drvnbysound
Senior Member
IVB said:The elk is the harshest possible way to manage lighting. I used to use it, but moved the management to cqc as I got sick of remembering what device was A05 vs B09/etc.
Voice is like wireless networking vs wired, or laptops vs desktops. You don't think it's that valuable when you're just using the original technology, but once you start you'll wonder why it took you so long to change. An NFC chip puts my phone into car mode, Tasker does TTS on inbound SMS, and I speak the replies. I currently have some auto voice for HA but not much due to language restrictions. I have to Trigger one task, wait, then trigger another. Pulling up to the house I'd love to say "OK Google, disarm security, unlock the door, and turn on the outside lights".
I haven't had any issues managing lighting via Elk. Sure, it's not the best interface, but I don't have to remember what A05 is - I've entered descriptions for all of my lighting, so when I want to control the Front Flood Lights, that's what I select in ElkRP - Front Flood Lights.
I bought a CQC license - which is why it's listed to the left ( <---- ) in my HA technology listing, but I've literally NEVER installed it. I haven't found anything that I couldn't yet do via Elk, or that I would want done differently. I don't have HTPCs at any of my TVs or any other method to really utilize the CQC interface other than tablet - in which case I just launch eKeypad.
I'm not on the road all that much; approximately 50min each day (commute) and I either wait till I get into the office or home, or just check messages at the next red light. Not a big deal to me.
Regarding the coming home part, we had a whole other thread about that. I have a friend who is using a WiFi device in his vehicle; once his home network detects that the vehicle has joined the network (within range) it opens the garage door (via Elk) and could obviously do those other things if he wanted to add them to the rule.