Thank for the insight. I think I’m going to see what I can get started and then expand

I think Black Friday will be the day to buy them. I have heard that they last 7-10 years so a bummer they don’t last.

Makes sense to have a switch to make it simple and idiot proof. We have a sink that has a sensor and a handle that both need to be on to turn on. We have to explain it to everyone who tries to wash their hands at our house.

We have check the main electrical panel multiple times and its up to code and safe. That was redone when the previous owner did the basement. We had people out to install heat pumps and they had enough power. We are thinking about getting the wiring redone on the mainfloor but haven’t got around to it…

The wiring isn’t poorly done just old. With houses this old all the bad ones are already gone. The only one’s left are working fine.

We want to upgrade the electrical but you are talking about a couple of grand if not more to replace everything. It is on our to do list.

I am a little concerned about flipping the physical switches that make them useless. I will have to figure out what to do with smart switches for our chandelier

I am glad that your bulbs have lasted 7 years. I knew the Hue were the high end brand and am glad it isn’t all branding but hold up over time. I didn’t consider the switch but that will be needed for a few of these. Some we were considering would be set on timers all the time but having a switch would be nice

Wasn’t considered any of the no-name brands. I might consider looking into the IKEA sets because I have had great luck with their furniture.

If I was going to do more automation I would consider moving away from Google. Since their smart speakers are 90% of what we have automated there doesn’t seem to be a point now.

To be honest the best “home automation” we have are two sets of these Wireless Remote Controls that are dumb automation. Just a remote to turn things on and off. Its been the most reliable thing and simplies thing to set up so far.

What was your problems with their Zigbee Hub? I know I will need one but want something that is plug and play. We just had a new baby so I don’t have forever to play around with setting up automations

We don’t have neutrals anywhere except the kitchen which have a GFI which ground at the outlet. The rest of the wiring is very old. I have installed new light fixtures and there are no ground anywhere. Almost all have the larger gauge older wiring and some don’t have a white or black wire. (That is really fun to try to figure out what black wire is hot and which one is neutral). I am thinking smart switches will be out.

We have considered having an electrican to install more outlets and set up grounds for the main floor. Its just kind of expensive and would rather spend it elsewhere for now.

If I get an IKEA bulb can I intergrate with google things? I am assuming I will need some kind of Zigbee hub which I then connect into things for automations.