Why do it when we can get a robot for it?

Meet Ms Xiaomi, our new helper around the house. It was released last month on Sep 16, and I had it placed on order the moment it goes on sale in Taobao. The specifications were amazing, beating most of the high end robot cleaners out there right now, yet at only a fraction of its price. Now that it is in our hands and we are using it daily, we can confidently say that it lives up to its claims. The smart technology inbuilt and the powerful vacuum power had left us in nothing but awe. Definitely recommended to buy. I will do a proper review on this again at a later date. Had been bombarded with work and school lately. Stay tuned!

After Remote Control, Here comes Universal Phone Control

The new addition to the chain of home automation. Pardon the unclear poor quality of this photo. The tablet is not exactly HD quality, but it's real cheap, and we got it at half its original price from COMEX. Headed back home to link it up with our switches and we got ourselves a universal control to control all the switches. This is just the beginning, because soon, we will be adding our curtains control, fan control, aircon control, projector control, and tv control, all into this tablet of ours, and we will be able to control the whole house with just this tablet!

Technical Note: This setting up could also be done on our own mobile phones too. However there is a small restriction. To be able to control all the devices, one must be connected to the same wifi as the broadlink rm pro. This means you would not be able to control the electronics from outside of home unless..... you have a bridge in between, which in my case, we are using this tablet. How this would work at my house now is that my phone which is connected to 4G, would send the signal to my tablet which is connected to my home wifi, so that my switches are toggled. This would remove the restriction of having to be connected to our house wifi.

Remote Control, the Key to Achieving Laziness

Throwback from a previous post when i introduced the Livolo switches. Just a recap, the switches i have gotten are not just touch panels, but are remote controllable. There are two types of remotes, with one being more advanced and can toggle up to 10 buttons and scenes but it's more expensive and I have no need for that because I will be integrating all into my phone soon and so i got the other remote, that is shown above. However, one is not enough for all the switches in the house so.....

I got a small army of it. The reason why i got so many of it is so that my phone would be able to control all the switches uniquely. You may just jump to the next picture if this technical stuffs bores you but I will just briefly share it.

Firstly, to control every switches from my phone requires my Broadlink RM Pro to learn the radio frequency (RF) code. There are programs out there that can decrypt and create RF code, but I felt that it is too complicated for now, and so, it it easier to just learn the RF code. When pairing the remote with the switch, an unique RF code is created. By learning this particular RF code, the Broadlink RM Pro is able to broadcast the code as if the remote is sending it. This also mean that i am unable to unpair the remote-switch, because that would render the learnt code useless. By not being able to unpair, I am not able to use one remote to create multiple codes, hence the need for me to get multiple remotes to create multiple codes for all the switches in the house. Positively, each button of the remote is able to pair with multiple switches, allowing me to switch on the living room lights and the kitchen lights together. However, i would not be able to control them separately unless there is another remote that is paired separately. Hope this provides some understanding.

I also tagged each remote so that i know which switches are controlled by them. Ideally, they will all be kept away next time because our phones would be able to control everything. However, i have left some of them lying around at designated spots to provide the ease of switching on some switches that are not found within reach. I am still looking out for a tablet at cheap prices so that it can act as the bridge for my home automation so that we could even control our house switches when we are not at home. Till then!

Side note, black is a color that allows dust to be clearly visible. This means more cleaning effort because it looked dirty very fast. Perhaps that is why pure Scandinavian theme is low maintenance but not our modified-white-become-black Scandinavian theme. However, the worst ought to be Industrial theme.

Mini DIY for Curtain Motor

Previously I had introduced the DOOYA curtains track. It has been working great so far, having our curtain opened automatically and inviting the light in the moment we stepped into the house. However, the motor was clearly visible with the current set-up so we decided to do something about it.

Just a simple solution really. We bought some metal hook like thing to stick it on the end of the motor, and had our curtain hooked onto that instead of the stock hook that was pre-installed at the front of the motor.

The end result! The motor is well hidden. Now we can just watch people watch in puzzlement how we automatically control our curtains if they had not read this blog hehe!

Open the curtains, Close the holes

Forgot to take the before shot before applying the silicon. During the renovation, there were many skirting that were removed due to wall hackings or installation of carpentries. Afterwards, they are placed back but due to the unevenness of the walls or floor, there may be gaps here and there. Did you know: the floors and walls are not as straight as you think. I have always thought they should be. Anyway, decided to take matters into my own hands by getting the silicon and applying myself. This was the last one I did, which was also the most perfect one after all the practices. Look good right?

Used this instead of the silicon gun because there weren't many gaps, but I still have to close them up because I couldn't stand the dusts that are accumulating inside them. However after applying, my ID told me that this is the cheaper one because it does not have some anti-algae capabilities. Ain't they all the same? Let's hope everything remains good. Else we can always pluck them out and change a new set.

We did our thorough clean up today, and hanged up all the curtains too. The track they provided were quite stiff for us to pull the curtains, but let's hope it loosen up after some uses. As of writing, it seemed to be better, but it could just be my mind.

The living room curtains are up too. There is no problem with this track because it is using the Dooya automated track! Have been enjoying opening the curtain automatically when we stepped into our house, and closing them automatically before leaving. Very satisfied with this investment. Can't wait for it to automatically close when our projector are switched on for our movie nights!

Adding the fine details now

At this point of time, the main bulk of our renovation had reached the end. The things remaining now are the touch-ups, minor corrections and a few missing elements. The clean-up of the house had also been completed, and although not exactly dust-free clean, but it's in a bearable condition. A few other stuffs happened today too.

Our ID came up to help us drill holes to install some towel racks and the IKEA mirror cabinet. It was hard work because the drill was the portable kind and not very powerful, but appreciate his kind gestures to help us get them up. The mirror is looking great, although Wifey commented that it was thicker than imagined, and expressed concerns that people may hit their heads when using the tap. Perhaps we will put a "Caution your head" sign on the mirror if there were to be anyone who hit their head on it.

Our ViewQwest was connected today. Say hello to WIFI! This is the heart of our home automation system, as well as the core to our projector streaming videos and tv channels. Hence we invested in ViewQwest, as well as the monster ASUS RT-AC88U. We had always admire ViewQwest for it's say no to traffic-shaping/throttling unlike the other competitors, and its excellent customer services, again unlike the other competitors. Furthermore, when we saw that their price were not that far apart from the rest during the IT Show, we signed with them straight away. The above speed and download/upload rate were with my Dell XPS using Wifi 5GHz on ViewQwest 1Gbps plan. Pretty impressive I must say.

Our blinds are up. We got a light colored one for the study room so that it would still be bright enough for any works at the table, yet keeping the glare out.

We gotten the darker shade one for the bedroom 3 just in case there are any guests that wants to sleep during the day.

The curtain contractor helped us to put up the Dooya track too. Really thankful because we did not have the equipment to drill all the support onto the ceiling. We plugged in the Dooya motors too, and our motorized curtain track is complete. Cant wait to put up the curtains and play with it after we did a thorough cleaning.

We had also pulled the wires for the projector to the mount in anticipation of installing the projector. However, there were some problem with the support structure that is holding this mount, and it was shaky when we fitted the projector. Hopefully our ID can solve this.

It would be terrible if the projector were to fall off halfway, and even disastrous if the entire false ceiling were to crumble and collapse due to the strain of the projector. In defence for our ID, he had actually planned for a support block in the false ceiling for my projector, but during the installation of the mount, we realized it was too near to the wall and we decided to pull it back to have a larger screen size. However, the new place does not have any support block within, but was assessed to not be a problem because my projector is relatively light at 1.5kg only.

Despite that assurance, we still feel a bit uncomfortable because there are 5 holes in close proximity which are stress points and could give way anytime. Let's see what our ID can do when he comes and take a look.

Livolo Switches. Important Note.

Had a little issue recently when installing the Livolo switches. The original carpentry actually had a square cut out, but because we change the position of the switches on the last minute, they had to cut a new hole, but the hole was round. This would not have been an issue if it was an ordinary switch, but because it is a Livolo, the round one would not fit and would need to cut a bit of the edge to make it fit. A small issue nonetheless, and solved easily. Ideally it would be that we do not change the position last minute, but such problems would not be noticed until it is a problem.

Just to share some photos of the Livolo switches, together with the default house type on the right. They are the same size so one could always easily replace the default switches with the Livolo. They fit in the default switch boxes too so no worries about that. Don't the Livolo look so much classier? It is also not that expensive to order, and it is a great addition to my home automation system.

However, the behind section is slightly different, where the Livolo is slightly larger. It would still fit in the switch box, but things like an ad-hoc round cut into the carpentry would not fit this.

Another view of the back. Noticed the difference. The default one would have easily fitted into the round cutting. However this really does not calls for any concern if the holes were planned during the carpentry phase. Like I said, if they were planned, it would be a square hole instead of a round one.

The Livolo I got are Radio Frequency enabled, meaning to say they can be remotely control by a remote control like the one on the right, or a more advanced one that look like a TV remote. However, I have a bigger plan to incorporate all my switches into my home automation system so a small one would suffice in the meantime. A learning pointer on this which I unfortunately overlooked is that they are RF controlled and not IR controlled, meaning they do not require line-of-sight remote control. I had designed the electrical plan to have them placed within a line-of-sight, which may cause some other inconvenience instead. A hefty lesson because should I have found out earlier, could have significant changes to my electrical plans, reducing it quite a bit.

Would I recommend this? Yes. Definitely yes.

Dyson, Just Too Cool To Resist (pun intended)

We went down to Expo again for the Courts Expo Fair, hoping to chance upon a good price for any home appliances that we may require. Well, in particular the Dyson fan. It was only after we gotten our house that we realised that there are so many fairs in Expo, and one could always get a better price there during such fairs, as compared with the sales in the big stores at the shopping malls. There may be times where we could get a better price online too, but some products just require us to have a hands-on on the physical item because we invest in the buy, and the fairs are definitely the best place to be. It does not have to be just home appliances too. Even stationeries, pet foods, soaps etc could be found at a steal price there, if you could wait for it that is. It would defeat the purpose if you ran out of soap and choose to wait 2 months for the Body Shop Expo Fair wouldnt it?

Back to the fan. Had wanted to get it ever since we saw the advertisement in the cinemas, and we fell in love with the sleek and sci-fi design of the fan. However, we had then not invested in this because well, the price is too premium-ish. So it had always been in our to-have-list but never in the to-buy-list.

It was only when our house was in the making then we realised we needed a tower fan in the living room because a ceiling fan would not be effective because of the positioning of our sofa, and the hubby thinks that the wall fan is just fugly. So we had to get a standing fan, and although it was often debated to be a bad idea because it takes up estate space, and could be troublesome during house cleaning because it would be in the way, we had to get one because it was the only option. But most standing fans ain't exactly aesthetically pleasing, except our dream fan. And so, it was purchased.

She has arrived.

The Alfred to Batman. The JARVIS to Tony Stark. Meet Alexa, the key to our home automation.

Finally laid our hands on this device after reading countless reviews about it. There were always two sides to all reviews, and generally, we pay more attention to the negative side to see if we could live with it. Afterall, we roughly knew the great side about it, that's why we are reading the reviews in the first place. As this product came from the U.S, many people including ourselves, wonder if this voice recognition software would be able to capture and understand the Singapore slang. It took several Singaporean reviews and being part of the SG Home Automation Facebook Group before we decided to take the leap of faith and purchased it.

Originally I wanted to get the new Echo Dot. Although Amazon had cunningly designed that you can only order an Echo Dot by voice through the original Amazon Echo, there is a way to trick the system and purchase a Dot without the original. The Dot does look better and could be linked to our home audio system, but I chose the original in the end because I do not want to leave our home audio system on 24/7. Perhaps next time for our bedroom if all goes well.

Had been playing with it for the past 24 hours, and it is pretty neat. I have taught it to switch on and off my lights and fans in the room but it is really a tiring process to set everything up before you can enjoy the wonders of home automation. Just a quick introduction to how things are going to be like at our house next time.

I will speak to Alexa > Alexa will trigger an IFTTT recipe to send a link > the link will trigger my phone tasker > the tasker will send a command to my Broadlink RM Pro > the RM Pro will send the radiowave to my Livolo switches > the Livolo will switch on my lights/fan > my lights/fan are turned on. :D

Why will I do this instead of just pressing the switch? Because I can.

Links for reference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/3arbeh/how_to_hookup_tasker_to_ifttt_using_autoremote/
http://wiki.winkathome.net/Supercharge_your_Echo_with_Tasker_and_IFTTT

The Start of Home Automation

Introducing the first purchases of the Home Automation. Have always been a fan of automating the house, or rather the convenience of being able to control the home electronics regardless where we are. Imagine being able to turn on the aircon in the living room while on the way home so that you will not be greeted by a stuffy house when you get back, or that you could be in the comfort of your bed and switches off all the living room lights, kitchen lights, toilet lights, televisions, etc without having to get out from underneath your blanket. No more urgh feeling of getting out of bed because we forgot to switch off the kitchen light! Woohoo!

Broadlink RM Pro is the heart of my entire home automation system. My system is actually quite laidback, where I am not exploring the Z wave or Zigbee, but rather staying with the common infrared or radio frequency. This way i would not be limited to only the latest few models of aircons and door locks that are equipped with Z waves technology. This Broadlink RM Pro is basically a universal remote control that well, remotely control every technology around it that is controllable with a remote.

The coolest factor is that it has a learning capability where you just have to point the original remote at it and press the button, and it will learn and copy the command for future uses! This way, with a one time set-up, all my remotes can then be kept away keeping the living room clutter free. Tried it with my current fan and lights and worked wonderfully, so shall bring it for the final test in my new home living room next time!

Livolo switches are like the arms of my home automation system. Almost everyone's light are controlled by the manual switch, but that would not do for my home automation system. Instead, the livolo switches are touchpads which could be toggled on and off with a remote. Pair this up with the Broadlink RM Pro and you know that the magic is starting to brew. I could not test this yet as i was not willing to dismantle my current plug to fit this in, but i have high hopes for it at the new home.

Of course, just reading about how great all this are would not be sufficient. Get to experience it first hand at my house next time when the renovation is complete and i will gladly introduce the world of Home Automation and the Internet of Things to you! Hoooya~