Domotize the house with Apple Homekit: first steps

Would you like to tame the house a little, but you don’t know where to start? This entry is a mini-compilation of first steps (or first purchases) you should consider if you want to start taming the house with HomeKit from Apple. I’m gonna try to be schematic by adding links to the different entries where we’ve been talking about all this so you can expand information.

Problems you’re going to find

A few days ago I asked this question to a partner of Telegram channel I wanted to start with Apple HomeKit: Are you married?. Don’t take it the wrong way, it’s not a macho comment much less since among the readers and in the Telegram group There are several partners who are just as frikis or more than us, but from their own experience I tell you that the couple is often more reluctant to change than we are who have had the idea. When you put the first bomb

You see that you can turn it on and off from the mobile, the smart, using the voice assistant or even programming it to turn on when the sun is going to set, you think you’re going to do it always, that you’re not going to touch the switch again because it’s not necessary… and because, in addition, if you press it, the light is cut off and it no longer works’ domestically ‘. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Well… It’s not that easy to explain to the couple, to the children, to the visitors, to your father-in-law, to the friends who come to dinner.… everyone press the switch

or and he realizes that the bulb does not turn on, so he pushes it back on… like this over and over again, so you have to think these things very well and fix them before you turn on the problem.

There is also the economic factor, and it’s just that the crazies aren’t as cheap as the no-smart. And yes, You can fool yourself thinking ‘but as the light is going to turn off when the sun comes out and it’s not really necessary, because it’s saving’, or ‘as I’ve made my heating smart, when I’m not home, it’s able to turn it off alone and turn on when I’m coming back…’ actually this is, but the price of smart bulbs and thermostats makes you need a lot of time to start repaying them.. I didn’t even do the calculation to keep my hair off.

And, finally, the Wifi connection. You think your connection’s going well, don’t you? Well, it’s true that the room in the back doesn’t get very well, but it’s generally going well… lie, you’re gonna realize that it’s a problem that you press a push-button to light a bulb and tell you it’s unconnected or it takes several seconds to light it.

I don’t care about everything, where do I start?

That’s the spirit! The domotics have been about to cost me divorce on several occasions, but what’s cool when the Christmas tree turns on at night!?

The second most important thing once we’ve identified whether or not you have a partner, is thinking about your real needs. In one of the entries we comment that you can make your lights turn on in color blaugrana when I mark the Barça… but is it necessary? However, in my case I started this because I had an analog boiler without temperature, you could only turn on and off… from the same boiler! So if I was cold in the middle of the night I had to cross the house, go to the boiler, light it up… and at 3: 00 when the house was that looked like the same hell of the heat it was doing, then get up and turn it off. So I put a c-plug on it.

onected to be able to turn on / off the boiler from the bed… and then some temperature sensors in the rooms that sent the command to turn off / turn on the plug according to defined parameters.

Connectivity

The Wifi network has to be stable enough to give coverage to the whole house in good condition. As we said before, if the wifi comes to you in a simply ‘acceptable’ way, think that we are now going to put a lot more connected and much more constant traffic on the net, so we should think about improving it. And no, I’m not talking about wifi extenders, but really improving it by riding a Mesh network. There are many models, I tell you my experience with one of them… but I assure you it is to ride it and forget about coverage problems, devices that can only connect to l

a 2.4 and bandwidth network to consume content:

– Mounting a MESH network compatible with Apple HomeKit

Lights

People usually start with light bulbs, it’s the most viscous and simple thing… although I’m telling you, you have to think about the breakers very well. Here are some tickets to start with:

– My home with Apple HomeKit (Updated 23 / 05 / 2019)– Flashear Shelly for HomeKit– Apple Homekit compatible switches

Blinds

You have motorized blinds. Of those push-button ones? Well, they can be automated so that they get up automatically when the sun comes up, they get down when it gets down, they simulate presence when you’re on vacation… or even qThey get down when it’s gonna rain so you don’t get the crystals dirty.!

– Automating blinds with Shelly 2.5 (updated 30 / 05 / 20)

Security

The issue of security is very well resolved in Homekit not only for the buggy of alarms and available cameras that warn you when there is movement, door sensors and open windows, etc., but also for the safety in the home as the detection of smoke when you are not at home or the typical tap that breaks and the water comes out:

– My home with Apple HomeKit (Updated 23 / 05 / 2019)– Apple Homekit compatible water leak sensor

Heating and air conditioning

Following the example I have given you before the boiler, I have tried several intelligent plugs. Finally and since I don’t want to be obsessed with the consumption charts, I’m keeping this one:

– Enchufe Philips Hue supports Apple HomeKit– Integrate air conditioning in HomeKit with Tado

Lamparites

There are Apple HomeKit-compatible desktop lamps, some even with USB ports and QI wireless charger… but they are too modern for my wife’s taste My taste, so I’d rather keep the lampstands I already had and they’re much prettier. But how do you automate them to turn on if they have a physical switch that cuts the current in the middle of the cable? In my case I used smart buttons that you can put next to the lamp and automate that if you press at night they turn on at 50% but at day (or double click) they turn on at 100%:

– Smart Buttons compatible with Apple HomeKit

As I told you, You can mess up everything you think of and more.… a partner of the Telegram group He’s put a relay on the garage door so he can open up with Siri when he’s approaching, but you could also open it by geopposition without having to tell our friend Siri anything. Or close when you walk away. Or send you a notification if it’s open more than X seconds. Another one of them has automated the pool debugger to know whether it is on or not (and to be able to do it manually) from the mobile… yes, still a little bit of pajo and normal mortals

We’re not gonna get the pool problem, but so you can see it’s also possible. I’m going behind a smart lock and I’ve changed the TV recently to be compatible with Homekit (I’ll tell you in another entrance…). As the popular phrase says, ‘the limit is in the imagination’. I would add ‘and in the portfolio’.