Home Home Automation

Everything else in your house is smart, so why isn’t your bathroom exhaust fan?

With the ISO ceiling exhaust fan and light, your bathroom exhaust fan will be as smart as everything else.  The ISO is a humidity-activated fan that turns on when it senses moisture in the air and turns itself off when the humidity level has dropped.  No more coming home and finding that you forgot to flip the fan off after your shower, and it’s been running all day.

ISO has a a two-bulb light fixture (two 40W fluorescents required but not included) for general illumination and a motion-triggered nightlight (7W incandescent, not included).  It comes with a wall switch for both the fan and the light.  The exhaust fan is made of metal, plastic, and glass and measures 12.99″ X 12.99″; total height is 8.84″ deep, and it extends 1.57″ down from the ceiling when installed.  The fan is very quiet at 1-3 sones.

The ISO fan is $129.00 at Quirky.

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Everything else in your house is smart, so why isn’t your bathroom exhaust fan? originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 5, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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Expand your control over your iDevices home automation products with the Instant Switch

iDevices recently announced the availability of their new Instant Switch, a wireless remote control switch that connects to your favorite iDevices product.  The Switch is battery powered, so it doesn’t require wiring.  You can mount it directly on the wall with its included 3M Command adhesive strip and faceplate anywhere you’d like an extra control point.  Or you can add it to an existing gang box or put it beside an existing gang box and use a standard rocker faceplate.

The Instant Switch can give you control over a hard-to-reach lamp or an outdoor lighting fixture.  The Switch even incorporates a dimmer, so you can set the ambiance of your space.  And because it can pair with an existing hard-wired iDevices Wall or Dimmer Switch, it can create a 3- or 4-way control setup.

The iDevices Instant Switch is available now for $34.95; special sale pricing gives you a third free with the purchase of two.  The Instant Switch is available at the iDevices website.

Easily add a security camera by screwing in this smart lightbulb

The LightCam is a smart lightbulb with a security camera built in that’s currently seeking funding on Indiegogo.  The project is very popular and has been funded at more than 425% with 20 days still left in the campaign, so you have plenty of time to reserve one for yourself.

The lightbulb works in any standard socket.  To install, you simply screw it into the socket – no drilling or additional wiring is needed, which makes it the ideal security camera for renters.  It connects to your WiFi and communicates with you through a smartphone app.  There is no service contract required; the LightCam has enough built-in storage to save about a week’s worth of video, and you can access the video through the LightCam app and even download clips for more permanent storage.

The weatherproof bulb fits in a variety of fixtures, interior or exterior.  The 1080p HD camera with wide-angle lens can adjust to change the viewing angle to work with the fixtures, even with recessed fixtures.  It can “see” even in the dark, producing gray-scale images of objects up to 25 feet away.  A motion sensor can alert you when someone approaches the LightCam, and a microphone and speaker allows you to communicate with the visitor.  Using the app, you can control when the LED light comes on and when you get alerts,   It even comes with a cover for your light switch, so you can be sure the camera isn’t accidentally turned off.

The LightCam funding period ends in 20 days.  You can pledge $99 for a single LightCam, with discounts available for purchase of multiple bulbs.  Learn more and get your own LightCam at Indiegogo.

Control your HomeKit devices with the Elgato Eve Button

When you have home automation devices, you find you’ll need to have a mobile device handy to be able to control your devices.  It’s not always convenient to carry a tablet or phone with you, and there may be people in the home – guests or children – who won’t have a mobile device with the controller app.  If you use Apple’s HomeKit as your home automation controller, you can add an Eve Button from Elgato to activate three different scenes (already defined in your HomeKit system) with a button push.

The Eve Button has a contoured aluminum housing, and looks attractive in your home environment.  It measures 2.1″ x 2.1″ x 0.5″ and uses replaceable CR2032 batteries.  It connects via BLE to your HomeKit hub, so it won’t need a bridge to connect to your home system.  Once it’s connected via Bluetooth to the Apple TV or iOS device you use as your HomeKit hub, you can set one scene with a single button push, a second scene with a double push, or a third scene with a long push.  For example, you could get ready for movie night with a long push of the Eve Button to turn off the kitchen lights (after you’ve popped the corn), turn on the projector, and turn on the background lighting you use when watching movies.

The Eve Button is available now for $49.95 from Elgato, or it will soon be available from Amazon.

ConnectSense Smart Outlet review

I grew up watching Star Trek and always thought that talking to a computer was the coolest thing! With Siri, Google and Alexa were getting darn close to Captain Kirk’s Enterprise. Ahhh, the joys of home automation! I love it when something cumbersome becomes effortless. Adding ConnectSense’s new Smart Outlet to my home automation system has made that dream one step closer. 

The Smart Outlet arrived in small packaging with only a brief “Getting Started” manual. Turns out, that’s all that was needed to get it working. Plug in the outlet, open Wi-Fi settings on my iPhone, follow the directions to connect to the home network, download the app, create an account, then open Home Kit, enter the device number and, voila, it works. I have to say it was among the fastest and simplest setups I’ve done for a device of this type. Literally, just minutes and everything was up and running.

As soon as the outlet was added to Home Kit, I was able to ask Siri to turn on or off outlet one, two or both using simple phrasing like, “Hey, Siri, turn on outlet 1,” or “Hey, Siri, turn off the living room fan.” Each outlet has a pleasant blue LED to let me know it was on. As an Easter egg, there is even a USB port on the side. The other side has pushbuttons to control the outlets locally, although if plugged behind a couch, they might not be easily accessible.

The device plugs into a wall socket, but it should be noted that while it has only one grounded plug on the back, it blocks both outlets in a standard duplex outlet. It’s about 5 X 3-1/4 and the case protrudes about 1-1/4 inches from the wall, so if you have a tight space, say, behind a dresser, some creativity might be needed to preserve room aesthetics.

Like many Home Kit compatible devices, an Apple TV console is needed to enable control away from the home network. I don’t have one, so I’m hoping Santa thinks I’ve been good this year.

The ConnectSense Smart outlet was very easy to setup get working. It enables voice control of almost any 110volt device up to 15 Amps. I tested it with several lamps and a fan. But have not decided which outlet it will ultimately occupy, but it will be fun figuring it out. Now, if I could just get Siri to speak in Majel Barrett’s voice…

Source: The sample for this review was provided by ConnectSense. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $59.95
Manufacturer: ConnectSense
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Easy setup
  • Home Kit compatible
Cons:
  • Expensive

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ConnectSense Smart Outlet review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 23, 2017 at 1:00 pm.

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