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fNeed to get my feet wet before new house. Suggestions?
Background:
Apologies in advance if this gets long winded. I'm in the blessed position of building my own home. I am looking to add some smart devices to the house when everything is constructed (which won't start till New Years most likely).
I have avoided IoT products until now as I have had little control over my network due to having to bandaid others problems. As a Cybersecurity engineer with both Networking background and a 20 year Arch Linux devotee I'm probably more paranoid than most. This coupled with the fact I don't want to rely on a company to patch their stuff as we've seen with Insteon and others. I want a locally controlled solution I can quarantine from the internet with VLAN and firewall.
I currently have HomeAssistant running on a Pi Zero 2 W which works OK, though it's redlining on RAM (I did pre-order a Pi 5). I was able to add my PoE cameras (they're on a switch with no connection to the internet) working with little issue once I realized I needed to update the firmware (which was the hardest bit). Wanting local is also the reason I'm likely not going with a Smart Electrical Panel.
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Current Plan:
I'm planning to go with prosumer network gear with a couple APs and VLANs, plus a minimum of two ethernet runs to every room one being PoE. The Office and Theater Room are going to have more. The Theater Room will likely be the most automated room in the house if I get into this (it's also where the rackmount network gear will go since I'll be rackmounting the AV gear as well). I'll want automated smart roller shades for "Movie Mode", some smart bulbs for theme lighting etc. Master Bedroom I want some automated roller blinds for when I have a migraine. Turn the AC up and certain power hungry devices off when I'm at work, that kind of thing.
​
Firstly, I'm looking for some stuff to get on Prime Day (or Cyber Monday) to get my feet wet. I can probably tamp down the paranoia long enough to use some WiFi only devices especially if they don't require an App and have no microphone or camera. I'm hoping Hubitat might be on sale so I can use that for it's radios as I don't want to use a bunch of dongles.
​
Secondly I'm looking for opinions/experiences on smart switches and their various protocols (I am leery of placing too many things on 2.4Ghz requencies like Zigbee). If price were no object I'd just go with Lutron Caseta or Innovelli Z-Wave switches but their added cost delta would quickly balloon the electrical cost. Currently I'm thinking just add them to one or two rooms like the Kitchen, Great Room and Theater where the bulk of the Smart Bulbs would likely be.
What are everyone's experiences?
#home
source
Background:
Apologies in advance if this gets long winded. I'm in the blessed position of building my own home. I am looking to add some smart devices to the house when everything is constructed (which won't start till New Years most likely).
I have avoided IoT products until now as I have had little control over my network due to having to bandaid others problems. As a Cybersecurity engineer with both Networking background and a 20 year Arch Linux devotee I'm probably more paranoid than most. This coupled with the fact I don't want to rely on a company to patch their stuff as we've seen with Insteon and others. I want a locally controlled solution I can quarantine from the internet with VLAN and firewall.
I currently have HomeAssistant running on a Pi Zero 2 W which works OK, though it's redlining on RAM (I did pre-order a Pi 5). I was able to add my PoE cameras (they're on a switch with no connection to the internet) working with little issue once I realized I needed to update the firmware (which was the hardest bit). Wanting local is also the reason I'm likely not going with a Smart Electrical Panel.
​
Current Plan:
I'm planning to go with prosumer network gear with a couple APs and VLANs, plus a minimum of two ethernet runs to every room one being PoE. The Office and Theater Room are going to have more. The Theater Room will likely be the most automated room in the house if I get into this (it's also where the rackmount network gear will go since I'll be rackmounting the AV gear as well). I'll want automated smart roller shades for "Movie Mode", some smart bulbs for theme lighting etc. Master Bedroom I want some automated roller blinds for when I have a migraine. Turn the AC up and certain power hungry devices off when I'm at work, that kind of thing.
​
Firstly, I'm looking for some stuff to get on Prime Day (or Cyber Monday) to get my feet wet. I can probably tamp down the paranoia long enough to use some WiFi only devices especially if they don't require an App and have no microphone or camera. I'm hoping Hubitat might be on sale so I can use that for it's radios as I don't want to use a bunch of dongles.
​
Secondly I'm looking for opinions/experiences on smart switches and their various protocols (I am leery of placing too many things on 2.4Ghz requencies like Zigbee). If price were no object I'd just go with Lutron Caseta or Innovelli Z-Wave switches but their added cost delta would quickly balloon the electrical cost. Currently I'm thinking just add them to one or two rooms like the Kitchen, Great Room and Theater where the bulk of the Smart Bulbs would likely be.
What are everyone's experiences?
#home
source
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