Some pictures of your recent purchases

Make sure you've got a drawer to put it all when you realise you spend more time maintaining, checking, debugging, troubleshooting, upgrading than it saves you.
I can’t be the only person who sets stuff up and it just keeps working.
I might do a bit more initial digging than the average Joe but I’m pretty green to all the stuff I’ve got involved in over the years and it’s all still working well
 
I can’t be the only person who sets stuff up and it just keeps working.
I might do a bit more initial digging than the average Joe but I’m pretty green to all the stuff I’ve got involved in over the years and it’s all still working well
Mine all work fine. Sunrise and sunset aren’t very accurate but that’s a minor issue. Alexa never goes wrong with them either.
 
Lol. I'm starting to realize that :D Started looking at hubs etc. Clueless though ATM.

I was thinking of getting a smart plug for the automower. If I'm away from home and the weather is rough I'll be able to turn the mains power off remotely.
 
I was thinking of getting a smart plug for the automower. If I'm away from home and the weather is rough I'll be able to turn the mains power off remotely.
That's the main reason i bought it. Twice I have braved the heavy rain to send it home as there is no connectivity on my model. I found that turning off the base will keep it there and will return to schedule when I power back up. Could possibly automate that with IFTTT. Check yours Dony, mine will just stop on the lawn if it's cutting when the power is cut to the boundary wire.
 
I can’t be the only person who sets stuff up and it just keeps working.
I might do a bit more initial digging than the average Joe but I’m pretty green to all the stuff I’ve got involved in over the years and it’s all still working well

Great job - I read some posts where people invest hours of tinkering to automate some simple tasks and I do wonder about the net gain.

I imagine there are quite a few drawers full of alexas and plugs where people have up trying or realised it just isn't worth it.
 
Great job - I read some posts where people invest hours of tinkering to automate some simple tasks and I do wonder about the net gain.

I imagine there are quite a few drawers full of alexas and plugs where people have up trying or realised it just isn't worth it.
The only plugs I’ve bought that get rare use are smart plugs for Christmas lights. Everything else gets used but in truth I never needed many smart plugs and again never dabbled in lights.

My most recent tinkering has allowed me to use Alexa to tell me when my garage doors are opened. Not bad for a system that had zero ability to do so when I bought it.

Nerds shall inherit the Earth
 
That's the main reason i bought it. Twice I have braved the heavy rain to send it home as there is no connectivity on my model. I found that turning off the base will keep it there and will return to schedule when I power back up. Could possibly automate that with IFTTT. Check yours Dony, mine will just stop on the lawn if it's cutting when the power is cut to the boundary wire.

I can send mine back to base from the app and it will stay there until I send it back out (from the app), or at the next schedule. Can also set user defined restart times by the hour.
Using a smart plug would give me added peace of mind that it's all shut down.

I've had one cut boundary wire and the mower went back to base, which surprised me and the fitter!
 
The only plugs I’ve bought that get rare use are smart plugs for Christmas lights. Everything else gets used but in truth I never needed many smart plugs and again never dabbled in lights.

My most recent tinkering has allowed me to use Alexa to tell me when my garage doors are opened. Not bad for a system that had zero ability to do so when I bought it.

Needs shall inherit the Earth

Our long lasting automation is lights and home cinema coolness. Alexa is relegated to the odd weather report or if we are in need of a bad joke. Aside from a few fun projects creating Alexa skills.
 
Slippery slope. You will no doubt come to the conclusion soon that a mesh system will do a better job for you ;)
better off wiring in an outdoor AP.
 
Mine all work fine. Sunrise and sunset aren’t very accurate but that’s a minor issue. Alexa never goes wrong with them either.

We've gone into Smart home in a big way and apart from Alexa having the odd hearing issue, it has all worked just fine as well.
I have hue dusk till dawn on the back door and they can sometimes play up, but not enough to loose sleep over and two lamps on the front door are wired into a plug and Energenie, which has an IFTTT dusk till dawn command and works really well.
 
Let's not get carried away just yet fellas. A £14 extender and no wiring does the job fine ;)
Outdoor AP was around £30 and was 7 feet of cable.via a POE injector. Not exactly excessive
 
A mesh system, although slightly more expensive, is sooooo much better than any extender if you want to be truly wireless.
 
....whilst the idea of automating your home a la tons of 'smart' plugs and tech, I can't help but resist the idea purely based on the fact that if your internet ever went down, you'd be left with no hot water, no electricity, no burglar alarm, no security cameras - heck, you wouldn't even be able to open your front door!!!!!
:p:laugh:
 
....whilst the idea of automating your home a la tons of 'smart' plugs and tech, I can't help but resist the idea purely based on the fact that if your internet ever went down, you'd be left with no hot water, no electricity, no burglar alarm, no security cameras - heck, you wouldn't even be able to open your front door!!!!!
:p:laugh:

As long as your wifi / router was operational, all that stuff works. Don't need internet connectivity.
 
....whilst the idea of automating your home a la tons of 'smart' plugs and tech, I can't help but resist the idea purely based on the fact that if your internet ever went down, you'd be left with no hot water, no electricity, no burglar alarm, no security cameras - heck, you wouldn't even be able to open your front door!!!!!
:p:laugh:

Most have a manual over ride - eg my smart light , CCTV and alarm , thermostat and gate, if the net went down- just means I wouldn’t be able to use the app. Everything else would work.
 
As long as your wifi / router was operational, all that stuff works. Don't need internet connectivity.

Unless you've used Alexa to turn your TV on for so long you can't remember how to do it manually.

"Honey, which input is the set top box? Is it HDMI2 or GAME?"
 
Picked up some advent calendars for the kids. Two of which arrived in a few days as expected.

C8F122C0-B8B9-496F-80A9-88D732D00CF2.jpeg


The third was apparently coming from the USA (which I assumed was a tracking error) but upon contact the seller (IWOOT) they confined it was in f at coming from Kentucky in the USA and it arrived this morning.


Butcan’t believe they’d sell something like this in this way

5059AE5D-8E8B-4BB1-8CE4-90F3CA7FCBEF.jpeg

With discount, all three cost just over £40. Surely the shipping on the HP one would have made up a large chunk of that
 
A mesh system, although slightly more expensive, is sooooo much better than any extender if you want to be truly wireless.
Still can be an issue at the end of a long garden though
 
....whilst the idea of automating your home a la tons of 'smart' plugs and tech, I can't help but resist the idea purely based on the fact that if your internet ever went down, you'd be left with no hot water, no electricity, no burglar alarm, no security cameras - heck, you wouldn't even be able to open your front door!!!!!
:p:laugh:
The majority of connected stuff can be used manually as well. So isn’t generally an issue
 

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