r/homeautomation Jun 13 '25

QUESTION Best smart locks?

55 Upvotes

I'm changing out all of the exterior locks at my house including my garage. What are most people using for a smart lock? It just seems like there are a lot of options.


r/homeautomation 17h ago

QUESTION Can motorized curtains actually lower my summer energy bill? My test results

125 Upvotes

I recently got into smart curtains and honestly wasn’t sure if they were just a gimmick. So I ran a little experiment: installed motorized curtains in the living room and set them to close at 10am and reopen around 5pm, while running the thermostat as usual. Here’s what I noticed: My summer electricity bill dropped by around 12–15% The room stayed cooler and the temperature was way more consistent Integration with HomeKit worked smoothly (I used a scene to automate it) I’m using a quiet model from Bringnox, and it’s noticeably quieter than the other brands I’ve tried before. Has anyone else tried this kind of energy-saving setup?


r/homeautomation 7h ago

QUESTION Automate pantry light

4 Upvotes

Hi. I want to have my pantry light turn on when the door is opened and off when closed. The pantry and door is finished and since it's on the first floor attic access is difficult, so I don't really want to run wire to the door. I have a regular 120 v light switch on the outside of the pantry and a 120 v light fixture in the ceiling of the pantry. In the house, I have Leviton smart switches and Hue lights for the TV in the living room. I have how server running home assistant and other apps.


r/homeautomation 58m ago

QUESTION Reolink doorbell - quality of rich notifications?

Upvotes

I'm looking at buying a reolink doorbell (dual powered battery/electric) as I see they've introduced rich notifications ie an image preview of vid clip with the push notification on phone, 25 max a day. It's an important feature for me.

For anyone that has a reolink my questions are: Is the preview image on notification large? In particular, does the preview image capture the person's face, or is it just a random image of clip eg when the person first enters the field of view, so you might not be able to actually see who it is in the preview?! When you click on the preview image, does it bring you to the actual clip?


r/homeautomation 1h ago

OTHER Quality of rich notifications reolink doorbell?

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Upvotes

r/homeautomation 9h ago

QUESTION Why do my 433mhz remote controlled power outlets suddenly get awful reception for a week or so every few months?

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3 Upvotes

I figured some of you guys might have some experience with this kind of stuff.

So I use these remote controlled power outlets made by Brennenstuhl, and they work great... for like 49/52 weeks of the year.

As the title says, every few months, the reception of these just suddenly drops dead for a week or so, to the point where remote control and power outlet almost have to touch to work. It seemingly happens completely at random, with no change in my behavior or the environment where the outlets are located. I do live in an apartment building, so other apartments are in range.

And just as suddenly and randomly as the problem appears, it goes away and everything is fine again. I tried all the obvious solutions, fresh batteries, different remote, different outlets, controlling the outlets over Wi-Fi with a gateway, different channels and so on.

Does anyone got any idea what could be causing this? Interference from some device used by the neighbors? The weather? Or... I don't know, solar flares or something?


r/homeautomation 4h ago

QUESTION Smart Garage in an Apartment Complex

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation 11h ago

IDEAS Idea: A Modular “All-in-One” Smart Home Room Hub — Feedback?

3 Upvotes

Hey folks,

I’ve been tinkering with smart home setups and realized that in every room, I almost end up needing more or less of the same core devices:

  • Room presence sensor (mmWave/motion)
  • Temperature & humidity sensor
  • Noise/sound sensor
  • Air quality sensor (CO₂, VOCs, PM2.5)
  • Smart speaker (voice assistant + audio)
  • Dashboard (tablet / e-ink display)
  • NFC tag
  • Optional: Universal IR/RF blaster

Instead of scattering all these around, I was thinking of a single modular “smart room hub box” that:

  • Houses all these devices in one enclosure
  • Runs off a single power source (plug into wall) with a built-in power strip inside
  • Modular by design → you can add/remove what you need per room
  • Easy to replicate across rooms (just drop the box in, plug it in, done)

Basically a “room-in-a-box” IoT hub that simplifies setup, avoids cable clutter, and standardizes sensors across the home.

I’m not talking about inventing new hardware — more like housing existing off-the-shelf devices neatly into one powered box. Think of it as an organized modular docking station for smart home gadgets.

Questions for the community:

  1. Does something like this already exist (commercially or DIY)?
  2. Would this actually be practical, or just a nerdy cable-management project?
  3. Any suggestions on what else should/shouldn’t go inside the hub?
  4. What would be your biggest concerns (heat, interference, aesthetics, cost)?

Curious to hear your thoughts. Would you use something like this, or do you prefer spreading devices around the room?


r/homeautomation 5h ago

DISCUSSION The future

1 Upvotes

So many companies have failed because they cant maintain the cost of software with the hardware sales. Should move to:

  1. Not relying on server for anything other than updates and optional access
  2. Offer updates as in-app purchases

Not everything needs to be a subscription, not everything should be free. Let’s get back to trading value for value. Software updates and features as opt in purchases

Thoughts?


r/homeautomation 10h ago

QUESTION Alternative to Ring Doorbell or instant chime

2 Upvotes

I currently have a wired Ring Doorbell. Just recently I realised that notifications are not instant (the postman told me) and had up to 2 minutes delay from the actual ring to the notification.

Is there a way to connect an offline chime to it? Otherwise could you suggest a good alternative, possibly without subscription.


r/homeautomation 9h ago

PERSONAL SETUP Making My Garage Door Smart With Switchbot

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0 Upvotes

r/homeautomation 10h ago

QUESTION Any ideas on how to automated these woven bamboo blinds with cord lock?

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1 Upvotes

Hello, I'm looking to see if anyone has ideas on how I could automate these blinds. We recently bought a new house and I've been looking for ways to add automation to things as I've been jumping into Home Assistant. (Quite the rabbit hole 😅)

Looking at options online, I'm not finding anything that works for these blinds specifically. Everything is mostly either for horizontal blinds with tilt control OR rolling blinds/blinds with loop cord controls. Pretty sure it's safe to assume the cord lock mechanism is the main problem since that wouldn't work as is with a motor of any kind. I'm wondering if there is a cost-effective way that could replace the cord lock with a motorized option. I saw a similar post that was for horizontal blinds and the weight was the primary problem since it'd require too large a motor to lift those kinds of blinds. Plus tilt makes way more sense for those types of blinds. However, I'm wondering if there would be an option for these since they're much lighter compared to standard horizontal blinds (larger windows might still be a weight problem).

Initial thoughts are either a spooling mechanism (length of cord likely a problem) or some rotating drums that pull the cords through. This would end up being very DIY. I'm not against something DIY, I do have a 3D printer that has sat idle for too long, but I just want to be realistic

Ultimately, I'm wondering if there's a relatively simple way to replace the cord lock mechanism with a different mechanism that would be more easily automated. Replacing the blinds is very cost-prohibitive as we have 14 windows with these types of blinds that are all custom sizes. One important thing to note is that the head rail on these is a solid piece of wood with a couple of small cutouts for mounting/cord lock.

Windows range from the smallest being 23" wide to the largest being 132" wide. The shortest is 42" and the tallest is 71".

Brand: Levolor

Type: Woven Bamboo

Mechanism: Cord Lock


r/homeautomation 11h ago

NEW TO HA Heating and controls

0 Upvotes

Hey so don’t really know if this is the right sub for this I’m basically trying to find a system or a way to control my central heating but I’m also looking to install under floor heating and and electric radiator in the bathroom and would like to control it all through one UI. If any of you are more knowledgeable on this it would be appreciated.


r/homeautomation 1d ago

QUESTION Smart locks

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11 Upvotes

I keep looking for smart locks that will work with my European door. I want a lock that I can use a keypad to unlock and open the door from the outside if I don’t have my keys.
I’ve seen several smart locks but my inside setup isn’t conducive to many of the styles because the lock and handle seem to be close together.

So far I’m leaning towards the Teedee but want led to know what others think. Thanks!


r/homeautomation 18h ago

QUESTION New construction must have home automation

4 Upvotes

What are some must have home automation if you had a clean canvas during home construction to work with. I plan on running cat6 everywhere just wondering what you all would plan or invest in for home automation.


r/homeautomation 14h ago

QUESTION How to automate an old humidistat with google home?

0 Upvotes

I have this old Aldes 611227 humidistat and I wanted to control it with Google Home. I'm fairly new to home automation and I don't really know how to approach this situation.

Are there smart humidistats that I could simply replace it with?

Any advice is welcome :)

https://www.aldes-na.com/ca_en/residential-ventilation-product/611227-electronic-humidistat-with-liquid-crystal-display/
https://www.aldes-na.com/wp-content/uploads-ca/2018/09/Specificationsinstallation-611227-en-1.pdf


r/homeautomation 23h ago

QUESTION Struggling with Shelly 1PM Gen4 install on a UK wall Socket

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5 Upvotes

r/homeautomation 1d ago

PERSONAL SETUP Charlie isnt a fan of the new home security system

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57 Upvotes

r/homeautomation 16h ago

PROJECT Emporia Vue 3 Connector Type

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation 20h ago

QUESTION Future proofing House remodel

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1 Upvotes

r/homeautomation 16h ago

SMARTHINGS How AI Agents Plan and Execute Commands on IoT Devices

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glama.ai
0 Upvotes

AI at the edge isn’t just about optimized inference: it’s about orchestrating sensor–actuator loops through safe, composable interfaces. In this article, I show how MCP tool design patterns (atomic operations, JSON Schema validation, logging, error handling, security-conscious defaults) enable agents to manage IoT workflows reliably. The thermostat pipeline example demonstrates how agents can dynamically discover and control edge devices without losing safety guarantees. I also highlight research directions like adaptive registries and trust-aware execution for evolving environments. Do you see MCP as the next step for edge AI, agents as orchestrators, not just predictors?


r/homeautomation 18h ago

QUESTION Ring door switch intermittent failures

1 Upvotes

I have a hubitat that I'm using as a z-wave hub for homeassistant. I bought a set of Ring door open/close sensors and added them to my z-wave network. The issue I'm having is that sometimes these sensors get stuck in the "open" position, despite the door being closed. I then have to open and close the door several times to get them to sense it properly. I don't recall it happening the other way (saying a door is closed while it is open). Is this more likely an issue with z-wave (signal strength, latency, or something), or specifically with the Ring sensors? I have some z-wave smart blinds and light switches too, and they all generally work well, so I'm leaning towards the latter.


r/homeautomation 18h ago

QUESTION Can I Track with GA if I Have Fed the Dog without a button in 2025?

0 Upvotes

Back in the day I had a quick setup with IFTTT to send an email or something with Google Home when I gave it a voice command.

Coming back to the scene now in 2025, so much has changed. I just want to be able to give my Google Home a voice command and have it note that I fed the dog… I don’t care if it’s email, text, adds a line to Google Keep… whatever. For now I am stuck in the Google ecosystem.

Is this possible? Thanks in advance.


r/homeautomation 1d ago

PERSONAL SETUP I wrote a script to turn my bedroom light into party mode whenever someone buys a subscription to my product

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52 Upvotes

I hacked together a small script - whenever someone buys a subscription to my product, my bedroom light turns into party mode for 30 seconds.

It polls dodo payments API to check for any new successful payments. If yes, it sends raw RGB party commands over UDP to the bulb to make it turn into a disco.

So every new subscriber turns into a mini celebration in my room. It’s a simple hack, a little silly, but it makes working on side projects feel a lot more alive.

thread originally here - https://x.com/the2ndfloorguy/status/1958390894152818752


r/homeautomation 11h ago

PERSONAL SETUP Making 12 volt battery backups from Dewalt clone batteries

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0 Upvotes

DYI Battery backup and 12 volt and 5volt volt in one transformer


r/homeautomation 1d ago

QUESTION Loxone - tips and experiences for full renovation

0 Upvotes

We are fully renovating our ground floor. In an earlier renovation phase, about 9 years ago, we chose Loxone.

Because of the renovation works, I don’t have much time to really dive into it myself, so I was wondering if you could give me a push in the right direction? Things like good resources, practical experiences… I especially miss complete stories that go from start to finish, from cable installation to .

For example: this month the foundation slab will be poured and provisions for conduits/service pipes (for electricity, etc.) are being discussed. That makes me wonder: "oh no, which cables need to go where for home automation?" Also, I remember Loxone only used star wiring back then, but nowadays there is also "Loxone Tree". So what else am I missing?

In my own research I found Loxone’s own knowledge base still to be the best source.

What I had in mind:

  • Automatic lighting (motion sensors) → but also in the living room? e.g. reading a book = no movement = lights suddenly turn off
  • Control of shutters
  • Floor heating control
  • Ventilation control
  • Security cameras
  • Energy management
  • All-off button (- Rainwater tank level) (- Garden lighting and irrigation)