DIY A Smart Home - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Tech-indoorsman
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 02, 2015, 02:14:18 pm
content: As home automation technology develops, everybody wants a smart home. But looking at your not-so-smart traditional manually operated home appliances, do they all need to be changed? Can they become smart? How to make that happen? The best solution is to connect them with smart APP switch (or called wireless switch) or WIFI socket. But there are hundreds of WIFI switch and WIFI socket products in the market. Which one is right for you? Of course, easy installation, easy operation, fair price, great functions, stable APP, all these are within our consideration scope while selecting.I guess everyone wants a smart home having the function below:1? I can turn room lights on before I step into my dark house2? I can get up in the morning with my breakfast ready3? I can check the status of my appliance.4? I can control all the appliances by a remote controller when there is no WIFI available.Recently I received a new parcel, it is a WiFi Wireless Switch offered by Itead Studio. It is just what I want. There is an instruction guide sent together with the Itead wifi switch. But the sample do not contains any tag, they explained me that they will tag marks for their final products. You can learn this wifi switch called Sonoff from their crowd-funding in Indiegogo.I can’t wait to try them out immediately. Here we go, what I need to install it is a scissor, which I will cut the electricity cables. There is a clip connector on each cable end, it makes the installation very easy. Simply use the scissor to cut the electricity cables, let the wifi switch connects the power source AC current in one end, connects one house appliance (I use a light) on the other end. If you are worry about the bare board is dangerous, just wrap it with tapes and put it into a general switch shell. It can be applied to a wide voltage range (from 90V to 265V).There are two conditions get this wifi switch controlled.1. WIFI - it needs home wifi to connect to the cloud.2. E-Welink APP – install it so that you can control your home appliances via smart device. Then I download the APP (both ios and android supported now) and install it on my smart phone. So far so good!Next, I open the APP and find it easy to operate, there are just normal simple indicative English works. According to the instruction guide, I need to long-time (about 3s) press the start button on the wifi switch untill the green LED slow blinking. Then I register an account and log in. I search wifi nearby, select my wifi name and enter the password. Then I enter into “bedroom light” interface. I click the add sign, it start searching my devices. I select and name it, finally submit it. Click my device, I see the ON/OFF switching icon. Click it, my light is on, click again, my light is off. I want to try out the timing function, which I love most. So it is now 15?05?I set one ON timing task at 15:07, and an OFF timing task at 15:08. Waiting...15:07, my light suddenly turns on. Good, 1min is over, certainly it turns off. I haven’t tried the sharing function yet, but I would like to try it out later.All in all, it is working as expected. It is easy to install, good functions, the APP easy to operate. I recommend it because it is a very lovely smart gadget. Everything is fine, but if they offer a shell, it will be better. Well, one WIFI switch is far more than enough, I need to use at least 10 to build my own smart home. So this is my review for Itead Sonoff WIFI wireless Switch.

author: Tech-indoorsman
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 02, 2015, 02:24:48 pm
content: Dear all, please say something, if you don't like. I need to be informed, thank you all.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2015, 04:32:30 pm
content: What if you don't want to have breakfast? What if you don't want the neighbours to see the women you brought home isn't your wife? Etc, etc, etc, etc. For normal people there are too many exceptions for automatic light / heat control to work.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2015, 10:51:02 pm
content: Quote from: Tech-indoorsman on December 02, 2015, 02:24:48 pmI don't like advertisement disguised as an informative post. That is what this post looks like to me.

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2015, 11:03:05 pm
content: Quote from: Rick Law on December 02, 2015, 10:51:02 pm+1Sorry OP, but this looks really suspicious.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 06, 2015, 10:23:05 am
content: A smart home doesn't need to be full of gimmicky gadgets linked to smart phone applications, linked to the internet etc... The technology in a truly smart home just needs to be well thought out and implemented.For example, I recently moved into a new home. I thought about the "I can turn room lights on before I step into my dark house" issue and the answer is easily a yes: I installed motion sensors so as I drive into the driveway/garage, lights turn on. I also opted to use light switches throughout the house which glow dimly so they can easily be located in a pitch black room. No fancy tech needed and no need for me to get out my phone and piss about with some application.I can also control the heating/cooling of my home without connecting any of it to my network. It's called a timer and most air conditioners and ducted systems have them.The bonus is, Wi-Fi or no Wi-Fi, "dumb technology" just works and there is much less to go wrong.There is a place for "smart" technology and I've implemented that in my home theatre set up. Everything is centralised in my server rack. I can watch recorded stuff or live free-to-air TV from any monitor in the house, I can pause in one room and resume from another. This is achieved with nothing more than a file server, XBMC boxes and a Logitech Harmony remote control.I guess my point is not everything has to be "smart" and not everything has to have an "app". As for breakfast, set your alarm 15 minutes earlier and get your butt out of bed and make it yourself!