re: Official WINK HUB Home Automation thread

TLDR 86 pages of this thread. Building a house and want to automate some things. Hook me up CAD. What do I need? What hardware do I need to buy? Do I need to wire something specifically?

what do you want it to look like? aftermarket motors can't integrate into the roller mechanism itself so this is the only way to do it.

it doesn't look any worse than the little doodad the chain is connected to already.

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TLDR 86 pages of this thread. Building a house and want to automate some things. Hook me up CAD. What do I need? What hardware do I need to buy? Do I need to wire something specifically?

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This is a tricky subject particularly when building a new house because you almost need to live there for 6 months to a year to determine what things annoy you or what you find yourself doing manually several times a day.

On the flipside, you could simply install lutron smart dimmer switches everywhere you are putting in a light but at roughly $50/ea that will add up fast.

You have multiple categories of things to automate. Here are ones to think about.

- Lights - duh. Lights can either be triggered via schedule, motion sensor, door sensor or pressing a button on a phone (or voice activated via alexa or home). I've found the perfect blend so far with my lights; 90% are handled via schedules, 9% are activated via door sensors and the other 1% via voice control. Voice control is most useful to change colors (hue lights) or when your schedule or sensor-activated lights don't work because you're having a party or something is going on that changes your normal routine.

- Smart bulbs vs smart switches; usually its better to go a switch unless you want color which would require bulbs or you're putting bulbs in a location where there is no switch (think of an attic light on a pullchain).

- Shades - motorized shades are one of the coolest things you can do to make your house look high-tech but are also pricey. I would suggest looking into Lutron Serena smart shades. (shut up tigerwise) I was cheap and went with a DIY solution but that's definitely not for everyone and I think Serena is a very professional solution that is not as expensive as some of the other options.

- Sensors - think door, window, attic, outside gates, cabinets, mailbox I have a pool so its important to know if someone is sneaking into the pool at 3am for liability reasons.

- Door locks - just get the schlage connect locks and call it a day. very well-made, nice touchscreen, multiple codes to set for contractors, etc. all which can be controlled from your phone.

- HVAC - go with an ecobee and get the remote sensor so you can make whatever room you're in the most comfortable.

- smoke detectors - they all kinda suck right now but i like the kidde wink detectors. 3/$79 and while they use dip-switches to sync up, they integrate nicely with wink (if you chose that hub)

- leak detectors - helpful if you are worried the kid's tub overflowing or the washer or the hot water tank...

- smart outlets, smart power-strips or smart plug adapters which i like better because they aren't hard-wired so you can move them around.

- garage door(s) - just get a chamberlain myQ and call it a day.

music - if you want to be wireless, go SONOS and never look back.

cameras - lots of options here. see my comment about PoE switch as the easiest way to get a good clear HD signal from any cam indoor or out starts with good wiring. PoE is the way to go here.

- misc - outside pool pump switch? water heater switch? you'll need a heavy-duty switch than do 220 and they're typically more expensive.

- whole home energy monitoring systems - VERY VERY COOL..also very new and they all kinda suck. the idea is they 'learn' which devices are in your home based on their energy usage 'fingerprint'. but none of them really work that well yet.

- Brain - tough call. either go with cheap smartthings or work or pay a pro to do a C4 install. the downside is its expensive to tweak your C4 after the install and the cost of the smart doodads are way more expensive.

What am I leaving out?


eta as far as wiring goes, just run some good cat5e all over the house (no need for cat6) and install 10-15 port switch with at least 5-6 PoE connectors.

You know of any websites to read up on the stuff? I'm thinking basic. Doors, alarms, cameras, lights, thermostat

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How many drops in each room? By the tv?

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1 per room is probably fine because you can always buy a little switch to add more if you need it.

definitely one behind the TV. just as an FYI i deliberately did *NOT* install my AVR surround system in our den but i ended up needing a switch for:
- tv ethernet
- fire tv box ethernet
- comcast cable box ethernet


so there's 3 already just for the tv. you're going to be doing more 4K/HDR i'm sure so don't even mess around with WiFi anything related to your TV stuff. Hard-wire it and be done.

eta also consider:
- router needs ethernet (coming from modem)
- hue hub needs ethernet
- wink2 hub needs ethernet
- in my case i have a fancy wifi-LTE box from tmobile that also requires ethernet...
- if you're running a plex server or media server of any type you DEFINITELY want it hard-wired via ethernet.

you will gobble up ethernet connections faster than you think.

Cad, sent a new email

eta fixed that broken-arse janked link

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hue lights over the kitchen island changes to yellow then red as it gets closer to time to catch the bus.

i would like to see this scheduling/robot.

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wanted to keep this here in this thread. can you explain or email me screen shots of how you have this set up.


also any thing else on those sucky C by GE integration into wink?

do you have a spread sheet of all your schedules/robots so you can easily change something or no. lol.