r/homeautomation • • 13h ago

NEWS Shelly Presence Gen4 is a FIRE HAZARD

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191 Upvotes

A few months ago I bought a Shelly Gen4 Presence sensor, direct from their store on Aliexpress.

It worked well, though I noticed it did occasionally run VERY warm.

While it was being powered off the USB-A port on a multi port USB charger, the charger has always worked perfect well and delivered consistent voltages. I needed to use a longer USB cable (2.5m) to reach the area I was placing it, and as such it looks like there was a slight amount of voltage drop on the cable, but nothing crazy, and it seemed to be working fine until the day I stumbled upon it's smoking corpse.

Shelly are now fighting me on this and claiming that just because my charger can do 100w using a usb-c to usb-c cable, they are confused and think it's somehow possible for it to do 100w over a usb-a to usb-c cable, despite the attached picture of a USB multimeter demonstrating that port / cable delivering.... 4.87W!

They also tried to claim that the 5v/1A charger spec in the specifications of the sensor was a maximum amperage for the charger 🤦 This seems laughable to me, as I don't recall the last time I ever saw a 1A USB charger for sale, and it's my understanding that a device will only draw as much current as neccesary.

Edit: I just noticed on THEIR website they recommend a multi port 65w GaN USB charger...

https://www.shelly.com/products/shelly-presence-gen4-white? - On the right with 'pair with'

I've also seen a number of other complaints of these running very warm, and suspect it may not be an isolated issue. It was kept in an air conditioned environment, away from any direct sunlight or other sources of heat.


r/homeautomation • • 9h ago

PERSONAL SETUP Home automation has made daily life easier for me with ADHD

38 Upvotes

I've been diagnosed with ADHD for almost two years now, and one thing I really struggle with is remembering to finish all the little chores around the house. Honestly, home automation has helped me a lot with this.

I usually start things with good intentions, but it's easy for me to get distracted halfway through and end up leaving a bunch of stuff unfinished. Laundry is a good example. I'll throw a load in the washer and completely forget about it, sometimes for hours. Cooking is similar. I'll finish dinner, notice the mess on the floor, tell myself I'll clean it up after eating, and then completely forget about it by the end of the night.

Recently, my husband set up a few simple automations around the house, and they've made a real difference. We get a notification when the laundry is done, the lights gradually dim at night, and our robot vacuum runs while we're both out of the house. Before we leave, I pick up any cords and small things on the floor so the robot can run without getting stuck. It mainly cleans the kitchen and dining area since those are the spots that tend to get messy the fastest. Coming home to clean floors instead of having another chore waiting for me has made my evenings a lot less stressful.

These little changes haven't completely transformed my cleaning habits, but they mean I don't have to keep so many unfinished tasks in the back of my mind all day. Maybe our home automation isn't perfect yet, but it's already made a real difference in my everyday life.


r/homeautomation • • 56m ago

QUESTION Consiglio di un sistema Smart Home per l'Italia (Bticino, Shelly, Sonoff)

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• Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 9h ago

QUESTION New Home: What devices do you recommend?

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4 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 1h ago

QUESTION Smart thermostat and TRV

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• Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 2h ago

QUESTION Zemismart Roller Shade Driver (64257) Matter over Thread setting limits

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 3h ago

QUESTION Blink charging station availability?

1 Upvotes

Hello. I am looking for a way to integrate blink public charger in home assistant so that it can notify when charger becomes available. Or maybe if someone is familiar with other way to get notifications? The app doesn’t have this option to notify the user about the charger availability unless you keep checking from time to time.


r/homeautomation • • 7h ago

NEW TO HA Looking For Recommendations

2 Upvotes

Howdy everyone! I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for home assistants that have custom wake words.

I was originally planning on getting a google home as a gift for someone, but when I realized you can’t customize the name, I figured I’d ask if anyone has experience with customizing the name of a home assistant as it is part of the gift I’m hoping to give.

Only caveat is it would ideally also be able to connect to SmartRent. Any other recommendations for a beginner are more than welcome, thanks!


r/homeautomation • • 18h ago

QUESTION I want a smart lock that doesn't rely on the cloud and still lets me in when the internet goes down

16 Upvotes

I just moved into a new place, and a lot of my devices are connected to the internet. But the front door lock is the one thing I don't want to depend on the cloud for.

Cloud services can raise prices, get discontinued, or go down unexpectedly. I can live with my lights not working, but I can't risk being locked out of my own home.

I'm still using a regular keyed lock right now, but I'm planning to switch to a smart lock. I'm currently looking at the lockin veno series. Ideally, I want unlocking, access logs, and alarms to work locally as much as possible, without relying on a cloud platform. I'm torn between the Pro and Plus. Both of them have person and package detection features, but the Pro version has more local storage capacity.

My family is coming to stay with me starting the day after tomorrow, so I'd like to get this sorted out soon. I'd appreciate any advice!


r/homeautomation • • 21h ago

QUESTION Bought a house and need some advice on smart blinds

23 Upvotes

We just bought a house and are planning some renovations. We want to take down the old blinds and replace them with motorized ones.

The main thing I’m stuck on is whether to open up the walls and run cables for PoE shades. The wiring quote is within our budget, but I’m not sure how much difference it would make compared with battery-powered shades in everyday use.

I’ve seen SmartWings recommended quite a bit here, so they’re on my list. Are their PoE shades worth doing the extra wiring for, or would battery powered ones be enough?

Thanks for the advice!


r/homeautomation • • 5h ago

QUESTION recommendation on "heavy" duty smart strip

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 5h ago

DISCUSSION What smart home gadgets are actually worth it ?

0 Upvotes

I’ve been getting into smart home stuff lately, but honestly, there are so many options that I have no idea where to start.
One thing I’m still trying to figure out is smart bulbs vs. smart switches. Is one actually better than the other, or does it make sense to use both?
I like the idea of being able to control my lights from my phone or with voice commands, but I also don’t want to make things more complicated than they need to be.
For those of you who’ve been using smart home devices for a while, what would you recommend?


r/homeautomation • • 5h ago

SMARTHINGS Shelly turn in Tablet

1 Upvotes

Is it possible to use a Shelly motion sensor to send an HTML command to a PM Mini Gen3 that turns on my tablet?


r/homeautomation • • 6h ago

QUESTION Elan D16/D12 IR Control

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 6h ago

NEWS Smart Home

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0 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 16h ago

IDEAS Smart blinds recommendation for a bow window

7 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I am looking for smart blinds for this bow window. There are six segments. The left and right most segments are around 19 inches and are casement-style window. The middle four are fixed panes of glass, and these are around 20 inches in width. There is at least 3.5 inches of space between each segment (the window jambs where they are next to each other). The angle between segments is about 165 degrees.

What do you recommend for blinds or what have you had success with for bow windows? I have some cellular shades from SmartWings but those are almost two inches depth. This bow window faces west and faces out onto a cul de sac street. I was thinking top-down bottom-up cellular shades so I have have the top half open so people don't see in the evening. Alternatively, venetian-style blinds, roller blinds.

Thanks!


r/homeautomation • • 15h ago

QUESTION Waterleak Sensor with manageable siren

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5 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 12h ago

ARTICLE Colour GU10 Subjective Review - Hue, Wiz and Aqara compared

2 Upvotes

Having used Wiz bulbs so far for my GU10s I bought an Aqara a while back to compare. Recently picked up a 3 pack of Hue colour GU10s to see what the fuss is about and this is my entirely subjective and unscientific comparison of the three. I'm running these on Home Assistant.

Colour

The Wiz GU10 is hands down, very obviously not as good as the Aqara or Hue, but it's also by far the cheapest. It seems to have a fundamentally different design to the others. There's a central warm white LED surrounded by a ring of 6 LEDs, which look like 3 cool white and 3 RGB. While on the colour selection dialogue the Aqara and Hue GU10s show a single brightness slider whereas the Wiz has separate colour and white sliders.

The practical difference is that on the Hue and Aqara bulb you can have bright or dim saturated colour. In contrast, the Wiz bulb has to mix in some white light as you turn up the brightness so you can have better, but still not as rich or saturated, dimmer colour or washed out, desaturated brighter colour.

Colour on both the Hue and Aqara are good. Comparable subjectively, but this is a sample size of 1 bulb of each. If you want absolute colour matching I can't tell you which will achieve it, but I can say that the colours (for the same Home Assistant settings) are subtly different so you won't want to mix and match.

Comfort and light quality

One of the big downsides of GU10 lighting is how bright they can be to look directly at without recessed fixtures. Until I tried the Aqara and Hue I had no idea just how bad almost every other GU10 of any kind is. Again, the Wiz bulb fares the worst. Despite there being some sort of attempt at diffusion on the bulb's glass surface, the individual LEDs are clearly visible and when turned up are very bright and uncomfortable to look at from any viewing angle.

The Aqara bulb is much better, It's got more effective diffusion which makes the light less glaring if you look directly at it. Where it falls down compared to the Hue is that you can see the ring of LEDs through the central section and it's significantly brighter in the centre than the edges. It's by no means as blinding as the Wiz but the Hue bulb knocks it out of the park...

The Hue GU10 has some serious diffusion going on. It's not only more evenly lit across the whole surface, you have to be pretty much underneath it before it gets uncomfortable to look at. The etched patterns in the glass seem to be much deeper and more effective at diffusing the light and hiding the LEDs than the Aqara. They're basically indistinguishable and I can't even tell how many there are or how they're configured.

There's another consequence of this. The light from the Hue is very diffuse and without a significant hot spot near the light fitting. The Aqara bulb is definitely brighter near the fitting with more fall off way from it. Which might be important depending on the space you're looking to light.

Brightness range and dimming

Of the three bulbs, if you care about colour forget the Wiz. But surprisingly the Aqara seems to be slightly, just, brighter than the Hue for both colour and white light.

If you want a really dim bulb, again forget the Wiz. It only goes down to 10% in Home Assistant and it's actually still reasonably bright at that level. Both the Aqara and Hue bulbs go down to 1%. Surprisingly the Aqara bulb seems noticeably dimmer than the Hue at that level.

Conclusions

There are probably some situations in which the Wiz GU10s will excel. You don't want to use colour much or the bulbs are in a higher up or hidden fitting where you won't notice the individual LEDs or care about the washed out colours at higher brightness levels.

Between the Hue and Aqara it's a harder choice. They both flawlessly integrated with `igbee2mqtt but of the two it's only the Aqara that has occasionally not responded to being power cycled or a toggle on/off from Home Assistant, so the Hue has been more reliable.

One thing is for sure, my Wiz bulbs will be replaced. Probably by Aqara where I'm less likely to use colour or care about better diffusion and more even light, and Hue for spaces where I want the best quality lighting I've seen from a GU10 so far.

I'll just have to save lots of pennies, because that sure comes at a hefty cost.


r/homeautomation • • 17h ago

HOMEKIT Location in Homekit

3 Upvotes

Greetings all. I have done quite a bit of research and I can't figure out how to fix my problem with Homekit. Does anyone have a suggestion for me?

I originally set up a homekit home for my daughter in her attached apartment. Worked great. Set up lots of scenes and automations. Now that I am setting up a homekit home for my main house, I can't get Siri to know which home I want to control.

Each home has it's own Homekit hub and it's own Caseta hub but we have a shared network and physical location. I have tried selecting the correct home in the home app but that has no effect. Everything keeps defaulting to

I'm trying to avoid having to specify the "home" with every command through Siri which is necessary when each home has common room names (kitchen, dining, etc.)

Thanks.


r/homeautomation • • 10h ago

PROJECT I replaced my bulky Daikin AC remote with a LilyGO T-Display-SF32

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 11h ago

DISCUSSION Votes & FYI - Google's assigned an issue to allow change of Thread network

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 13h ago

QUESTION Deadbolt locked correctly detection, any good solution?

0 Upvotes

As per title, any suggestions?

Basically: I'm looking for a sensor that can tell me whether the deadbolt of a traditional lock is correctly locked or not. By locked, I mean out and in the opening in the frame.

Most smart locks I found tell me whether the deadbolt is in or out, but if the door is wide open and the deadbolt is out, they'll still mark it as locked.

I found a mechanical switch that replaces the strike plate and bolt hole in the door frame so if the deadbolt is correctly in it, the circuit is open. But it's more than 100$, and it looks like they're out of stock.

I was thinking of building something with a simple magnetic sensor, but I fear aligning it properly with the bolt and keeping it running over the years will be hard.

The doors are wired, they had an old alarm system and wires are still good, it would be easy to get them in position.

Any idea or suggestions welcome thank you!


r/homeautomation • • 14h ago

QUESTION Manual vs Motor: Somfy Glydea 60E advice

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation • • 1d ago

HOME ASSISTANT Home Assistant Voice PE – Enclosure with Clock, Custom Firmware & Integration

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10 Upvotes

https://makerworld.com/ru/models/3461193-home-assistant-voice-pe-enclosure-with-clock#profileId-3949533

I made a custom case for Home Assistant Voice PE with a bigger speaker and an MAX7219 LED clock!

The project also includes custom ESPHome firmware with support for custom voice commands, timers, alarms, baby monitoring, and calls between speakers.

Check it out on MakerWorld!


r/homeautomation • • 16h ago

SMARTHINGS Yale Home integration with SmartThings – devices showing up in multiple locations

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1 Upvotes