Smart home water sensors?

61scout80

61scout80

Anchored. Finally.
Joined
May 22, 2020
Member Number
1194
Messages
181
Loc
Crestwood, KY
My HVAC is in my basement and has a condensate pump. Something went wrong over the last few days and the pump didn't come on. Since it's a vacant basement apartment that I rarely go into, it turned into a mess before I found it. I wanted to get a water sensor down there, but being that we just bought the place the sensor got back burnered for a thousand other projects we were working on.

Now I realize my procrastination mistake and I'm starting to look for a sensor. I really wanted something that would make noise and send a notification to my phone. But I'm also getting frustrated with every damn smart thing needing an app that eternally needs to live on my phone and collect who knows what info, let alone take up space.

I already have Nest door bell, t-stat, smoke detectors. I also have some Ring floodlight cams. Other apps already needed for my patchwork of smart home crap are myQ, Wemo, & Smart+.


So, is there a water sensor that would alert me if this shit happens again that doesn't need it's own friggen app?
 
Looks like there are Nest and Ring compatible flood sensors. I went the cheaper route with an actual home automation controller (currently samsung SmartThings) that can then communicate with all the generic stuff. I tend to think that's the better way to go, but I have no experience with the Nest/Ring stuff.
 
OHV Wildcat said:
Looks like there are Nest and Ring compatible flood sensors. I went the cheaper route with an actual home automation controller (currently samsung SmartThings) that can then communicate with all the generic stuff. I tend to think that's the better way to go, but I have no experience with the Nest/Ring stuff.
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The Ring one I found requires the alarm system hub, I don't have that and don't care to add it.

Where did you see a nest compatible water detector? I found temp sensors, but nothing for flooding.
 
61scout80 said:
The Ring one I found requires the alarm system hub, I don't have that and don't care to add it.

Where did you see a nest compatible water detector? I found temp sensors, but nothing for flooding.
Click to expand...

Shoot, looks like I found some misleading listings. Didn't Nest and Google Home Assistant merge somehow?

This claims it works with Google Assistant. Maybe you can run your Nest stuff through that, and still end up with the same number of apps?

https://www.smart2zero.com/news/wi-f...gle-assistant#
 
OHV Wildcat said:
Shoot, looks like I found some misleading listings. Didn't Nest and Google Home Assistant merge somehow?

This claims it works with Google Assistant. Maybe you can run your Nest stuff through that, and still end up with the same number of apps?

https://www.smart2zero.com/news/wi-f...gle-assistant#
Click to expand...

I think that's the leader of my choices right now, but I bet I still need to add the D-Link app to manage updates and connect the services.

I really thought this stuff would be consolidated to a few companies by now, but that doesn't seem to be the way they are going. Google owns Nest, and Nest works with Google Assistant, but they are two completely different services. Same with Ring, owned by Amazon, but somehow kept seperate.

I get pretty frustrated that they all kinda work together, but not really. With Alexa I can use voice commands to start, lock, unlock or set off the panic alarm on my truck. But, I have to say "Alexa, Ask Ram to start my truck". Then it says "to start your black two thousand nineteen Ram two thousand five hundred please say your PIN"....which is dumb because I can't shorten the truck name and might not want to share my pin out loud. I still need the Uconnect app on my phone too.

Then occasionally companies will get in a pissing match and no longer let you work the third party device on there service. So I can buy a brand x sensor that works with both Alexa and Google assistant today, but then tomorrow they get cut off from those services and the thing doesn't work how I wanted it to.

It's all really friggen annoying and makes me think I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle on how to make a decent home system function. I'd love one service, hub, app, whatever that compiles all of this stuff into one single service. I really thought that's what Alexa and Google assistant were heading towards.
 
61scout80 said:
I think that's the leader of my choices right now, but I bet I still need to add the D-Link app to manage updates and connect the services.

I really thought this stuff would be consolidated to a few companies by now, but that doesn't seem to be the way they are going. Google owns Nest, and Nest works with Google Assistant, but they are two completely different services. Same with Ring, owned by Amazon, but somehow kept seperate.

I get pretty frustrated that they all kinda work together, but not really. With Alexa I can use voice commands to start, lock, unlock or set off the panic alarm on my truck. But, I have to say "Alexa, Ask Ram to start my truck". Then it says "to start your black two thousand nineteen Ram two thousand five hundred please say your PIN"....which is dumb because I can't shorten the truck name and might not want to share my pin out loud. I still need the Uconnect app on my phone too.

Then occasionally companies will get in a pissing match and no longer let you work the third party device on there service. So I can buy a brand x sensor that works with both Alexa and Google assistant today, but then tomorrow they get cut off from those services and the thing doesn't work how I wanted it to.

It's all really friggen annoying and makes me think I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle on how to make a decent home system function. I'd love one service, hub, app, whatever that compiles all of this stuff into one single service. I really thought that's what Alexa and Google assistant were heading towards.
Click to expand...

HA!! Freaking very well said. I think a controller does a reasonable job at assembling many components. But most of my interface with the controller is still through Alexa, so there's lots of the same stupidity. Alexa does well with stuff that's directly controlled by the Smartthings controller, though. So it's a great way to turn on a fan, adjust the speed, turn lights on and off, all that. But I still have to do the "Alexa, ask Harmony to turn up the volume" thing.
 
61scout80 said:
I think that's the leader of my choices right now, but I bet I still need to add the D-Link app to manage updates and connect the services.

I really thought this stuff would be consolidated to a few companies by now, but that doesn't seem to be the way they are going. Google owns Nest, and Nest works with Google Assistant, but they are two completely different services. Same with Ring, owned by Amazon, but somehow kept seperate.

I get pretty frustrated that they all kinda work together, but not really. With Alexa I can use voice commands to start, lock, unlock or set off the panic alarm on my truck. But, I have to say "Alexa, Ask Ram to start my truck". Then it says "to start your black two thousand nineteen Ram two thousand five hundred please say your PIN"....which is dumb because I can't shorten the truck name and might not want to share my pin out loud. I still need the Uconnect app on my phone too.

Then occasionally companies will get in a pissing match and no longer let you work the third party device on there service. So I can buy a brand x sensor that works with both Alexa and Google assistant today, but then tomorrow they get cut off from those services and the thing doesn't work how I wanted it to.

It's all really friggen annoying and makes me think I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle on how to make a decent home system function. I'd love one service, hub, app, whatever that compiles all of this stuff into one single service. I really thought that's what Alexa and Google assistant were heading towards.
Click to expand...

I'm probably going to get a hubitat hub because it doesn't rely on 3rd party internet services to function, but it does seem to be quite a bit more involved to set up.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/hubitat-elevation,review-6171.html
 
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Looks like mine has outputs for that, but it's not tied in. The HVAC was done before I bought the place. I have no idea why they wouldn't have hooked that in.

IMG_20200530_184452.jpg


IMG_20200530_184455.jpg
 
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