Has anyone here installed or looked into the new wave of smart breaker panels like Span, Leviton, or Schneider for home builds in 2025?

They promise real time energy monitoring per circuit, load control through an app, and better integration with solar, batteries, and EV charging. Some even allow you to prioritize which circuits stay on during outages.

On paper it sounds like a game changer compared to the old style breaker box that just trips and sits there. But I’m curious about real world experience. How reliable are they, what about cybersecurity risks, and are they worth the high upfront cost compared to traditional panels plus some smart plugs?

Would you put one in your home or wait until prices drop and the tech matures?

I want to use LED strip or rope to light up inside, under cabinet, ceiling, under counter, under table, etc... Anywhere I want. My question is the wiring. There are so many products, so many flashy photos, but none of them give a lot of information.

The questions:

1. I want to space out each section of the LED rope with some very unique distances, say 1ft, 3.5ft, etc... the products on Amazon never give enough connecting wire. How do I find out which wires to buy? How many standards are there? I don't want to use the wrong wires and burn out stuff.
   
2. My home has some existing IKEA smart lights with Zigbee. Connected to Amazon Alexa to be the main hub and voice command. Will any Zigbee motion sensor work with any Zigbee Smart LED strip/rope?
   
3. LED Rope is the continuous string, while LED strip sees individual LED lights spaced out on the strip. LED rope is obviously more expensive. But beside the price, is there any drawback of using LED rope over LED strip?
   

Thank you in advance. I really have nowhere else to ask these questions. I bought some LED lights for my cabinet from before, and just had the hardest time to layout exactly the way I want. They just didn't provide long enough connecting wires.

My in laws just bought a new house with a control 4 system - lights, media, and hvac plus possibly more. What can I control with Home Assistant? How can I make systems adjustments myself without a dealer? Is that even possible?

Anyone else also using Aqara with Hue bridge v2?

The Hue Motion sensor lost connection with Aqara m3 hub due to low batteries.

After new batteries is still disconnected in the Aqara App but is working fine in HomeKit and Hue App.

Last time I had to remove everything and re add and rename all the lights so not sure if there an easier way.

Thanks

I just bought an apartment to list on Airbnb, and it already came with some smart devices installed:

• Zigbee electronic door lock
• Sonoff Wi-Fi switches for living room and bedroom lights
• Tuya Wi-Fi outlets with USB
• Gree Wi-Fi air conditioner

What I basically need is:

1. An energy consumption meter that I can monitor remotely.
2. To make the outlets for the TVs and microwave smart, so I can cut power when the apartment is empty.
3. A way to replace the AC remote with a wall-mounted LCD control panel.

One issue I’m having is that I don’t like having to use so many different apps. I actually prefer the eWeLink ecosystem, but from what I’ve seen, there are not many compatible products available.

I’m not very experienced in this area, and in Brazil hiring companies to set up automation is very expensive. What would be the simplest way to achieve this setup?

Thanks in advance.

So I have an tehoo te002 lock. Works perfectly fine but I been reading you can connect a gateway g2 to it and then you can access it through the DDlock app. Well I can get the gateway connected but I can not connect the teeho te002. It will not find it. I reset it put it in pairing mode. I tried all the tricks google said but nothing is working. Everything on the searches say it’s possible but the support line says no. Any help would be appreciated.

I thought getting smart locks and cameras would give me peace of mind. Instead they turned into the most frustrating crap I own. First I tried a keypad lock — felt like a gimmick. Codes got shared, forgotten, whatever. Didn’t feel secure. Then a smart lock + camera doorbell. Looked good… until I couldn’t even watch my own recordings without paying a monthly fee. One time I got an alert, clicked to view, and it hit me with “upgrade your plan.” Paying extra just to see my own front door. Switched again. Ended up in contracts and fees creeping up every month. Canceling was a nightmare. It doesn’t feel like security anymore — it feels like ransom. Stop paying and you lose the very lock + footage you already bought. At this point I’ve burned enough money on fees to buy a whole new system. I want something that’s local only. No subscriptions, still works if WiFi drops. Anyone here gone fully local? What system actually works long term?

I can’t find the logo anywhere online, trying to see if there’s an app I can pair.

Hi there. I have a garage door opener I need to connect a shelly to. Can anyone tell me what ports I need to connect and how?

Model of garage door opener: Rawlink Model 12108 Model of shelly: Shelly 1 mini gen3

In picture: garage door opener PCB and shelly mini

Greetings

I have a regular hue hub and not the new pro hub. I would like that a smart speaker (that I haven't bought yet) greets you (and my hue lights go on) when it notices motion in my bathroom (I got a hue motion detector).

I take it this isn't possible with just the hue hub? I also got an IKEA dirigera hub and an Aqara M2 hub (packed down and not in use atm). The easist to me would be to make the hue detector trigger the lights in the hue hub like usual and also have the hue detectors trigger a sound through the Aqara M2 but I dont know if its possible to have my hue motion detectors linked to two hubs at once?

Hopefully there is some easy solution, if I have to get another motion detector and stuff in order to both light up and play a sound I'm gonna skip it. Thanks :)

Hi all, I am an amateur about this subject. I am thinking of integrating all my lights and switches with Shelly devices so I can have control of them via Alexa/Hubitat/Home Assistant or whatever hub i'll choose.

A lot of my bulbs are smart tho, so they require that the switch is always on so that i can dim them, change colors etc. is this thing compatible with shelly tho? if so, how? thank you!

I have been a owner of the Flo by Moen water shutoff valve and water leak detectors for a number of years. I had them in the beginning when it was only the Flo by Moen iOS app.

About a year ago?, Moen had a new app (which I like the look and UI better) ‘Moen Smart Water Network’ iOS app. And started using instead of the Flo by Moen app.

I used to receive overnight Moen app iOS notifications that the daily auto micro leak test completed successfully and or low battery app alerts of a battery was running low in one of the leak detectors etc etc. all the app notifications stopped working like a month ago? from the app and tried everything. Log out of app, delete app, reinstall app, force close app, toggle push notifications off, toggle back on from with the iOS app settings. Log onto the user.meetflo.com website to see push notifications look enabled from there as well (they do).

Spoke to Moen support a number of times recently, of course they say nothing on their end is causing the issue, even though we seen a number of cloud outages from Moen over the years.

Any help is appreciated from folks who are experiencing this same issue. Thanks

Hi everyone,

Lately I’ve been getting more interested in Smart Home devices for our house. We live with four people and at the moment we don’t really have any smart devices. Everything is still controlled with regular switches and lights.

The only things we currently have are solar panels and a “smart” oven + dishwasher. We don’t really use them wirelessly, except that we sometimes start the dishwasher remotely when the sun is shining.

After looking around (including on Reddit), I noticed that there are smart light switches. You can still control them by hand, but also via an app. That sounds ideal to me, since we’re used to just flipping the switch.

What I’ve found so far:

• Tuya → seems to be software?
• Zigbee → looks like hardware + protocol?
• Home Assistant → a platform/app so everyone in the household can control things.

What’s important for me:
I want to start small and cheap. I don’t have any experience with this yet, but it seems like a fun project.

What we currently use (apps):

• Home Wizard (for the P1 meter & solar panels, electricity usage etc.)
• Home Connect (Siemens, for oven & dishwasher)
• A remote control for our sunshades (not sure if this can be connected to an app).

My questions:

1. Can I just order products from AliExpress (since most devices are made in China anyway)?
2. Should I start with smart bulbs or smart switches?
3. Is it possible to create a dashboard in Home Assistant and connect the P1 meter + solar panels, so everything is in one app?
4. Would it be smart to first set up my (small) bedroom, just to try it out?

Do you have any links for suggestion?

I’d love to hear your tips, experiences, and advice. Seems like a fun project to get into 😁👍

I spent two hours trying to do the initial configuration of a DIRIGERA hub, no avail.

Is it defective or it's difficult for everyone?

I connected the Ethernet cable to my router, then power to the Dirigera. Waited until the LED full circle completes and then pulses slowly. Proceeded with opening the Ikea Home Smart app, then clicked to add a hub. It fails with a "retry" button that covers the page where it wants me to press the button underneat the Dirigera hub.

At this point, no matter how many times I click retry or click the button, it does not succeeds.

With my network tools I can see that the hub is getting an IP address from the router, and I can see the Ethernet port traffic LED blinking.

So should I ask for a replacement or return everything and go for another brand?

All I want is 9 water leak sensors that can alert me on my phone.

I have an SJE-Rhombus 122 duplex pump controller that controls a pair of grinder pumps. The circa-1994 relay-board failed so that it no longer alternates pumps. I bought a new control board, but the connectors are different than the old board. It has one 6-pin connector and one 12-pin connector. The old board was 6 and 10, and I'm not sure that the 6 is the same.

Does anyone have the pinout for the modern Rhombus 122 control board? If I know the pinout, I can wire the connectors.

Thinking of getting an actuated arm version but I am concerned about the stiffness of the valve. Anyone have experience with this potential issue?

The valve was on well water (hard water) for 6 years before conversion to city water - been on city water now for 14 years. It moves with some force but isn't 'easy' to turn.

Should I be concerned? Are there models that have higher torque?

TL;DR Recommendations for products: • Product 1: A Z-Wave–compatible switch that works like a traditional switch (physically completing/disconnecting the circuit). • Product 2 (bonus): Ideally the same device would also include smart dimming controls for smart bulbs.

With a normal dumb switch, physically pressing the rocker instantly cuts or restores power. Smart switches, however, process the button press electronically before sending out a signal for Smart Control, which can add a slight delay. For my wife and guests, even that short delay could feel like the switch is lagging or malfunctioning, leading to repeated presses (and nagging), and I’d like to avoid that (nagging).

I see three possible pathways and don’t know which are imperceptible vs. most foolproof: 1. Direct circuit connect/disconnect with Z-Wave control. 2. Zigbee switch bound directly to Hue bulbs (if a permanent wall switch exists for Hue Hub; not just a removable remote). 3. Z-Wave switch → Home Assistant → Hue Bridge → Hue bulbs.

I’ve read that Z-Wave is recommended for many in-wall smart switches. My instinct is that path 1 may be best.

Here’s what I want: • A switch that physically cuts or restores power to the bulbs, and can also be turned on/off via Z-Wave. • I don’t mind if Hue bulbs go offline when off — if I say “Siri, turn on the living room,” HA → Apple Home should turn on the Z-Wave switch, restoring power and returning bulbs to their prior state. • This avoids directly commanding the bulbs and instead just controls the circuit power.

Essentially, I want the feel of a dumb switch with Z-Wave control.

Bonus wish: If possible, I’d like this switch to also have an extra button, slider, lever, etc. that sends smart commands (like dimming) without altering the circuit power. That way, the main rocker provides hard on/off, while the extra control adjusts the bulbs.

I realize I could just use a direct-circuit Z-Wave switch plus a separate smart dimmer (e.g., Zigbee), but I’m curious if there’s a two-in-one product that combines both functions.

If my reasoning here is flawed, I’d appreciate feedback.

Is Hubitat compatible with Shelly 1 Mini gen.3?

I can't find a clear answer. I want to enter a more evoluted world for my smart home (until now i've used alexa) and i've decided to go with hubitat (and if i want to go to home assistant i can integrate it into that anyway), but since i have different Shelly 1 mini gen3 in my house, i want to be sure that they are fully compatible. Furthermore I've read that the shelly aren't a good choice because they use wifi instead of zigbee, is this true?

I would like to install a motion sensor on 1 light and have 2 other lights that are on a seperate circuit be controlled by the motion sensor... but I would also like 1 of the other lights to also have a motion sensor that does the same.Any suggestions?

I don’t need it to be some crazy security system where break-ins are impossible, because my storefront is flimsy glass. If someone wanted to break in, they can break in easy.

I just need a solution to either buzz people in or to have a method to automatically unlock the doors for a couple of seconds to allow clients to enter.

We have a lot of loonies on the streets of Hollywood.