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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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Home automation ...
Prompted by George's heads up and the discussions re Home Automation
with others here recently, I diverted from our dog walk though a fairly quiet Lidl earlier and picked up one of their 'Smart Lighting Starter Kits' (£39.99) and a Smart Socket (£7.99). The starter kit consists of a wired (only I believe) 'Zigbee 3' spec hub inc Ethernet cable and USB style PSU, 3 x ES27 white LED lamps (9W / 806 lm / 2200-6500 K) and a single 4 button remote. Upon plugging the hub in, nothing happened so I tried a phone charger and the LAN and Status LED's lit up so it looks like a dead USB-wart (the supplied USB A -uSUB cable is ok as I'm currently powering it from the MacMini USB port). I then installed the Lidl Home app and got it connected to the hub ok. I then plugged the smart switch into the mains and added that equally easily. Fun to toggle the thing on and off from your phone. ;-) I then found a B22 to ES27 adaptor, screwed one of the new LED lamps in and it was fading up and down (indicating it was in 'pairing mode'). I added that to the Lidl app and again, was able to turn it on and off from my phone and play with the brightness and colour temperature controls. Getting the light remote was a little trickier (all this was without reading the manuals of course, part of my test for how intuitive something is) but the onscreen prompts got me going there. You basically simultaneously press the power on and off buttons for 5 seconds (to get the indicator LED flashing on and off) to pair the remote to the hub then simultaneously press the brightness up and down buttons (for 5 seconds) to pair the remote to the lamp you want to manage (via the app). Then I remembered Theo (I think) talking about he 'Smart Life' app so I installed that, unlinked the hub from the Lidl app and re-connected it to the Smart Life app and all went as easily as before (easier as I now had a bit more of a clue), the idea being that it might be a bit more flexible than the Lidl one (that it looks like it's based on)? Then I replaced the dusk to dawn LED lamps in the front and rear lobbies with two of the Smart LEDs and set them up to both go off and on at sunrise and sunset (for this region). It will be interesting to see if they are off when we come down tomorrow. ;-) The dusk to dawn LED's they replaced needed quite a bit of ambient light to go off so this time of year they were quite often on most of the day. I noticed that the smart setup had 'overcast' as a setting so I might be able to include that on these lights as well. The current lamps are in std B22 pendants and because these smart lights happen to be ES27, I have to use converters. I was wondering if it's worth changing to ES27 pendants as it seems many lamps from the likes of Ikea / Aldi / Lidl are only ES? Has anyone fitted an ES pendant and can recommend some 'nice' (as in mechanically / design / usage) ones please? The next step is to see if I can link any of this into Google Home ... Cheers, T i m |
#2
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Home automation ...
On 10/12/2020 22:50, T i m wrote:
Prompted by George's heads up and the discussions re Home Automation with others here recently, I diverted from our dog walk though a fairly quiet Lidl earlier and picked up one of their 'Smart Lighting Starter Kits' (£39.99) and a Smart Socket (£7.99). Check out Idratek. |
#3
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Home automation ...
On Fri, 11 Dec 2020 11:36:02 +0000, gareth evans
wrote: On 10/12/2020 22:50, T i m wrote: Prompted by George's heads up and the discussions re Home Automation with others here recently, I diverted from our dog walk though a fairly quiet Lidl earlier and picked up one of their 'Smart Lighting Starter Kits' (£39.99) and a Smart Socket (£7.99). Check out Idratek. Have you used any of that stuff OOI? It looks like it uses it's own standards / protocol (IDRANet) so that would mean extra stuff over what I already have (Zigbee). Cheers, T i m |
#4
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Home automation ...
T i m wrote:
Then I remembered Theo (I think) talking about he 'Smart Life' app so I installed that, unlinked the hub from the Lidl app and re-connected it to the Smart Life app and all went as easily as before (easier as I now had a bit more of a clue), the idea being that it might be a bit more flexible than the Lidl one (that it looks like it's based on)? It seems the Lidl is a rebrand of Tuya Smart Life, so Smart Life should talk to more things than just the Lidl products. The current lamps are in std B22 pendants and because these smart lights happen to be ES27, I have to use converters. I was wondering if it's worth changing to ES27 pendants as it seems many lamps from the likes of Ikea / Aldi / Lidl are only ES? Has anyone fitted an ES pendant and can recommend some 'nice' (as in mechanically / design / usage) ones please? Various people sell brass/copper/chrome ES pendant lampholders. ebay has a selection, or eg: https://www.lampspares.co.uk/es-e27-lampholders/ Getthing white turned out much harder if you want to support a lampshade - things like this: https://www.lampspares.co.uk/es-whit...d-shade-rings/ but I don't like the 'shade rings'. The only 'normal' ES pendants I found were these (also in black): https://mastertrade.co.uk/set-lg9490...00w-white.html They're fine. I also fitted a chrome batten holder, which was fine too: https://www.lampspares.co.uk/chrome-...older-4475062/ Theo |
#5
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Home automation ...
On 11 Dec 2020 13:11:59 +0000 (GMT), Theo
wrote: T i m wrote: Then I remembered Theo (I think) talking about he 'Smart Life' app so I installed that, unlinked the hub from the Lidl app and re-connected it to the Smart Life app and all went as easily as before (easier as I now had a bit more of a clue), the idea being that it might be a bit more flexible than the Lidl one (that it looks like it's based on)? It seems the Lidl is a rebrand of Tuya Smart Life, so Smart Life should talk to more things than just the Lidl products. Including Sonoff I hope as I've ordered one of their PIR detectors. ;-) The current lamps are in std B22 pendants and because these smart lights happen to be ES27, I have to use converters. I was wondering if it's worth changing to ES27 pendants as it seems many lamps from the likes of Ikea / Aldi / Lidl are only ES? Has anyone fitted an ES pendant and can recommend some 'nice' (as in mechanically / design / usage) ones please? Various people sell brass/copper/chrome ES pendant lampholders. ebay has a selection, or eg: https://www.lampspares.co.uk/es-e27-lampholders/ Yeah, I don't thing I like the idea of metal in such things and we are all white plastic in any case. Getthing white turned out much harder if you want to support a lampshade - things like this: https://www.lampspares.co.uk/es-whit...d-shade-rings/ Yes, that would be more the sort of thing we would want / use (even if we didn't use a shade in every instance). but I don't like the 'shade rings'. The only 'normal' ES pendants I found were these (also in black): https://mastertrade.co.uk/set-lg9490...00w-white.html They're fine. Cool, and they look more familiar. Are you able to explain *why* ES seems to be so 'non standard' or is it just here in the UK? Are ES actually standard in the EU, given how often the likes of Aldi / Lidl / Ikea only seem to offer lamps in ES fittings? I also fitted a chrome batten holder, which was fine too: https://www.lampspares.co.uk/chrome-...older-4475062/ I was thinking of getting at least one ES battenholder, mounted on a bit of wood, wired with a flying lead with a surface mains switch as a test bed (handy for the on-off lamp resets etc). Coming down to the front and rear lobby lights off bade us realise how dark it was out there but not just because is was close to sunrise (so sunrise + N time wouldn't help) it was. So the next thing I'm going to try is adding a 'rule' that turns those lights on when 'Overcast'. It could mean they are on all day (and night) but it will be interesting to find out. I would also be interested to find a B22 LED Zigbee compatible lamp to put in my neighbours (unused) outside light and trigger it from the PIR I've ordered (with his full permission etc). ;-) Should I be able to sum the rules, eg, Only if between sunset and sunrise and the PIR is triggered, turn the light on for 10 mins? Cheers, T i m |
#6
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Home automation ...
T i m wrote
Coming down to the front and rear lobby lights off bade us realise how dark it was out there but not just because is was close to sunrise (so sunrise + N time wouldn't help) it was. So the next thing I'm going to try is adding a 'rule' that turns those lights on when 'Overcast'. Some like the Philips Hue movement sensor has a light level detector so that is completely automatics. Just overcast and not isnt enough, heavily overcast is very different light level wise to medium overcast or light overcast. It could mean they are on all day (and night) but it will be interesting to find out. I would also be interested to find a B22 LED Zigbee compatible lamp to put in my neighbours (unused) outside light and trigger it from the PIR I've ordered (with his full permission etc). ;-) Should I be able to sum the rules, eg, Only if between sunset and sunrise and the PIR is triggered, turn the light on for 10 mins? You certainly can with the best of them. |
#7
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Home automation ...
On Sun, 13 Dec 2020 04:32:36 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote: T i m wrote Coming down to the front and rear lobby lights off bade us realise how dark it was out there but not just because is was close to sunrise (so sunrise + N time wouldn't help) it was. So the next thing I'm going to try is adding a 'rule' that turns those lights on when 'Overcast'. Some like the Philips Hue movement sensor has a light level detector so that is completely automatics. This seems to suggest that their products can be ZigBee compliant:: https://zigbeealliance.org/zigbee_pr...sor-module-v1/ https://zigbeealliance.org/zigbee_pr...motion-sensor/ Just overcast and not isnt enough, heavily overcast is very different light level wise to medium overcast or light overcast. Agreed. It could mean they are on all day (and night) but it will be interesting to find out. I would also be interested to find a B22 LED Zigbee compatible lamp to put in my neighbours (unused) outside light and trigger it from the PIR I've ordered (with his full permission etc). ;-) Should I be able to sum the rules, eg, Only if between sunset and sunrise and the PIR is triggered, turn the light on for 10 mins? You certainly can with the best of them. I am going to try to get an RPi running Home Assistant although I'm still not exactly clear how all this stuff bolts together and what's needed for what. I think I got from Theo that HA allows you to keep everything 'in house' (and I think that's not a bad idea), as long as I can still get confirmation of any sensor triggers when out-and-about etc. Cheers, T i m |
#8
Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Home automation ...
"T i m" wrote in message news On Sun, 13 Dec 2020 04:32:36 +1100, "Rod Speed" wrote: T i m wrote Coming down to the front and rear lobby lights off bade us realise how dark it was out there but not just because is was close to sunrise (so sunrise + N time wouldn't help) it was. So the next thing I'm going to try is adding a 'rule' that turns those lights on when 'Overcast'. Some like the Philips Hue movement sensor has a light level detector so that is completely automatics. This seems to suggest that their products can be ZigBee compliant:: Yes they are. https://zigbeealliance.org/zigbee_pr...sor-module-v1/ https://zigbeealliance.org/zigbee_pr...motion-sensor/ Just overcast and not isnt enough, heavily overcast is very different light level wise to medium overcast or light overcast. Agreed. It could mean they are on all day (and night) but it will be interesting to find out. I would also be interested to find a B22 LED Zigbee compatible lamp to put in my neighbours (unused) outside light and trigger it from the PIR I've ordered (with his full permission etc). ;-) Should I be able to sum the rules, eg, Only if between sunset and sunrise and the PIR is triggered, turn the light on for 10 mins? You certainly can with the best of them. I am going to try to get an RPi running Home Assistant although I'm still not exactly clear how all this stuff bolts together and what's needed for what. That's one real advantage of the Hue stuff,. that's all completely automatic even to the level of being able to ask siri what the temperature of the individual movement sensors is without any setup required at all. I think I got from Theo that HA allows you to keep everything 'in house' (and I think that's not a bad idea), as long as I can still get confirmation of any sensor triggers when out-and-about etc. |
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