Just moved into a new place and wanting to tech it up… Currently in the Android ecosystem but happy to swap to apple if they are better for automation.
What devices are you running in your house for smart devices? Things like auto roller blind devices, NFC Tags, Smartlocks, Bulbs, Amazon Alexa, Google?, Cameras etc.
Thanks!
Look into Home Assistant, zigbee devices and aqara sensors. Shelly switches. You don't need to tie yourself to android or apple. Home assistant can almost integrate everything. You can run it on any 24/7 pc/mini pc/ rasberry pi etc.
Zigbee devices are more reliable and long lasting on battery compared to wifi. I have around 20+ zigbee devices with homeassistant using https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/. Plus I have homekit integration so everything shows up on my apple devices, thought I don't use it much that way, but it is still there. Using lights, motion sensors, door sensors, water sensors, thermostats, Heat pump controls, few shelly switches, garage door, samsung tvs, tesla & few more. Lots of automations.
If possible stay with devices which can work locally without talking to cloud servers. Stay away from tuya.
Sheesh, checked that zigbee website out. Looks pretty complicated but will look into it. Cheers!
Yes. It feels overwhelming. But once you get familiar with home assistant it is not that difficult. Plus it's one time thing. Later you keep adding sensors without touching this. Most of it is just simple steps. Lots of youtube videos out there.
If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, check out Home Assistant. Super easy to set up and highly configurable, lots of integrations. But it is a bit technical at times.
I'm meaning to dig out my old raspberry pi and follow what other have said with home assistant at some point.
In the meantime we've accumulated all sorts of bits, mainly smart light bulbs & strips and smart plugs to control things with. Got a selection of different ones including mighty ape, kogan, arlec, xiaomi and yeelight and a lot of them are based on Tuya so despite buying kogan bulbs they work in the arlec app just fine.
At the moment we have all of these linked to google assistant with various speakers dotted around the house, I mainly got the speakers for multi room audio but do use them to bark commands at them. When I get home assistant I'll add more automations beyond turning the lights on at sunset and off in the morning, but I won't waste that time as I'll have to redo it when I move to home assistant.
Geekzone is a good place to have a read through. Lots of NZ relevant stuff on Home Automation
https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=73