Cloud run home automation a really bad idea

[ThaiTaffy]

So it's kinda a no brainer that having a home that requires the cloud to run is a bad idea but with recent developments this has been made obviously clear.

I run a smart home, which sometimes feels like a full time job, I have a large mix of products but thankfully thanks to a wonderful operating system and a great community I'm able to run everything 100% locally. My choice of backbone is "Home Assistant" which thanks to its community can amalgamate a large portion of the home automation products out there.

A bit of an explanation, home automation usually requires devices, a hub and a internet connection, the devices, be it a switch or a lightbulb connect to the hub then the hub speaks to cloud servers and your phone or computer can communicate via these cloud servers to control said devices. So if the cloud server is taken offline you have nothing.

This week I became aware of "Insteon" a company that's left their users in the dark figuratively and physically. The company just vanished leaving their customers with products that just don't work. I'm sure the big boys such as Apple homekit, Samsung smartthings, Phillips hue and others I'm forgetting are unlikely to just vanish but then security is the issue with them and every cloud server can have issues.

The Home Assistant Community went into overdrive with the news and managed to intergrate the Insteon products allowing them to run locally but this still requires you to have some form of dedicated hardware to run Home Assistant which wouldn't be ideal for many of the Insteon consumers.

Anyone looking at Home automation i would suggest do your research don't just buy a system because of some good reviews because even if its a good product doesn't necessarily mean its a stable company that can survive the life of the product. if you have the dedicated hardware be it a server you can add a Virtual machine too or an old raspberry pi lying around take a look at Home Assistant.

 

[Steevo]

Warranty is only as good as the company that provides it.

It’s why we have bought multiples of many items like special recessed lights, if/when one goes out we have a replacement

 

[R-T-B]

Warranty is only as good as the company that provides it.

It’s why we have bought multiples of many items like special recessed lights, if/when one goes out we have a replacement

This transcends warranty issues though. Company going dark on cloud product changes your product into a brick. Not so fun when the product is part of your home.

Anyhow, as OP says, this is a good reason to avoid cloud based home automation.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

This transcends warranty issues though. Company going dark on cloud product changes your product into a brick. Not so fun when the product is part of your home.

Yes indeed having poor warranty service and flat out killing your product are two very different things. Personally I only care about a warranty if I know I'm not going to void it within 5 minutes of opening the product and when it comes to the majority of electronics I buy, I do just that.
Every WiFi enabled smart device in my home from a light switch to a router I've voided the warranty 5 minutes after testing it works, they all have either my own custom firmware, I've had to compile or some variation of opensource firmware I've come across. If you have the knowledge to do so why settle for something that only works half as well as it should, I buy products with that in mind.

Thankfully there are many smart home device manufacturers who know this to be the case so they somewhat make it easier to flash custom firmware.

Sonoff is a manufacturer who make a good product but the smart home app that connects to them is awful, thankfully all the WiFi products they produce use the espressif SOC which can easily be flashed with custom tasmota/esphome firmware so I do just that. Sadly I got a few products this week but are having to sit on my desk as I killed my UART stick bricking a router trying to install OpenWRT on it, whoops.

 

[AsRock]

This transcends warranty issues though. Company going dark on cloud product changes your product into a brick. Not so fun when the product is part of your home.

Anyhow, as OP says, this is a good reason to avoid cloud based home automation.

Faulty update brainwashes AEG microwaves into thinking they’re steam ovens

A software update has caused AEG microwaves to have an identity crisis — all of them think they’re steam ovens.

thenextweb.com

Screw that shit, just yet another possible problem. More shit to go wrong with them is only in favor to them.

I am capable of doing shit my self.

 

[Vayra86]

Home automation is a perfect example of how silly we have become as a species.

Too lazy to walk to a button, too impatient to wait for things to warm up. Its instant gratification in a nutshell, for adults. Meanwhile, you make yourself extremely dependant on technology for something as simple as a light switch or a key. And the best one is this: some suckers even defend home automation as being climate friendly because 'look its all led and I can turn it off from my phone'... do you even logic.

Common sense dictates you turn everything off when you leave and turn it on when you need it. Its really that simple

And wrt cloud... that goes for ANYTHING cloud.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Home automation is a perfect example of how silly we have become as a species.

Too lazy to walk to a button, too impatient to wait for things to warm up. Its instant gratification in a nutshell, for adults. Meanwhile, you make yourself extremely dependant on technology for something as simple as a light switch or a key. And the best one is this: some suckers even defend home automation as being climate friendly because 'look its all led and I can turn it off from my phone'... do you even logic.

Common sense dictates you turn everything off when you leave and turn it on when you need it. Its really that simple

And wrt cloud... that goes for ANYTHING cloud.

I have a large farm in a tropical climate unless you think I'm getting up at 2am to water the garden for 5 hours before the scorching sun comes out when I could be sleeping or switching my solar battery chargers off when it's to hot so the lithium cells don't explode. I can think of a lot of good reasons to have a smart home beyond simply turning my my TV on when my arse hits the couch which It does btw.

 

[Frick]

And wrt cloud... that goes for ANYTHING cloud.

So you roll your own email?

As for home automation: If you can't think of a use case where it would be good it's not for you, and that is fine.

 

[R-T-B]

So you roll your own email?

I was gonna ask if he uses a TV remote lol...

 

[ThaiTaffy]

I don't feel light switches or remotes or any technology is a necessary part of life why waste energy on them.
It's not being lazy it's about having technology work for you not you work for technology.

My hope is once I've got past all the projects and setting up I don't have to touch anything just have more free time to do real life things, spending time with my wife, the animals and the environment. My office is kinda lazy though automated lights AC TV etc