Which battery tender to use

[Brutal_HO]

That makes sense, and probably saves quite a bit on electricity. What kind of smart switch are you using?

We are a (nearly) full blown Home Automation household. I run a Hubitat Elevation hub, Lutron Pro hub (integrated), and am 99% Z-wave and Zigbee devices. It's a craziness/sickness for sure and I'm on the low end of the spectrum. Have maybe one or two WiFi devices just for special device control as having ~85+ devices on WiFi would be unmanageable, unreliable, and decimate the networks - even with a UBNT setup and 3 Pro AP's.

These particular outdoor rated switches are Inovelli (NLA), and I have a mix of 2-channel and 1-chnl/always on receptacles. I use them to control outdoor lighting, the truck, etc. They're basically the same as the GE and some other brands with someone else's brand and code.

https://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Z-Wave-Appliance-Required-SmartThings/dp/B07ZVQXB4R/ref=sr_1_7?crid=ZDYXCO4LBUH&keywords=z-wave%2Boutdoor%2Bswitch&qid=1701045834&sprefix=z-wave%2Boutfoor%2Bswitch%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-7&th=1

Truth be told, I should probably spice up my rule from a simple low temp on/off to something more complex like cycling it and/or using presence and time of day as well. The charger doesn't matter as it will control its own fate.

 

[pinco]

We are a (nearly) full blown Home Automation household. I run a Hubitat Elevation hub, Lutron Pro hub (integrated), and am 99% Z-wave and Zigbee devices. It's a craziness/sickness for sure and I'm on the low end of the spectrum. Have maybe one or two WiFi devices just for special device control as having ~85+ devices on WiFi would be unmanageable, unreliable, and decimate the networks - even with a UBNT setup and 3 Pro AP's.

These particular outdoor rated switches are Inovelli (NLA), and I have a mix of 2-channel and 1-chnl/always on receptacles. I use them to control outdoor lighting, the truck, etc. They're basically the same as the GE and some other brands with someone else's brand and code.

https://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Z-Wave-Appliance-Required-SmartThings/dp/B07ZVQXB4R/ref=sr_1_7?crid=ZDYXCO4LBUH&keywords=z-wave%2Boutdoor%2Bswitch&qid=1701045834&sprefix=z-wave%2Boutfoor%2Bswitch%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-7&th=1

Truth be told, I should probably spice up my rule from a simple low temp on/off to something more complex like cycling it and/or using presence and time of day as well. The charger doesn't matter as it will control its own fate.

Wow! 85 devices …….. I can’t imagine trying to keep them all online 24/7 lol.
Thanks for the link.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Wow! 85 devices …….. I can’t imagine trying to keep them all online 24/7 lol.
Thanks for the link.

That's just the HA devices. Usually have about 30 WiFi connected "devices" going at any time. Laptops, Alexa's, TV's, phones, tablets, firesticks, etc.

I'm probably getting brain cancer as we speak.

 

[mountainears]

I have a similar number. I’m running older Insteon stuff mostly, have a few newer items as well. Run Indigo server with home bridge and Apple Home. Plus have about 25 security cameras integrated in.

Once you get things up and running it just kind of works. A problem is when you get so invested in one technology and then it becomes aged and you want to switch. It doesn’t feel as expensive when you grow it over time but if I were to have to rebuild it all….yikes. So having some diversity helps I think, but also brings up integration challenges. Is a fun hoppy and can do some nifty things with it all.


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[Brutal_HO]

I have a similar number. I’m running older Insteon stuff mostly, have a few newer items as well. Run Indigo server with home bridge and Apple Home. Plus have about 25 security cameras integrated in.

Once you get things up and running it just kind of works. A problem is when you get so invested in one technology and then it becomes aged and you want to switch. It doesn’t feel as expensive when you grow it over time but if I were to have to rebuild it all….yikes. So having some diversity helps I think, but also brings up integration challenges. Is a fun hoppy and can do some nifty things with it all.


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I use Blue Iris and can do some camera integration with HE as well, I just really haven't had time to do much more than basic automation stuff, lights on/off with motion, alerts and notifications, etc.

I love that HE is 100% local automation (excepting the cloud interop stuff). I don't use it, but it does integrate with Home Bridge. I'm in the HE Beta and the newest hub will also support Matter (thread hub required). It also has a HUGE community based open source platform so you really don't have to write code or drivers as someone has probably already made a drive/app to do what's needed. For the advanced user, there's support for webcore, node-red, etc.

I do have some other "stuff" deployed in support of some components. NUT running on a RPi to manage UPS, NodeJS running on a headless Ubuntu server for the Echo Speaks cookie server, etc. It sure is a rabbit hole. I came off Wink a few years ago when that whole ecosystem went sideways. Fortunately all the z-wave and zigbee stuff I had invested in came over. I even sold some of my Wink stuff before it went completely t*ts up.

 

[pinco]

I have a similar number. I’m running older Insteon stuff mostly, have a few newer items as well. Run Indigo server with home bridge and Apple Home. Plus have about 25 security cameras integrated in.

Once you get things up and running it just kind of works. A problem is when you get so invested in one technology and then it becomes aged and you want to switch. It doesn’t feel as expensive when you grow it over time but if I were to have to rebuild it all….yikes. So having some diversity helps I think, but also brings up integration challenges. Is a fun hoppy and can do some nifty things with it all.


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Man, do I ever have a lot to learn. I tried a few outlets, bulbs with HomeKit, and had issues with the hardware randomly disconnecting after a month, then refusing to pair up again. I gave up on it 2 years ago or so. I have everything Apple that you can imagine, and hope to stick with HomeKit. The trouble for me is finding a common hardware brand to stick with and build from there

 

[pinco]

I have a noco 2amp direct mounted right now. Between powering a full time crash cam, and trying to top off the batteries, it takes forever. The Noco 5 amp would be ideal but it doesn’t have eyelets.

Update: Changed to a Noco 5 amp, and it’s much better. Charges fast, instead of 2-3 days trying to charge/ overcome the draw from crash cam and mice deterrent device.

 

[CdnHO]

Update: Changed to a Noco 5 amp, and it’s much better. Charges fast, instead of 2-3 days trying to charge/ overcome the draw from crash cam and mice deterrent device.

I had the same experience with the two amp (now in my Honda Accord) and went to a ten amp. Much better.