End of an Era

MBrew

Member
After months or maybe years of the Simply Automated website being unresponsive, it finally went dark last week. It simply didn't bring anything up and today I noticed that there is a parking page displayed. The Smart Home-Products website is still up, but they too have been unresponsive for a long time, and last week their security certificate expired. I'm guessing that it will disappear soon as it should. It gives a false sense of what's available on the market.

I notice there are several Simply Automated devices available on Ebay as new, but none seem to have face plates. I have a few of these an would like to get some white 3 button versions of the faceplate if anyone has them available.

I'm personally at the end of what will be a 50 to 60 device installation spread across two 2300 SF buildings. They are on separate meters, but I still get 99% plus reliability. I will add a second phase coupler this week when I get time to open the panel. Most of my devices are HAI 35A00-1 with just a few SA and PCS switches. I do have appliance modules and some IO controllers too. I only use one of those at the moment to control the garage doors. The only additions I see from here on are perhaps some more IO triggers, and I will be installing landscape lighting at some point.

I use a RUC-02 for the nexus. If I could find a PCS gateway at a reasonable price I might experiment with it. Adding a repeater might get me that last .5% or so of reliability I'm after, but I'm cheap and they rarely come up used.

I have used the PCS KPLD7's and like them but I have some problem with noise that seems to come from them that makes it difficult to program them. They seem to be fine once programmed. Unfortunately I'm still doing some tweaking and the problems with programming them are really bothersome.

I'm not certain that I see what the PCS business model is. They must still have some professional installers and or commercial users, because the DIY home automation market for them seems quite limited. I hope they are able to keep the system alive, because I find it to be a good system that likely still has room for improvements I o buy some new devices from time to time.

In the mean time I'll make certain that I'm stocked with Ebay treasures.
 
I wish I could learn my lesson to stock up on spares. In over 30 years of doing home automation, I have seen all too many systems arise and then quickly disappear, catching me off-guard. By the time I need something, it is off to ebay, sometimes too late.

When I jump on board with a new technology or brand, the last thing on my mind is the question - is it still going to be around in 10 years? Heck, it takes me 10 years just to get a system where I want it to be. I'm not exactly a Luddite, but I still use mostly X-10 - it works great for me. I do have some Zwave, and some wifi devices, but quite frankly I'm almost afraid to jump completely onboard to wifi and MQTT devices because I keep wondering how quickly those will be obsoleted.
 
MQTT is over 25 years old. WiFi is the defacto standard when it comes to short range wireless data transfer. I agree that everything else seems to come and go. I don't think it is a stretch to thing that WiFI and MQTT will be one of the longer lasting technology choices available today. It is why I started actually moving towards MQTT controlled lighting after years of not wanting to "waste" money on a lighting technology that wouldn't last.
 
Here moved. I was still and had been using UPB and my HAI OmniPro 2. I have yet to set up my OmniPro 2. Maybe its my age. Just finished wiring my office which personally took too much time (again age). I do miss my UPB switches. (did also use Zigbee and ZWave and X10).

Noticed a lot less maintenance of the Wifi switches than UPB, Zigbee and ZWave. Only firmware upgrades which is nothing.

I have set up a few Tasmota WiFi devices and they are working fine and wishing that the OP2 panel worked with the WiFi switches.

The panel was configured with audio, thermostat, temperature sensors.

I have tested the Tasmota WiFi stuff on another home and used wireless Ring Alarm there and it worked great.
 
I guess I should clarify what I am actually doing.

I also started using WiFi lighting switches and plugs with the open source third party firmware Tasmota installed on them. I use the MQTT functionality built into the devices to communicate with my larger automation system. That being said, the Tasmota devices are also very "self sufficient" and offer a lot of built in programming opportunities too. A lot of my lighting automation is actually programmed into the devices themselves. I use the larger automation system to automate functions based on "triggers" from the other automation devices (such as alarm status, doors opening/closing, etc).
 
Same here relating to MQTT and use of HA and Homeseer.

I still prefer using MS SAPI for TTS (collect voice fonts) over Amazon or HA built in TTS. (mostly just for garage door status).

Last two homes there were switches (went to UPB) that controlled 1/2 of the wall outlets which I liked. Newest home has conduit which I prefer over romex. Pex tubing for water which I do not like with a preference for copper.

What are you using as an alarm system?
 
I'm using the Elk. I don't remember exactly when I installed it, but it's probably pushing 20 years now. It is overkill for my situation because I don't actually use any the "automation" functionality built into the system. I wasn't sure exactly how my automation journey would unfold at the time I purchased it, and I thought having the flexibility of the Elk might be helpful. But if I had to do it all over again today, I would buy a "dumb" alarm system that can integrate into larger automation systems.

Still, at least ELK is still around unlike some of the other options available at the time!
 
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