I had this conversation with David Webster recently after someone posted on the Automated Home forums asking for feedback on a proposed smart home build for his 6,000-square-foot home.

David understands this stuff more than anyone else I know, so it was a very interesting conversation and good to learn more about the "why" with regard to some of David's points of view.

This was going to be a private conversation between David and I, but we agreed to record the conversation, so I hope you enjoy it.

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David Webster joins me again to talk about smart lighting considerations.

David is a smart home expert and electronic engineer, so he understands things at a very deep level.

As someone who is NOT an electrical engineer, I ask some questions that a beginner might be wondering about so there's something for everyone.

The conversation ends with the promise of continuing the conversation and some cursory discussion about Homey.

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I feel like I've climbed a mountain (well, perhaps a small hill) because I finally figured out the issue with not being able to immediately re-trigger the flow to turn the lights on when motion is detected outside our front door.

I also share some of the smart devices that I've added to our home recently and share a recent funny story.

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David and I discuss the good and the bad of Homey Pro, what we each think about Home Assistant and David talks about how AI could make smart homes way better very soon. 

***Apologies for the out-of-sync audio***

This conversation was recorded using the same software as the last time I spoke to David and for some reason, our files are out of synch by about a second. It sounds like I'm constantly talking over the top of David and David is very slow to respond to anything, but that's not the case. I was torn on whether to publish this or not, but decided to publish it because David's a smart guy and there's some good info in this conversation. I think I might try to some other option to record the next call.

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I probably should have waited to buy some of these during Black Friday, but I picked up some cool new products for my smart home recently.

I'll be unboxing these products and getting them setup and going over the coming month and I'll keep you posted on how they all go.

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I had the pleasure of catching up with David Webster recently to get into the nitty gritty of why it's not necessary to split up your home wifi into separate 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz networks.

David has A LOT of knowledge about smart home products and connectivity issues, so I certainly learned a lot from this chat.

Even if you're already an expert in this stuff, there's probably still something here for you. If you're a newbie to smart homes or if you're wondering if you need to split up your home wifi, this conversation is a must listen.

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Thanks to Tim for the comment on my last Youtube video which helped me to get my Aqara lights connected and online in Homey. That was a big help.

I was able to get some Homey "flows" going with the motion sensor and those Aqara lights, but there are a couple of things that I'm not thrilled about.

1. The range of the P1 motion sensor isn't great, and

2. Why won't Homey let flows re-start before they're finished? That makes no sense to me

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Last update was a total disaster, but I've fixed most things and in many cases, things are better than before.

There are still a few issues, but it seems much more manageable than a couple of weeks ago.

I got an Aqara motion sensor, set up an Annke camera for baby monitoring, setup the Sonos voice assistant that I didn't even know existed and just had my first Govee product delivered.

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I just created a 2.4GHz wifi network in my home and chaos ensued.

What I thought was a piece of cake ended up becoming a disaster and now I guess I'm looking down the barrel of a bunch of factory resets and re-adding devices.  

Seriously, this was not what I had planned for my Sunday.

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My hopes of turning my dining room table into one giant "light switch" didn't work out when I learned that the Aqara vibration sensor isn't as sensitive as it would need to be for that idea to work.

...sigh...

Oh well, I'm sure I'll find another idea for that vibration sensor eventually.

Also, why is Alexa going crazy today?!

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