Pete's R&D Build Thread

Media

Sky Q has been ordered with a great friends and family discount deal of £12 for a SkyQ Silver 2TB Box plus second box. So I can enjoy 4K Goodness!
I've only just discovered that SkyQ is only 4K from the main box, and the other boxes are standard HD so I need to think about how exactly I wire this all up when it's installed.
I currently have a 4-way HDMI splitter from the Sky box in the living room that splits the signal to go to the Boys room and up to the Bedroom.
Generally, the wife will go to sleep and I'll be in the boys room so that means we should have the separate boxes in the boys room and the main living room. However, if the Main living room has the 4K box, this means we need a 4K HDMI splitter, and I'd also need a 4K TV upstairs. So not a fan of this idea. I think we then move the HDMI splitter to the boys room and run it off the HD box, it just means I'll have to get the cables re-routed around the house.

Kettle Installation Difficulty: Easy | Installation Time: 2 Seconds
A really simple one this, but the wife loves it!
A Z-wave socket that's set to switch on when motion it detected first thing in the morning which boils the kettle.
All you need to do is remember to fill the kettle, switch the plug off and switch the kettle on the morning before.

Philips Hue
I've extended the philips hue bulbs around the house following Amazon Prime day where the bulbs were on offer.
I now have 6 white bulbs in the 'boys room', and ended up having to get new light fittings for them to fit.
What this does result in is a F*****G BRIGHT ROOM! Not sure if there is a way to tone down the default 'on' brightness somehow?
I also bought a Hue Tap Switch that lets me recall 4 presets. I have these set for varying brightnesses and also uses the coloured lamp in the corner.
I've changed my outside bulbs to be philips hue white bulbs too - they get a really nice Dim up / Dim down effect when I pull up to the house which I think looks really smart than the old On/Off switch I used to have.

Remote Control
After a lot of playing around, and actually using SimpleControl as THE remote control for our main living room for a few months now - It fails in one department, and that's unfortunate because it's so almost there. It failed in the grandparents coming over to babysit department, which is frustrating as it only happens once or twice here and there! The iPad is very useful - however it does have drawbacks.
Battery life is one. The best setting I found on the iPad was to switch the screen off after 2 minutes, however combine this with the SimpleControl setting of 'Default' for screen lock - it seems to stay awake until you manually switch the screen off.
After looking around a bit, it seems that I should be able to get the Logitech Harmony Elite remote for around £140 on Amazon if I bide my time. It was £140 on amazon prime day - VERY annoyed that I didn't spot this as I would have snapped 2 up at that price!
So the plan is now to wait for the Harmony Elite to come up and switch over to using that. But for now we're sticking with the iPad and Simple Control.

Cool update!

I did tell you about the harmony option being better

On a side note I might recommend the Ultimate over the Elite. I actually prefer the hardware for the elite BUT the display on the ultimate is nicer I think. Plus it's a lot cheaper. Of course I can't forgive them for putting the media controls at the top of the display.

Does that do Bluetooth as well?
My Samsung Tv, SkyQ and the new Xbox One S that's arriving soon are all Bluetooth now so I think getting the Bluetooth hub would make sense.
Yeah, not so keen on those buttons at the top!

I figured that an iPad mini for £200 vs the Harmony for over £200 I'd prefer the iPad. But at £140 for the elite that's an easy decision if I can snag it for that price.

Yeah functionality wise the Elite is identical, the Elite just has a more logical button layout and 4 home control buttons at the bottom (that could be handy) .. but the screen is a bit funny. It's not as responsive as the ultimate (a lot of people complained about that) and also you can't set nice background images! I eventually returned my Elite because it was too laggy because of the screen issues.

How's the plugin for Indigo?
Can you use it to send device commands (can I ditch the GlobalCache's?) and track activities?

You can track activity and send signals, but you can't get it to report individual commands sent from the remote.

What you can do though is use the LIFX bridge plugin to emulate a bulb and send commands to indigo via that. It's a bit flakey, I think Logitech changed something with the last firmware update. Need to report it when I have a chance

(And yes that means you can migrate from a GC.. I've moved mine from the lounge to my server rack as my old GC100 has bit the dust, so the itach has taken its place)

And just on time !

So I've bought 2!

hehe awesome

But gawd damn you! I went onto amazon to have a look.. and decided I'd buy one too at that price. (Screw you Logitech for putting the media buttons at the top on the ultimate!). but do you know what else I did? You wanna know what else I did.............. and this is ALL YOUR FAULT PETE MATHESON... I just bought an ex-display Flymo 1200R.

So thanks to you PETE MATHESON I'll be sleeping on the sofa tonight. I hope you're happy with yourself. (Cos I am. )

Haha! Amazing. But, just think of all that spare time that you can spend with your better half instead of cutting the grass.... She should be thanking me!

Yeah, I don't think I could handle the media at the top, it would annoy me too much. Plus the hue / sonos control buttons on the bottom look really useful!

Hope the mower didn't cost too much?

£350. Which has wiped out most of my z-wave lock budget which is annoying what with Jay 100% guaranteeing support in indigo 7.