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this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
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That's a very good point but could you also tell me why do you need a smart home? I don't understand the point of it
Same reason a remote control is handy for a TV — convenience.
Motion or presence sensing. Timers. Virtual buttons. Physical buttons in places I wouldn’t normally have them. Garage door opening automagically when I pull in the driveway with a specific vehicle. Etc.
Plus I get to check in on my kitty from far away.
Well that's an expected answer. Many people seem to like such stuff and find it convenient. I just don't. Probably I'm too old to understand it lol. Though I have nothing against smart home devices that are not connected to the cloud. Just don't fully rely on them for core stuff such as doors, fire alarms and oxygen/medication (in case you need that). You do want to be able to open the doors with a physical key in case of a power outage or a simple system malfunction
My day job is IT support that is in part adjacent to healthcare, and I can tell you a lot of healthcare actually relies on widgets connected via wireless and WiFi. Not just the mobile terminals they bring around for your charts, but also active elements like insulin pumps, chemo injectors, phone/intercom/paging systems, panic buttons.... A lot of it runs over wireless infrastructure, WiFi and other technologies, and is handled by a central controller that might be on-prem, or might be in the cloud.
Its a rough day for everyone when the WiFi is down or the Internet is out down in the wards
The pagers scare me. Thankfully it seems they aren't used where I live at all anymore, but the classic POCSAG/FLEX pagers transfer the data in plaintext, and I've heard that doctors often use them for sensitive information as well. Meanwhile all you need for receiving and decoding POCSAG or FLEX is a $5 generic RTL-SDR and software like multimon-ng.
I meant broadcast paging over the intercom system like "Dr. Whomever please report to pre-op," but I agree the old beeper style pagers were a bit sketch
I am an alarm/automation/access control technician, and I have some bad news for you...
I would genuinely like to learn about how you deal with stuff like malfunctions and backup door unlock methods. But now I don't really want to discuss much because of health issues. Hopefully you all won't consider me a bad person who likes to argue
Usually, if a building has electronic access control, it's a requirement that the main controller or power supply be directly tied into the fire alarm with a hardwired trigger relay to drop power to all the door locks during an alarm. It may all be controllable and configurable on the cloud, but commercial equipment still has traditional redundancies like standby batteries and the like.
What if there's a gas explosion or another case that causes loss of connection between the system and the doors? Is it possible to open them manually in such cases?
Not the commenter you replied to, but these kinds of systems are usually "fail open": if there is unexpected loss of power (including the locking mechanism connection to the controller being interrupted), the door is released/unlocked, and can be opened manually by users.
Some more complex systems will have specific doors automatically shut in the event of a fire to try and keep it contained, depending on local regulations. These doors can still be manually re-opened, but they will not "catch" or latch open until the system fault is resolved
Edit: add clarity
If the door has no means of mechanical egress, for example, a maglock, then it is required to have a second form of egress that cuts power to the maglock, such as a normally-closed exit button. Maglocks naturally unlock when losing power. Electric strikes and locksets can be set up fail-safe or fail-secure.
Convenience and fun. It’s not about having buttons to push, it’s about making sure things are taken care of.
The house closes the garage and turns off the lights when I leave. The hallway dimly lights up when I get up at night to use the bathroom. When the dishwasher runs, it keeps track of how much soap is used and adds it to my grocery list when it gets low. If the dog walker comes to the front door, it unlocks for them. My interior lights can be cool white during the day and warm white at night without me doing anything. Soil moisture sensors let the system auto-water my vegetables, as well as my lawn, and at the exact time of day when it’ll be the coolest.
I don’t necessarily need any of that, but it sure makes things easier.
Hmm facial recognition? A little bit unreliable of a technology I'd say. But other than that, it seems really convenient. I just prefer doing everything manually. Probably I need to delete that question. I just wanted to know people's reasons to use smart home because I didn't believe many of them find it useful
He might have given the dog walker a different key, a fob, or any number of non-facial recognition tools though.
For instance, you can have a PIN based entry door lock that only activates certain PINs at certain times. Or an HID one setup similarly.
I used to live alone, and travel quite a bit for work. I started with sensors like water sensors in the sump area of my basement, window/door sensors, temperature sensors and a chincy USB web camera on the cats' feeding area to make sure they were staying fed and watered. It was peace of mind that things were OK at home while I was away, and let me call in help if something was awry.
After I started my family, I got tired of chasing people around to turn off lights, TVs and game systems when they were done, to turn on/off fans in the bathrooms and stuff like that. It was easier to just let the system deal with it. Couple of unsaved games getting lost later, and they got the hint.
Eventually we had new families on the block and neighbors started having packages go missing, so i installed cameras over my front & back porches to alert for deliveries, or at least provide instant replay for where DID that package go after it was dropped off? Its been as effective a deterrent as it's been useful to see how much traffic my front porch gets weekly. You'd be surprised how many solicitors come through sometimes.
So while I do lights and fans and sensors and stuff, I don't bother with things like window shades, automating coffee makers or wrangling Roombas.
Now I'm looking into deploying a small satellite system at my mom's condo because she lives alone and is getting older. We've talked about installing some PIR and mmWave presence sensors to detect activity, and also some assistance buttons in her private spaces. She doesnt want cqmeras, and she hasn't committed to it yet but she likes the idea we can check up on her remotely without her having to give up any of her prvacy or independence to an outside party.
So it's about more than just geeking out and being a creature of comfort. There are practical applications in security, energy management and health/safety to consider as well.
Not who you asked but I have a smartish home. There is no real need. It just affords convenience and for me lands pretty squarely in “hobby” territory.
My lights turn on prior to sunset, and turn off after I go to bed. My porch lights dim at 10pm so I don’t disturb my neighbors as much. I have additional states of lights that are predicated on various scenarios. In short, I never touch a light switch, I never walk into a dark house, and my energy usage is reduced.
My vehicle mileage and tire pressures are reported on a dashboard for me to monitor.
My network statistics are monitored and graphed.
Energy usage of electronics of interest to me are monitored and graphed.
I have a software defined radio that I’m able to use remotely. Using a smart outlet I’m able to turn it on and off remotely as well instead of leaving it on 24/7.
Unfortunately I have a camera that is cloud based my SO uses to monitor pets. Using a smart outlet I turn it on only when we are not home.
Some of this can be accomplished with less smart means, some of it can’t, but it’s been fun to get it all setup.