Smart Home 5Ghz Gear

[coxhaus]

Has there been any change to where there are 5Ghz smart home devices?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Amazon Dots and other Amazon devices use 5 Ghz because in addition to being smart home devices also are streaming devices.

Other IoT devices still mainly use 2.4Ghz for several reasons:
1. The chips are cheaper.
2. Most IoT devices don't use much data and/or need much bandwidth. For instance my garage door controller has only used 14.8 KB of data so far in September.
3. 2.4 Ghz radios have better range and penetration power.

 

[coxhaus]

Yes I have one Amazon echo and 2 Amazon dots networked on 5Ghz. I would like to turn a light on and off in my home instead of using a manual timer. I guess I will have to run 2.4Ghz again after many years with it being turned off. I am thinking of using our 4th gen AppleTV with HomeKit. It runs all the time and I don't have to run a server. I am a real novice at this stuff.

What is the difference in using a power plug or light bulb for turning on and off a light?

 

[CaptainSTX]

They both will turn lights on and off and are not revolutionary but evolutionary from old fashioned electric, mechanical lamp timers. I have never used smart light bulbs but here is my take.

Pro Light Bulb:
1. No additional equipment needed. All in one light bulb.
2. With certain bulbs you can change the lights color.

Pro WiFi controlled Plug:
1. They have more flexibility. At the holidays I can use them to control outside lights and at other times of the year use them to turn lights on and off when I'm traveling.
2. They can be used to control things other than lamps.

I am sure others can think of other pros and cons.

 

[Rolo]

Yes I have one Amazon echo and 2 Amazon dots networked on 5Ghz. I would like to turn a light on and off in my home instead of using a manual timer. I guess I will have to run 2.4Ghz again after many years with it being turned off. I am thinking of using our 4th gen AppleTV with HomeKit. It runs all the time and I don't have to run a server. I am a real novice at this stuff.

What is the difference in using a power plug or light bulb for turning on and off a light?

WiFi devices run off the cloud, so Internet connectivity is needed.

There are Zigbee and Z-Wave devices that run off a hub (SmartThings, Echo Show, et al.) that may or may not require Internet connectivity, depending on what you're doing.

The difference between controlling a light via the plug/switch vs. the bulb is huge and which one you want depends on your application. If you want to control outdoor halogen floodlights on a schedule, a switch is probably better.

If you want to control an interior light, a smart bulb that can change brightness and even color might add greater value (you can set the brightness/color by time-of-day, less blue light in the evening, for instance)--especially if you already have some home automation already going.

Personally, I have all Philips Hue bulbs on various routines and pretty much use my phone as a remote for everything.

 

[coxhaus]

I ordered an Eve Energy - Smart Plug. It looks like it will solve my original issue of not having to have 2.4Ghz. It uses Bluetooth. I already have an AppleTV(4K) which I can run HomeKit on. We both have iPhones. It sounds like it has better security than any of the basic IoT devices. It will run from the AppleTV on a schedule even if the internet is down. What do you think?

 

[sfx2000]

Other IoT devices still mainly use 2.4Ghz for several reasons:
1. The chips are cheaper.
2. Most IoT devices don't use much data and/or need much bandwidth. For instance my garage door controller has only used 14.8 KB of data so far in September.
3. 2.4 Ghz radios have better range and penetration power.

Yep - and there are MCU's that include WiFi, so hook up a couple of GPIO's and give it power, and it's up and running - consider the Espressif ESP8266, which is a sub-$1USD device that one can easily program.

TI has a couple of chips that are in the same price range/capability.

 

[coxhaus]

I have Eve Energy working. It was pretty simple. My wife did it because her iPhone7 was already setup with the AppleTV.

The nice thing about this setup is it works through her iCloud for remote control which has good security. My AppleTV is on a wired connection and has no access to my wireless as I never setup my wireless psw on my AppleTV.

We are in the process of setting up sharing with my iPhone7+

 

[coxhaus]

It turns out Eve works fine if you only use 5GHz as it is doing blue tooth. I have turned off 2.4GHz testing my iRobot i7 vacuum my Eve setup is still working.