It seems like many products introduced recently are aimed at sensors, security, switches, and lighting. What’s an area you feel could benefit from home automation that has gone overlooked so far?
Some thoughts:
Aquarium related products (feeders, cleaners, filter change alerts, water quality, temp, lighting, etc.)
One of the reasons I got into Home Assistant was the ability to throw Alexa out of my home. Not many options for voice assistant units for those who don’t want to bother building their own. Maybe too small of a market… ThirdReality introduced one a CES… I’d love more options.
Outdoor temperature/pressure sensor. I put a T1 out on my porch (covered and away from the elements), and it works OK, but it eats a CR2032 every week.
On the Aqara website it shows the use of one outdoors in a similar circumstance. Not sure if it is a hardware issue or if it is sending too many updates, but it is 10 feet away, direct line of site from my Doorbell G410, so it is not a signal strength issue.
I have the output displayed prominently on a Home Assistant dashboard so everyone can quickly see the real outdoor conditions and the forecast.
An outdoor PIR with built in temperature and light sensor.
This could be either mains (240v) or batter operated or both.
There are so many of these in the UK which then provide power to outdoor lights. The main issue with the ‘dumb’ ones is they stop power to the lights when no movement which prevents additional automations.
A smart outdoor PIR would allow permanent power to the lights, provide a smart signal to turn bulbs on / off when there’s movement and also provide the whole house automation with an outdoor light sensor reading (for additional automations).
I would really like to see some sort of real time weather station that I can use the data to run automations. Like if the wind speed is greater than 5mph coming from the south west, turn off the inflatable in the front yard.
Really feel like there is a gap still with garage door openers. There are workarounds, but Chamberlain has gone out of the way to block these workarounds to force you into using MyQ and that is just a nonstarter for me. Also gate controllers would be awesome! Okay I have a list as I am thinking about this, so I will say garage for now. LOL
Yes! I automated my gate at a previous house using the Wemo relay switch controller, but it wasn’t straightforward then, and they’ve since deprecated the product. Gate installers should be pushing for this (with Matter or HomeKit integration).
Yes! So many terrible (low quality) products available today from the same handful of companies, and I haven’t really seen anything related to Smart Home integration. Even if you aimed for the higher-end market, it seems like you could be substantially better postured against the competition if you partnered or had revenue sharing with big-name installers or retailers.
Water leak sensor for use under sinks and in basements
Power failure notifier, which either uses a SIM card to send a notification, or includes a small uninterruptible power supply to keep internet running long enough to send a notification
It depends on how the fan is wired. If it’s a traditional ceiing fan all it takes is 2 switches with dimmer control to have fan/light speed adjustments. I have a meross single gang light/fan controller that works OK, not sure if there’s an aqara product that does it.
If the fan has its own remote control then you’re in weird territory. An RF blaster might work but the control wouldn’t be able to give you status without some additional difficult work.
Bathroom Fans with built-in temperature and humidity sensors, matter connectivity and auto-start/stop configuration options. Maybe add a presence sensor also.