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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 28th, 2023

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  • I’m very familiar with homeassistant, been using it for ~5-6 years. First primarily z-wave but now primarily zigbee with a tiny bit of wifi-backed matter mixed in.

    That’s a lot of work to replace the sensors that are built into the fridge. 2 temp sensors for the fridge and freezer separately (I’m still not convinced I wouldn’t have issues with the connection being unreliable), a power clamp (you probably don’t want to use a plug since the relays fail open), 2 door sensors, and a fair bit of automation to get notified, not to mention you’ve now added a maintenance task for all those batteries. Especially when the alternative is to connect it to the internet and you’re done. I do connect my homeassistant install to their cloud service so I can get long term tracking and whatnot but the part I need is done with just the internet connection.

    Why would I risk the security of my network by giving Samsung or GE or LG a backdoor into my network

    That’s just it, with either client isolation or a dedicated and isolated IoT SSID (nearly all modern home routers have one of these) they’re not actually on your network and can’t communicate with any of your other devices, only the internet. I’ve been building enterprise networks for ~20 years now and this is how it’s handled at that level and should be more than enough for a home network.

    I do 100% agree for cameras though, that’s all local or not at all.



  • Refrigerators are damn near Faraday cages. Zigbee devices are going to have a hard time getting their 2.4ghz signaling out.

    A failed compressor doesn’t necessatily use less power. If it’s simply lost pressure and hasn’t seized the motor will still cycle and appear to be working from a power usage perspective.

    And if the coordinator doesn’t have network connectivity, how is it ever going to alert me to problems when I’m away?

    I get that you’re very afraid of the security implications of iot devices, but none of the ideas you’re proposing are actually solutions to the problems a truly connected device can solve.




  • “not that iot device, use this one instead and get less function out of it”

    Wrinkle cycles don’t work as well as getting the laundry while it’s still hot. It reduces it some but not as much as getting the laundry when it’s still hot. It also wastes a fair bit of energy to run the dryer for another 15 minutes instead of just telling me when it’s done.

    And it’s not a dementia thing, it’s an adhd+generalized anxiety thing. Piece of mind is pretty valuable to me and mine.




  • My anecdote at least happened. Your hypothetical by definition never did. The internet connection I haven’t thought about since I installed the fridge. Not sure where the hassle is.

    Also I don’t understand why you think refrigerators are incredibly reliable. Compressor pumps and start capacitors are damn near consumables now days.