I have been dabbling in updating parts of my home to use "Smart Home" Technologies. Somethings have been straightforward and others have been more difficult. Some basics first:
- Since I worked for Google, I am using Google Home and its ecosystem when it works well enough that my wife does not get frustrated using it.
- For things that don't directly work in the Google ecosystem, I will investigate things to see if there are ways to link them up that work reliably (It needs to avoid frustrating my wife).
- I am not trying to do everything at once, but I will try to replace subsystems with the same solution.
Using these rules, I first started with deploying Google Nest speakers in most rooms so I would be able to engage the Google Assistant without using my phone. I put Nest Hub Max displays in the kitchen. the owner's (my wife and my) bedroom, and in my wife's sewing room. I use Nest Hub displays in the two guest bedrooms and the dining room. I use some Nest Audio speakers in the Den and Library and a Nest Mini in the Powder Room. I am using a paired set of Google Home Max Speakers in my office. I also putting a Nest Mini in the owner's bathroom. That should provide good coverage for the assistant to work throughout my home.
The Chromecast with Google TV devices were just coming out when I started this work, so I have added them to the TVs that don't have Google TV built into them (which is only the TV in the Den at this point). I have configured them to work as the display in the Den (where there is only a Nest Audio speaker) and as the TV in the other rooms (where there is also a Nest display device). This allows the TV to be controlled by the Google Assistant using your voice. I am careful to call the TV a TV and the display a display so you can distinguish between the two when using them to do things like show a YouTube video. My wife likes the Google TV's white remote as it allows here to turn the TV off and on as well as control the volume. I just need to remember to leave the TV setup so she can control it. I sometimes forget ;-). For those of you that are wanting to work with Google Assistant, the Chromecast with Google TV devices work pretty well, but it has gotten a lot easier to integrate a lot of boxes with TVs. I have had good experiences with Roku and Apple TV devices as well. I can't say that about Fire TV even though they run the same basic OS as Google TV. I have not dug into that deeply.
I also replaced all the thermostats with the Google Nest Learning Thermostat (version 3). The only concern I have had there was dealing with some issues related to four wire controls (versus five wire). I have generally been happy with these thermostats.
I replaced all the smoke detectors with Google Protect smoke detectors. I do like them, but I am concerned that the roadmap for these devices is not very clear at this point. I am hopeful that there will be some news as the work with ADT (the alarm monitoring provider) matures.
I also use the Nest x Yale door locks on the external doors to my home. They work great. But, I do have some of the same concerns I have with the Nest Protects I described in the previous paragraph.
I also replaced all the bulbs in my home with LED bulbs and use that opportunity to replace all the wall switches with smart switches from Leviton. I looked at several different offering here and when with Leviton because they work with the Google Assistant. I have switches, dimmers and ceiling fans all under control now. I can use Google Assistant to turn them on and off and even group them togethers by room (e.g. "Turn all the den lights on"). I can do the same thing with the ceiling fans. It is pretty cool.
I also have several Nest Cameras to keep an eye on the garage, the backyard, the front and one side of the house where there is a door into my backyard (there is no windows on the other side and the only access there is into my neighbor's backyard) I also installed a Nest Doorbell that when a visitor uses it, will chime throughout the house. It is also pretty cool.
I think I will stop at this point, but there is more I will add in a future posting as I have more I have done.
