The Smart Home Project

There are a lot of posts online asking Philips to add functionality to their motion sensors so that they don't turn lights off if a certain activity is happening or the lights were turned on by another means. There are third-party apps (most of which cost money) to add some functionality to allow this, but it can be done for free if you're prepared to send some JSON configuration to the built-in debugging page.  "Wait, that sounds scary and difficult!" I hear you cry, but it is actually very simple... even if you aren't a techie. I'll take you through it step-by-step here, but all you need is a web browser and the ability to paste an edited version of the configuration into a web page and click on a button.  Scenario There are many different scenarios where this can be useful, but I'm going to give you one of my scenarios here to demonstrate the principle. I have some garden lights controlled by a motion sensor and a Hue Button, but I can also set scenes v...

After many years of DIY on our properties, we decided to buy a run down house, gut it, extend it and make it our ideal home. In previous properties we had put in data cabling, a network and some smart technologies. However, this time we wanted to create a truly smart home with integrated systems and as much automation as we could - after all a truly smart home should anticipate our needs and do things for us! There were 2 key decisions to be made up front though: Core versus edge? In other words, do we build the technologies into the core of the building with proprietary cabling and fixtures or just install standard cabling throughout and put the intelligence and features at the edge? For example, in the core we could put in an integrated lighting system with proprietary cabling and controllers, or we could build in media systems with racks in cupboards and speakers in the ceilings, etc. Alternatively, on the edge we can go for things like smart bulbs/plugs and wi-fi connected speakers...