Smurfin
Distinguished Member
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- Aug 13, 2002
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Hi all
I've been away from the home automation world for a few years since I got divorced and went into rented. Almost 4 years on I'm finally buying a house again, and I'm due to complete in the next couple of weeks. One of the things I'm doing immediately is changing the lighting in the upstairs bedrooms (I'm boarding the loft above so it makes sense to get any lighting now so as not to ruin the boards when I come to do this).
It's got me thinking about the whole automation/smart home piece, and I'm wondering what my options are. I know I won't get something completely integrated without spending big bucks, but I want to ensure a good experience.
In my old house, I had Rako throughout the house to handle lighting (lots of different scenes as I love lighting) and Hive for heating, but my Rako keypads wore badly and it was expensive, although I loved the flexibility. Hive worked great too, although in my new house I have a combi boiler so no need for hot water control.
The other thing I'd really like now is multi room music. My ex had a Sonos system with in-ceiling speakers everywhere, which worked really well, but there's a part of me which wonders if Alexa's everywhere will do the job just as well and for a much lower cost? (Echo, Echo Studio etc)...in-ceiling speakers are never the last word in fidelity after all.
I also want to look at security with CCTV, and Ring looks like an obvious choice. Any thoughts on their cameras etc?
My immediate challenge is around lighting, as I have an electrician meeting me onsite on Saturday morning to give me a quote. I'm installing spots and pendant lights in several rooms, so.....what are my options?
I looked again at Lightwave, like the switches (nice switches are good!), but it looks relatively expensive, although not as expensive as Rako (there again I don't know how easy it is to set up scenes with different circuits etc).
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Matt
I've been away from the home automation world for a few years since I got divorced and went into rented. Almost 4 years on I'm finally buying a house again, and I'm due to complete in the next couple of weeks. One of the things I'm doing immediately is changing the lighting in the upstairs bedrooms (I'm boarding the loft above so it makes sense to get any lighting now so as not to ruin the boards when I come to do this).
It's got me thinking about the whole automation/smart home piece, and I'm wondering what my options are. I know I won't get something completely integrated without spending big bucks, but I want to ensure a good experience.
In my old house, I had Rako throughout the house to handle lighting (lots of different scenes as I love lighting) and Hive for heating, but my Rako keypads wore badly and it was expensive, although I loved the flexibility. Hive worked great too, although in my new house I have a combi boiler so no need for hot water control.
The other thing I'd really like now is multi room music. My ex had a Sonos system with in-ceiling speakers everywhere, which worked really well, but there's a part of me which wonders if Alexa's everywhere will do the job just as well and for a much lower cost? (Echo, Echo Studio etc)...in-ceiling speakers are never the last word in fidelity after all.
I also want to look at security with CCTV, and Ring looks like an obvious choice. Any thoughts on their cameras etc?
My immediate challenge is around lighting, as I have an electrician meeting me onsite on Saturday morning to give me a quote. I'm installing spots and pendant lights in several rooms, so.....what are my options?
I looked again at Lightwave, like the switches (nice switches are good!), but it looks relatively expensive, although not as expensive as Rako (there again I don't know how easy it is to set up scenes with different circuits etc).
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Matt