Home Automation and Alarm Systems

Fabien

I did have a play with the Cytech Zwave module but could not get it to work the way I wanted.

I’ve had Cytech for decades mainly as an alarm, however the requirements of HA could not be met with it eg Sonos Voice Announcements, Bluetooth presence detection, Lightwave Gen2 etc

Yes maybe expensive but found Indigo much easier to run with

Fabien

mushii

One of the reasons that I didnt install Cytech in my own property is that it is an aged product that was designed around using X10 products for the HA. System updates require changing PROM's and I found some of the UCMs a bit clunky to interface with other technologies. I have never set one up with Alexa or Google Home and I am not sure that I would even want to try. I understand your use of Indigo for HA, it makes far more sense.
In its day, Comfort was bleeding edge and there was nothing like it, with its built in answering machine, intercom, automation, speech dialer, IR receiver for a remote control, but things have moved on. Alarms are getting smarter and maybe @R-CAD is right, for many of us a HA system with some security (Look at Almond Router or Vera) is a better and more configurable and effective option. Most insurers only provide minimal discount for an NSI installed alarm. It really is down to individual lifestyle needs and choices.

Fabien

I think there are two schools of thought

1) I want an integrated solution that just works
2) I know the shortfalls of some HA systems and would not trust it with my security

I fall into the latter and agree with having an alarm that was built as an alarm from the chipset to the firmware.

Security on HA is a bit like running MS Word on Windows. It’s an application that sits on top of the underlying OS. Which has to cater for much more than just one application

When you factor in cloud then your security could be being dealt with offsite - all reliant on the stability of your Internet connection. Not something I fancy.

Fabien

chrisfraser05

Don't take a backward step to Lighwave for the lights.

The Fibaro and Homey problem is down to Homey, swap to a better controller and stick with Z-Wave!

Ian_H

Looking at updating my house alarm and noticed that Texecom (my current alarm brand) are going into home automation.  Not sure I see any huge advantage in it myself but then I'm not really sold on home automation - one smart switch with an on/off profile is as "smart" as our house has gotten.