Xipiter has a great write-up on how they hacked the MiCasaVerde Vera quickly and easily:
This is a good illustration how the funky remote access methods for Vera got them into trouble. They would be better served with the API keys & calls other IoT hubs have been focused on. If you are running a Vera, it may be worth investigating offline mode until there is some confirmation that the remote access is possible or not.
As I’ve been moving all of my home automation projects over to the SmartThings environment, I’m expanding my number of devices and scenarios in order to take full advantage of the easy monitoring and alerts which are possible within the SmartThings ecosystem.
Leak detectors are normally pretty simple devices; water conductivity completes an electric circuit and a buzzer or alarm sounds. This is great if you are within listening distance, but next to useless if you are away from home or even in a different part of the home. Having recently seen the damaged caused by a burst hose at a friend’s house, the benefits to being alerted to a leak as quickly as possible are obvious.
When I initially started looking at z-wave devices to detect leaks and floods I found some things I didn’t like about most of the products available. The first design flaw I found is that many of the devices were designed to sit on the same surface which was going to flood – they didn’t have a detachable monitoring lead. This means that there is a pretty good chance that the devices are going to fail after or during a flood, as they are not designed to be waterproof. The second thing I didn’t like about most of the devices on the market was price, with many starting around the $50 mark.
During my search for an affordable z-wave smoke alarm I discovered that many devices made for the Lowes Iris system were z-wave compatible. Searching that further I found that there was a leak detector made by Utilitech which was reasonably priced at around $30 which also worked with SmartThings – Utilitech Water Leak Detector White Indoor Flood Sensor (Works with Iris) Item #: 422362 | Model #: TST01-1.
I purchased one and put it to use with my SmartThings system. First up, hardware impressions. It appears to be well made, all of the pieces have a solid feel and the mounting is well designed (they also include a lot of mounting tabs if you have particularly long cable runs). The device has a separate lead for the water monitor so that the device can be mounted above where the monitor contacts are mounted. The leak detector was easy to pair with SmartThings and a number of SmartApps are suggested after the device is configured in the SmartThings system. I chose to work with some of the included SmartApps for Damage & Danger to do two things when water is detected – send a push alert to my phone (and any devices connected to the SmartThings account), and send a text message to my telephone number.
As with my smart smoke detection I used the Sonos integration with SmartThings via Sonos Notify with Sound to send a text to speech (SmartThings detected a flood) auditory alert about the leak as well. I tested the alerts a number of times and it seemed to be fairly responsive, typically the SMS & push message updates were received on my phone in under 5 seconds. In total the installation of the leak detector and setup of the SmartApps had taken less than 20 minutes. Not bad for a bit more intelligence at home.
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As I’ve switched my home automation from Vera to SmartThings I’ve also been expanding my network of z-wave devices at home. Since SmartThings does such a great job with different notification options I’ve also been looking more into monitoring our home for different kinds of damage or danger. One of the first tasks on the agenda was to make our fire detection much smarter and able to alert us even if we are not at home. I looked around at the available market for z-wave smoke detectors and found a bit of a mixed bag. I could splurge and purchase the Nest device at roughly $100, or go with the Monoprice version of the Everspring Z-Wave Smoke Detector which runs at roughly $40.
However, after reading through the SmartThings forums a lot of people were having success using some of the devices which are certified for Lowe’s Iris Home Security and Automation system. The system runs z-wave as well and a lot of the devices are compatible with SmartThings since they both speak z-wave. First Alert makes a battery powered smoke detector with a model name of “ZSMOKE” which has built in z-wave and only costs $29.97. Note that they also make a CO2 z-wave model, however I already CO2 detection in the house, and I’m not as worried about being alerted to CO2 even when I’m away from the house. The other thing to know about CO2 detection is that the detection components deteriorate much quicker than they do for smoke alarms, which can lead to a lot of false alerts 4-6 years down the road.
The smoke detector was easy to install into SmartThings (simply hold the test button as you insert the batteries to pair it to the system) and mount in an existing bracket on the ceiling. The smoke detector will continue to act as a regular (dumb) alarm until it is extended further on the SmartThings network with some SmartApps to go with it.
I’ve added several different SmartApps now that my SmartThings system has smoke detection:
SmartThings has some out of the box SmartApps which are already configured for common scenarios with smoke detectors. There are several different options within these SmartApps, which all fall under the “Damage & Danger” category. Using these apps my SmartThings system will now do the following for any smoke alert:
Sonos has some pretty cool integration options with SmartThings, some of which I’ll post further about in the future. For the smoke alarm, there is an app named “Sonos Notify With Sound” which will play a custom alert on any configured Sonos speakers when smoke is detected. This isn’t the most critical of features, as the smoke alarm is plenty loud, but generally I tend to think the more the merrier when it comes to fire alarms.
SmartThings already has some low battery notifications built into the system, however there are other apps which people have created to select specific devices and battery levels and send an alert once they cross a specific threshold. I’ve installed one which I have configured to alert me when devices hit 10% battery.
Somethings with SmartThings are not always easy to setup and configure, but this was completely painless. The device works well and paired quickly, and SmartThings has most of the functionality needed in the SmartApps out of the box.
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Having lived in the US for over a decade there are quite a few cost of living differences I notice when I return to visit Canada. One of the more obvious differences between the two counties is the treatment of alcohol. The first and most obvious difference is how one purchases liquor or beer. In many US states liquor is commonly available at any corner store. In Canada, up until relatively recently all liquor had to be purchased through Provincially owned and controlled stores. This history also means that even the privately run liquor stores are typically quite clean, modern, and tidy – one never sees run down malt beverage shops which occasionally dot the landscape of poorer zip codes in the US.
The second big difference is in price. The price difference is primarily due to higher “sin” taxes in Canada. However, there is a secondary effect when it comes to imports as higher duty charges also take effect. While visiting this summer I took a look to see what was available in one of the larger stores in Prince George. While domestically produced spirits seemed to be about the same price one would pay for them in the US, some imported liquor appears to be dramatically marked up. The one which surprised me the most was Old Pulteney Scotch 12 Year – this is a nice Scotch which is typically under $40 in the US ($35.99 as of the time of my writing in San Diego). However, at this LCBBC the price was an eye watering $79.99. I guess I’ll be sticking to Canadian rye when I visit.
I’ve been playing around with the Hyperlapse app from Instagram and took it on a walk down the pier at Imperial Beach:
This was hand-held and I didn’t make any efforts to keep the camera steady during my walk. I’m pretty impressed with the way it turned out and will definitely use it for some other experiments.
