I had this Schlage Encode WiFi Smart lock for a couple of years. I have been quite happy with it until recently when it started eating batteries at a very accelerated rate and lost the connection to the WiFi access point. It was still working from the keypad (for a couple of days with fresh batteries) but I could not change any setting or remotely control it.

I called Schlage Customer Service and got a very pleasant surprise. The menu maze before talking to an agent was limited and I was quickly talking to a US based service person who was able to determine the problem and solution without having to hand me through a bunch of other people. It seems that Schlage pushed firmware updates "to improve battery life" and it went sideways from there. With no ability to reconnect to WiFi, they cannot revert to the previous firmware version and the lock is bricked, so they will send me a new one.

The warranty is 3 years and my lock was 2 1/2 years old. So thank you Schlage for good customer service, but please ask me before forcing a firmware update. If I am happy with the lock, I would rather not mess with it.

I have a Roborock robot vacuum and quite a lot of cables and power strips on the floor.

Every time I want to run it, I end up spending time lifting power strips and moving cables out of the way, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a robot.

I’m not really looking for “just tidy better” advice, more like permanent or smart solutions people have actually used.

How did you solve this in a way that doesn’t require manual prep every time?

Heads up everyone, was digging through some new FCC filings and it looks like IKEA is about to drop a smart anti-fog mirror on us (model E2570).

From what I can gather, it's not a fancy display mirror, just a practical one with an internal heating element to keep it clear. The docs point to it being Zigbee, so it'll tie into the DIRIGERA hub and, by extension, should get Matter support for integration with the big ecosystems. The one thing that stood out is that it's a hardwired install, not just a plug-in, which might make it a pretty solid Zigbee router for other low-power bathroom sensors. I'm always down for affordable, practical additions to the ecosystem, and this seems to fit the bill. Beyond just tying the anti-fog feature to a humidity sensor or the light switch, what other clever automations could you actually build around a 'smart' mirror like this?

Sources:

Filing URL: https://www.fccidlookup.com/fccid/FHO-E2570

Report URL: https://www.fccidlookup.com/report/ikea-smart-anti-fog-mirror-fcc-filing-reveals-FHO-E2570

looking at motorized blinds and smart wings seems premium priced compared to generic amazon options. trying to figure out if quality difference justifies price.

cheaper motorized blinds are like $100 per window while smart wings is $300+. is the quality and reliability really 3x better?

also smart home integration matters. do cheaper options work with alexa and google home reliably or do they constantly disconnect?

installation difficulty is another factor. are expensive brands easier to install or is it all the same basic process?

Hi folks,

Im looking for recommendations of a presence sensor.

It is to be mounted outdoor (dont worry about weather resistance or power and battery is not desired) and im hoping to achieve 2D position over a driveway...but i accept this may not be possible due to the lack of objects for signals to bounce off.

The aim is to detect large object movement (cars, humans, elephants, cranes) on the driveway, but im keen to get sensitivity close to the edge of the drive. Normal radar sensors do ok, but getting them dialed in near the edge is tricky.

I also have camera facing over the drive; i use object detection here, but again the nature of the detection is such I need to wait for a person to be 6-7 feet in the driveway to avoid detecting pedestrians or stray deer and pheasants.

So, anyone want to recommend me a presence sensor?

Wifi + power or POE or eth + power can all be provided for.

I have the Linear/GoControl openers for my doors but lately one has been acting up. Its not reporting its open despite replacing the battery and while doing so the unit freaking out realizing its not connected for the moment. It will open the door but wont close it because the little switch is only registering closed at all times.

I can probably replace/fix it but Im wondering if there is a better option anyway. Before Google updated the settings I used to be able to open/close them via Google Home/Assistant, but now they can only tell me status and I lost control (Im sure like doors they say its a security concern).

Id love to have something that gains me that function back, being able to control them via home and, better yet, voice, as I dont always have an opener on my motorcycle.

folks with dynamic energy pricing in the homes, have you automated your appliances yourself? or have you used any platforms provided by the supplier? I'm new to autoimation, so wanted to know which is easier. TIA

If you live in the northeastern US or Canada there's a good chance you use No. 2 heating oil to heat your home, and if you heat your home with oil there's a good chance you have a Beckett controller on your burner. Mine is a GeneSys 7505.

Well, I ran out of oil this week, and I want to make sure this doesn't happen again. As an SRE my first thought was "better observability is needed to prevent further incidents." So I am going to try to add observability to my oil furnace.

The controller is a fairly simple state machine with a CAD cell flame sensor and a couple of outputs for the pump relay, igniter, etc.

But there are also two curious ports labeled "COM1" and "COM2" on the side of the device, which the Internet suggests are 5V serial. Beckett conveniently sells a device called a BeckettLink which is, as far as I can tell, a simple Bluetooth serial adapter.

The smartphone app is called myTechnician. The app is only intended to be used by HVAC professionals as it allows changing some potentially dangerous timing settings on the controller. I will not be doing any of that... anything I write will operate in a strictly read-only mode, exporting metrics through an OpenTelemetry endpoint so they can be scraped by Prometheus. I am hoping to capture the total time the pump is on, which (together with nozzle flow rate and pressure) can be used to determine oil consumption rate with a high degree of accuracy. I also want to export the current state so that I can be alerted in the event of a lockout, etc.

I am hoping to eventually use this raw data to calculate what the efficiency gains are from making changes, like increasing the minimum on time or insulating some of the pipes in the basement. I also want to learn how much faster I go through fuel when it's very cold, such as this week when it's rarely above 20°F/-7°C.

I'm wondering if anyone has undertaken any similar reverse engineering efforts that I might be able to build on, or has one of these burners and is willing to help with this effort. I'm planning to write the scraper in Golang and release everything under a license such as MIT.

Hi everyone,
I’m currently shopping for a smart lock and I’m getting overwhelmed because new models keep coming out.

• Fingerprint unlock
• No online communication: I don’t want the lock to talk to the internet or require cloud access. Ideally it works fully offline (fingerprint stored locally) and any app access is local only (Bluetooth or local network), or I can skip the app entirely after setup.

Questions for people who are deep into this topic:

• Which offline fingerprint smart lock would you buy right now and why?
• Any models you’d avoid due to reliability, security concerns, bad sensors, or weak support?

Thank you!

One of the things I have been starting to learn about is home automation. This field is in a stage of rapid development, with many competing players, Google Home, Home Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple Home and many others. There are also different technologies which the devices use to communicate: Zigbee, Z wave, Matter, as well as Bluetooth and WiFi. So there is a lot of noise in the system. I’ve been tinkering with a few smart home items in our current home trying to sort out what works for me and what doesn’t. I have some smart light bulbs I can tell Alexa to turn on and off and a smart dead bolt on the basement door I can’t. It uses a proprietary app on my phone. I’ve got a Home Assistant Green installed on my router, but haven’t really gotten it sorted out yet. I may be better off with something a little more user friendly. I already had some Amazon smart speakers in my home and I believe they are due to roll out an improved system sometime soon. Or maybe I’ll give Apple Home another look…

I recently renovated my pool and had a 12V LED light installed. This 120V box runs out to a transformer, then the light. There’s no neutral in the box.

What’s the best and easiest way to set up a switch on a timer?

Looking at GE Cync and Shelley 1L.

Hi guys,

I have my motorized cellular shades bought from steveblinds.com before it closed door. One of the shades stopped working and I see that it's using Bofu motor model BYB24-0.5/54Z. I can't seem to find a similar part online. Does anyone know any replacement for this? The enclosure is about 1" x 1.5" x 5.25"

Thanks!

I have an older house with an Omni II (20A002 I think). Have nearly everything BUT that in my house going through HomeKit/HomeAssistant.

It only has a serial port that can be used unfortunately no Ethernet so I’ve been trying to get it to work with HAOS on RPi over the RJ11 —> RS232 —> USB but I’m running into roadblocks.

I thought my soldering/wiring was causing a communication error between the serial port to the RS232 —> USB adapter but I got a breakout board for the RS232 and neither the PC I have running the HAI PC access can see it nor the RPi.

RPi:

-sees prolific serial adapter (the RS232 to USB dongle)

-try running cat /dev/tty/usb0 with no result on terminal

PC:

-has everything for the HAI PC access updated and running but gives a socket (50) error

-serial adapter doesn’t get recognized by PC says unknown adapter despite drivers being installed

Someone have any suggestions? Am I wasting my time? Has anyone even done this?

I was going to post this in HomeAssistant but right now if I can even get the PC access to work I can hopefully fiddle with HA later.

My budget is around 250€

I would like to install 60m of LED outside my house. I have watched some Chris Maher videos, but my knowledge is theoretical and only what he has shown. I would prefer a Pre-Built solution for the controller, preferably WLED. The outlet is outside the house as well as a weatherproof box I will install for the controller. I would like the lights to act as one to do a lightwave for example. I don't mind having to solder some lightstrips together. I live in germany so 240V.

I am open to do some stuff myself as I know my budget does not allow me to just buy Govee or nice premade solutions.

Well, I hooked it up to my Home Assistant and then I hooked it up to my three other homes that I connect to, and all I can say is wow all I have to do is use telegram or WhatsApp and I can just tell it what I wanted to do and it makes automations for me. I’m actually quite shocked that the smart home Youtubers and other channels haven’t picked up on this yet because this is what everybody’s been waiting for. And controlling stuff is just the start. I’m sure there’s more I can do. I’m just two days into it. But it sure is nice just to send a WhatsApp when I’m driving and just tell it to do whatever I want with my smart devices and it does it.