Very work-in-progress, but I have started to document my smart home stuff on my website! This might end up turning into a whole subsection once I figure out how I actually want to organize it, but for now, it’s a dumping ground all on one page. 😅
@cassidy I had no idea about the Starling Home Hub and the ability to integrate the Nest Protects, those are some of the last devices I don't have in #HomeAssistant yet. I'll be trying this out soon! Thank You!
@derek huzzah! I will say that the Nest camera integration is not really better with the Starling Home Hub and Home Assistant, though it was easier to set up. The cameras are really low frame rate and delayed, though. 😞
You do get all the recognition stuff exported as sensors though, which is dope; for example, you get a “motion” sensor, “unfamiliar face” sensor, and familiar face sensors for every saved face on each camera which opens up a lot of interesting stuff.
From bulbs to permanent fixtures, this is the category in which I have the most devices.
I have the most devices in the form of switchable plugs.
But I write this to get your input.
In Germany, years ago they started to promote "energy saving bulbs". At first with the neon fluorescent bulbs, later with LEDs. And so far I have the impression that the sellers are all effectively liars. They claim things like "15000 hours of operation" ... but few (if any) bulbs have reached that lifetime. The LED ones seem to be a bit better. But even there I had a bunch that a) started to make noises b) became quite darker out c) created lots of radio interference. My guess: it is their power supply that slowly gives up.
Now, with a dumb bulb I can replace it for a few €.
But already I create more electronic waste than wanted. They are not easy to recycle. E.g. they all have a tiny built in power supply, have many different fractions of materials which aren't separable. And the old neon types even had a tiny amount of mercury. Not exactly healthy or environment friendly. Fortunately they are almost a thing of the past nowadays. But the LED ones are still not recyclable.
And one thing stays: all of them didn't survive as long as claimed.
Would I now buy Zigbee enabled bulbs and they too wouldn't survive as long ... it would cost useless money AND it would create even more useless electronics waste. And so far I found the colorization feature not essential to me, but a mere gimmick.
What is your take on this... how many years did your IKEA build survive? Did they degrade? Do you have reason to trust the claimed operation times?
@holgerschurig I don’t think I have had to replace any LED bulbs I have bought over the last ten years, aside from a couple of cheap Wi-Fi ones from the early days that were obviously faulty.
I don’t think every bulb needs to be smart and RGB, since a smart switch is actually a good Idea for some lights where you don’t need color changing. However, I do really like tunable white bulbs to get a nice daylight during the day and warm white in the evening.
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