Anyone planning to experience Homekit and how it works without wanting to spend too much can consider the Xiaomi yeelight bedside lamp/Tablelamp... with charger. It is excellent although its connected via Wifi because:
1. it's unlikely you have to have 30 of these at home. 2. you don't require a Xiaomi account for it to work or the Xiaomi app if you are worried about your privacy... you scan the code at the back of the lamp and it will work with apple Home.

My house have 3 of these and I recommend using these with a motion sensor - PhilipsHue,Terncy or Aqara (you need a Homekit Hub) like when you wake up at night and walk it will light up automatically. The colours are not as vibrant as Philips Hue, but for what it does, it is excellent!



These are the bedside lamps. There is one model with a wireless charger that my mom use and it is really good!!!
I would attach pictures of them if anyone is interested.

where did you place your HomePod ?

Two in the living room, one in my brother bedroom, one in my bedroom..

The ability to make a line permanently powered is a wonderful feature. Previously I was hesitant on installing smart bulbs for normal mechanical switches because people are conditioned to switch the lights off, but the ability to power the circuit off is still important for safety and maintenance (reprogramming the bulb).

Now I’m really interested to try Terncy switches out. Unfortunately it will add another hub to my collection.
A small rant about non-WiFi Smart device ecosystems is that the hub from the vendor is needed for firmware updates so even if it is not normally powered on (assuming that it can be paired to another vendor's hub) we still need to keep one around.

I am not convinced about automated curtains yet. Often some customization is needed due to the different widths of the windows or doors. Also the reliability of the IKEA model was pretty poor from what I’ve read.

This post has been edited by tcwan: Apr 19 2020, 10:26 AM

how to set the led respond when door open/close ?

Yup I think this is a great feature and not very sure why they didn't advertise this... and the settings to allow a line to permanently powered is hidden under other settings in the app itself. I can't wait for their UI update and I hope they would put this feature at a more obvious position as it would certainly benefit many people who has a dilemma to choose between a smart switch or smart lighting.
Also really sorry there is a mistake I made ytd, my order for the live switch for my friend just arrived today and I checked the specs on the box and the recommend power load each gang is <600W like you mentioned yesterday, but instead with a fixed max total power load of 2200W per switch, which I find it very weird because the sum doesn't add up. Nevertheless what I can say is if you are just powering lights and fans it should be quite ok.


I agree and I think that's the general consensus why people don't really like hubs.
Fortunately.. I only have 3 currently .. 2 Philips Hue ones and a Terncy one.

Automated curtains require good customer service I guess - to measure or install. but if those people still renovating with a contractor then can consider cause can ask them install haha or at least leave a power plug for future installation.
Yeah I read about the Ikea blinds.. they had been delayed for so many months. Have to wait for them to iron out the kinks before considering LOL
Hopefully someone will have Homekit curtains installed and leave their reviews here

[EDIT] Also, if you think that the Philip hue bulbs/LED are very expensive, check out a brand called gledopto. they are very affordable and can be exposed to HomeKit via Homebridge (if you really want to do it) + the LED controller is Zigbee and can be connected to the Hue hub, controlled via the excellent Hue app with no extra configurations required.

This post has been edited by kokhoong0624: Apr 19 2020, 09:29 PM

I used the Terncy Door Sensor and Philips Hue with apple home to set this automation.
When the door is open, wait for 10s (because that's how long my autogate takes to fully open), then change the Philips Hue lighting to red.
When the door is closed, check the TV whether it is on, if it ons, change it to the original backlight color (white), if not turn off the backlighting.
All these can be configured in the Apple Home app.

[EDIT] The Terncy door sensor is not rated to be water resistant but because it is not very expensive... I just wrap it in a layer of foil and stick it to the gate

This post has been edited by kokhoong0624: Apr 19 2020, 09:25 PM

set automation by using apple home app or other app ?

Using the Apple Home app. In the Automation tab. Only can use Apple Home because both devices different brand..

mind to guide how to setup ?

Yup. Sorry for the late reply.
Just go to the automation tab, set up a new automation, and choose when a sensor detects something...
Then I choose the trigger to be "when the door sensor closes", and when selecting accessories and scenes scroll to the end and convert the automation to a shortcut.
Then what happens is after the door closes,
it will turn off the light. then it will check if the tv lights are on, if they are on, it will change the backlight to the original color



Hope it helps you and just ask me if you any more queries

Are you using iPad as home hub? if so, if you unplug power from iPad, then few hours later plug charging cable to iPad again, will the automation work again?

No I am not using iPad as home hub. Currently my home hub is a HomePod. And I think for an iPad to work as a HomeHub it doesn't matter... and the automations should work whether it is plugged or unplugged, but the network might disconnect if the iPad is sleeping and you cannot bring your iPad out of your house. There's many people who use an iPad as a Homehub only if its their spare iPad as the Home Hub is mounted to a wall like this.

But I would recommend getting an Apple TV or HomePod as a dedicated home hub instead, they will work much more reliably from what I read.

I have tried using iPad before. My HomeKit devices always out of response when I forgot to plug power for the iPad. Then I got a Apple TV to work as Home Hub. It's so stable, never failed me even once.

what iPad wall dock is this ?

This post has been edited by INGfusion: Apr 27 2020, 07:11 PM

Sorry I am not very sure what dock is used here because it was a sample from reddit. I think you can check Lazada for iPad docks there should be many like these available

you hide charging cable inside wall ?

This is not my set up hahaha I don't have a spare iPad but yes in this scenario, the cable is directly attached behind the wall and most visually pleasing. (requires hacking)

bila mau test Netgear arlo pro 3?

hahaha that one too expensive cause my house already got CCTV system d plan to get the Eufy ones at some time in the future though because they just cost 30USD.
Planning to integrate google home too and see how well it runs.