don't think the trade off is worth it, not at the moment anyway, it might change in future.

beanian

SemperFidelis wrote: »

Netatmo Weather station

What purpose does this serve? The geek in me wants one I just cant figure out what i'd use it for

SemperFidelis

I'm mostly interested in it for indoor air quality monitoring (CO2, temp, humidity). We had a lot of mould when we moved in and while its a lot better now (with mechanical ventilation) I'd like to be able to monitor.

I will hopefully be able to set up a smart switch/relay to boost the ventilation if the indoor air quality drops below healthy levels.

TitianGerm

My list for the coming months

Hue strip,
Hue white ambience bulbs,
2x Hue Sensors,
Amazon Cam,
Echo Spot,
Nest Thermostat (coming from Electric Ireland)
Best Protect (for the living room where we have a stove)

I'm not sure if I need much else

Stoner

What do you think I do with all my hubs so!

Obviously one device if it can operate correctly is the way to go.

What engineer in there right mind would want four or five hubs like me if one could do the same job!!

PreparationH

/waves to all... long time reader/first time poster.

Small enough black friday list for me...

• 4x HiGrow ESP32 Wi-Fi sticks
• SQUIX latest touch screen weather station
• After that it's a whole bunch of "bits", A/D converters, wind gauge for my environment monitor project etc...
• Some kind of decent "third hand" for soldering and maybe even a new soldering iron (any tips?)

I've got a lot of programming to learn now too (never my strong point) MQTT for ESP8266 and ESP32 using an RPi as a broker. If I could only find the time!

I've bought Rui Santo's ESP8266 Home automation book so I hope my coding will improve!

kenmc

PreparationH wrote: »

[*]Some kind of decent "third hand" for soldering and maybe even a new soldering iron (any tips?)

I got this one https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/48w-mains-solder-station-n34fb a couple of xmas's ago, does me fine for what i use it for. Replacement tips are cheap and easy to get. Don't think it was that expensive when i asked for it though

Re that HiGrow wifi thing, how long is it supposed to last with that battery? I'd be sceptical of any sort of battery life.

copacetic

bk wrote: »

I already have an Echo. Though I think I'm going to go all in on GHome. The Echo is currently in the bedroom, plan is to replace with a GHome Mini and move it into the kids room.

I'm not sure what I'd use the zigbee radio in it for. I already have Zigbee in the Hue Hub and the Xiaomi hub when it arrives. I suspect the next project is to set up Home Assistant to interface with those, maybe get a zigbee/zwave dongle for that. But that is for the future, not Black Friday.

i've the little echo that i've not setup yet, apparently google available on my sony TV now, so going to give it a try..

I have piles of GU10 from Osram, work well, although integration between them and philips is ropey.

bk

Stoner wrote: »

What engineer in there right mind would want four or five hubs like me if one could do the same job!!

It is unfortunately the "if" in that statement that is the issue. While at the basic level they might do the same (turn on/off lights) these all in one hubs seem to offer far less functionality then going with separate hub and official apps.

As an example, with the Echo Plus, you can pair Hue lights with it. But you can't pair the Hue motion sensors or dimmer switch, so those become useless. And it won't work with the Hue app and all it's scenes and automations it suspports. And it won't work with IFTTT, Yonomi, Stringify or Google Home.

That seems like a lot to give up just to get rid of one hub if you have the space.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree with you in ideal world. I'm just not sure it we will ever get to this ideal. It will always be a trade off IMO.

PreparationH

kenmc wrote: »

I got this one https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/48w-mains-solder-station-n34fb a couple of xmas's ago, does me fine for what i use it for. Replacement tips are cheap and easy to get. Don't think it was that expensive when i asked for it though

Re that HiGrow wifi thing, how long is it supposed to last with that battery? I'd be sceptical of any sort of battery life.

Cheers for that, that's a nice looking iron!

Right now I'm only starting with the ESP32 but I'm interested to see what the Ultra Low power co-processor's (ULP) needs are. The block diagram for the chip is below:





From what I can see the ULP consumes 0.15ma in deep sleep mode

Andrews Spiess does a very detailed video on it here where you'll find all this detail and whole lot more.

My read on this is it depends one what you are doing with the ESP32. If you're taking readings every 5 minutes from a sensor then there's going to be the following overheads:

1. Wake up time
2. Reconnect to Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
3. Read sensor/s
4. publish MQTT
5. re-sleep

So it entirely depends on your usage.

kenmc

Yeah I've played a fair bit with ESP8266, and Arduino; I've got arduino sensors (running on ATTinys) sitting doing temp measurements and using RF433 to tx it, they're on a pair of AA batteries for over 2 years at this stage. Similarly in the garden, a rain sensor only wakes up when the rainbucket tips and sends a 433mhz tx message. This guy (https://nathan.chantrell.net/tinytx-wireless-sensor/) has loads of useful information on this stuff.


My ESP8266s have been a bit more problematic though, even running from mains they seem to go off into the boonies and never come back till i remove/apply the power again.

Course it might be that i tend to buy the cheapest of cheap ones from dx.com and ebay via china - have a couple of nodemcus which are more reliable but not yet finished playing with them... wonder if the esp32 is more reliable...

PreparationH

kenmc wrote: »

Yeah I've played a fair bit with ESP8266, and Arduino; I've got arduino sensors (running on ATTinys) sitting doing temp measurements and using RF433 to tx it, they're on a pair of AA batteries for over 2 years at this stage. Similarly in the garden, a rain sensor only wakes up when the rainbucket tips and sends a 433mhz tx message. This guy (https://nathan.chantrell.net/tinytx-wireless-sensor/) has loads of useful information on this stuff.


My ESP8266s have been a bit more problematic though, even running from mains they seem to go off into the boonies and never come back till i remove/apply the power again.

Course it might be that i tend to buy the cheapest of cheap ones from dx.com and ebay via china - have a couple of nodemcus which are more reliable but not yet finished playing with them... wonder if the esp32 is more reliable...

Yeah there's only two ways to wake up an ESP8266 from deepsleep as I'm sure you already know and even then they are problematic. It seems deepsleep was never it's strong point. I'd definitely go with the NodeMCU 8266's, they're far and away the best imo.

What are you using your ESP's for?

I've just taken delivery of one of these https://hackaday.io/project/12843-esp-soil-moisture-sensor but simply cannot find the time to program the fecker... I need to sacrifice a few lunchtimes. Not even sure I know how to connect to it yet!

Stoner

I didn't say I'd get rid of all the others,

I only have Philips lamps and hue go.

I'd have to keep the lightwaverf hub

I could drop the smartthings hub and possibly the Philips hub


There's no way I'd go all in with Amazon either.
I've stopped using fire stick and fire TV

Ideally one unit would do all these things. Smartthings had a good apprach, but updates to different hubs would render the little code tricks useless overnight. It was great with lightwaverf for a while with hue, lightwaverf, Ring all hooked up, good with SONOFF too
Yet they still link hubs not functions

Stoner

I'd look at the new shield too

bk

Stoner wrote: »

I'd look at the new shield too

I have the original, absolutely brilliant, best streamer on the market IME (I also have a Fire TV and Roku/Now TV). I highly recommend it.

It is missing Now TV, C4 On Demand and the Irish players (which aren't on any streamer anyway), but everything else is their and works extremely well.

SachaJ

bk wrote: »

I have the original, absolutely brilliant, best streamer on the market IME (I also have a Fire TV and Roku/Now TV). I highly recommend it.

It is missing Now TV, C4 On Demand and the Irish players (which aren't on any streamer anyway), but everything else is their and works extremely well.

I have both the 2015 and 2017 models. Excellent devices

lordgoat

Hey guys, been avoiding this forum for a month but... getting keys to new house tomorrow hopefully and yes the fun can really start.

I plan on putting in a decent wired network to start - Probably Ubiquiti, have it in work and it's really solid and I like the UI alot. So I'll be keeping an eye out for their stuff in sales as well as a big roll of cat 6!

Smoke/Carbon monoxide alarms - Thinking Nest but any other recommendations?

Thermostat - I know it's Gas Heating and there's underfloor but no idea on if it's plumbed in zones yet so need but again thinking Nest

Oh and a belt sander!

bk

Nest Protect is hands down best for smoke alarms.

You may have to do a bit more research due to the underfloor heating.

tonc76

bk wrote: »

- 2 x Hue GU10's (need to think about White Ambiance or Colour based on the recent Halloween fun!)
- 1 more Hue Motion Sensor
- 1 more Hue Wireless Switch
- Google Home Mini

I'll keep an eye on, but if the price is right:
- Nest Protect
- Logitech Circle Cameras
- Netatmo Smart TRV's (don't really need them, but you know!).

Nothing really major left to get. Mostly I'm waiting on the Xiaomi gear to arrive to play with.

Currently a twin pack available for £180 on Currys UK site

SachaJ

tonc76 wrote: »

Currently a twin pack available for £180 on Currys UK site

When/if they hit £80 each I’ll be in!