Question How open are the smart home standards?

Michael

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I'm just starting the research on getting some smarthome stuff installed, but I was wondering if there was a simple answer to this question.
After a few horror stories of devices that got made into paperweights by companies going bust, I'm curious before I begin spending money :D

Ideally, I'd want something where I have the option to control things without having to go via some company's cloud, and ideally in a way that I'm not dependent on an internet connected app. In a perfect world, I'd want to have some nice stable standalone software in the house, which I can then glue together with other bits of kit (sensors, triggers, etc) to automate things.

Temperature and energy use monitoring seems very doable with FOSS.
Boiler control seems to be reasonably straightfoward, as the physical controls are simple.
But radiator control seems to be limited to "install these devices, then use our controller", unless I'm missing a product?
Thoughts appreciated, and I'm happy to be wrong :)
 
There are plenty of HA hubs and software that can live inside your network and don’t rely on the cloud. I run Homeseer for that very reason. Now before we go on, are you looking for genuine smarthome where there isn’t really a ‘front end’ and events occur based on triggers such as sensor inputs or time. Or do you want a pretty GUI so that you can jab virtual buttons and control things. The two are not mutually exclusive but are more of a scale.
Homeseer for example does not really have a pretty front end of its own (it can use things like Imperihome) but if you want stable it’s about as good as it gets. Mine lives on an Intel NUC i3 and it just works. It also allows for some very advanced logic with the ability to create virtual devices which can trigger or be triggered by real world devices. It’s also communication protocol agnostic. WiFi, zigbee, zwave, BLE, X-10 it doesn’t care they are just a means of getting data from A to B.
it’s back-end isn’t pretty and takes a bit of getting used to, but it will perform as well or better than many of its competitors.
 
Agree with @mushii

we do use Fibaro and their home center, Zwave mainly, as that does have both a easier back end and a nice front end however it is quite pricey and without some programming confidence limited to Zwave devices

however recently I have been using Hubitat Elevation hub which is more flexible as regards protocols (I use with WiFi and wired devices , Zwave devices and a few others) the programming is harder initially than Fibaro but once you understand it actually more logical .

you can also build your own pretty user interfaces (called dashboards)

finally heating we use Zwave trvs (aeotec) on radiators which work well both with Hubitat and Fibaro.
 
Like myself and @sbriggs have said, I think that you are starting your smart home journey in the right manner. I always advise clients to start by writing down all the things that you want to control and how you want to control them. This will then allow you to look at available technologies.
With this information in mind you can then go and explore the world that is Home Automation Controllers. Ranging from the very cheap (free software running on a Raspberry Pi) to the rediculous expensive, (AMX, Crestron, JoshAI etc).
It all boils down to time, skill and money.
 
Appreciate the responses!
I think I'm keen on functional rather than pretty, as ideally I'd have much of it automatic.
Though I'm assuming I could always hook in a UI later on.

Where would you say a good jumping in point would be?
For example, to dip my feet in, maybe a couple of TRVs, and Homeseer trial on a RasPi?

Would you say that the £100 for Homeseer is worth it in terms of avoiding headaches ("just works", maybe?).
I don't mind spending a little on software, if it saves me tens of hours of work!
So, for example, if I bought a cheapie bluetooth TRV, would homeseer be able to talk to it? Or would I need to get into things with proper standards?
 
I have been very impressed with Hubitat Elevation hardware and software for around £130 so maybe a good place to start

also you then do have the option of building a UI for no extra cost
 
I am a Homeseer user so my preference is Homeseer. It took me 2 years to choose the platform that I wanted and many trial. Is the trial worth it ? That is really down to you. My journey in home automation spans over 20 years and goes back to the days of X-10 and home automation running on both appliances and PCs. Homeseer will talk to anything that you provide an interface for. So for example, I have Wifi through my Home Network; I have ZigBee through my Philips Hue Hub and I have Zwave through and AEOTEC Zwave USB Stick. I could also add BLE if I added a BLE USB stick. Similarly, if I added a Lightwave hub I could have Lightwave control. Like I have said, Homeseer is totally communication protocol agnostic so it is down to you how you want it to talk to your smart home.
 
I’ve heard good things about homeseer but just never used it so cant comment but @mushii knows what he’s talking about
 
Sounds like I have a little project!
I think I'll go for a Bluetooth stick on the Pi, grab a budget bluetooth TRV, and see what works (or doesn't!) with Homeseer.

If it does the job, I might well have to cough up for the license!
5 plugins would certainly be a good start.
 
If I were you I would look at least 2 or 3 platforms.

I would trial
HASS - Home Automation
Hubitat
Homeseer

That will give you an idea of what is out there and what they are capable of. Like I said, mine was a 2 year journey of a lot of trials. I was not bothered about a pretty GUI, I wanted something that I knew would work, whether I had an internet connection or not, which is what drove me to Homeseer. It is a little quirky to start with but once you understand its logic, it makes a lot of sense.
 
I will do that, thanks.
Any suggestions for automation end hardware to start off with, during the fact finding?
I'm thinking the TRVs are a good start, as I can just buy a couple, and they can probably report room temperatures too.
 
The aeotec trv is what I use with great success , they do report room temperature but to be honest their position isn’t ideal for accurate room temperature measurement
 
Haha, absolutely.
But as a start off, they'd do the job nicely, thanks.
And even if it all goes horribly wrong, some of my TRVs need changing anyway :D

£15 shipping though, I'll have to see if I can find a local supplier.
 
Just bare in mind that open standards have no relation to the quality of the application software utilised in the device - a poor strategy implementation will be a weak link even if the communication layer uses an open standard.

Many of the “closed/private” protocol systems achieve good quality levels of control because they have had a long development cycle to optimise their strategies. So systems like Heatmiser and Resideo Evo include self-learning, self-adaptive strategies that learn the characteristics of your rooms/zones to improve their accuracy of control over time. They may not use open standard protocols, but they do have an api to allow integration opportunities.
 
That's a good point.
It's the balance between trusting a company not to screw you, and trusting the community to finish things :D
 

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