zlacker

>>pictur+(OP)
Can someone explain to me what this ecosystem is and the appeal of it?

I have nothing automated in my life, that I know of? I don't have a garage; the door to the house has a key; the lights I turn on with a switch; no Alexa, don't use Siri... I am not exactly opposed to automation, but I am hesitant to share even more demographic data to cloud services.

>>triyam+f5
The lights in my house turn on and off with the rhythm of our lives. We don’t think about turning a light on or off. They do that by themselves. My home knows when the dishwasher is done. My home can silence alerts if I’m on a zoom call. My home knows if the air quality is low and doesn’t turn on the ventilator fan.

Automation is not about having an app for your lights, it’s about not having to think of trivial stuff like turning on a light.

>>op00to+v6
The other thing is that it means you can fix light switches which are in awkward places. I went to a lot of effort moving a couple of light switches in my house before I started wiring them all for ESPHome-based control...and me and my wife realized that actually, most of the light switches we're unhappy about can just be left alone since automation can make them way more useful (a simple example is just having the garage lights turn on when the garage door opens - makes coming home at night with a baby a lot easier, and also means you don't forget to turn them off).

>>XorNot+Me
I'd rather just change the wiring and fit a run-on timer on the light.

This is a trivial wiring change, and a run-on timer from a local hardware or electrical store from a reputable brand is $25.

I understand small mains wiring jobs like this probably beyond some peoples ability or desire, but the benifits are:

One off up front cost

Probably never fail

No possibility of the product vendor having any impact on the products ever, other than the possibility of a product recall due to safety.