A few weeks ago, Jacobo Vidal and I participated in the podcast of the friends of ‘Behind the counter‘to talk about domotics and give our different visions, I focus on HomeKit and automations to make life easier and Jacobo integrating everything that falls into your hands with Home Assistant, to the car or the cat’s feed. The point is that the typical question of the price of the devices came out… and today I wanted to show you how we can automate things with very affordable devices and show that the
It’s not expensive..
The point is that we were asked how much we had spent on domotics to get to the automations we currently have and Jacobo said that about 600 €and I said I couldn’t calculate it, that I probably had spent 600 €just in the last month! But you know I like to try things a lot, some of them don’t convince me and I return them… and others try to fit them in my day to day, so I’m not a good reference either: D
The domotics are not expensive… but let’s see, it’s like everything… ca bike to go around the neighborhood, parks and gardens is not expensive… but to buy you a triathlon bike that even less than 7kg can cost you more than a new 125cc scooter So it all depends on the budget and the real needs you have.
When some partner hired me Home consulting to start planning the installation and have a little clearer what devices to buy, I always tell you the same thing: Let’s get organized by section. Lights on one side (with switches or bulbs or relays as needed), blinds, safety, etc.. You’ll find it silly, but a very common mistake is to think of things like lights, heating, security cameras… and to avoid some important elements like water escape detectors or smoke detectors. So I’m going to organize the igu devices.
in the way. I hear are reasonable price devices that I know work well but it doesn’t even have to say that you must already have some things like for example a good wifi or mesh and a central of accessories compatible with Apple HomeKit that can be a moderate Apple TV or the HomePod, both the large and the HomePod Mini.
In this relationship Nor will I recommend any device that requires an additional hub or bridge, as that increases the price. Then I’ll make a comment on Aqara’s devices and its bridge… but only in an informative way. Anyway, I’m in trouble.
Lights
A few years ago I would have recommended you put the lights on Philips Hue. Today no longer, it is true that with some Smart bulbs you can play with the colors, intensities and so on and make a fuss like an automation that I had a few days so that, if that day was going to rain, in the morning the light of the bathroom was lit in blue and so I knew that I had to run out with the cocksucker or take the umbrella to go to school to take the babies… but if it wasn’t going to rain, it was going to light in warm tones as always. I tell you from experience that the concept tests are very good, but they’re usually things that are not used later. What is sought is for the house to react automatically.
In the end, unless you want to have a house to escape as I have ever done to teach some friend everything that could be done with the domotics, you end up leaving only the functional automations.
Having said that, Today what I would recommend to you to start is to put a relay smart behind the switch.. The most interesting is the Sonoff MINI4RM since it has the Matter technology. It’s not Thread, but it’s Matter-over-IP, which means it’ll connect to your wifi but it doesn’t need bridge or flashing or anything else to make it work and it’s detected by the Apple House app. In addition, as Matter, if you have any other devices connected to Home Assistant, Alexa or Google Home, the Sonoff will be able to join all ecosystems at once. That’s very cool of the Matter standard. E
It costs about €22 and you’ll have to put one behind every switch you want to automate… but obviously you don’t have to automate all the switches in the house, just those of the lights you want them to turn on or off under certain conditions.
You could also put a Shelly 1 Plus that connects to the wifi and can be flasheard to be compatible with HomeKit . You got it about 15 €. I like the Shelly more for some things and they’re ‘a little bit’ faster than the Sonoff, but they haven’t updated to Matter yet and that makes Sonoff points.
Blinds
If you have motorized blinds with a push-button, you will simply have to put a relay like the ones we discussed before behind the push-button. You are worth any double channel relay, for example the Shelly 2 Plus PM which costs over €30. It can also be flasheard to be used directly from the Home app and automate Let your blinds go down when it comes to rain so that your crystals don’t get dirty..
Presence and movement detectors
There are so many in the market, all below 50 € but my favorite right now is the Ovnis SMS2, which is Matter and also tells you the temperature and humidity of the stay. It’s kind of all-in-one for less than 30 €. I use it to light lights only when there’s someone and they turn off within a few minutes and, besides, to make the alarm sound if there is no one at home and movement is detected.
Plums
To automate some lampstands, the Christmas tree or the barbed heater in the bathroom, I use Eve’s plugs that are also Thread and Matter. Eve is my favorite brand in domestic, although it is not cheap and many of its elements are passed from the 50 €. Still, eThe intelligent plug of Eve can be found in Macníficos for 49 €.
There’s some cheaper and just as interesting for example the Meross that is also Matter (although over the Wifi, is not Thread) costs less than half, 19 €… but I’ve already told you I really like the Eve brand.
Door and window sensors
As with the plugs, there are many in the market below 50 €. Eve’s is very good, We can also find it in Macníficos for 49 € and has Thread and Matter technology.
Although in this case too there is a more interesting alternative in price: Aqara P2 costs 32 € And it’s also Thread and Matter.
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In my case, I have door sensors on the doors that give to the street, the terrace and the gallery, as well as putting them in some window so that if it is detected that it is open I stop the air conditioning and do not waste energy, for example.
Security cameras
There are a couple of Eupy cameras below 50 €. On the one hand we have the basic, which is the Eufy C120 for 40 €in Amazon. It is a very interesting option compatible with Homekit Secure Video (remember that even if the camera is 2k, iCloud reduces the videos to 1080p). In addition, you can put an SD card on it so you don’t have to pay for any subscription services.
And then there’s his older sister who’s exactly the same camera but can move, while the C120 is fixed. It’s the Euphy 2k and is in Amazon for 49 €.
Smart buttons
The good of The smart buttons are that they are completely programmable. Imagine you want to turn on the smart plug of the bathroom heater to get you warm… because you can do it with Siri, you can do it with the Home app from your mobile or you can put a multifunctional button to schedule some actions. I used to have one on the table in my room and, when I turned off my little lamp to go to sleep (which has an intelligent Philips Hue bulb), the button launched an automation to close the lock on the street door, put the heating in night mode and turn off the lights. I have buttons of these in tod
As the lamparitas, as I overturned the typical switches of the lamparite cable and turned them off and off from the button, as well as automating them to turn on alone at sunset or to turn on any when someone enters home at night.
In this case, one of the most recommended buttons is the Onvis we can find for 39 €in Amazon And that’s also Thread and Matter.
Detectors
One of the most interesting detectors you can put at home is the water leak.. In my case I have 2, one under the washing machine and one under the sink, in the typical closet where the cleaning products are kept. The most recommended is that of Aqara zigbee that costs the friolera of 19 €! But the bad thing is, it needs bridge to work, and it wasn’t today’s idea. It is also true that we can buy the Aqara USB E1 bridge for 34 € And then put a water escape sensor for €19, we’d go a little over the €50.
But with the advantage of being able to grow on Aqara devices with that hub… but there are no plans to update that bridge to Matter, so I’d rather not recommend it for the moment.
Still, We have more very interesting water escape sensors.. More expensive than that of Aqara who told you before but who will do just as well their function. For example we have the Meross for less than 30 € or Fibaro, that these days is on offer to 38 €.
As for the smoke detectors, we can also find the Meross for just under 40 €applying Amazon’s discount which also includes the hub it requires for its operation. The good thing about this device is that, if it detects smoke, it emits the beeps just like a traditional smoke sensor in addition to sending us the notification to the mobile. It’s a very good solution, not only for our house, but also if we have some rented apartment as the regulations now require a smoke sensor… so in this case I would not only beat the tenant but we would also know that something is
It’s happening.
You can already imagine that with these devices what we will get is to send us a notification to the mobile if you detect water… in the group of Telegram There’s a partner who connected that alarm to an electrovalve that cuts the pass key in case of a water leak. Everything very crazy, you know you can mess up everything you want, but what you always want is the point of balance.
As you can see, the devices themselves are not very expensive, we can go little by little and with a small investment we can go solve real needs. Then we can create automations for the house to do things by itself., if we all go off to turn off the lights, if we get close to it, that the bathroom heater is plugged in if it does less than X degrees on the street, etc… but for the moment we’re going to leave it here and I’ll keep telling you as always some interesting automations that are happening to me.
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