Looking to build a home automation project tying outdoor recessed lighting (e.g. pot lights) to a set of outdoor motion detectors, and I’m considering using HomeAssistant on the software side of things. I’m not too worried about the software, since one the pieces are in place, I have more than enough development experience to connect the bits, even if I have to do it with custom code.
But I have less experience with the hardware side, and i’m hoping not to bite off more than I can chew. I haven’t been able to find much in the way of smart outdoor recessed lighting fixtures or smart outdoor recessed lighting bulbs that I can control remotely. I have seen smart indoor versions of each, and smart outdoor lighting solutions that aren’t recessed, but the combination is proving troublesome.
I see signs that there might be smart inline relays that I could put right beside a traditional outdoor recessed lighting fixture, but every time I look up things like z-wave relays, I end up finding something that looks like a light switch and can communicate with z-wave products – an input device. What I want isn’t the input device, I want something that turns on or off power to a fixture.
And finally, if all else fails, I can go back to my original plan where I run wires from each fixture back to a central spot, put a software-controlled relay there, hooked up to a Pi or a Nuc. That seems pretty fool-proof, and I can definitely find a relay like that, but that seems like it’s running a lot of extra wires if I can just find smart relays or smart fixtures.
So:
- Are there good smart bulbs or smart fixtures for outdoor recessed lighting that I’ve missed?
- Is there something I can pair with a traditional bulb and fixture to allow me to turn off and off the fixture (or even dim it) remotely?
- Any other ideas I’m not considering?
For a more detailed writeup on the project:
http://www.geoffreywiseman.ca/blog/2018/06/15/home-reno-automation-with-pi/
Thanks,
- Geoffrey