My room is set at 68° and my roommate and I are sweating out asses off every night, is there any code I can use to unlock the controls or use the USB drive to unlock it?

i spent the entire weekend setting up mmWave presence sensors so the bathroom lights would be "perfect." she walked in, the sensor lagged for 2 seconds, and she just stood there in the dark. she gave me that look. you know the one. the "why did we spend money on this" look.

My mom stayed with me for a few days and apparently my new hobby is solving problems she doesn’t think are problems.

My fridge lets me know when the door isn’t closed. Her answer was basically, just close it properly lol. The washer sends me a notification when it’s done, but apparently I could just remember to go get the clothes. And she really doesn’t understand why the robot vacuum needs a schedule or voice control when I could just vacuum the floor myself.

The leak sensor that shuts off the water got a pass though. She likes that one.

I get what she means. None of these things are a huge job on their own. I just like not having to remember all the little stuff around the house. To her, I’ve basically added a bunch of devices to do things I could already do myself.

What automation did your family think was pointless until they saw it in use?

There seems to be probably 25 different brands out there. I'm not concerned about price, I just want something that works well. Good ones aren't cheap and if it is going to keep my floors clean for years, I'll pay for it.

My only requirements are that its self emptying and has a mop with it. Other than that, I'm pretty much open to whatever.

I'd really like to keep this under $75 (I would probably go up to $100) but I'm having a hard time finding a doorbell camera that fits the following:

• Controllable from an app
• Local storage
• Under $75 with no subscription
• Works over wifi

Any suggestions would be awesome. I know there are some great options out there but a lot of them require subscriptions.

I've gotten lucky with not getting a ton of snow this year but it's looking like my luck is about to run out next week. I'm looking to get some snow melting mats for both my deck stairs and my driveway.

Price isn't much of a concern since I usually end up paying ~$1000 a year at least for shoveling and plowing. Add to that I sometimes cant get anyone here for 1-2 days after it snows. I'm fine with just throwing these down for 4 or 5 months out of the year and not worrying about it.

What do you suggest?

I use Google Home and would like to be able to control my garage door, but can't seem to find a straight answer, can any provide me with some advice. Thanks in advance and sorry if this is the wrong forum.

What could be put in its place?

It feels like I'm paying a ransom for my own footage. I bought the camera, I own the house, yet I still have to pay a monthly "rent" just to get smart alerts?

I'm planning to switch to a system that uses local storage (SD card) only. No cloud, no fees.

My question: For those who have gone fully local, is it worth it? Also, how about solar power? I really don't want to run wires, but I'm worried solar cams might die in the winter. Is the tech actually good enough now to run 24/7?

My wife and I set aside a bit of money this year just to improve daily life at home, not for repairs or emergencies, just for comfort and convenience.

We’re making a list of upgrades and trying to sort out what should come first. There are so many options out there that it is hard to tell what really feels worth it long term and what ends up as a toy you stop using after a month.

So I wanted to ask the people here who are way deeper into this stuff than I am. What did you add to your home that you still love months or years later? thank you in advance.

which is better for a whole house system. completely automated everything, including security cameras , music , climate , lights etc.

the house we bought has an old crestron system, and we were told the wires are slow and old.

I want the best system, money being no object.

which would be best?

edit to add house is 6000sqft 5b5b

Interflex cables are a pain

For me #1 is the switch for the garbage disposal. I still have the old school dumb toggle switch because I'm scared of something turning it on remotely.

What do you refuse to automate?

I'm looking for something that can be controlled from either my phone or a hub. What I'd really like to find is something that checks all of these boxes:

• Wifi/hub compatibility
• Dimming capability
• Color changing
• Under $50 each

I know it's sort of a tall ask but I'd like to find out what's out there.

Hi. We just bought a house and we have two chest freezers in the garage. Their aren't any problems I know of, but I've been burned in the past by breakers flipping unexpectedly and losing everything in the freezer.

We keep snakes, so one of the freezers is packed full of expensive...snake food.

So, I'm kinda nervous about the garage and I'm wondering if there is any easy way to monitor it or get notifications if it loses power. I've thought about a smart outlet or something similar, but if they lose power, from what I can tell, I wouldn't get a notification.

ETA: thanks for all the suggestions! Since I'm new to home ownership, I haven't even stepped into the automation pool yet and you've given me some nice places to start.

4 zigbee plugs for the cost of 1 ZWave feels wrong. Why would anyone go with zwave in this scenario?

Context: I’m replacing old wifi smart plugs. Have an existing zwave network running into home assistant. For the price difference of 4 plugs, i could buy a Zigbee antenna, set up a parallel network, and still come out ahead.

Ideally I want to keep this to below $4000. My yard is a little over half an acre with a couple of trees that have landscaping around them.

My main concern is I dont want something that's going to try mowing over the mulch around the trees. It's starting to get warm and I'd like to get something setup in the next week or two.

Lots of options out there, what do you recommend?

The PC Wake-On-Lan/remote power control Alexa skill, "WOLskill" was shutdown and replaced with something requiring a subscription. I paid for the original skill (and used it frequently) so this is very upsetting. I will not be subscribing for functionality that was artificially shut down with the sole intent of getting more money out of users. Does anyone know of any alternative options? I mean ones that integrate with alexa, not just WOL in general.

I see IKEA has a new line of Matter over Thread apart power devices at very reasonable prices, like half of what Eve wants for a similar smart plug! Seems too good to be true.

So, a few questions:
- are they reliable, long term?
- are they happy with an Apple border router? Or Home Assistant?
- do they play well with other Matter/Thread devices, like from Eve?

Thanks!

I rus a home assistant system and my wife doesn't mind it but is very 'meh' when I talk about adding any new features.

Has anyone discovered the holy grail of features that gets an otherwise indifferent significant other turned in to an automation enthusiast?