celticgrid

HomeAssistant?

tom169

Yep. Works well. Had it stable for a few months with no hitches. I used to be a Iris By Lowes customer, but that has since shut down. HA has been much more reliable than that was.

celticgrid

I was about to start playing with it (currently on Wink but that future looks grim so preparing for a move) but then Stringify did a runner today so there's a bit of work to do to prepare for that departure. Once that's done I'll fire up the Hassio Pi.

There's no longevity in this arena

Steerpike

The free-for-all in terms of solutions and standards is a bit worrying right now. As I mentioned, I've settled on Samsung SmartThings for now, and it's basically a z-wave / zigbee hub at the core, with web-side integrations to 3rd party web solutions like ecobee and Netatmo. But yesterday at Home Depot, I noticed Leviton had a whole range of switches for Wifi; for bluetooth; but none for z-wave/zigbee. They also offered support for Apple, for Google Home, for Amazon Alexa, etc ... but not samsung SmartThings. I don't even think my Samsung SmarthThings hub can talk wifi or bluetooth to devices ...

I feel that z-wave/zigbee are the right low level technical solutions, due to the way they build an ad-hoc network topography, and also run on way less power. Not a big deal for a plugged in switch, but if you want to use any battery powered devices, then wifi becomes a challenge. I have water leak sensors that have been running on the original small battery for about 3 years! These gadgets aren't cheap; a nice dimmer is $50, and these water leak sensors are $40 a pop. So if the technology dies, I'll be out some serious money! But I guess it's all fun to learn and play!

Bob

Something is eating through the wire mesh siding of our compost box :/

WEBlue

Raccoon?

Around us, it would be raccoon or groundhog.... They seem to like odd things like banana skins, eggshells, etc.

celticgrid

Trying to get in, or trying to get out?

Pulaski

Bob's post was wildly ambiguous and I was thinking "acids from the decomposition process" or "citric acid in his kitchen waste".

Bob

I have no idea what animal it was...but it's certainly persistent.

Steerpike

US wiring nightmare -
As previously mentioned, I'm going full-bore on home automation, using primarily z-wave and zigbee based devices and a Samsung SmartThings hub (just bought 4 more multifunction sensors, 8 more directly controlled lightbulbs, 2 more dimmer switches, 2 more regular switches, etc).

Yesterday I went to install one of the dimmers in the wall-box, replacing the existing basic switch. OMG ... it's a 3-wide switchplate (accommodates 3 switches) and currently has SIX neutral wires all twisted together under one wire nut; same for Ground. The old switch had no use for Neutral, hence the fact all the neutrals were just wired together into one big mess. The new dimmer needs both Neutral and ground, in addition to live (and the wire to the light itself). So how the hell do I 'tap into' that massive neutral cluster? The logical thing to do would be to add a 7th wire, but wrapping that around the existing cluster of 6 is no easy feat. The wires have sat there for 18 years untouched, and feel 'brittle' (does copper wiring get brittle?). I've already tackled this on a much smaller switch box (2-wide) and manged to add a 4th neutral wire to an existing cluster of 3, but even that was iffy and I didn't feel too good about it.

I've seen many UK-based electrical folks rolling their eyes at the subject of US wiring and the use of wire nuts specifically.... So what's the best way to tackle this? In theory, I could cut off the existing wire nut, and then re-twist the existing 6 neutrals with my new 7th neutral, but even that doesn't sound easy since the 'twists' run several inches and I'll never be able to straighten out the existing wires to the point where I'll get a good tight 'bunch' to twist back together. I'm thinking of hiring an electrician just for this so I can learn from what he does!



The yellow wire nuts are for another device that was added in the switchbox but it does not use neutral.

Pulaski

In my experience that is entirely typical of what is behind a three gang switch plate. …. Try looking behind a four or five gang wall plate!

I usually pull out the wires to work out what is what, and where I want to add, remove, or replace a wire. Then I remove the wire nut, add and/or remove wires and replace, or change the wire nut. The largest wire nuts, IIRC they are colored red, can handle a lot of wires and I find they are rarely necessary (it looks like you might have one in there already, but it has been painted white.

In most cases I use pliers, vice-grips, or Channellock pliers to hold the wires and twist them together, usually one tool for each side. It's a "dirty job" task, not pleasant, but it just has to be done sometimes.

In theory, best practice is to then wrap the wire nut and wires with insulating tape, thought IME that is extremely rare, but it might make you feel a little more comfortable if you do that before you stuff the wires back into the wall box.

Steerpike

Yuk! The old switch is a skinny two-pole little thing; the new dimmer is a monster and eats up a whole lot more space in the box. This means I can't do anything to add to the volume of wiring behind the switch; in fact I'll need to REDUCE the amount of space occupied by the wires behind! The wires are very stiff, and when I pull out one 'cluster', the other wires all come along for the ride and it's next to impossible straighten everything out. I don't know if they built in any 'slack' in the wires outside the box (in the wall) so I could pull more wire through (to start off with 'fresh', untwisted wires - I doubt it. Part of the issue seems to be, with all the wires so heavily twisted already, it's near impossible to straighten them out and this existing twist makes it that much harder to work with them!

ETA - The current neutral cluster does go into a larger red nut. Will a red nut take >6 wires?

Maybe I'll pay an electrician and just watch

zzrmark

If you can find one of the neutral cluster wires that has a bit of slack in the cavity you could just cut it behind the twisted cluster(f***) and leave the waste piece still in the twist. With that mess it's not going to add to your fire risk!!!

I am slowly sorting out my home's spaghetti fire starter but all my neutral copper wires are black (not the casing, the wire itself has been cooked!!) presumably yours are white because the painter sprayed the whole lot when applying wall coatings? My 30 year old house is slowly getting it's third rewire, the current mess is twelve years old and judging by the state of it I'd say the sparky that put it in has had a shock or two since then.
Which reminds me, I really must disconnect the (what would be in UK, not sure what it was, A/C or cooker feed presumably) 30 amp cable that is still attached to the breaker box, is live and coiled up neatly on the insulation in my loft...

petitefrancaise

I have to replace my front door keyed deadbolt... (DD's wallet got stolen with key + Driver's license ie our address) .
I'm thinking of going with the nest yale lock.
Any thoughts?
thanks
K

Steerpike

Not familiar with the Nest yale lock specifically but it sounds like a good idea if you are going towards home automation in general. In the meantime, be aware, some locks can be re-keyed by the consumer. If your lock supports it, you will see a small horizontal 'keyway' or channel perpendicular to the main key hole. This would be a short-term safety measure while you consider the better alternatives!

Here it is - https://www.kwikset.com/smart-security.aspx
Look for the section "How to re-key your SmartKey Security™ locks"
(This is Kwikset brand)

We moved into a new home recently and by chance, this was the type of lock already installed, so I just had to buy a new set of keys in a 'kit' that included the special tool.