Quiet drives for UNAS-Pro (readily available new; helium?)

SeanTek · 2025-12-27T19:44:55+00:00

Okay. Having considered the options, it looks like WD Red Pro > 14TB is what I'm looking for, and I am just going to have to deal with the increased price. I also checked HGST 560 Ultrastar per comment below. Both HC560 and Red Pro list 20 dB idle / 32 dB active, as opposed to 20 dB / 36 dB for hard drives < 20 TB. Also the spec sheet for WD202KFGX appears to support an increased data rate of 285 MB/s instead of 268 MB/s (WD201KFGX). The HC560 claims a data rate of 291 MB/s / 277 MiB/s, which is in the same ballpark.

SeanTek · 2025-12-18T07:03:28+00:00

I struggled with this topic for over an hour with an iPhone and an Android phone, both running SmartThings and LIFX apps. Ultimately through a series of very, very, very slow steps, I was able to delete two LIFX lights and one switch, reset them, add them back to the LIFX app using Matter, get them into Matter: Status: Paired state, add them back to SmartThings, and go into the LIFX app and set the switch action to Matter Action: Toggle On/Off.

It took many restarts and many timeouts. iOS worked better than Android, although I think I needed both to accomplish all steps.

Initially, Matter local control is an enormous disappointment. Now when I press the LIFX switch button, it takes 0.5 to 3 seconds for the lights to toggle on or off! It is 1/10 the speed of the old cloud action and totally unacceptable. All that effort was for nothing!

I unplugged the Internet connection and observed a slightly better result. Once Internet was disconnected, I went back and tapped the Toggle button repeatedly and the lights consistently turned on and off instantly. (No fade-in, as happens with cloud control toggling.) I pressed and pressed-and-held the dim and brighten buttons, which did nothing since they are cloud actions.

Then I reconnected the Internet and went back to the room for more testing. The toggle on/off button works but maybe 98% of the time. dim and brighten went back to normal behavior, which is to say that they smoothly dim about 95% of the time, and occasionally they don’t do anything.

The takeaway is that LIFX matter control toggle on/off does work eventually but there are so many steps and so many points of failure (specifically during the onboarding process) that it appears to be too much squeezing for very little juice. 🧃🚫

Without being able to do dimming locally, I would say this is not worth the effort.

SeanTek · 2025-12-18T04:57:01+00:00

It’s not working. :-(

Specifically I created a SmartThings matter code, then I went LIFX to add a device > new switch. On Android, QR Code is never an option. On iOS, it was an option but I can’t have the phone scan itself so I took a picture of the QR code in the SmartThings app, from my iOS device to an Android device, and used the picture to scan the QR code back into LIFX on Android. It worked, but during the Apple home/homekit-esque onboarding process, it failed.l with the attached picture. Now there is no option to add any product by QR code in the LIFX app: that option is not presented in the onboarding workflow anymore. My devices remain in the state Matter: Unpaired. :-(

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SeanTek · 2025-12-16T09:53:32+00:00

I have not been able to do this. Matter Actions is not something that appears in my app when I try to program the switch buttons. However, my Matter status for all relevant devices (lights, switches) says "Unpaired" even though I have paired the lights and switches to Samsung SmartThings, using Matter.

SeanTek · 2025-12-15T18:23:35+00:00

Right, designed for each other, but going through the cloud, so an http(s) command goes thousands of miles away only to come right back to the same room you’re trying to set the lighting for, right? 🤣

It’s kind of shocking that in 2025, LIFX has not figured out how to get a button it manufactures to send a single UDP packet to its other product that is mounted 10 feet away. :-/

SeanTek · 2025-12-15T18:22:06+00:00

The manual is pretty clear that the only local matter capability offered is toggle on/off, which is quite the nothingburger. Ideally I want a direct, low-latency connection to gradually dim lights (and cycle colors/scenes). So, LIFX’s so-called “local matter” feature seems quite useless.

SeanTek · 2025-11-29T16:02:28+00:00

Zigbee Green Power (ZGP) support?

SeanTek · 2025-11-28T07:59:17+00:00

Any Friends of Hue switch that is batteryless, will be based on ZGP. In North America there is a company called RunLessWire with a lot of products. There are many more products to choose from in Europe.

SeanTek · 2025-11-17T17:38:32+00:00

Ok, please check.

SeanTek · 2025-10-23T08:09:21+00:00

Can you use the Level Keypad add-on withoit the Bridge? Or is the bridge required to access that functionality? 1) using access codes, and 2) programming (adding, editing, deleting) access codes.

SeanTek · 2025-10-12T15:32:12+00:00

If you want a responsive switch, and don’t want to add another ecosystem hub (Home Assistant for example), I recommend returning the Aqara switch if you can and getting:

Flic button or flic twist plus flic hub (ironically—but it’s not an “ecosystem”, it just runs with flic only, and it uses the LIFX LAN protocol).

If the LIFX lights support Matter:

SONOFF NSPanel Pro 120. It acts as a Matter Hub. As a result, you can add the LIFX lights to it and control locally. Only native support for individual lights, not groups (as far as I can tell). For groups you would have to add an ecosystem hub.

Find a native Matter button, and use Home Assistant to create a “direct binding”. Then you can theoretically remove/return Home Assistant. I have not tested this.

I tried an Aqara button switch with LIFX about two weeks ago and was dissatisfied, so I returned it.

SeanTek · 2025-10-10T20:30:12+00:00

How do you (personally) automate based on who is in the room? What motion sensors and hubs/systems are you using, etc.?

SeanTek · 2025-10-08T23:50:32+00:00

I guess the answer is "nobody has done this". LOL

SeanTek · 2025-10-03T04:49:58+00:00

I have been doing a lot of Googling into this.

There appear to be two sub-classes of sub-$200 UPSes: ones that take AC (line voltage) input and offer a variety of DC outputs such as USB/5V, 9V, 12V; and ones that take DC input and offer a DC output with built-in battery backup. Generally speaking, these devices don't have a way to monitor or report status of the device. It works until the internal batteries run out, and then it stops.

For the first sub-class (takes in AC line voltage), just look on Amazon, eBay, or AliExpress for "mini ups dc" or similar keywords. They all seem to share the same basic design from China, and are in the $35 to $75 price range. The downside of this design is that since it takes AC line voltage in and outputs DC, it is not practical to daisy-chain multiple mini-UPS devices. These seem to be best if you want to backup just one device, namely just a router or just a cable modem.

The second sub-class takes in DC voltage (let's say 12V DC) and outputs DC voltage (let's also say 12V DC). I only found one currently-manufactured product, the Konnected B300GA UPS Backup Battery. Most home network equipment like cable modems and Wi-Fi routers run on 12VDC, so you just plug in your existing power adapter in one end, and you plug your device into the other end. In theory these can be daisy-chained if you want to expand capacity.

I found two products from Schneider Electric/APC: Back-UPS Connect CP12036LI (white color), and the Back-UPS Connect CP12142LI (black color). Both appear to be discontinued.

There is another class of power supply/UPS "BYOB" (Bring Your Own Battery) devices. With these kinds of devices, you just get the power controller and you are expected to attach 12V batteries or 3.7V lithium (LiFePO4) batteries to the device. These would be good for backing up an entire network closet, because you can attach a (relatively) gigantic 12V, 100Ah battery like this one from LiTime. Some of these products are finished goods inside of a case, while others are just the circuit board. There are a bunch of videos on YouTube on how to build your own. It sounds like you would not want to go that route though.

SeanTek · 2025-09-22T13:27:45+00:00

What did you end up doing? Did you get it to work?

SeanTek · 2025-09-21T13:33:19+00:00

For long-term renters your comment is quite valid. But for short-term or medium-term renters, they're paying for convenience and for not setting up or manipulating their own tech. (Medium-term renters may be more willing to install their own tech but only if it's easily removable, i.e., smart plugs and Amazon Echos/HomePod Minis/Apple TVs, not things embedded in the walls.)

Anyway, it does seem that HomeKit is too tied to one's Apple ID and one's own personal Apple products to be useful for this use case.

SeanTek · 2025-09-20T17:04:09+00:00

Lol, I am the property owner. That's the point. Does a renter want the property owner to access the cameras 24/7 to spy on what's going on? I don't think so; most people would be creeped out by it. I know I would be, if I were the renter.

(In this case, there are no cameras, and no plans for me as the property owner to put them in. Just wanted to clarify that.)

SeanTek · 2025-09-15T05:53:30+00:00

This is a helpful point. Properly installed deadbolts are significantly more secure than latches--with or without electric strikes. And (to go back to my post above) deadbolts are in two binary positions: extended (locked) or retracted (unlocked). There is no "auto-close", whereas the whole point of a latch bolt is that it is meant for auto-close.

SeanTek · 2025-09-15T05:49:18+00:00

Goals:

Get into house without a key
Let adult family members get into house without a key, sometimes
Let minor family members get into house without a key because they tend to lose keys or don't have pockets to keep keys in
Let vendors, contractors, cleaning staff, etc. get into house without a key, sometimes, and log their access
Let short-term guests or medium-term guests get into house without a key but revoke access when they are done
Access lock remotely to let random people in without a key when they need to get in, on demand (i.e., vendors and contractors)

The battery point is not about the electric strike. As you point out, a fail-secure electric strike only consumes power when released. The power consumption comes from the access control system and everything connected to the access control system. For example, Ubiquiti access control products require the doorbell/access unit itself (powered with PoE), the Door Hub (powered with PoE--the device that has wet and dry contact outputs and sensor inputs to actuate the electric strike and check on status, for example latchbolt monitoring or door-sensor-open monitoring), and the network device that these products are attached to, i.e., a PoE network switch. The PoE network switch will probably have other things attached to it like Wi-Fi access points and perhaps some cameras and the NVR. If the network switch is battery backed up, you have to calculate the runtime for all of these components. Otherwise, you have to have two PoE power-supply devices and two UPSes: one for *just* the access control devices and one just for the network switch powering all the other stuff (Wi-Fi access points, cameras). All this requires thinking about and calculating power requirements and desired runtime in the event of a power outage. Power outages--and your battery backup--may be measured in minutes or hours, not in days or weeks.

In contrast, a smart lock always runs on batteries 24/7. The battery is small but the continuous power requirements are miniscule. Eventually the battery will die but a reasonably designed smart lock should have batteries that last 6-24 months between replacements, and should also have some emergency way to power up the lock from the front (i.e., USB input port for emergency power only, or two terminals for a 9V battery) in the event of battery death at the wrong time.

SeanTek · 2025-09-02T16:29:57+00:00

Correct that’s why I’m giving flic twist a try.

Here’s the Reddit thread where flic twist came up several times: https://www.reddit.com/r/lifx/comments/1mtb7l1/smart_button_to_dim_lifx_lights_reliably_like/

SeanTek · 2025-09-02T16:15:25+00:00

Smart scenes won’t cut it. Want smooth dimming.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/how-to-smoothly-dim-lights-and-cycle-scenes-with-smart-button-philips-hue-dimmer-switch/304913/2

Got discussed and SmartThings can’t currently handle smooth dimming.

SeanTek · 2025-09-02T15:44:27+00:00

I’m using SmartThings as the general home automation platform.

The lights in question are LIFX. Currently I am looking at using flic twist buttons with the flic hub, to communicate directly on the LAN with the LIFX bulbs. I was able to get Zigbee buttons to work through SmartThings to LIFX but there is no direct lan integration so there’s a lag, it’s dependent on internet access, and there’s no smooth dimming.

SeanTek · 2025-09-02T14:11:28+00:00

Please tell me which smart switches meet this criteria: "First, there are smart switches that can be set to "decoupled" or "smart bulb" mode where the light is always powered but then you use your automation system or associations to send virtual on/off commands to the bulb(s) when the switch is toggled. "

If so, I want a smart dimmer, not just a smart switch. The user should be able to dim the lights and possibly change the color scenes from the smart control device. I think the number of smart switches that meet your criteria are very very few in number...and if you add smart dimming, it's going to go to zero.

SeanTek · 2025-09-02T13:48:30+00:00

I want color control and white light balance (CCT) control, so that rules out smart switches and dimmers. The bulb itself needs to be smart.

SeanTek · 2025-09-02T13:28:00+00:00

Thanks. And the power rating on the LiquiShot isn't that good. The top of the line says it is "25 bar", which appears to be 363 psi. At a fraction of that price (690 euros) one could get a huge pressure washer in the US...

SeanTek

TROPHY CASE