Outer Hallway
This room contains solutions for the following systems (notice that on phones, the table might only be displayed in landscape mode):
| System Type | Components |
|---|---|
| Lighting |
|
| Climate Control |
|
| Home Entertainment | None |
| Security and Alarm |
|
| Pet Care | None |
| Control and Automation | None |
Description of the solutions in this room
Not in the least since the outer hallway is the main entrance into the house, it has far more technology than the physical dimensions of the room should imply. The lighting solutions is fairly uncomplicated, a Philips Hue E27 bulb in a ceiling lamp is combined with an Aqara motion sensor, see picture below.
The Aqara sensor installed under the Verisure sensor
In the Home app, the ceiling light is grouped together with two ceiling lights in the hallway adjacent to this room, so that these are synchronized in turning on/off. When entering the outer hallway from the outside, the light turns on based on the signal from the door and motion sensors, both the light in the outer hallway and the hallway beyond it, through the scene “Hallway Lights Daytime” (and off again after 15 minutes of inactivity), see screenshot below. If entering the outer hallway from the hallway, there is a Philips Hue motion sensor in that also triggers these lights.
The underfloor heating is controlled by yet one more Heatmiser neoStat-e thermostat, see picture below. In this room, there is no floor sensor underneath the tiles, but since the thermostat is in the same room as the heating system, the temperature readings can be done by the thermostat itself, without any external sensor.
Thermostat for the electric underfloor heating, where the temperature measurements are done by the thermostat itself
The alarm system can be controlled manually from this room’s service panel, but it can also be controlled remotely from both the native Verisure app and the Home app through Homebridge. This works in that the status for the alarm system and its components can be seen in the Home app, as shown in the screenshot below, and changed here as well. The control panel for the alarm system is naturally located here, see picture below.
When we started the investigations into a smart door lock, there was really only one feasible alternative available in the Norwegian market, the aforementioned Yale Doorman, and for us it was a great advantage that it could be purchased through the Verisure alarm company and be integrated into the alarm system, see picture below. The lock can be programmed to be opened using a keyfob, keyfob + code, or only code, and you can also choose whether it should lock automatically when closing the door. We purchased the lock with installation included, but we had to go a few rounds of adjustments by the installation guy since the lock wouldn’t work properly in different weather conditions. In the end, I had to buy a different type of box staple myself before this worked as intended. With the Verisure module installed, it also shows up in Apple Home.
Yale Doorman smart door lock and Netatmo smart video doorbell (see more about this under Outdoor)
The door can be opened/closed through the Verisure app, but via Homebridge, it also appears in the Home app, as shown in the screenshot below. The lock can be opened/closed in both apps. Otherwise, the experiences with this door lock are good, but I did keep eyeing the more recently launched locks that are Apple Home compatible, e.g., from Danalock. But after I got the lock into the Home app, I can also open it using Siri commands, which is most practical.
Having the door lock connected to the Verisure alarm system means that when the door is opened, the alarm is disarmed, if it was armed when arriving home. There is, however, no functionality that automatically arms the alarm when we leave home, but this is something we have set up in Apple Home. This must, though, be done via a virtual switch, since Apple Home does not allow setting up routines involving doors or alarm systems that run without asking for confirmation. There are more cumbersome problems in the world, but it is more elegant if this happens automatically. And this can be achieved by resorting to a virtual device, which is set up in Homey, and exposed to Apple Home (shown as Alarm Condition in the screenshot below). Exploiting this, three automations handle this task:
When the last person leaves the house, the virtual switch Alarm Condition turns off
When the virtual switch Alarm Condition turns off, the alarm is activated (in Home mode, since the cats sometimes manage to trigger the alarm in Away mode)
When the alarm is deactivated (by us opening the door with the alarm code) the virtual switch is turned on again, to be ready for the next occasion
This works just as intended and ensures that the alarm always is activated when we are away from the house.
In the Home app, the devices are shown as seen below.
