I started with things I already had, an old Raspberry Pi, some smart plugs and bulbs, an alarm system, wifi thermostat and OpenWRT router and initially installed the software just to play around. It didn’t take long before I was able to control everything from a single dashboard instead of multiple web pages and apps. I found that since it connects everything it can change the thermostat and turn on lights when alarm system motion detectors or door sensors are triggered or not triggered for a few hours. Our cell phones are used for presence detection and none of that required additional hardware.
The additions beyond that have been done slowly and the costs have been minimal. At this point I’ve probably I’ve probably spent <$450 over 4 years including $180 for an inexpensive laptop. This is for something that’s in use constantly. I enjoy learning and puzzles so I’d spend an hour or two here and there figuring things out. For me it’s been time well spent.
I started with things I already had, an old Raspberry Pi, some smart plugs and bulbs, an alarm system, wifi thermostat and OpenWRT router and initially installed the software just to play around. It didn’t take long before I was able to control everything from a single dashboard instead of multiple web pages and apps. I found that since it connects everything it can change the thermostat and turn on lights when alarm system motion detectors or door sensors are triggered or not triggered for a few hours. Our cell phones are used for presence detection and none of that required additional hardware.
The additions beyond that have been done slowly and the costs have been minimal. At this point I’ve probably I’ve probably spent <$450 over 4 years including $180 for an inexpensive laptop. This is for something that’s in use constantly. I enjoy learning and puzzles so I’d spend an hour or two here and there figuring things out. For me it’s been time well spent.