So today’s video is a little different. You probably know that I LOVE coming up
with home automation ideas. But I’m also inspired by other smart homes.
In this video I have some INSANE automations from Reddit that I’m excited to show you.
I’m hoping this video kicks off a series, where I feature YOUR unique automations.
Because I know many of you have amazing setups that can inspire all of us.
I’ll go over how to send me your setup at the end of the video. First, let me show you
these automations that are pretty intense. This home in New York has a custom made
Disneyland sign with light strips behind, and it looks amazing! But that’s not all. When they are
getting ready to catch the subway, they hit a button that changes the light strip colors
to indicate when they should leave. That way they don’t have to wait on the subway platform,
and they get there at the perfect time. Genius! The way they are doing it is creative.
They are using the city subway’s API to know when the next train will arrive.
Then it adds the time it takes to walk to the station, and changes the lights based on that.
That way you don’t have to do all that math in your head!
I love how this simplifies the process of knowing it’s time to leave. We all know getting out the
door is no easy task with the family. Come on guys we’re leaving!
Wait where’s my phone? Oh no,
hey guys have you seen my phone? I’m staying home!
If this automation seems too advanced you could use it in a simplified way.
Maybe you have some light strips that change colors at a set time when your kids need to
leave for school. You could just set it on a schedule for weekday mornings,
which is really easy to set up. There are SO many automations you
can do with light strips and speaking of light strips, this next person has a great setup!
Each stair lights up so you can see where you’re going, but not so bright that it
wakes up everyone in the house. Then the lights turn off automatically after you’ve gone down.
There’s a motion sensor at the top that knows if you’re going down
and one at the bottom for going back up. The effect is incredible and looks so
futuristic! Plus no more tripping on kids’ toys on the stairs late at night.
Look, some shoes on the stairs, no problem at all! Setting something like this up requires a little
bit of work but they’re doing it all using very inexpensive equipment.
If wiring your stairs isn’t feasible you could look at an addressable light strip in a channel
cover going down the stairs. Then you could have each section light up as you walk down.
I don’t have stairs in my house but I think there’s some really cool things you can light
them. And the guy that made this automation is improving it with better sensors and animations
so I’ll throw some links down in the description that you can go check out.
So here’s the deal, my wife Aly doesn’t like our robot vacuum out in the main area
so we hide it in the laundry room. But the door... could get accidentally closed,
so it’s not a perfect solution. This next person is on a whole other
level when it comes to hiding the robot vacuum. Check this out, the bottom cabinet cover lifts
up for the robot vacuum to go out and clean. It’s like a little garage door for the vacuum!
It’s so awesome! They did a really good job explaining exactly how they set this up.
They are using an actuator to open and close the door and it looks really cool to see it in action.
If I loved my robot vacuum a little bit more I would build something like this. But I don’t.
Sorry little guy. All right, moving
on! I’ve never seen a fog machine used in home automation before,
but here you go! It’s a really cool
way to celebrate your team scoring a goal with the lights and everything going off at once.
You can get inexpensive fog machines that use a remote to turn them on and off.
So you might be able to use a Broadlink hub to blast IR or RF to control it.
There are also APIs you can use to see when your team scores but syncing might be the
biggest issue. Because if you’re watching it on TV, and then the API updates much later,
it’s not going to look as good. So it might not be that big of a deal to have a button
that triggers everything at once. USA USA You might be like hey buttons aren’t a fully
automated solution! But take a look at this super creative button setup.
It’s a kid remote! Hand your toddler this and they will be entertained for hours. Baby boss,
peppa pig… parenting at its finest! This redditor is using a Philips Hue smart
dimmer switch, that automatically plays a show on Netflix using the Fire TV.
With of course some great artwork for buttons. It’s slightly advanced using ADB commands,
but there’s another really simple way to do this. One is using a Broadlink button.
If you’ve ever looked for a good button solution to trigger
Amazon Routines with a button, you’re in luck because a broadlink button works really well.
It’s not super cheap, but it still costs less than Flic buttons. There are 4 buttons in one,
so it’s perfect for this toddler remote. Assign each button to trigger an Amazon
Routine. Amazon technically treats the button like a motion sensor, but it still
triggers a routine the same, so no worries. Then for the action, write a custom command
for the Fire TV to play a show. That way a button press will automatically
start playing something. Pretty awesome! Hand the remote to your toddler and go get a
cold drink because you’ve just mastered parenting. I thought these automations were incredible,
and I know you guys have some amazing automations at your house too. I would LOVE to see what those
are. So this is your chance to show it off...and make the rest of us jealous.
If you want to share them, please follow the directions in the description.
Basically email me a short video of your automation filmed horizontally...not vertically.
In the email you can include info about the automation, who you are,
or anything really. It’s pretty easy. If you haven’t subscribed yet please do,
and I look forward to seeing your automations! Hey Dad I have an automation for your video!
Really!? What’s that? See watch. Mom snack! I want a snack! Snack!
See, it works every time! I need to learn that automation. Dad tax! Hey!