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    (Last Updated: 1 July 2021)
    • Need help in finding the right smart switch for my kitchen lights

      M

      Hello,
      I have a kitchen light that can be controlled by two switches, using either to turn it off or on. I have been slowly changing things over to be a smart home but this is the first switch I am attempting to install.
      I am in a double wide modular home (mobile) that was built in 1994.
      At first I thought I would need a 3 way switch but when taking the normal switches apart I realized that was incorrect because the wiring on my switches are different than anything I could find online.
      For one a 3 way smart switch requires 5 wires and there are only 2 wires going into the primary switch with 3 wires going into the secondary switch from the primary switch (at least I think the 3 wires connect the two switches together). Images will be attached of the wiring.
      There are two wires (one black and one white) going into the first switch and 3 wires (black, white, and red) going out of that and into the second switch (I assume). The odd thing is the red wire going to the second switch is connected to the white wire going into the first switch and the white wire going into the second switch seems to be a bridge wire or a traveler wire. Not exactly sure. You will see what I mean in the images.
      I need to know what kind of smart switch I can use in this set up with one remaining a normal switch.
      Note that for some reason the images got switched around when uploading them. The image with 2 wires on one side and 3 on the other is what I think is the primary and the image with just 3 wires is the secondary.
      Primary.jpg Secondary.jpg

      General Discussion
    • Short survey

      P

      Hi,
      I am a student and recently i am working on smart home project and writing a seminar paper about the way users handle and manage IoT devices. I you have 3 min, please fill below survey. Its really short.
      Thank you in advance, I really appreciate everyone's help.

      General Discussion
    • OT: Universal Remote

      CatmanV2

      You lot are more likely to have a view than most I know. Our much used Logitech Harmony is (not so) slowly dying.

      And Logitech have discontinued the entire line.

      And no one else appears to be making something similar.

      Was going for a Sofabaton X1, but no numeric keypad. Sofabaton U1, but no favourites.

      Anyone got suggestions?
      Needs to have those features, oh and not be only a phone app.....

      C

      General Discussion
    • The Home Automation Controller Pyramid

      rafale77

      Since one member asked at one point about the "front end" and "back end", I drew this showing the controller from the base to the tip along with what I have found to be the best options from my testing. Almost every controller will try to integrate all elements, especially commercial ones but... they all have strengths and weaknesses so if one can have a medley of the best ones...

      Screen Shot 2020-05-14 at 07.11.06.png

      General Discussion
    • Thread removed - why?

      Black Cat

      I was just going to add my support for a Update Button for the bare bones version of MSR and find the thread has been removed.
      I'm wondering what was so provocative that required it's removal?
      Have we become as paranoid as an owner of another forum?

      Anyway +1 for an Update Button.

      General Discussion
    • 3-way smart switches in separate buildings.

      D

      So, I think I'm in a bit of an unusual situation. I work at a camp & retreat center that has wifi throughout. I want to put a few switches in the office that can control outdoor lighting throughout the camp. We currently have switches in each of the buildings, but it is a particularly frustrating job to get all the lights on in the evening when it is brutally cold out or we are short staffed.

      Most of our staff is not very tech savvy (my boss literally has his wife print out his emails for him each day!!!) so, I'd love to avoid having to set up any sort of raspberry pi or new phone app.

      Is there type of 3-way switch that can connect to the wifi, turn on a light in another building AND turn on an indicator light in the office, without having any sort of wire running between the buildings? Hopefully looking for a simple solution without breaking the bank too.

      I greatly appreciate any input that you can give. Thank you!

      General Discussion
    • X-10 replacement for a new wall switch (HomeKit)

      G

      I have a X10 wall switch system and I want to get rid of it. What would be the easiest transition to something more modern and easy to use with either wifi/homekit capabilities? My current X10 controls 3 zones in my bedroom. All zones are dimmable.
      Zone 1 is 4 canister ceiling lights. LED bulbs
      Zone 2 is 1 canister ceiling lights. Halogen Bulb
      Zone 3 is 1 canister ceiling lights. Halogen Bulb
      I have an old plug-in remote from Radio Shack and a wall switch with 3 buttons, each controlling one zone. (images attached)
      My wall switch has one two wires from the wall. One black, one white.

      Is there any solution easy to install without the need of an electrician? Thanks for any feedback.

      ij455pd333061.jpg.jpeg ttsjhpd333061.jpg.jpeg

      General Discussion
    • Looking for alternative to Gcal3 in Vera for MSR and public calendar

      T

      Good morning all,
      I'm working on weaning myself off of being totally Vera dependent. I've installed MSR on my Fedora home server, and I've been migrating luup Reactor rules over little by little. My hope is to use Vera as a bare bones z-wave hub, until I replace it either with Ezlo (not so sure about), or perhaps Hubitat. I'm just tired of zero new development in Vera, empty promises of native device integration, and cloud services that go down and leave my automation hanging.

      In any case, I digress. I've attempted to use Gcal3 on Vera to integrate Public calendars, such as Federal Holidays, School Calendars, etc. It use to somewhat work, but more often than not, all I get from Gcal3 is "token error code: HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request". The developer no longer is active, and it's effectively not working anymore.

      I'd like to use these public calendars as Entity Attributes or Constraints in MSR. For instance, if it's a Federal Holiday, I don't have to work, and I may want to sleep in, which means lights may not come on as early, window coverings in the bedrooms may open later in the day, etc. Similar idea with a school calendar. If "closed" is in the event, my daughter may want to sleep in, and not want the window coverings opened as early.

      I'm aware that Ezlo has integration through NuCal to all sorts of web based services, including Google Calendar, but as I stated earlier, I'm undecided on going down that path. Is there anyway to do this on MSR through any of it's abilities, such as HTTP calls or MQTT ( not experienced in MQTT, so I don't know now it works really).

      Has anybody already done this?

      Thanks for any advice in advance.

      General Discussion
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    Advances made in Presence Detection?

    General Discussion
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    • Black Cat
      Black Cat last edited by

      Looks like the wasp in the Box has a new competitor, I received this information this morning and am posting it whilst looking for comment - 🙂
      Detecting Chest and Abdomen expansion sounds a little to far fetched for me, but I like the idea if it really works.

      LifeBeing Sensor

      Zigbee module & MCU SDK
      bacc874e-8dc0-4c49-b24f-631b342e57e0-image.png

      State-of-Art Technology

      It's based on 5.8Ghz microwave motion detection technology. And the patented low impedance antenna and exclusive occupancy sensing Algorithm are used to sensor human presence by detecting expansion of chest and abdomen during human respiration. Combined, they can effectively avoid the airflow interference from air conditioning and exhaust, to achieve accurate human detection
      Multi-state Recognition

      It can interact with different lights, air conditioners, background music, etc. based on the activeness of human motion. For example, lights turned fully on when it detects active human motion
      Independent Flush-mounted Design

      Not limited to LED lamps and can be well hidden in the existing lighting environment to avoid any damage

      aka Zedrally

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • akbooer
        akbooer last edited by akbooer

        Ah, interesting. I was looking at this type of technology a while ago…

        May 10, 2013

        how do you "detect" somone home ?

        how do you "detect" somone home ?

        I was rather intrigued by this recent, highly publicised, paper: Through-the-Wall Sensing of Personnel Using Passive Bistatic WiFi Radar at Standoff Distances http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6020778 which claimed to detect presence using Doppler analysis of ambient...

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • M
          mrFarmer last edited by

          At 276 Euro's and just one meter radius for breath detection I think I'll waive my arms for now 😉

          Cheers Rene

          Black Cat 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • CatmanV2
            CatmanV2 last edited by

            @black-cat said in Advances made in Presence Detection?:

            Detecting Chest and Abdomen expansion sounds a little to far fetched for me

            Micro changes in air density my ass? 😉

            C

            The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • Black Cat
              Black Cat @mrFarmer last edited by Black Cat

              @mrfarmer said in Advances made in Presence Detection?:

              At 276 Euro's and just one meter radius for breath detection I think I'll waive my arms for now 😉

              Cheers Rene

              I had no idea of price in the EU, none the less it's still comparable with similar KNX products which don't tell you if your still breathing..!
              I received a reply from the manufacturer, not giving much (anything) away about price, just wanting to know how many I want to order....LOL how would I know if I don't know the price...Chicken or Egg reborn in Wasp in a Box.

              Not sure where you got the specs from but they appear different from the ones I was sent.

              9fefa3b5-c895-4eb2-8d4e-59712a368453-image.png

              I'll get a price quote and see what the difference might be?

              aka Zedrally

              LibraSun 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • LibraSun
                LibraSun @Black Cat last edited by

                @black-cat My Google Pixel phone detects my breathing rate by using the front-facing camera. So I guess this technology has proliferated.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Black Cat
                  Black Cat @mrFarmer last edited by

                  @mrfarmer said in Advances made in Presence Detection?:

                  At 276 Euro's and just one meter radius for breath detection I think I'll waive my arms for now 😉

                  Cheers Rene

                  We may be comparing Apples with Oranges here.
                  After receiving further information from the manufacturer, a quick calculation shows the price for this device is about the same price you would buy a Fibaro Z-Wave IR Motion detector, This one with detection of a 5M radius at 3M height certainly becomes an affordable alternative.
                  I'll order some stock - test and report back.

                  aka Zedrally

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • CatmanV2
                    CatmanV2 last edited by

                    Not sure what Fibaro models you're comparing to?

                    54.25 USD

                    Z-Wave Fibaro Multi Sensor

                    Z-Wave Fibaro Multi Sensor

                    Z-Wave Fibaro Motion Sensor Gen5 FGSMF-001-ZW5. Extremely versatile 4-in-1 sensor combining motion, temperature, light level and vibration functions.

                    About €64

                    Or am I missing something?

                    (PS Sorry no one got the Alien reference!)
                    C

                    The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Black Cat
                      Black Cat last edited by

                      Here the FGMS-001 retails for AUD120.00 about 63.00GP or 73.00 Euro equivilient.

                      aka Zedrally

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • CatmanV2
                        CatmanV2 last edited by

                        Ahhh so the €276 is wrong?

                        C

                        The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • M
                          mrFarmer last edited by mrFarmer

                          Here they sell it for that price. It is the only I could find https://karjalanvalaistuspalvelu.fi/en/iot/sensors/c-s-mw/msa012r-detail

                          They do have an other model at 79 euro, though.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Black Cat
                            Black Cat last edited by

                            OK, the price differences are because of the different systems that they can be used with.
                            The E276 is for Dali - that is a very professional lighting system. I agree, I would just wave my hands about however for installations in large buildings it's a very clever way to control lighting intensity - Building Management Systems are a very different animal.
                            E79 for Wifi or Zigbee isn't a deal breaker and in fact can be a a very clever way of light control in a Smart House without the complication of additional systems.
                            Looking forward to unwrapping the box when it arrives....watch this space.

                            aka Zedrally

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
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