5 Smart Home Ideas You Really Should Have Thought Of

You can use a smart plug (the one that got energy monitoring) for the tv.
So if the tv is on (smart plug receiving energy) before someone press the door bell it wont turn the tv off after but if the tv was off (no energy received on the plug) it turns the tv off after 2 mins.

Not sure if you read comments on historic videos(?) but I wonder if you could help with a specific scenario that I'm looking at.. I'm trying to find a simple push button that can send a notification or email to a remote mobile device or email account whenever it is pushed. The challenge is that 1. It must be idiot proof to use. 2. There is no power at the button's location (although it may be able to tap into a nearby 4g or WiFi signal). 3. It cannot rely on a local hub of any sort as there is nowhere to power a hub. 4. It cannot rely on the button-pushers own phone or that any other phone will be nearby... Can you think of anything that might suit such a specific scenario? TIA 😊

I think a motion sensor would make sense for the doorbell/TV part, if no one is home then dont turn on the tv to show the doorbell feed

For the TV part, here a solution using HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME ASSISTANT
if wife or husband is at home or if there is presence of the room (maybe you have kids without a smartphone) turn tv on and show doorbell
that would be a problem if the robot vacuum cleaner is doing his biddings and turning on the PIR(s)
ok, so you have two options:
a) check if the robot cleaner is running (Robot Cleaner Status)
b) turn off tv after there is no more presence in the room

Covering or replacing light sockets aren't automations?

I 3D printed a cover for my light switches. Once i buy my house i will then convert all my lightplates

Ummm.... Neesha, wow! Lol, I had no idea... Dude married up for sure.

It's funny about the streaming your doorbell to your TV section including heretofore unseen blueness in the skies behind you. It's great that you saved these moments for posterity....

😁look at this way if there’s ever any little Hibberts running around you’ve got the dad jokes covered!

Great stuff! Thanks for the ideas

But how did you get the companion app to report back to HA server the location of the device/person?

Well, just tried to jump into HA. But I can’t even get it connected to my router …. I managed to get a fan started as soon as my cat enters the litter box. Remotely controlling the apartment intercom would be wonderful.

I have a door sensor on top of my freezer door so when my stupid 24 year old son can't be arsed to shut the freezer door (because he thinks it's beneath him) and shutting the door is somebody else's job... Then after 10 mins of being left open it turns the power off to his mesh router that is linked to his gaming pc.... Fook you son!!!

Privacy matters aside. Wouldn't running on home assistant make things slightly faster? Since it's more localized? Just curious.

After watching around half. Um no. Idiot warning

Paul, another solution to "My family switches off the smart bulb" is to use something like the SONOFF ZBMINIL2 (or if you need Matter support MINIR4M) that let's you control it with a physical switch or routine. Can be used with a dumb bulb or smart, and you can have it turn itself back on or say "What idjit turned that off"... 😂

With so much violence in the world, I think we need even more extended slapping in humorous videos!

Paul I swere my mother goes out her way to turn off the light switches my dad dosnt give but my mum hosts out her way to turn them off

I hadn't realised you could type in commands to run, like show the front door cam on Fire TV. I've now set this up and it's awesome. Will have to think of more routines like this...

Here’s a challenge for you Paul. We have kids, you know the germ carrying small humans 😂.. anyway they are afraid of the dark. So we have an Alexa routine that turns their night lights on at sunset and off 30 min before sunrise.. all simple. HOWEVER we don’t have the kids all the time (blended family). So some days we have rooms lit up with no one in there! Is there a way of disabling Alexa routines based on events in a Hotmail calendar.. when we have the kids, enable the routine, when we don’t disable it.. if that’s possible that would really be a smart home 👍

Plan on making a new automation to turn in relaxing dog music based on me and my fiancé's phone being away from more than 5 minutes.

I think the fur kids will partially enjoy that, or we may create 2 mini Amadeus's based on all the classical music they're likely to listen to 😅

You suggest the SENCKIT Door sensor for the Gamepad , but previously you'd raved about the Aqara contact sensor, I know the Aqara one needs a hub and is a few £ more expensive, but long term wouldn't it be better to have the higher quality one with the better ecosystem,? Or am I missing something?

The contact sensor only works if its less than 3 metres away from my virgin hub 4

Great video.. gives me a good idea of what HA can do.. and FWIW, I think one of the problems in the world today is that there's not enough slapping going on. Stupidity should be painful.
:-)

I use the Home Assistant location tracking for keeping track of how long I am at work each day as well. When I leave work I receive an actionable notification where I can select if I'm on my way home or not. If I select that I am heading home, my Waze integration in Home Assistant determines how far I am from home and then sends my wife a text message letting her know I'm on my way home and how long until I'll be home.

Probably old hat now but I have an Alexa rule to monitor front and back door sensor and if they are left open for more than 5 minutes they switch off the heating. Teenager friendly 😁. Great video as always 👍

Another great video 👌🏻

Smart sensor on controller?

How about Sony PS5 and Sony Smart TV. Turn the PS5 on with the controller, and the TV (and soundbar) turn on with it.

Google can do the typed commands as well, as if you spoke them, but for the Camera on the TV, I'd use Home Assistant as it can be told not to do it when no one is home quite easily :).
Thanks for the great review of some really helpful automations

I use our location to send our shopping list to us when we go to our main shops- it comes from Alexa shopping into home assistant

Paul, how have you never used a sonoff mini. They solve your issue of the mrs turning off the switches. They’re awesome

My stupid stupid family ALWAYS turn of the flipping bulbs. So annoying.

As always Great video this week Paul.

Google should do what it does best and copy Alexa (and everyone else) by doing a PIP of who rang the doorbell.

What hub do you use with the IKEA sensors?
I got a Hubitat C-8 based off your review last year, but if I place my IKEA sensor just outside my front door (about 15 feet from the Hubitat) then no signal!

Great to see a return to automation ideas video, the geofencing one is something my family use frequently. I like the game control one but need to think of alternative starters for non-gaming applications.

My go to smart home recommendation for people early in their journey is always using motion sensors to turn on dim or low-level lighting at night as people move around the house. For example, if a child gets up from bed to go to the bathroom, have the lights come on at one percent for two minutes.

I’ve a notification saying “inbox me hun” when attending hospital, much saner than a Facebook post about it and probably more authentic in its care.

I am also playing around with NFC stickers on cards to load up audiobooks for the kids to listen to - removes the issues of shouting at Siri/whoever and also means youngest can identify the book he wants by sight of the cover. The biggest pain is wishing I could more easily play to the right speaker depending on what device scanned the NFC instead of always outputting to the same default speaker. It can probably be done so I’m considering this a PEBKAC error for now.

My best and most used automation is the morning routine that turns relevant lights on and then boils the kettle for me when my regular alarm goes off, or will also trigger if I turn my phone off sleep/do not disturb within 3 hours of the regular alarm time anyway so I always start the day with a brew ready by the time I am out of bed

I've got Shelly, Tado/Kasa and Smart Life products. Is Home Assistant really the only way to have them all come together on a single configurable control panel?

Neesha cameo in this one was spot on ... the annoying family. Little Mercedes? hmm... when are we gonna see her? Great video. My one and only automation gets Alexa to say " Welcome home, hope you're having a great day", and turns a light on when I unlock the front door. Need to work on some more.

to many comment to read and someones probably said ... "door bell" use your location "if not home" don't turn the TV on ... pretty easy fix

I often wonder who would win in a fight, Paul or Techmoan. 😂

Awesome videos sorry I’m Soo late

are you sure removing light switches is allowed (UK) witthout being an electrician or getting building regs? Been a while since I read rules, but altering a circuit like that strikes me as not allowed. NB not saying dangerous. Just against rules?
NB: Moving switches is definitely allowed though. So you could just put a new switch somewhere else without changing circuit.

Expanding on the person tracking, I have multiple shopping lists in Home Assistant and zones setup for the relevant shop. This way I get a notification for each place which links to the correct shopping list. Just today I went to the hardware store and was automatically sent the shopping list notification.