re: Must haves for smart home?

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TigerWise

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Would you mind shooting me an email at my username at gmail?

I have existing recessed lighting in my house. I want to retro fit the cans with LED lights. Any specific models I should consider? I am looking for the ones that cover the can, not look like bulb in a flood light.

I use HomeKit with a HomePod as my hub, but they can work with Lutron Caseta dimmers as well.

I am looking at either Hyperikon or Feit for LED can lights to use with my Lutron Caseta. Any input on either?

I appreciate the replies. My next humble ask is for someone to connect some of the dots for me.

If I purchase lutron switches, do I need a hub to control it from my alexa? I assume there is an app where I can control them all on a phone or ipad?

How many different apps would I need to control my switches, plugs, and view my cameras? Is there an easy way to do this?

Edited to add nest thermostat.

Edited a second time: Do they sell smart switches outside of single switches? I have a couple of big switch banks that hold the only switches to things like outdoor floods, etc.

What Lumens? I am thinking 3000 is the way to go.

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If I purchase lutron switches, do I need a hub to control it from my alexa?

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yes. the hub price is inconsequential and about the price of another smart dimmer switch. also you can use 3rd party hubs such as wink that support the lutron standard but if you're looking for alexa to be your primary controller the lutron hub will tide you over.

if you're looking for more complex scenes/scripts and combining non-lutron smart things you may want to go with a hub that controls more than one type of smart device.

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I assume there is an app where I can control them all on a phone or ipad?

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there is. what you really want is to set things up on schedules or based off triggers (coming home, door opening, etc.) to minimize you having to pick up your phone at all. try to think beyond relying on the app full time. alexa now covers about 90% of what you used to pull your phone out and search for the app to hit a button.

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How many different apps would I need to control my switches, plugs, and view my cameras?

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you need to think this through carefully. cameras are notorious for using their own software which is understandable because with motion zones and IR control, motorized movement, DVR storage, etc etc you are naturally going to get the best experience from their native apps.

how much legwork are you comfortable with? cameras can be a PITA to set up and a time-sucker fussing with them. i strongly suggest going with a simpler solution like ring or nest if you don't feel like spending all your time trying to figure out why your NAS crashed or your videos are no longer recording to your local PC or the FTP connection is no longer working etc etc etc. its really no fun dealing with this 24/7 unless you have no life.

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Is there an easy way to do this?

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cameras aside, most smart things work very well together so you can use a combination of a smart hub (smartthings, wink) + IFTTT (website) + stringify (website) to do practically anything you can imagine with your devices. it takes some time to get into..start with learning the limits of your smart hub (assuming you buy one) then move to IFTTT (very easy) and then to strinfigy (slightly more complex but much more powerful than IFTTT).

those are free websites btw.

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Do they sell smart switches outside of single switches? I have a couple of big switch banks that hold the only switches to things like outdoor floods, etc.

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Lutron vs GE (we'll skip discussing leviton & other switches for the moment)
- lutron makes a switch that works with any box configuration and its killer feature is that it is able to power itself without a dedicated common pulled into the box. not an issue for most new builds but for older houses, lutron is sometimes the only solution. GE and other switches require a common.

- lutron and GE have solutions for '3 way' switches (2 light switches control same light). lutron does this by including a remote control and selling a $5 blank switch that you can swap out for your second light switch. you program the remote and it looks identical to the actual lutron switch you installed so you just snap the remote into the other switch and done. GE sells an actual matching 'slave' switch (another $25 or so) that connects into the wiring.

in short, you'll need to buy something ($5 faceplate with lutron, slave switch with GE) for 3-way switch applications. either that or do like CAD does and put a 25 cent lightswitch cover over the switch you don't want people using.

and yes, if you have a 2..3..4..larger switch box you can put as many lutron switches as you need in there or a combination of dumb & smart switches.

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Our old foscam made me want to punch things

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your pain...i feel it.

I assume you mean color temp not lumens. 2700k-3000k. Anything higher is gonna look blue.

I researched and here is the answer to my question. You have to replace all the switches to compatible switches in a 3 or 4 way switch since they are wired differently. The smart switch needs to always be "on" for the radio to work.

Bumping this for new information. Most of the information in previous posts concerns switches and I am looking more for smart plug or outlet information.

If i need a smart plug or an outlet, is there any in particular that you would recommend? I have a SmartThings hub and apple TV so it could technically work with either but prefer ST

I looked at the TP Link Mini but it does not support SmartThings

I am looking at the Leviton or Honeywell WiFi vs Z-wave vs ZigBee receptacle vs a different smart plug.

I would prefer the receptacle but if a different plug works better then I'd be ok with that.