Let me start by explaining a bit of my situation. After a lot of excitement of finally making my home smart, I was going with Control4 , since it had everything in one app, lights, audio, camera, etc… Until I found all the limitations with customization and adding/removing without a dealer, etc… So after a lot of browsing around, decided to go with HA.
Im just finishing with my house, just missing the electrical part and floor until is ready, so I have to take a decision as soon as possible with the lights.
Any suggestion on the best way to go with the lights? Living rooms, and many parts of the house are going to be LED Spotlights, so I’m assuming I will have to go with switches(assuming they have a dim function)?
I had a look at philips HUE, but it’s a bit confusing if it will work everything right and compatible with HA.
Also, if there’s any paid solution with a company for this kind of help, to avoid buying the wrong products or doing the wrong setup, that would be great as well, since where I am, items are not returnable.
THANKS A LOT for any help or guide to the right direction.
Best Regards
When it comes down to lighting, you have to know what you want to accomplish with the lighting for that space really. Do you want just on/off functionality? How many lights will it cover? Do you need the ability to dim the lights, or want that functionality in the future? What about color for a mood change? Get your target down first, then figure out how to work with what you want to accomplish. For instance, I wanted full individual control over the can lights in my theater and bar so I could control the mood with the scene of the movie or to change up the lighting with what’s playing. For that, I went with smart lights (I’m using LIFX personally, but there are others available). For my office, I wanted the ability to dim all the lights as the sun changed. I focused on the switch for that room which controlled the lights in the ceiling fan and added one smart bulb for my desk. The ceiling fan has 4 dimmable LED lights which would have been closer to $175 just for the bulbs instead of 60 for the dimmable z-wave switch and the four bulbs.
Ultimately, determine your goal for each room and build from there. Do you need motion controlled lighting for hallways using a single sensor or individual target lighting? The more individual bulb you go with, the more expensive it will get. Lighting alone in my house without any sensors ran me closer to 2K for smart bulbs alone. So be prepared for a sticker shock if you got that route.
It’s all spread, for example in the main living room & Kitchen I want to have dimmable led spot lights.
(I was looking at INSTEON due to the multi button switch instead of having so many switches, which matches my home style, simple/clean, just that im not sure if that works as dimmer too)
In the rooms and second living room and rooms I want the color option (I was looking at HUE)
Outdoors will be on and off, so I’m guessing regular HUE switches?
Again, thanks a lot for your help, I know I will end up screwing in a few things, but might as well try to save in the process.
LIGHTING
Get GE zwave switches. Dimmers for lights and switches if you have fans. This allows automated control and manual. Further integration with voice assistant of your choice and HA will make this better.
You can get hue, mqtt sonoff LED or zwave LED controls for color lighting to supplement white lights but keep this can be separate.
Lutron has motion and motion/Sonic activated light switches that are good for pantry/bathroom and closets. Areas were ON is temporary, always needed but some automated light is not needed. They auto on and off or variations of such.
AUDIO
Buy stereo amps if doing multi room full house audio.
These are rack mountable or be mounted in small space.
Left/right channel can be broken out as mono zone 1/zone 2. Allowing you to fill large area with good sound for small cost. Amps are timeless and last forever. New capability come out and only need to change source.
For source you may use anything. Echo, Chromecast, Bluetooth, raspberry pi. All this can control through phone app or HA or web. Atlas Sound(pricey but good) make good stereo amp and monoprice have good stereo amp. Monoprice also have good 6channel amp.
Onkyo receiver is my preference full control from HA possible. Wifi or Ethernet only need. May use this in place of stereo amp. Dual zone possible and if I buy again I make sure I get capable show zone 1 zone 2 different video source.(they have just did not notice this difference)
EDIT(lighting)
I avoid wifi switch because always require manufacturer app for setup. I do not trust network security of these device and block network so may be issue long term. Also app may work for Android/iOS 2019 but what about 2030? (I want switch that may last 20-30yrs so zwave I feel is best. I am ok wifi for temporary style supplemental thing like color lights or.some landscape.since this may change like paint and loss of support by hue or wifi light maker is not much issue
I have to agree on the notion of wifi switches. Stick with z-wave. While you may be able to get a cheap price on wifi capable switches, the z-wave are solid and great for something that won’t clog up a local network. I would focus more on the actual switch where you can instead of the outlet. I have a dedicated internal wifi network for some of my devices… if every one of them used wifi, I’d have well over 150 “things” on my network excluding computers/tablets/laptops/phones etc.