Smart Home - automation

**nickwm21** · 08-26-2025, 10:32 AM

You will need each individual devices app anyway for setup and configuration.

Google home app will give you some control of smart devices linked. Organized by “Room” (location).

Alexa does have an app but I no experience with it. I assume it’s similar.

Each individual devices app can sometimes also link to other devices apps. For example on my Ring app I can see the status and have limited functionality of my Schlage lock and MyQ garage door.

Sent from my iPhone using [emoji638]][emoji640][emoji640]][emoji640][emoji638][emoji638][emoji638]]TGR Forums

**warthog** · 08-27-2025, 05:39 AM

Originally Posted by nickwm21

You will need each individual devices app anyway for setup and configuration. Google home app will give you some control of smart devices linked. Organized by “Room” (location). Alexa does have an app but I no experience with it. I assume it’s similar. Each individual devices app can sometimes also link to other devices apps. For example on my Ring app I can see the status and have limited functionality of my Schlage lock and MyQ garage door. Sent from my iPhone using [emoji638]][emoji640][emoji640]][emoji640][emoji638][emoji638][emoji638]]TGR Forums

Try the If This Then That app. Lots of these things work with that. ITTH basically turns stuff on and off based on what else is on and off.

It is pretty cool. It does start to get a lot like streaming services though, where before you know it you have 23 apps and no idea which to use.

I was at my FIL's friend's place in Naples once, and he had a pretty killer pad. Type of place Architectural Digest might showcase. Anyway, he knew I was in the electrical construction end of things, so he had a few questions. He had a pretty high tech older Lutron setup, where everything is programmed through scenes. All the switches were multi button nightmares. His question- Can you just tell me how to turn on my F'in lights?

They have come pretty far since then, but it can turn into a tech jerk off really quickly. Get going in the Crestron home automation direction, and it becomes Tron. You are living in the computer.

**nickwm21** · 08-27-2025, 09:01 AM

I know an older couple who were sold the “smart home system” when they were spec-ing their Toll Brothers.

They have a straight up IT rack taking up half their coat closet with a full size ethernet switch, commercial style video gear for a security system, commercial style audio amp and pre-amp for the kitchen and yard speakers, etc…

All controlled via a clunky remote and an OS on the main TV.

It’s a disaster.

Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

**riser4** · 08-28-2025, 06:49 AM

Look on the bright side, that rack is probably a great space heater. Warmest closet in town. I bet it makes a great place to proof bread.

**Name Redacted** · 08-28-2025, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by riser4

Look on the bright side, that rack is probably a great space heater. Warmest closet in town. I bet it makes a great place to proof bread.

Bet the have to leave the door cracked with a fan or else the system will run like the TGRz...

**singlesline** · 08-28-2025, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by riser4

Look on the bright side, that rack is probably a great space heater. Warmest closet in town. I bet it makes a great place to proof bread.

My dream is to get a heat pump water heater that can share a closet with all my networking and IT/home gear.

All of that electronic stuff that gets annoyingly hot is now free hot water. The annoyance of a cool zone around the water heater is minimized by the heat of the electronics.

**AdironRider** · 08-28-2025, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by singlesline

My dream is to get a heat pump water heater that can share a closet with all my networking and IT/home gear. All of that electronic stuff that gets annoyingly hot is now free hot water. The annoyance of a cool zone around the water heater is minimized by the heat of the electronics.

Sounds expensive when anything in that closet breaks. I kid I kid. That does seem pretty ideal though in concept.

In terms of my original question, I'm leaning towards the following two solutions, both which supposedly work on alexa.

Thermostat:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J4C8871...oaAkabEALw_wcB
Lock:
https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Yale-A...-0BP/322081823
Any strong preferences against?

**riser4** · 08-28-2025, 10:09 AM

See, I grew up around hippies, my first thought was about the neverending quest to find a place for the loaves to rise.

**warthog** · 08-28-2025, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by nickwm21

I know an older couple who were sold the “smart home system” when they were spec-ing their Toll Brothers. They have a straight up IT rack taking up half their coat closet with a full size ethernet switch, commercial style video gear for a security system, commercial style audio amp and pre-amp for the kitchen and yard speakers, etc… All controlled via a clunky remote and an OS on the main TV. It’s a disaster. Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Sounds like Crestron Home stuff. Could be great for a few years, till it isn't.

I prefer the Caseta stuff and my Sonos, shitty app and all.

KISSS (Keep it semi-simple stupid)

**jackstraw** · 08-28-2025, 07:33 PM

Yeah, one thing you can say about Lutron is the stuff works. And yeah, the old stuff took a computer science major to program and use, but the newer basic stuff is pretty intuitive. The RadioRA stuff can be a little more complex and you need to be a certified installer.

**singlesline** · Yesterday, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by AdironRider

Sounds expensive when anything in that closet breaks. I kid I kid. That does seem pretty ideal though in concept.

I

I think it should be fine? Figure water heater is in a pan and hooked to a drain (and you need a condensate drain for a heat pump anyways). Electronics are all elevated on some sort of shelf/rack.

I've almost got the perfect setup for it--all the cable/ethernet wiring currently terminates in a closet just above where the water heater is. Main problem is my water heater closet is under the stairs. I've got a mid-height water heater now that is on its last legs and all the heat pump heaters I've seen are full height (they use a shorter tank and put the heat pump on top) so they might not fit under the stairs.

The closet doesn't have enough area for the requirements of a heat pump so I'd have to put on a louvered door. I'm not sure I want the noise of the heat pump though--it opens into a mudroom so it is slightly out of the way but still within the main living space and near the master bedroom door.

I think the optimum thing would be an extra deep full height closet attached to a mudroom: Heat pump in the back corner, electronics rack on the opposite side, and then a clothes rail in the front with vented door and a boot dryer on the floor.

Heat pump will happily suck the heat out of the electronics and boot dryer AND will suck the moisture out of your outerwear and boots/shoes. If I ever design a house, that's what I'm doing.

Originally Posted by AdironRider

Thermostat:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J4C8871...oaAkabEALw_wcB
Lock:
https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Yale-A...-0BP/322081823
Any strong preferences against?

Are your baseboards line voltage? I think your Rinnais can be hooked to a standard thermostat (although it might require some fuckery to hook multiples up to the same thermostat), but most baseboard heaters need line voltage thermostats or a custom system using relays.

Honeywell has some systems that use wireless remote Equipment Interface Modules and I think you can mix and match between line voltage and 24v EIMs. So you could in theory hook both the baseboards and the rinnai units to one thermostat...but it gets expensive fast and details for how to do it right are scarce as this stuff is mostly sold to the pros. I looked into it at an old place and eventually just gave up....

**SailCat** · Yesterday, 02:13 PM

Listen to a heat pump water heater running before you put it in your house. I like mine in the garage, but it sounds like an air-conditioned. There isn't any reason that these couldnt be as quiet as a refrig.

**warthog** · Yesterday, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by jackstraw

Yeah, one thing you can say about Lutron is the stuff works. And yeah, the old stuff took a computer science major to program and use, but the newer basic stuff is pretty intuitive. The RadioRA stuff can be a little more complex and you need to be a certified installer.

Pffff- what would YOU know.