Hi everyone, I’m diving into the world of home automation and it’s been an exciting journey so far! I’ve got a setup with Hue lights, a Harmony hub, several Echo Dots, and a SmartThings hub along with some motion and contact sensors. I’ve been reading up on SmartThings and came across the possibility of setting up voice notifications, which sounds super useful for things like door alerts or weather updates. But I’m curious—what other creative uses can I find for voice notifications beyond the basics? Is the effort worth the productivity gain? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Another thing I’m exploring is multi-room notifications. I’ve heard you can use tools like Lannouncer and BigTalker with an old Android phone, but I’m not sure if that can stream notifications to all my Echo Dots without dedicating a tablet to each room. Alternatively, I’m considering getting a Sonos system for better sound quality, but I’m hesitant because it’s a closed ecosystem and I already have some great speakers with Chromecast Audio. Any advice on this would be amazing!
I also want to trigger lights inside my house when I open the door and motion is detected. I’ve heard about CoRE and Echogear, but I’m not entirely sure how to set up the sequencing for reliable entry and exit detection. If anyone has experience with this, I’d appreciate any tips!
Lastly, I’m trying to create a welcome greeting with music when I enter my home. Right now, I’m using Tasker on Android with some automation, but it’s not very reliable and takes too long. I’m looking for a more seamless solution. Any suggestions would be fantastic!
Thanks in advance for your help! I’m really enjoying this community and all the knowledge shared here. 