r/smarthome

I've been thinking about replacing my regular front door lock with a keyless one because I'm tired of digging through my pockets every time I get home. The convenience sounds great, but I'm more interested in reliability than having a hundred smart features.

I'd mainly like a keypad that works every time, good battery life, and something that's easy to install without having to modify the door. Remote access would be nice, but it's not a dealbreaker if the lock itself is solid.

I've read plenty of reviews, but it seems like every model has people who absolutely love it and others who swear it'll stop working at the worst possible moment.

For those who've been using a keyless door lock for a year or more, which one did you end up buying? Would you choose the same one again, or is there another option you'd recommend instead?

Hello Reddit,

J’ai une grande maison et je voudrais un outil qui permette de se parler d’une pièce à une autre..

Le plus facile possible d’installation! Je pensais à Alexa?

Avez vous d’autres suggestions?

Merci!

🌿☀️

the recent enshitificaction of al*xa has gotten so bad recently that if i ask it what band is playing, it will just tell me what album the song is from, what are the best (preferably open source and absolutely no amazon or google) alternatives i can still use apple music on?

It's well known now that sengled shit the bed and none of their devices have support and dont work anymore. I never knew this couldve been a possibilty in smart tech.

Sengles was everywhee in late 2010s. I only have one bulb so i feel for those who bought in bulk back then. They worked great too.

But now that their servers are down, is there a way to make use of this bulb? Like with voice command etc?

I use google home.

Hi, I'm looking to get 30x motorised blackout/thermal blinds, and really don't want to make a horrible decision!

My core requirements are:

• black thermal+blackout pulldown blinds (not grey or white)
• scheduled opening/closing
• easy to manage all 30 blinds easily via WiFi (i.e. good software)
• keeping costs down as much as possible (i.e. <£200/window not £500+)
• available to buy or get delivered in UK
• solar charging of each batteries - nice to have
• a decent remote or command unit - nice to have (ideally not 30x remotes)
• agnostic on platform to manage them all (e.g. Proprietary, Alexa/Google or Matter/Zigbee)

I have looked at:

• Eve MotionBlind (retrofit) looks decent if a little pricey and would need a solar charger separately.
• Switchbot looked good but doesn't come in black.
• Zigbee 1.3N Rechargeable Roller Shade Motor, 37/38mm Tube with Solar Panel Option looks good too but some people complain some randomly fail on the commands.

Any advice or watchouts from someone who's been there / done that?

Have 4 ceiling speakers running off a Bose SA-5 amp. In the same room I have a Bose SoundTouch 30, which effectively operates as a sub-woofer.

Have a Bose lifestyle which has AirPlay 2 in other part of the room.

Bose have canned support for SoundTouch so I can no longer stream music from my family’s chosen music streamer (Amazon Music).

The SoundTouch 30 is model 1 so no airplay 2.

So, to try to get the old functionality back, I was looking at getting two airport expresses, to use for the SA-5 and the 30, using the expresses’ Airplay 2 functionality to stream from the Amazon music app. I read somewhere that if I use one (for the 30), the DAC in the express will be slightly out of sync with the SA-5.

Thoughts?

Will they be in absolute sync?

Will they drop out?

Are there better options?

Am I right in thinking I need 2 (or 3 if I want to bring the Lifestyle into the fray)?

Would be great to hear from anyone in a similar position who has worked this through.

Am aware some legends are looking to rebuild the SoundTouch functionality but I can’t see they will be able to negotiate with the likes of Amazon//Tidal to get the functionality to extend to streaming from those sources

Hey folks, I wanted to buy some more IKEA smart lights and just saw they have matter instead of zigbee now so Im thinking about getting the SMLIGHT ULTIMA to also have matter over thread.

My biggest fear is to mess up my whole network because I have a bunch of devices and recently struggled to get my Z2M working after it suddenly died...so my question is: can I keep my zigbee network and jusz replace the coordinator without re-pairing? thanks in advance

Adding local Zigbee/Home Assistant on/off control to two bathroom fan heaters. My electrician will install it — I just want to spec the right parts first. Hoping someone's solved this exact combo.

Setup:

• 2× Ouellet OVS0500BL wall fan heaters (fan-forced: motor + element), 500W @ 240V (~2.1A each)
• 240V split-phase, two hot legs, no neutral in the box
• Each has a working built-in dial thermostat
• Separate 15A double-pole breakers, Square D Homeline panel (Canada)

Plan: set the dial to a high-but-reasonable temp and let HA handle regulation via smart on/off of the circuit. So I'll also need a temp reading per bathroom (probably a standalone Zigbee sensor driving an HA automation). Open to better ideas.

Preference: I'd rather use a hidden Shelly-type relay than a wall thermostat — the thermostat's required wall location is an issue for the wife.

What I've ruled out:

• Shelly + 2-pole contactor: clean, but the Shelly still needs a neutral to power itself → blocked
• Shelly on 240V (L2 into N): I've seen a post on Reddit that says it voids warranty / not rated → avoiding
• Smart breakers: none that are Homeline-compatible + CSA-certified + local HA

On the neutral: might be able to pull one from a nearby switch, and the run could be 14/3 with a capped neutral hidden in the box (wiring is <3 yrs old) — both to be confirmed during the visit.

Questions:

1. Any Zigbee/Z-Wave relay that switches 240V split-phase and powers itself from the two hot legs, no neutral needed?
2. If not — is running/borrowing a neutral to feed a Shelly + contactor the realistic path?
3. Assuming worst case (no neutral): what would you buy?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice on a simple automation project for our volunteer fire department.

We have a team that's responsible for restocking the drinks in our station. The problem is that there's no reliable way to let them know when the refrigerators are running low, so sometimes they only notice when they're almost empty.

Our idea is to install a button next to the refrigerators. If someone notices that the drink supply is getting low, they simply press the button.

Here's what we'd like the system to do:

- When the button is pressed, the drinks team should immediately receive a notification on their phones. We don't really care whether it's WhatsApp, SMS, email, Telegram, or something else—as long as it's reliable.

- After the button has been pressed, it should light up red so everyone can see that the notification has already been sent. This prevents multiple people from reporting the same issue.

- The red light should stay on until someone from the drinks team resets it after restocking the refrigerators.

- Ideally, the reset should only be possible by the drinks team (for example via an app, another button, or another simple method).

I'm completely new to smart home automation, so I'm looking for recommendations on the easiest and most reliable way to build something like this. I'm open to any ecosystem (Home Assistant, Shelly, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, etc.) if it fits the requirements.

Has anyone built something similar or can recommend the hardware and software needed?

Thanks in advance!

I am renovating an old house and I’m installing LED can lights (aka high hats where I’m from). I see a lot of different options online but I get very few results for controllable lights. I have been off the grid for a few years so I don’t know if I’m missing something or just not understanding how they work. I’m mostly interested in being able to turn lights on/off from my iphone so I don’t have to get up to do that. Any help and suggestions appreciated!

I just connected Mya garage opener to the app and a few days later the garage door does not close. It keeps acting like there is something underneath affecting the sensors, it begins to close then comes back up and opener lights blink. Prior to this I had no issues, as I was using manual garage remotes. I don’t know if this a myq issue or garage sensor issue.

Is there a good WiFi or Zigbee connected thermostat that has all of the safety features that a normal thermostat would have (especially the heat pump) but none of the smart or internet connected things? I have ecobee smart thermostat premium, and despite it being dumbed down now it still does not provide simple controls to home assistant which is what I would like to drive the actual HVAC system.

I used Claude to mockup esphome configuration for esp32 with relays acting as a thermostat, accounting for all the safety features thermostats provide for heat pump systems. In theory and in simulations this works very well, but I am hesitant to try this on a live system mid-summer. If there was a dumb but connected thermostat instead then I would take that any time.

I did try dumbing down ecobee and it works, but only okay at best. There is lack of feedback, and the current status of thermostat is sometimes lagging or not updating back to home assistant in time. I attempted this with another ecobee just to rule out thermostat itself and it wasn't it.

Two months ago, I bought a window cleaning robot. At first, my friends thought I was crazy. That changed after I showed them how it works at home. Now I've handed over all window cleaning to the machine, and I don't even have to wash the mop pads myself. It's now one of the most frequently used smart home devices in my house.

I feel like there are probably a lot of smart home devices we're overlooking, but they're actually really useful. What's one device you thought was unnecessary at first but ended up being surprisingly worth it?

I set up HA notifications to my IM through a small bridge, and now I’m trying to be more selective about what is actually worth sending. Motion alerts are easy to turn on, but after a while most of them become noise.

The alerts that seem more useful are things like:

- package delivered or package no longer visible

- person at the door

- pet doing something unusual

- garage / driveway motion only when nobody is home

- kids or family arriving home

- cameras or devices offline

- anything that uses context instead of just “motion detected”

For people using cameras with Home Assistant, which alerts did you actually keep long-term?And which ones did you turn off?

I already have quite a few smart devices set up around my place that work with homeassistant, including smart switches, smart locks, air conditioning automations and more. My overall home automation setup is pretty polished at this point, though I'm lacking automated cleaning devices in my lineup. I'm looking to add more that can integrate into this existing system.

Outside of things like lawn care automation, what other types of cleaning related devices or setups have actually made a noticeable difference in your routine?