TexasCHLforum.com

philip964 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:43 pm Oh no. Not this now.

I’m still lusting after the thread on buying an emergency generator on the cheap, converting it to natural gas and hooking it to my electrical panel with some fancy switch.

As far as a smart home.

I have two Nest Thermostats that never learned that I didnt want to be hot or cold.

I have 11 cameras that constantly buzz my phone to show me a leaf has moved out side or that inside a car at night drove by the house and made a shadow on a wall.

I still can’t get WiFi to all rooms regardless of how much I spend on expanders and WiFi routers.

I still can’t program the sprinkler controller and just use “test all valves” manually to water.

I wish the garage door opener would work consistently and yes I know my car has a built in button, but I haven’t figured out how to even get the unlock to work on all the doors or to connect to my phone.

Smart house, Never going to happen with dumb me.

I just put in an Eero 6 Mesh WiFi6 system in my house for WiFi. I had the same issues you're having, and that's why I switched. I couldn't be happier with it so far. I've only had it in a week, but not one single problem. And they've got a stronger signal than I thought possible.

I found a 4 pack at Costco online for $265. A buddy at work was eyeing the same deal but wanted to see how mine worked before spending the money. He looked at them yesterday and the 4 pack was $380. So I got them at just the right time. But in all reality, unless you've got a massive place you're trying to get complete coverage in, or you have a lot of metal or masonry walls in the way, you're probably good with 2 or 3. Just make sure you get the routers, not a router and extender pack. The extenders don't have the dual ports on the back and I've read some bad reviews on the extenders.

Helmking wrote: ↑Wed Feb 09, 2022 9:33 am Hello.on the topic of security cameras. I have owned a Lorex system. It was okay. But cameras failed, 5 in 3 years. I trashed the entire system and went to UniView IP cameras and a UniView hybrid NVR. (Can use BNC or IP cameras). Picture quality and ease of use were the selling point me.

Thanks for the feedback on the Lorex. I'll look into UniView NVR.

That's the reason to have my Server set up locally. So my house is still a smart house, who can't phone a friend.

Lots of these smart homes are great, until the internet goes down. Lots of them are phoning a friend to gossip. I'm cutting that cord.

I know this is way off topic... But I'm working on making the new place a smart home as we remodel.

I'm curious if any others in here have done this. I've hit some bumps in the road, but so far I've worked around most of them.

My goal is to have it completely local. I don't like the idea of my house controlled from servers on the cloud. So I set up a Home assistant server, and have Home Bridge running on the server too. With Tuya LAN I'm able to connect to most of the lights I've installed. Except for the 4 6" RGBW recessed lights I put in my little girls room. They have to go through a Mesh Gateway, and the gateway doesn't seem to be compatible with Home Bridge. So, my lights that I put in the living room and master as I remodel them will be a different type.

I plan on ordering a Lorex NVR security camera system. Because it's all local, and the resolution seems very good. But haven't talked to any owners of the system to know what they think of it.

My gate will be triggered by this server, My HVAC, my blinds, my lights and my audio system. I'll have tablets in several rooms that can display the dashboard and control the system.

I'd be interested in chatting with others that have already gone this route, or are in the process of doing it.