Gadget fan

[bobmac]

I have loved gadgets all my life so no surprise that today, I am taking delivery of 6 x RGB LED GU10 light bulbs for my kitchen that work with Alexa and are dimmable and programmable.
I may be gone sometime.
Has anyone else got any good gadgets?

 

[PJ87]

I have loved gadgets all my life so no surprise that today, I am taking delivery of 6 x RGB LED GU10 light bulbs for my kitchen that work with Alexa and are dimmable and programmable.
I may be gone sometime.
Has anyone else got any good gadgets?

Too many.

All downstairs lights are Alexa controlled

Upstairs only room we get kids ready for bed and landing so we can turn off remotely once their ready for bed

Ring alarm , doorbell and spot light cam all linked .. alarm goes off all the cameras record

Alarm linked to Alexa .. disarm and all the lights come on downstairs ready to start the day

All go off when armed (had the Christmas tree on a plug that did same aswell so always came on when we got up)

Just the tip of the iceberg ?

 

[bobmac]

Puts me to shame

 

[PJ87]

Puts me to shame

Sometimes you just want to control it from the phone aswell .. save the voice

 

[Neilds]

Our lights are all voice controlled - if I leave any on the wife just yells "Turn the bl**dy lights off!" and I turn them off

 

[bobmac]

View attachment 40334

Sometimes you just want to control it from the phone aswell .. save the voice

Is your name Paul Hibbert?

 

[HampshireHog]

The bulbs are good, I have them in the kids rooms, but I find I keep using the switch by accident.

Current thinking is to swap out other wall switches and dimmers with smart versions, and have the control via the unit, App or Alexa. Not fussed about the colour changing.

Have the Smoke/CO2 detectors linked to the Nest Thermostat so the boiler goes off if CO2 is detected.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

And when the Amazon internet services go down none of it works.........
Each to their own, I personally don’t see the point.

 

[Robster59]

We have a few "Smart Home" devices, all controlled by Google Home or their own app. We have a couple of RGB dimmable bulbs in the living room, a white dimmable in the living room, switches around the house for turning things for turning off items we only need during working hours, a couple in the garage for charging my trolley battery and car (measures the electric consumption for expenses). We also have a Smart TV, and a couple of Chromecasts as well.
We also have an internal camera to keep an eye on the dog when we are out, or in bed.
When we move house, I'll also probably get external cameras for security, which can be operated remotely.
And we use the Google Home for music, weather, information, etc.
Funny thing is I'm way ahead of my two kids on this. You'd have thought they would have thought they would have embraced it sooner.

 

[Robster59]

And when the Amazon internet services go down none of it works.........
Each to their own, I personally don’t see the point.

I can control all mine from the App, and I can still turn the lights and switches on and off manually if required.
The point for the lights is that we can use them to make people think we're at home when we're away. We use the camera to keep an eye on the dog. We use the switches to save money as they only operate when they are needed so things are not left on for the sake of it.
Also, now when I go to bed I just say, "OK Google, TV and Lights off" and walk out. It's fun if nothing else.

 

[bobmac]

I can control all mine from the App, and I can still turn the lights and switches on and off manually if required.
The point for the lights is that we can use them to make people think we're at home when we're away. We use the camera to keep an eye on the dog. We use the switches to save money as they only operate when they are needed so things are not left on for the sake of it.
Also, now when I go to bed I just say, "OK Google, TV and Lights off" and walk out. It's fun if nothing else.

And the bulbs are only 5W each so I can flood my kitchen with controllable light for the cost of one 30W old fashioned light bulb

 

[Foxholer]

Our lights are all voice controlled - if I leave any on the wife just yells "Turn the bl**dy lights off!" and I turn them off

Post of the year (so far)!

 

[PJ87]

And when the Amazon internet services go down none of it works.........
Each to their own, I personally don’t see the point.

Yes and no, mainly no

If you have a hub controlled lights like hue, hive they can be controlled locally

Plus Amazon just acts as a bridge to link them, their own apps still work

Only an internet outage could hinder you, however all lights still work light a normal light with a switch..

Even the alarm has a back up 3g simcard for such occasions and can be armed via the keypad then will still call you if it activates

 

[SyR]

We have hue g10's in all rooms. Got them when our daughter born so we could turn the lights on/off hands free and also silently turn them on/off with the app to avoid waking our daughter up. We have a neos camera in her room so we can check on her if we hear something on the baby monitor. The camera can be viewed on phones or our echo show or tv.
We have a robo vacuum that lives under a dresser in our living room and it roams about at set times to clean the floors.
We have echo dots scattered around, really handy for playing music or checking the weather/time etc, telling the robo vacuum to come out / go home.
My best smart tech is a wireless kitchen probe that we use when roasting meat. It monitors the temperature and alerts you in the app when it cooked. It has presets for how done you want the meat, type of meat etc and so far it's always resulted it perfectly cooked food.
I have my eye on a few other smart tech, but will only buy them if I think they can really assist us.

 

[bobmac]

I got my Alexa dots primarily for music but they are great for settling arguments and for routines

 

[Crow]

I've got a gadget where you put bread in it, press a lever, leave it alone for a while and then up pops toast where there used to be bread!

 

[Imurg]

I've got a gadget where you put bread in it, press a lever, leave it alone for a while and then up pops toast where there used to be bread!

I hope it's at least 35 years old.......
#itsnotjustaboutthetoast

 

[SocketRocket]

Amazing! It's getting near the point when we won't need to get out of bed anymore ?

 

[need_my_wedge]

.....When we move house, I'll also probably get external cameras for security, which can be operated remotely.......

I purchased a Eufy camera system from Amazon last year, home base and 3 cameras, all wireless and mounted outside by myself. Very good system, excellent quality cameras, at a fraction of the cost of Arlo. The home base has a 16GB SSD in it, so no need for a cloud subscription ala Arlo. All managed from my phone. The only downside, is the deletion options, it should be easier to select a range, or only select the ones you want to delete/ keep but it's not that simple. You have to delete by the day or individually in a day. You can't select from date to date, which is a right pain if you haven't done any housekeeping for a week or two. The way I look at it though, is if no one has troubled me, and none of my neighbours have enquired, I don't bother keeping longer than a week.

 

[PJ87]

I got my Alexa dots primarily for music but they are great for settling arguments and for routines

The kids love them

Play music for them when I'm washing up and the twins want to run around ..

Eldest loves asking it to play her fav songs

Putting the tree up was nice with them.. Alexa play Christmas music everywhere .. surround sound lol

Did the same when her friends came over for a pre Xmas play date .. Xmas crafts with music .. they loved it