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I'm debating making the jump.  Or at least moving a good portion of devices to it. Why?  More integration options, better web UI and a much easier configuration process are a few of the reasons. I won't argue Homeseer hasn't been useful and reliable.  It has.  But it seems to be getting pretty...

I've got an area that's being used for remote learning. There's some duct work over the area, behind a drywall soffit. This is in a rec room area. I'd originally planned to do something like track lighting under it. But with the advent of newer low voltage LED fixtures I'm debating what to put...

I keep getting alerts for subscribed forums that are from link spammers posting garbage. Has setting ALL new users to "moderated" been considered?  That'd cut down on the link spammers.  It would, unfortunately, trap any new user posts in a moderation queue until someone releases it, and sets...

I've had a 2-line KX-TG9581 base station and several KX-TGA950 handsets.  I've not really made use of the 2nd POTS line feature, but have made regular use of the Link2cell feature.  I've got three of our cell phones connected through it and it's been working pretty well.   I'm looking to find a...

Does anyone make a monitoring-only device?  One without any switching? I'd love to have a way to monitor the activity of a sump pump but without doing anything that interferes with how it's powered.  To basically let me track how often it cycles, and for how long.  A pump running too often is a...

Just as I'm dealing with the seasonal sun angle problem with window shades.. this came across on of my feeds: https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-suncron   Haven't got the time to look into it right now, but using the sun's angle would be helpful in adjusting how some of the...

Does anyone know if various phones and tablets will still charge at their faster rates if the cord is connected through a USB extension or wall keystone?   Like these: https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg...sb+3+keystone&   I've a situation on a boat where it's inconvenient to have a typical 12v...

This came up in on of mail mailing lists.   The HA SwitchPlate is a user-programmable LCD touchscreen you can mount into a standard North American work box in place of a light switch. It connects to your home automation system over WiFi to send and receive MQTT messages in response to user...

>sigh<  This was an annoying... "oh, that's going to be a problem" moment. Task creep.  Always a bad thing.  I've got my Homeseer instance running on an Intel NUC.  Been quite reliable for ages.  But always noticed "odd things" about USB devices connected to it.  Long story short, the chipset...

Home automation software has always been a series of compromises.  One system has a decent UI, another has a particular driver you need, other have better programming environments, etc.  Lots of things have gotten us to where we are now.   These days there's quite a lot of coverage for...

Well, dang. Figured I'd finally be able to point my cameras at a wide swath of my driveway and exclude the adjacent sidewalk and street. Worked great, no false alarms by pedestrians or passing traffic. Awesome! Until a few nights later when someone drove by in the middle of the night. After they...

I figured it'd be good to finally bite the bullet and buy some better WiFi access points.  I picked up a pair of Unifi UAP-AC-Pro units and have been quite pleased with the significantly better coverage and network throughput.  Haven't quite nailed down where I'm going to put them, but that...

How many here have documentation organized for their Home Automation gear?   I know I don't, and that should be remedied.   I'm talking about a list of what's installed where, and why.  Along with maintenance schedules like replacing batteries, contact cleaning (leak sensors), water valve...

When traveling, and on our boat, it's been convenient to bring along something capable of acting as a standalone media source.  Lots of hurdles have existed in the past, and a few persist today.  I've lugged along a combination of gizmos to work around a lot of these.  Like a hotspot capable...

I've got a mishmash of automation gear, Lutron, SmartThings, Wink, Vera, Homeseer, Philips, Fibaro, Aeon, Wemo, Leviton, Samsung, Iris, Blink, well.. you name it and I've probably got one lurking around here.   I'm interested in consolidating a bit, but I'm unclear on how z-wave and master and...

Anyone using an asterisk setup with voice recog for IVR menus? I'm toying with the idea of using an IVR (interactive voice response) setup to handle kids phone calls.  Several kids in the neighborhood have similar cell phone watches (LG Gizmo Gadgets on Verizon).  These are basically LTE dumb...

I picked up a Monoprice Mini Select 3D Printer.  I've been browsing Thingiverse looking for items.   I came across this little gem.  It's basically a switch cover that blocks use of a toggle on a switch, but does so without covering it.  Clever.   https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:69806/    ...

I'm debating what to do with some analog cameras I have installed.  They're feeding into a Swann DVR and I'm not "unhappy" with it.  But I'd like some more options for remote access than their firmware offers.  If I move to a blueiris kind of setup, what options exist to make use of existing...

I got a watch phone for our child. It's an LG VC200 from Verizon.  It's a pretty decent little device.   However it's limited to just 10 contact numbers on it.  That's 10 total, in and out.  Which isn't quite enough.    I'm debating the use of something like a voip number and something with...

I just picked up an Optoma WHD200 wireless HDMI transmitter/receiver setup.     It seems to actually work reasonably well.  I've used it, briefly, to send 1080i video from my Tivo Roamio Pro to a Dashbon portable projector.  My goal being to find a way to send in-house media from the Tivo out to...