What are main caveats in existing "Smart Home" solutions?
Vendor-locked-in and incompatibility. If you started to build something using components of company A, you'll hardly could add components of company B. They require you to stick to their own custom mobile application or their own gateway or their own sophisticated protocol, they incapsulate into their WIFI devices or their own cloud. And that is dumb-ass idea for multiple reasons:
- if your "smart home" can be only configured through the mobile app that is worst case you can imagine. Mobile apps tend to stop working, if they're not updated by mothership company to support latest versions of mobile operating systems. If the company decides to ditch the support of application, which was the only way how you could configure your "smart home" - you're done. If you decided to upgrade your phone from iOS / Android version 98 to version 99, be prepared the application you used to control your smarthome will stop working, if it didn't have proper support of that OS version.
- you decided not to upgrade your mobile phone to "latest and greatest" version of iOS / Android just because you don't want. Or your phone does not support it. But the app for "smart home" you had requires you to do that, so you cannot configure / control your "smart home" receive upgrades any more, until you buy a new smartphone.
- your hardware gateway you bought from company A might fail after few years in service, and you'll be disappointed to know that you cannot buy a replacement, because company has moved away from that realm / doesn't make these specific devices any longer (and newer devices are not compatible with you other smart home components).
- if your smart home is using some cloud service, it means it will stop working the same moment the mothership company decides to block your own personal account, just because you're jewish, russian, black, or said something wrong on a social media - whatever. As a mild potential scenario they can first promise "the cloud" will be always free, but then they introduce a monthly usage fee. Or they get hacked and all the data from your "smart home" will be in hands of god knows who. Or that company decides to leave the smart home market and shut down it's clouds. Or your internet provider will be having issues and all your "smart home" will become a bunch of devices you cannot even interact with in a manual way
- do you know what all these companies are doing with your data, you send to their servers?
But there's a bunch of good news here. They are - opensource solutions. For a smart home automation save these names:
- HomeAssistant - https://www.home-assistant.io/
- IOBroker - https://www.iobroker.net/
- Majordomo - https://majordomohome.com/ or https://mjdm.ru/
- SLS Gateway - https://slsys.io/
- ESPHome - https://esphome.io/
For offline voice assistants:
- Rhasppy - https://github.com/rhasspy/rhasspy
- Microft / Picroft - https://github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-core or https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/docs/using-mycroft-ai/get-mycroft/linux
For preferred protocols your home devices should be supporting:
- ZigBee
- Z-wave
If you follow the above, you would be able to make 100% your own autonomous smart home, with fully interchangeable components and even have a completely offline voice assistant to control all that with your voice. At your home. Even without internet.
Practical use cases
Voice control to turn on / off lights in different rooms, various electrical devices, connected to power outlets. Or multiple such devices at once.
Automatic climate control, when you need it. Should include thermostats on radiators + turning on / off / set the temperature for air conditioning, so the room temperature will be matching to what you like.
Monitor air quality and turn the humidifier / air filter / when the air quality drops.
Shut down the cold/hot intake water valves in case of water leak detected or by voice command / remotely if you're leaving your home for some long time.
Monitor the soil moisture for home plants and warn you know when it drops so you will water them.
Shut down heated floors when noone is at home / at night / when leaving (by voice command or by pressing a button at your entry door)
Turn the lights on and off in a fish tank. Feed the fish by timer. Turn off the water pump filter while feeding for approx 30 minutes, so the food won't get sucked in a filter.
When leaving the apartment - turn off all the lights, set the heating level to minimum, turn off heated floors.
So what you need to do?
Given you already have an SBC, like my own Orange Pi 4 LTS, you just need to install a HomeAssistant, Rhasppy and buy a cheap ZigBee USB Dongle, with EFR32MG21 (most preferable), CC2652P or CC2531 chips inside.
Devices you might be interested in:
Controllable power strips:
- Tuya ZigBee UseLink 4 AC outlets with USB / SM-SO306EZ-16 / TS0115
- LELLKI WP33 - ZegBee 4 AC outlets with USB
- Xiaomi ZigBee Power outlet AC-AC adapter ZNCZ04LM
water valve actuator:
- Tuya ZigBee water valve actuator - ZN231392
for heated floors
- MOES ZigBee thermostat BHT-002
for water radiators:
- MOES Zigbee thermostat HY369RT
- MOES Zigbee thermostat TV-01
- MOES Zigbee thermostat BRT-100-TRV
Some useful links
https://connect.smartliving.ru/umniy-dom-oborudovanie.html
https://modkam.ru/
https://sprut.ai/
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