Hi, I recently made the switch to Lemmy from Reddit. But r/homekit is one of the communities I miss the most.

What can I do to help build this community up? I’m happy to make posts, comment, and upvote. Is trying to poach people from r/homekit a bad idea?

I would love to get to know everyone better. Here’s some info about my smart home.

  • I’m using Apple Home, and my primary hub is a 4K Apple TV 4K Ethernet, which I chose for the Thread radio.
  • I’m almost exclusively using Thread devices, and most of those are Matter over Thread.
  • Most of my lights are Nanoleaf Essentials (Matter over Thread), and despite people hating Nanoleaf, they have been much better lately.
  • For more advanced lighting, I’m using WLED, which is a DIY project for controlling addressable light strips.
  • My WLED lights are bridged into HomeKit via Homebridge, though I’ve considered switching to Home Assistant.
  • I’m using a Deco mesh router with two nodes, and it’s been amazing for the relatively low cost.
  • Outside of Apple Home, I use Ring, which I’ve bridged into Apple via Homebridge. I hate the Ring subscription, but their hardware is solid.

Excited to get to know everyone!

  • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
    2·
    4 days ago

    Hi there!

    I’ve got 3 Apple TVs, 3 HomePod minis of which 1 is the preferred hub. For some reason my setup is a lot more stable on a mini. The Apple TVs over Ethernet always ends up causing no response.

    I’ve got a mix of devices. Lutron Caseta switches, Meross garage opener, Tradfri bulbs, Tapo bulbs, Tapo outlets, Meross thermostat extension cord, Meross switch, Ring security system and cameras/doorbell, Harmony smart hub, string lights, rainbird sprinkler system, and various airplay 2 devices from home theater receiver to an AirPort Express 2 running my office speakers.

    Running various automations for lights coming on and off, fans on and off and shutting the garage door later in the evening if we forget. As you mentioned, I’ve also got a homebridge server to get Ring into the system. It’s also bridging the Rainbird sprinklers, Harmony smart hub.

    I’ve been trying to get products that only work on Matter thread but they’re harder to find. Most of my newer stuff is Matter over WiFi. I’ve got an extensive Eero mesh system that works well so I’m not too worried about over saturation.

    • moseschrute@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      4 days ago

      That’s super cool! Interesting that the HomePod mini has been more stable. One thing that I found was that one unstable hub can throw off the entire network. I had a HomePod mini that was stuck in a quiet reboot loop due to a non-Apple USB-C power brick. Despite having a pinned Apple TV Ethernet connected to my router, that one HomePod sent everything into unresponsive.

      You have more device categories than I do. Initially, it was lighting that got me into HomeKit. I love that I can make colorful scenes for my entire house. Then I go to concerts, and it blows my mind what these lighting crews can do. Chasing that concert vibe, but with HomeKit instead of DMX.

      I have the Ring security system too, not just the doorbell. I think you can get other Z-Wave hubs and connect Ring sensors to them. It just doesn’t seem like a lot of home ecosystems like Apple are designed to be an alarm system.