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Room By Room - Part 1: The Bedroom

Room By Room - Part 1: The Bedroom
Photo by Christopher Jolly / Unsplash

Preamble

Welcome to the first part of a multi-part series where I go through my Smart Home, Room By Room, detailing what I've already done, what I plan to do, and what I'd change. Starting today with Part 1: The Bedroom.

What I've Done

Lighting

Lighting makes up the majority of what's going on here in the Bedroom. The gear is as follows:

Google

  • Google Home (OG)
  • Google TV Streamer

Aqara

  • 1-gang Aqara H2 EU
  • 2-gang Aqara H2 EU
  • Three T2 GU10 CCTs

Others

  • Govee H60A1 Ceiling Light
  • Nanoleaf Essentials RGB Strip

Protocols

The Google devices are of course connected over WiFi, with the TV Streamer also acting as a Thread Border Router. All the Aqara items were re-flashed to Zigbee upon installation - though should they need resetting at any point I will be re-flashing them back to Thread, as I seem to be one of the lucky 5% of the population that has no issues with Thread connectivity. The Nanoleaf RGB strip is the Thread version (which I believe they no longer sell, opting for WiFi instead). Finally, the H60A1 is connected over WiFi.

Automations

Nothing particularly complex going on here. The 1-gang H2 is in the entranceway, with the relay running in detached mode. The H60A1 and the Nanoleaf strip are grouped together in an Adaptive Lighting group in Home Assistant. The top button toggles the H60A1, and the bottom toggles the Essentials strip. Adaptive Lighting is an excellent add-on that provides a similar experience to Adaptive Lighting in Apple HomeKit.

The 2-gang H2 controls the lighting in the En-Suite. Similar to the entranceway, the relay of gang 1 is disconnected, and instead toggles the three T2 GU10s which are also grouped into an Adaptive Lighting group. The second gang is running in relay connected mode and turns the extractor fan on and off. This used to be on an automation with a Switchbot Humidity and Temperature sensor, but it never behaved properly for me so I've binned it off for now.

What I Plan to Do

I'm mostly happy with what's going on in here. As mentioned earlier, I'd like to switch the H2s and T2s back to Thread, but until they necessitate a factory reset I don't feel its worth the effort. They're connected via Zigbee to an Aqara H100 hub downstairs in the Kitchen with no issues - Thread is a preference for no particular reason. I would like to revisit the automatic extractor fan but that's a low priority.

I'd also love to automate the curtains with a curtain motor, something like the SwitchBot Curtain 3s, though not only are they quite expensive, but SwitchBot's continued reliance on Bluetooth as a connection protocol irks me - probably more than it should.

What I'd Change

As mentioned above, the Aqara gear I'd switch back to Thread - but the main thing I'd revisit is the H60A1. Partly because it uses WiFi as connection protocol, which I'm trying to use as little as possible. The Matter implementation has also been subpar in my experience. Since resetting my WiFi network - it now refuses to enter Matter commissioning mode. I've tried all the tips & tricks to no success so far. When exposed by Matter, it also only seemed to expose the main light, not the strip around the top as well, which was a shame as that was one of the reasons I got it. The third reason is actually a case of it "suffering from success" - namely it is SO. BRIGHT. Even at 1% brightness it completely illuminates the room which results in 9/10 when I need lighting, I just use the Essentials RGB strip for a much more gently light. Outside of that, I've had no issues with it, though the Matter issues are incredibly frustrating. I worked around this by enabling "LAN Control" in the device settings and setting up Govee2MQTT though that still doesn't give me control over the upper ring. I believe the Aqara T1 Ceiling Light can be controlled separately - though it is £40 more expensive (at time of writing with both devices on sale) so I guess its to be expected.

Closing Thoughts

So there's the first part of Room By Room - and its a room I'm mostly happy with. 95% of the devices working as expected day in, day out is I think is a very rare statistic for the Smart Home. Is there anything complex going on? No. Does there need to be? I would also say no.

With that I'll sign off with a thanks for reading, stay tuned for the next post in the Room By Room series - which will likely be the Office.

See you in the next one.

Josh