Every time we introduce new device to our home it is important to think about the benefit of adding that new piece of technology. The questions in this post should help guide the purchase decision.
This usually boils down to the following questions:
- Does this product integrate with the rest of my smart devices? Does a Home Assistant integration exist?
- Is it possible to extend this product in the future?
- How does it talk to other products? Wifi, Bluetooth, Zwave, Zigbee, RF? Does it support the gateway/s I already own?
- Is this product saving time or improving my experience?
- Is it allowing me to do something substantial that I was not able to achieve before? What automation opportunities does it bring beside the obvious marketed on the package?
Sure, using my phone to control lamps in my house is cool and all, but it is very inconvenient once the novelty wears off—and it does rather quickly. Taking out your phone, opening the correct app and pressing a button is in no way an improvement to flicking a light switch on a wall in passing.
The smart home app problem
Each manufacturer forces a different app onto your phone to be able to control their smart devices. They do this because it is the easy way to get people connected. Another reason they do this is because they want to lock you into their ecosystem to collect usage data down the track.
These apps typically include basic manual controls and sometimes automation functionality. The problem with this is that these automations only work within the manufacturers ecosystem. For example, a smart bulb made by Company A might not integrate with time schedules created in Company B’s app.
This is where a home automation server like Home Assistant comes in because it acts as a central point of integration between these different manufacturers. As long as Company A and Company B devices can interact with Home Assistant, we will be able to create automations spanning across all vendors.
Home Assistant replaces all vendor specific apps as well, providing a single interface to control all of your smart devices.
App Control as a last resort
The web interface is not ideal for everyday use. The only reason why it is used to show off some features is because the benefits of genuinely useful automation are less apparent or and its long term benefits are difficult to show in a short demonstration. They often require more explanation and the attention span of most people for your smart garden irrigation is quickly exhausted.
This is where I sometimes struggle to articulate what is so great about my smart home. The individual parts aren’t all that impressive – we are talking about controlling lights with motion sensors after all.
It’s the subtle automations that hum away in the background – partially forgotten – that bring most of the value. For example;
The CCTV system that quietly detects, captures and validates recordings of suspicious motion events at 1AM; the air venting automation that reliably exchanges warm indoor air with cool outside air in the middle of the night; the script responsible for reminding me which bin to take out on Wednesdays; the window shade automation regulating sun exposure based on incident angle and house occupancy to help achieve more optimised AC cooling in hot Australian summer. Not to mention all the data logging, virtual sensors and information collected that will offer new automation opportunities in the future.
All these little helpers around the house add up. The only time I allow app control is for basic things like starting the vacuum cleaner on a simple time schedule or doing the same for the garden tap timer. These are so simple that I did not bother integrating them into the Home Assistant ecosystem in the first place. I set them up once and they have worked reliably since without requiring any manual interference.
To help me achieve this, I built a number of integration components for Home Assistant linked below.
Conclusion
Use the above questions as a set of goals and you will be able to make better smart home purchase decisions.