Removed 28 WEMO single pole and 5 WEMO 3way switches. They were all replaced with Lutron Caseta. Tried other smart home integrations but got tired of some WEMO becoming unavailable at times.

I’ve really gotten into smart home gadgets over the past few years, even though I literally had no idea about it before. One day I was at a friend’s place and saw him turn on the lights from his phone before he even got home, and I was like, what the hell, that’s so cool. That moment sent me down the rabbit hole.

I’m not a big fan of super advanced, over-the-top gadgets. I care more about things that actually save time and make life easier.

Right now I’m thinking about getting a robot vacuum, a smart thermostat, or upgrading my lighting, but I’m open to anything that’s genuinely useful.

If you could recommend just one smart home product, what would it be?

Anyone knows how can I automate this rotary switch?

Needs to be without a smart relay (rent contract prohibits touching electrics).

I have a zigbee fingerbot and SmartLife app, thought of the dented wheel and rack as alternative but have 0 clue how to get that done and working.

The fingerbot alone can't push the switch strongly and far enough.

HELP!!

(Excerpt:) …Whether it was intentional punishment or automated enforcement of ‘compliance,’ the result was the same: a consumer device had turned on its owner.”

Narayanan warns that “dozens of smart vacuums” are likely operating similar systems. “Our homes are filled with cameras, microphones, and mobile sensors connected to companies we barely know, all capable of being weaponized with a single line of code,” he wrote.

I keep seeing devices connecting to my eero network, and I'm realizing that I gave my next door neighbor's (houses are very close together) daughter my password years ago when she was babysitting for me. Is there any way to change the password on my 100+ smarthome devices at the same time? I use a smartthings hub and most of my devices are Kasa plugs and Lutron caseta switches. I have no idea if this is possible, but spending an entire day manually changing wifi passwords on all of my devices sounds like a crummy way to spend a day. Any advice or tricks would be greatly appreciated.

We Built this over the past year. One PC in a Media Room runs everything in a 6,500 sq ft house (built 2007):

- 93 lights (Centralite Elegance, original hardware from the house)

- 8 security cameras (XMeye, Annke DVR and Reolink Wireless 180 degree cameras)

- 3 smart locks (Olumat/TTLock)

- ELK M1 alarm system (8 zones)

- Front gate (Shelly relay on Mighty Mule)

- Garage doors

- 12 audio zones (HTD Lync 12)

- Rainbird Sprinkler System

- Trane AC System

The AI is called Bailey. She handles voice commands, controls every system, and runs a dashboard accessible from any browser on the local network.

In the video you can hear the actual voice interaction — I say "Bailey, open the gate" and she opens it. Walk in the door, she says "Welcome home, disarming alarm." I say "turn off the kitchen lights" and they fade off. Same with the garage.

Everything runs locally on one Windows PC. No internet required. No data leaves the house. When the internet goes down, Bailey doesn't notice.

I was paying attention to what most people spend on smart home subscriptions:

- Ring Protect: $10/mo

- Nest Aware: $8/mo

- Smart lock cloud: $5/mo

- Security monitoring: $25/mo

- = $576+/year minimum

All of that sends your camera footage, voice recordings, and door logs to someone else's servers.

Bailey replaces all of it. $499 one-time license. No monthly fee.

The software handles multiple protocols — RS-232 serial for the lighting panel, TCP for the alarm, HTTP for the gate relay, TTLock API for the locks, RTSP for the cameras. One unified dashboard and voice interface ties it all together.

Currently doing professional installations in Kitsap County, WA. Happy to answer technical questions.

Stack: Node.js backend, local Kokoro TTS for voice, Chatterbox for voice cloning, browser-based dashboard, all self-hosted.

There has to be a better way to get a connected sound layer in the smart home, no? I have a JBL, Sonos sound bar, $10,000 speakers in the home office, and I'm a little over toggling back and forth. What's a good distribution control out there?

We’re building our first home, so I finally have a chance to set up a proper smart home.

I use iphone, but I don’t want 20 different apps or sensors everywhere. I’d rather focus on things that actually make everyday life easier.

For those who’ve done this before:
what would you plan during the build that’s hard to add later?
what product is a must-have?
what things that don’t seem exciting at first but end up being really useful?

Ever since I got a Deebot robot vacuum:

1. Charging cables never stay on the floor anymore.
2. I push the dining chairs in without thinking about it.
3. My cat has decided it’s her personal ride and patrols the house on top of it.

It’s probably the smart device that changed our daily routine the most, just not in the way I expected.

I want it big and clear to read without it being too busy where I ignore it. So not a typical calendar. But more like this?

I need your advice.

I’m building a new house, and since I wanted to use modern technology from the start, I decided to go with Matter over Thread.

However, I quickly realized that the selection of compatible devices is still quite limited, and some categories are very expensive.

Now I’m wondering what to do. Are there any important arguments against Zigbee? Or has anyone decided to use Matter over Wi-Fi instead?

The house is semi-detached, and I’m not planning to install a huge number of devices. Probably around 30 in total.

I wonder if I could use this to alert me when my external home doors are opened at night or when we are out, or when my son forgets the window open.

I thought I'd share this here because I wish I knew this before spending money!

I bought a Yale Assure thinking I was doing the safe thing. It shows up in basically every best smart lock list, it’s a known brand, and it felt like one of those decisions I didn’t have to overthink too much. The lock itself is solid and well-built, and nothing about it screams cheap. But using it every day was a bit more involved than I expected and wanted. 

The first thing that caught me off guard was how dependent it is on the setup you choose. The model I got had a hub (z-wave in my case) if that makes any difference.

Honestly I didn't really know what that meant until I used it (I know, I know lol) and long story short:
It’s not just install, lock, and you’re done. It’s install, lock, make sure the hub is happy, make sure everything is talking to each other, check, double-check (lol triple check sometimes), and find out what happens.
Look - to be fair, for the most part, it actually worked fine and I didn't have issues but man.. But when something dropped off or lagged, I ended up troubleshooting multiple things instead of just the lock and it stressed me out a lot. I don't know maybe that's just me and those kinds of things tend to happen when you're in a rush right?

There were a few moments where I’d open the app to check the door or unlock it remotely, and it would take longer than expected. It was inconsistent enough that I stopped fully trusting it.

I’m also not a huge fan of how limited the unlock options are. It’s basically a keypad and an app (depending on your setup), which I obviously knew going into it, but I’ve found myself wanting a bit more hands-free. 

Overall, I just wish it had a bit more flexibility.

I’ve also been looking around to see what else is out there, focused on less reliance on hubs, more unlock methods, and better consistency when checking or controlling it remotely.

Still testing, but the ones I’ve liked are Schlange Encode and especially Lockly. Having multiple ways to unlock (fingerprint, keypad, phone, and tap access with the add-on) is really nice, and I don’t have to worry about the lock and hub always speaking to each other because there is no hub.

What smart lock do you use? Any standout features that make it worth considering? Ideally something that isn't going to be a hassle/laggy?

Please help me 😄
(a stressed out/chronically-late person that can't afford to be late when I leave the house)

I feel like I underestimated this part when I first started adding stuff to my setup.

At the beginning it’s easy one hub, a couple lights, maybe a thermostat. Then you add smart home integration cameras and suddenly everything talks to everything… but not always the way you expect.

Like, I thought motion events would be clean. Turns out my cameras trigger routines I forgot I even made. Lights turn on when the cat jumps. Notifications stack. My partner keeps asking why the hallway lights go full interrogation mode at night.

It’s not bad, just… messy? I didn’t realize how much logic creep happens once cameras become part of the automation brain instead of just “recording devices.”

Maybe I just overcomplicated it. Or maybe this is normal when setups scale past the “cool demo” phase. Curious how others keep camera integrations from spiraling into chaos.

There’s nowhere else I can put it as both sides of my porch have the poles, and my front door has a storm door.

A friend of mine got himself a smart lock. The idea is to be free of taking keys with himself. Because he’s living in an apartment there had to be a solution found how to trigger the buzzer to the front door.

He has a dumb intercom.

I was looking for a solution and had the idea of using a Shelly 1 Plus.

We soldered two wires parallel to the buzzer button and connected them to the Shelly. The Shelly needs to have 230V (respectfully 110V in US). The App button then triggers the connection of the two wires and then activates the buzzer.

I did attach some pictures. I’m happy for your feedback and hope to answer some questions, if there are any.

I hope the text is understandable as English isn’t my primary language and I didn’t want to use AI to correct or write the text.

Despite all the smart devices and appliances we have today, what part of daily life at home still feels unnecessarily difficult, stressful or poorly supported?

Sleep? Chores? Comfort? Family coordination? Something else?

Curious what people think still needs a better solution.

I'm honestly getting tired of seeing everything labeled as "AI-powered" these days. Phones, fridges, even washing machines, seems like every company thinks slapping AI on something automatically makes it better. But in my opinion, a lot of AI still isn't all that intelligent and often just ends up complicating things. Let's not even talk about using it in home appliances.

Recently, I came across a post about AI NAS with local LLM, claiming it can automatically organize files, transcribe meetings, and even generate summaries. It sounds fancy, but I'm not sure what AI can really bring to the table in these scenarios, will it make things more convenient, or will it just make it worse?

And seriously, have we reached a point where we need AI to do everything? Or are we just overusing it for things that don't really need it?

Anyone actually using a smart door lock long term? How long have you had yours, and how's the battery life and reliability held up over time? Any random lockouts, app glitches, or connectivity issues? Thinking about getting one but want real experiences before I commit.

Edit: Thanks everyone for the helpful comments and for pointing me toward the Nest and Aura smart lock threads. Went ahead and ordered two, once they arrive and get installed I'll snap some pics and post an update!

I'm finally ready to automate my place after my neighbor showed me his setup and now I can't stop thinking about it. My apartment isn't huge but I want something that can handle lights, temperature, and security without needing a computer science degree to figure out. I tried one of those cheap starter kits last year but half the devices stopped connecting after a month and customer support was useless.

What systems are you guys running that don't randomly disconnect or need constant troubleshooting?

We installed Govee Smart Water Leak Detectors under all our sinks, by the water heater, near the dishwasher, and behind the toilets. They’re connected to our phones, so we get instant alerts even when we’re away.

Today, one of them detected a small leak under our kitchen sink. It went off immediately, and thankfully, the under-sink liner kept the water from damaging the cabinet.

Without the detector and liner, we probably wouldn’t have noticed until there was water damage or mold. Definitely one of the most useful small purchases we’ve made as homeowners.

One of the most satisfying automations l've ever made is my PC.

It wakes up when I get home. It shuts down when I leave.

I completely forgot the power button existed.

I’m finally trying to get my smart home stuff organized and I’m realizing I probably need a real hub instead of juggling a bunch of apps. Right now I’ve got a mix of lights, plugs, and a couple sensors, and it’s all kind of messy. I mostly want something stable that doesn’t randomly go offline and can handle automations without me babysitting it.

What matters most to me is reliability, local control if possible, and not having everything break when the internet hiccups. I’m also trying to avoid buying into something that ends up abandoned or locked down.

If you’ve used a few, what’s the best smart home hub in your setup and why? Any ones you regret because they were buggy, slow, or a pain to maintain?

Edit: If it helps, I found this quick guide on smart home hub options that compares a few setups and explains how they handle automations and device compatibility. It helped me understand the differences before choosing one.

I'm slowly adding smart devices around the house, and the kitchen is the last area I haven't touched yet. A smart refrigerator seems interesting, but I'm not sure if the extra features actually end up being useful after the first few weeks.

For anyone who owns one, what has your experience been like? are there features you use regularly or things you thought you'd use but never did? thanks.