Re: [mh] What’s better than Insteon?

Tom

I've  gone though a umber of iterations with my Misterhouse based 
system, going  from x10 to LightwaveRF, then Wemo and now MQTT devices 
based on Sonoff (https://sonoff.tech/product) which I reflash with 
Tasmota (https://tasmota.github.io/docs/)

There are HUGE benefits of doing this, e.g.

  * They are very cheap
  * They work with the MH MQTT interface ( but I mostly use html because
    I'd already written lots of code for Wemo)
  * Every device has a web page so its easy to check the  actual status
    of any device, I have a script that does this every 5 minutes ( I'm
    a belt and braces type of guy).
  * Tasmota implements the MQTT Last Will and Testament so you  can
    detect within seconds if a device has gone offline
  * Tasmota is awesome - there are loads of device drivers, for example
    I have it running on a Wemos D1 mini
    (https://shop.rasp.io/products/wemos-d1-mini-esp8266) connected to 8
    1-wire temperature sensors, this feeds my MH central heating system
  * There are excellent management tools for tasmota e.g. TDM
    (https://github.com/jziolkowski/tdm) which shows all the Tasmota
    devices on your network, allows you to access their consoles, web
    pages, lists version numbers, wifi signal strength, do over the air
    updates and much more.

This isn't for the faint hearted;

  * There is a bit of a learning curve
  * You have to reflash commercial devices (and sometimes this involves
    soldering), but the support community is great and they respond
    pretty quickly when Sonoff changes the firmware.
  * You have to have reasonable coverage of your Wifi, that said, a
    couple of my outdoor switches are running fine with only 30% signal
    strength, (i use the BT mesh whole home wifi routers/repeaters inside)
  * You  end up with a lot of devices on your WiFi network (over 50 in
    my case) but their traffic is very low compared to say streaming video.
  * You need to run an MQTT broker, however Mosquitto
    (https://mosquitto.org/) seems to be very lightweight (I have it
    running with Misterhouse on a Raspberry PI)


Giles

On 12/12/2020 10:04, Tom MacLean wrote:
> I have an aging misterhouse and Insteon setup. I’m getting a bit annoyed with replacing Insteon modules (particularly the ones that were buried in my kitchen ceiling!) and also they are a bit quirky. (If I turn off a bunch of lights too quickly, a whole bunch of other lights turn on.)
>
> I am planning a basement reno that will lead to a bunch more modules.  Is there another automation technology I should be considering?
>
> I would like to avoid cloud-based solutions.
> I am a little leery of bogging down my wifi with old-standard equipment.
> Mister house automation is mandatory.
> UL/CSA is mandatory
> More cosmetic options than Insteon would be nice.
>
> I’d appreciate your advice!
>
>
>
> More variety in swit
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
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