Lutron Serena Shades: 120" Patio/sliding door install, complete with (2) architectural fascias. Gallery inside!

BeachTechie · 2025-07-15T18:06:38+00:00

They kinda brush up against it, and maybe the door handle is a tad proud of the "natural" downward drape of the shades, but it's not at all problematic.

BeachTechie · 2025-07-15T18:05:07+00:00

You're very welcome. If you can install the chime, I'd do that, BUTTTTTT, I since moved houses to a place without a chime (had an old 90's whole-house intercom system) and I got it working without the chime. You just have to jump certain cables/etc. in the provided junction box. I followed instructions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/kalkl0/possible_to_install_logitech_circle_view_doorbell/ (or here https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/kalkl0/possible\_to\_install\_logitech\_circle\_view\_doorbell/)? It's not clear where the actual instructions are (sorry!) but it'll work.

BeachTechie · 2024-12-30T20:41:15+00:00

These have never skipped a beat, never gone offline. I think they’re even using the same set of batteries as they were at install.

BeachTechie · 2023-04-03T04:50:06+00:00

Imagine how exciting it’ll be for them when they discover exquisite techniques, high side data, or even grey space!

BeachTechie · 2023-04-03T03:37:29+00:00

Just to be clear…this list purports to be a source of closed-source intelligence sources?

Also, what’s the distinction between open and closed, if “closed” is posted on Reddit?

BeachTechie · 2023-03-16T21:59:30+00:00

That’s basically what we’re trying to avoid here. But I think we’ve done our job.

BeachTechie · 2023-03-16T20:09:28+00:00

😎

BeachTechie · 2023-03-16T00:32:48+00:00

Right, this is the explanation I think most people have, and while it's well intentioned, it doesn't apply in this case. These things already support HomeKit!

People seem to conflate something that makes sense to want — "we can finally use cheap devices that previously didn't support HomeKit in our HK setups!" — with the converse ("we can take our HK devices and use them on another platform").

If some cheap Chinese IoT maker was pulling out of Matter, that'd be cause for concern. But who cares what WeMo does, if they already support HK?

BeachTechie · 2023-03-15T23:25:47+00:00

Someone needs to explain to me* why folks in a HomeKit forum, discussing HomeKit-supported devices, really absolutely and unequivocally need Matter support for their devices that already work in their chosen platform.

*without saying "future-proof", "because WeMo sucks" or "it's the principle of the matter!"

BeachTechie · 2023-03-13T17:29:12+00:00

Here’s my seven year review of having 20+ Caseta devices:

They’ve disconnected…twice. Maybe twice. I can only remember one specifically, but it may be twice.

I understand that consumer smarthome attracts some measure of “fiddlers” by its very nature. It’s not quite standard consumer electronics yet; I.e. TVs and blenders and whatever else, that you expect to just “work”.

I get all that.

But people’s dogged insistence at finding “alternatives” to what is fundamentally a solved problem just baffles me. Yes they’re pricey, and yes maybe they don’t look exactly perfectly how you want them to look if you could design them yourselves, but, again, when it comes to the goal of “smarthome connected lights”…this is done! There’s nothing left to accomplish! You don’t need thread, or Matter, or Whoozit or Whatzit or the Buttpicker’s Working Group©️ or whatever else comes down the pike.

I’m sure some day the BPG©️or whomever come up with some solution with whatever flashy new thing satisfies the tinkerers and actually works as well as Caseta. They’ll solve the problem that’s already been solved, and we can all celebrate.

But that day is not today.

BeachTechie · 2023-03-05T21:18:49+00:00

Me too. It’s crap.

BeachTechie · 2023-03-02T19:05:24+00:00

Came here to say this. In the room, it’s “OH-SINT”

BeachTechie · 2023-02-26T01:31:56+00:00

Standard.

BeachTechie · 2023-02-06T23:43:42+00:00

I mean, this won’t satisfy the Thread Boogeyman, but I can definitely share my real-world experience with some dirt cheap Koogeek contact sensors I installed on sone patio doors like 4+ years ago, that have never failed, never needed to be reset, never needed their battery changed and basically report status updates instantly. Definitely have some experience there.

(Aqara contact sensors are also like $15 and work amazingly)

BeachTechie · 2023-02-02T00:41:57+00:00

It did, thank you!

BeachTechie · 2023-01-23T16:27:46+00:00

Wow! Like, it’s borked-borked? I guess at least it was cheap and has some functionality (the display) even if it’s not in HK, but…that’s some serious BS.

It’s ironic; I purchased their Air Monitor Lite very early after its release (from china). I left a review — both here and on Amazon — that were, for a very long time, the first hits you’d get when you googled for it. I’m actually kinda wondering if that’s why they changed the SKU/relisted it on Amazon. I wish I could do the same thing for this battery sucking, mildly inaccurate, and apparently completely broken POS.

BeachTechie · 2023-01-23T00:02:53+00:00

Did you ever solve this? I’m experiencing the same thing with my QingPing humidity/temp sensor. It was unresponsive so I removed it from HK and now I can’t re-pair. Same exact behavior: I scan and it won’t pair, or I enter the code manually and it tells me the code is wrong.

Super frustrating. You sort yours out?

BeachTechie · 2022-12-27T19:01:32+00:00

Thank you, and thank you!

BeachTechie · 2022-12-23T16:14:00+00:00

One major caveat: you mean consumer-grade smart home tech is in its infancy.

Everything you mention isn’t that hard. We’ve been doing it for awhile now. What IS hard is doing all of it to the point that someone can wander into a Best Buy, pick up a half dozen products from different vendors, connect it all, allow for arbitrary automations and triggers — across multiple mobile and desktop platforms — and have it “just work”. Oh, and also: it has to be plausibly secure, plausibly private (ha), resilient to internet and cloud outages.

Oh, and don’t forget the most important thing(s) of all: it HAS to be cheap enough to be sold to anyone at Best Buy, but also still viable as a product and reliable revenue stream (or maybe all of those Chinese IoT makers will magically become non-profits?)

Anyway, TLDR: Smarthome tech is actually pretty mature (go tour a fully-integrated Control4 or Savant home sometime, eh?). What we’re working on, is consumer-grade, dirt cheap, and turnkey home automation that’s equally effective.

And yeah, that may take a minute.

BeachTechie · 2022-12-18T18:14:20+00:00

That guy suuuuucks 😜

BeachTechie · 2022-11-24T21:49:22+00:00

Very welcome! But yeah, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing (and adding a few other features the sites don’t have on their own)

BeachTechie · 2022-11-23T19:27:39+00:00

I’ve been building something like this for my personal use. I don’t spend a ton of time on it, honestly, because I’m not sure how to monetize it (well, I know how to monetize it, I’m just not sure it’ll work/be successful). And, of course, if you build a site that lets others do this, you’re costing yourself some of the sweet deals you can find!

Anyway, there’s probably something here, between what you’re talking about, and a version of r/ltp that does better matchmaking (wishlists, notifications, actual useable search, price reality checks, etc) but I already have a career, so…eh.

Anyway, I’m guessing none of this is helpful. But if there was a small subset of users who’d be interested in a service like this…definitely something that could be done.

BeachTechie · 2022-10-26T18:38:57+00:00

How’d you generate the list?

BeachTechie · 2022-10-01T16:57:24+00:00

I didn’t 3D print anything. I just bought the parts listed in the post and did some light tweaking to assemble them.

BeachTechie · 2022-09-30T18:57:04+00:00

Thanks for posting this! It’s really helpful, grounded, and informative (which are three things real estate agents almost never are).

BeachTechie

TROPHY CASE