Asklemmy

Here is a list of some practical uses so far:

• Get a notification on the phone when the washer is done.
• Charge the car when electricity is cheap
• Turn on humidifier if sufficiently humid and no motion near it for a while
• Automatically lock the front door at night
• Toggle lights with a shortcut key on the keyboard
• Change target thermostats for different rooms and different time of day.

Also nice to learn about the house:

• Breakdown of electricity usage. (How much actually goes to heating, car, etc)
• Answer questions like "When did I really go to bed last night?". Etc

Laziness and/or sometimes genuine medical needs

It’s a hobby. Some people like automating things. Some people are overdoing it. And some like to have a central control on their phone for everything. It’s nerd heaven. I am some people, but not overly excessive. And I want everything to still be usable by guests.

I personally have a few smart devices mostly because I keep forgetting to do things. Window sensors and thermostats that work together. When I open the windows, they turn down. The windows remind me to close them after 10 minutes. When I leave home, the heating turns down.

Light automations are for when you want to be lazy, like me. When I’m away or when the sun comes up, light turn off. When I arrive, hallway light turns on. When the sun goes down, some lights in the living room turn on. I don’t have any motion sensor stuff because it doesn’t work the way I want (we all know the horrors of motion controlled bathroom lights at the office). The only reasonable sensor I could imagine is actual presence detection, which just recently became a thing but I will wait at least until there exists one by a privacy focused company like Eve.

I would like to get something for my curtains but it’s all getting a bit too expensive.

The trick is to not use any smart devices that run in the cloud. Not only because of privacy but also because you don’t want to be freezing or sit in the dark just because the internet is out or the whole company shuts down. This is what people are always joking about over smart homes, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Keep everything in your own network. You can still access it from outside through the hub but that’s optional.

I'm using home assistant with thermostats and humidity/temperature sensors mostly to get information how the house heats and how the rooms are affected by humidity and temperature changes.

I also automated two dehumidifiers with those sensors and zigbee plugs to not run 24/7 but in defined windows when the noise isn't bothering anyone and if the humidity triggers certain thresholds. The automation also has hysteresis sesstongs so the devices do not constantly turn on and off.

In general I don't automate to a point where I can just flick a switch or turn on something manually. But it is nice to be able to control and see everything.