So because of the distance that my shed and patio are from my house.  I had to purchase another Hue Bridge which is fine because it keeps the house and the outside separate from one another.  I already have Google WiFi, Power outlets and a switch tied into my shed so everything is connected on the same network.  I also purchased a Phillips Hue switch which I was able to mount under the eave of the shed so water won’t affect it.

I recently this week just purchased a Phillips Hue Motion and Daylight/Nighttime sensor.  Which I will write an article later on how that installation goes and plays with the Phillips Hue Calla lights.

I used an Android app called Hue Pro which is totally worth the money if your invested a lot into Phillips Hue.  That’s the application that I used to achieve the lighting effects in the videos below.

Since my home already has a Logitech pop bridge installed.  I wasn’t able to just add another bridge inside of my app.

This is pretty much a “hack”.

Here’s how I was able to achieve getting (2) Logitech POP Bridges on the same network.

Step 1.  I’m using an Samsung Note 10+ Android device.  I’m not sure how to do this on an Apple; however on other android devices that are non-Samsung and do not have the Samsung knox where you can install another instance of an app.  You can download and an App on the play store to clone your existing Logitech Pop App.

Step 2.  In your Samsung Knox App install “Logitech Pop”.

Step 3.  Next open the Logitech Pop application and add your bridge.  Make sure your phone’s near the bridge.

Step 4.  Once the bridge has been setup you can begin to add your Logitech pop buttons.  Also make sure the buttons are pretty close to the bridge to eliminate any issues adding them.

Some other things to take into consideration you need to have Wifi where you are adding your Logitech POP bridge.  My patio is very far away from my house however I used Google WiFi to extend my existing WiFi over to my shed/patio.

What’s great now when I want to go out on my patio I can simply just push one of the Logitech POP buttons and it will shuffle all music from my Plex library.  Check out the different scene’s I added below.

The 1st “Push” will start shuffling all songs from my Plex Media Server library.

The double “Push” will skip to the next track.

The push & hold will turn off the current music playing and turn off my Phillips hue Calla lights.

• Battery would last roughly 1-2 month’s (I have kids they are constantly triggering it).
• Was bulky never really looked great on my house.
• Purchased solar cover to go around it, made it even more bulky & never charged unless direct sun hit it constantly.

Anyways after getting frustrated and seeing a sale on the Ring Doorbell Elite I decided to order.  The hardest part of my installation was running the CAT5 ethernet cable.

Step 1.

My house is an older house so I needed to rip off the molding/trim going around the door so I would be able to hide and drill a hole for the Ethernet cable.  Then I had to drill a hole behind the molding into the basement.  After that was done I ran the cable over to my switch / power which is also located in the basement.  This where you will hook up the POE (Power over ethernet) device that Ring supplies you with the Doorbell elite.

Step 2.

Next I used a 3/8 inch  long spade bit to drill the hole from the siding into the house.  This caused a problem because I totally forgot in my old house it was plaster walls when I was drilling from the outside in I heard a bunch of crumbling.  Either way the wife wanted to paint this room.  (So more delays I had to spackle, sand and re-paint the room after the cable was ran).

Step 3.

Now that the hole was drilled, the ethernet cable through the floor and installed down into the basement.  I needed to cut out the hole for the actual ring device.  So with this I just used a razor blade and kept scoring the siding until it finally came out.

Step 4.

Next once I was done with the hole and made sure the Ring device was going to fit.  I started to crimp the cables.  I work for an internet company so crimping these was a breeze however if you are unfamiliar you will need the following.  This can be tricky if its your first time doing it, I would suggest watching a YouTube video.  Once you have both sides crimped plug in the one end that says Power Out – to Ring Device and then plug the pre-made cable into your switch/router.   Now outside plug the other end into your Ring Doorbell Elite.

• You need a pair of RJ45/Ethernet crimpers
• RJ45/Ethernet Ends
• View the RJ45 wiring diagram (same on both sides)

Step 5.

Now that everything is installed and the ethernet cables are connected.  I would download the Ring app and begin installing the Ring Doorbell Elite before you finally screw everything down.  Once everything is setup to your satisfaction begin to screw in your Ring Doorbell Elite.

That’s pretty much it.  I’m so pleased with the Ring Doorbell Elite!  No longer do I have to swap out batteries.  I know the price tag on this Doorbell is very expensive but its worth it.

I wish I had more of the installation I bought a GoPro for the video but it didn’t turn out that well.

First Step.

We rarely used our swimming pool.  So this spring we decided to finally tear it down.  Good news is we posted it on Facebook and someone bought it and took it down themselves.  (All I had to do what get rid of the liner).

Ok, So taking the pool down took about roughly 2 hour’s to get everything packed up and the liner cut up and thrown away.

Step 2.

Last year my wife and I built a patio near our kids swing set so we had somewhere to hang out.  I decided instead of just killing the power that was ran over to the pool, I was going to have an electrician come and replace the 230 line that was ran to the pool over to the shed.

Right when I had the power ran this is when I actually got the idea of installing Sonos and a Ring camera over to the shed.

I had to dig about a 30′ foot long trench and about a foot deep.  I even had the little one help.

The next day the electrician came out ran all the cabling and outlets to the shed.

Step 3.

My next step was to a add a ceiling light inside the shed so I could see what I was actually doing.  Mr Beam’s worked great for the last 2 years however now that I have power it was time to upgrade.

Purchase:  Hykolity 5000K LED Shop Light Linkable, 4FT Daylight 42W LED Ceiling Lights for Garages, Workshops, Basements, Hanging or FlushMount, with Plug and Pull Chain

Step 4.

Now that the power and lighting has been installed the next step was to extend my WiFi and network over to the shed.  I was really considering just running a CAT5 over  however the electrician was kind enough to fill the hole back in for me.  So since I already have Google WiFI in almost every room of my house I purchased another one.

Step 5.

I ran out of outlets in the shed so I decided to purchase a nice wall mountable surge/power strip.

Purchase:  Stanley 31610 SurgeMax Pro 9 Outlet Metal Surge Protector, Black

Step 6.

So now I went to Lowes and bought a piece of plywood and a circle saw to make perfect holes for the cables.

Purchase:  Desk Grommet (5 Pack) + Hole Saw kit – Ultimate Grommet Hole Bundle Kit 2-3/8″

Step 7.

Next was the expensive and fun part.  We needed to purchase the Sonos AMP so we would control Sonos and group all speakers from inside the house and outside now.  I also purchased the Sonos AMP mount so the Sonos AMP and wiring could be mounted to the plywood.  My shed’s small so I try to pack as much as I can so I wanted everything to be secure inside there.

Purchase:  Sonos Amp, The Versatile Amplifier for powering All Your Entertainment

Purchase: Sanus Wall Mount for Sonos Amp – Slim Black Design with Lockable Latch for Security

Step 8.

So now that the Sonos AMP has been installed I connected it to the Google WiFi.  Powered it on and started running speaker cable to connect to the outdoor speakers.  I decided to purchase Klipsch Outdoor speakers just from reading a ton of reviews on them.

Installing the speakers were so easy.  The mounting brackets were awesome.

I also went and purchased outdoor speaker covers so they don’t get wet.

Purchase:  Klipsch AW-650 Indoor/Outdoor Speaker – Black (Pair)

Purchase:  Two Sun Dust & Water Resistant Speaker Covers Bags for Definitive Technology AW 6500, Klipsch AW-650 and Pyle 6.5 Outdoor Bluetooth Speakers by SoundCover

That’s all!

Addison Approves!

I would always get the following errors:

1. The Plex Companion was not running or could not be found.
2. The Plex Default Video Player is not set.  Would you like to set one now?

I was confused why I was getting these errors so I decided to ask a question on their forum.

Turns out I’ve been using the Fire Cube & Plex wrong all along.  Alexa Skills can’t actually open apps by itself yet.  So the Plex App has to already be running.

So every time you want to “Ask Plex” something via Alexa, you need to make sure Plex is running behind it.  I totally understand it now.

So first you can say:  “ Alexa, open Plex “.

Then once it’s opened you can trigger the Play command.  “ Alexa, Ask Plex to Play Hot Tub Time Machine “.

• You can view the full command list here.

What I love about this device is I no longer need my TV’s actual remote.  I can say the following commands and they just work perfect.

• Alexa, Turn on the TV / Turn off the TV
• Alexa, Turn up the Volume / Turn down the Volume  – this will also adjust your soundbar or AV Receiver.  ( I’m a huge Sonos user and I just ordered the Sonos Play Base & Sub woofer, so we will see if they play together ).
• Alexa, Switch to BluRay, Switch to Cable
• Alexa, Tune to ESPN

I can also literally sit anywhere in my living room even if the volume is on high and the Fire TV Cube will hear me.

What I really love about the Fire TV Cube is the hands free PLEX Media Server experience. 

Honestly, I’m a huge Plex user and supporter almost all of my media is ripped to my computer were I do not need physical copies of my discs any more.  I can be sitting anywhere in my living room and say “Alexa, Ask Plex to Play Hackers movie” and within seconds Hackers (1995) will be playing.

Common Voice Commands

You can get started with some simple voice commands:

• Ask Plex what's On Deck?
• Ask Plex to suggest something to watch
• Ask Plex what's new?
• Tell Plex to play The Big Lebowski
• Tell Plex to play music by Bob Marley
• Tell Plex to pause
• Tell Plex to stop

Fire TV Cube and Blink Cameras

I currently use Blink and Blink XT camera’s outside and I cannot wait for them to add the following support to be able to watch the Camera clips on my TV.  I tested the commands yesterday everything works however the ability to

• “Alexa, Ask Blink to Arm My Home System”
• “Alexa, Ask Blink to Disarm My Vacation System, My Pin is…”
• “Alexa, Ask Blink What is My Status?”
• “Alexa, show the <camera name> camera”   (Not implemented yet into the Fire cube).
• “Alexa, hide the <camera name> camera”    (Not implemented yet into the Fire cube).

Fire TV Cube and Sonos Surround Sound

So I’m a huge fan of Sonos, I have the Play 1 and Play 3 speakers throughout my entire house.  Every room to be exact.  I wrote some other articles in the past about my doorbell being connected to my Sonos and when the mailman opens my mailbox it play’s a sound throughout all the speakers in the house at certain times of course.  This time I decided to take the jump and purchase the Sonos Play Base & Sub woofer for my living room.  Once I can get an electrician to install (2) outlets on at the higher ends of my ceilings I’m looking to go for the entire 5.1 experience.

The Playbase and woofer are scheduled to arrive this evening and I will post back on how my experience is with the Fire TV Cube.

Some of the bad features and it’s probably just me: 

• I’m still getting use to all of the play commands for example I seem to keep getting stuck on an app when I say “Alexa, Tune to ESPN” it seem’s if I’m on an App lets say the Food Network it try’s to find ESPN related videos inside of the Food Network app.
• Another weird thing it seems the cube will output Audio of its external speaker rather than through the TV or the receiver.  This is kind of driving me nuts.  I actually wish it didn’t say anything out of the speaker at all.  Going to look tonight to see if there’s an option to disable.

I wanted my mailbox when it was opened to alert me that the mail was delivered and what better way then to use the AOL Sound “You’ve Got Mail”.  At first I did this just screwing around but then I realized how useful this actually became.  I never have to keep checking the mailbox waiting for mail to arrive.  I can continue on with my day waiting for the “You’ve Got Mail” sound to carry out through about 6 Sonos speakers.

Step 1.  First things first you need to login to your SmartThings IDE (link).

Step 2.  Make sure you click on “My Locations” then the Location name mine is “Home“.

Step 3.  Next we need to add a Custom SmartApp.  So click on “My Smartapps” at the top of your screen and then choose the green button “New Smart App“.

Step 4.  Then choose “From Code“.

Step 5.  Copy and Paste the entire code snippet below.  Then choose “Save” and then “Publish”.

Step 6.  Now launch the SmartThings app on your Android device.  And choose “Marketplace“.

Step 7.  Then choose “SmartApps” at the top.

Step 8.  Now choose “My Apps” at the bottom.

Step 9.  Now choose the Custom Smart App we added in the IDE earlier.  “Sonos_Mailbox_Notify“.

Step 10.  Here’s where you can configure everything.  So I have mine setup so when the “Contact” opens of Mailbox it will sound the “You’ve got Mail” sound throughout my selected Sonos Speakers.  You can also switch this so it only Plays once per day, or during selected time frame.

{S Gotmail

If i’m doing the dishes and want music to only play in the kitchen I can press a Logitech Pop button and have music playing instantly in the kitchen.  They also have 2 other settings which is a double press, and a long press.  I have all mine configured the same so “Double Press” would skip to the next track.  “Long Press” will pause the current speaker (or all speakers).

One of my biggest downsides was every time I pressed the button to play something it would either pickup where it left off or it would start at the beginning of the list again.  I searched everywhere but I could figure out how to make the Logitech Pop button start with “Shuffle“.

I was playing around with some of the music services Sonos had to offer and I saw that Plex was now a beta option.  Since I’m a huge Plex user for all my Video, tv shows and movies.  I figured I would try adding some Music and letting Sonos stream from there.  (In the beginning it took awhile to get Sonos to actually talk to Plex I think it was something to do with the routing with Google Wifi, however not sure how but we fixed the problem).

When I added the Plex account I noticed it had a “Shuffle” all songs option.

Here are the steps for Adding Plex to your Sonos and having Logitech Pop start with “Shuffle” on press.  (Assuming you are already a Plex user).

Step 1.  Login to your Sonos app on your android device.  Click the (3 arrows at the top to display Options in Sonos).  Once there Click on “Add Music Services“.  Choose Plex.  It will ask you to login to your account.

Step 2.  Verify that Plex music service will play to one of your Sonos speakers and that “Shuffle All” is an option.

Step 3.  Launch the Logitech Pop application on your phone and update your Play buttons to (Shuffle All) from your Plex server.  Viola it was that easy.

I know it sucks if your coming from Spotify or Google Play and you have to physically store all of your Media on your server or computer.   Also if your computer or server is not running 24/7 you can now use Plex’s Cloud option.

I’m starting to love these buttons more and more they recently came out with an update that now I can control my Lutron caseta switches; Phillips Hue Bulbs and other smarthome options all with a press of a button.

How I have my house configured as my car approaches the house I want my Yale Smart Deadbolts to unlock, and turn on my Front porch and side porch lights; they are wired to (Lutron Caseta Switches).

Everything worked great however I had a Tasker profile that would wait 10 minutes and turn off the porch lights.  At first I tried creating a rule in SmartThings but it would turn the lights off constantly after 10 minutes even if I manual turned them on.  I figured out what I need to create is a SmartThings Virtual Switch.

SmartThings offers a 'power allowance' feature which lets you set up a device so that it will always turn itself off after a specified number of minutes.

Below is my configuration.

Step 1.  Create a virtual switch to be the timer.

To create a Virtual Switch

• Login to the IDE @ https://graph.api.smartthings.com/
• Click “My Devices“
• Click the “New Device” Button
• Enter a “Name” for the device, this can be whatever you want.
• Enter a “Label” for the device, this is optional and can be whatever you want.

-Enter a “Device Network Id” This can be anything you want. I recommend short and sweet but it cannot duplicate other device ID’s. Lets say it was a virtual switch for your living room lights, maybe call it DNID01

• “Zigbee” Id should be left blank
• Select a “Type” from the dropdown, this should be Simulated Switch (or just Switch).
• “Version” should be published
• “Location” should be your hub location, probably “Home“
• “Hub” should be your hub name.
• “Group” you won’t be able to select when creating, but these are Groups you’ve created in the Things page in the SmartThings app.
• Click Create

Now you have a Virtual On/Off Switch in Things on your SmartThings App.  You can use this Virtual Device just like any physical device.

Step 2.   Once you have created the virtual switch, it will show up in any list of your switches, including in Smart Lighting.  (If you have not already installed Smart Lighting, do so now).

To install Smart Lights:

1. Tap Marketplace 
2. Tap SmartApps
3. Tap SmartThings Recommends
4. Tap Smart Lights by SmartThings

To access Smart Lighting after installation:

1. Tap Automations 
2. Tap SmartApps
3. Tap Smart Lights

Step 3.   Create the first smart lighting automation to set the timer.

Use the “power allowance” feature in smart lighting to set the virtual timer switch to always turn off after X minutes.

You do this by selecting the virtual switch as the one you want to “control” and then saying that you want to turn it “off” (not on) and then when asked how you want to “trigger” it, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and there will be an option for “power allowance exceeded.” After you select that, you will be given a new page where you can fill in the number of minutes.

Step 4.   Create the second smart lighting automation to have the real device “follow”‘ the virtual switch. That way the real device will turn on whenever the virtual switch turns on, and turn off again whenever the virtual switch turns off.

You do this by selecting the real switch as the switch that you want to “control,” choose “turn on” and then when asked how you want to “trigger” it say by switch and then choose the virtual switch from that second list. You will also be given the option to “turn off as well” – – choose that so that the real switch will also turn off when the virtual switch turns off.

Step 5.   Create the third smart lighting automation to trigger the virtual switch.  Now you just need to set up something to turn the virtual switch on based on the trigger conditions you want, like time of day or someone arriving home or a particular mode. Usually this would be a smart lighting automation, but it could also be a routine or another smart app. Or you can just turn the virtual switch on by voice with Echo or Google home.

There you have it. The trigger condition occurs, the virtual switch turns on, the real device turns on because it is following the virtual switch, the virtual switch turns itself off because of the power allowance, and the real device turns itself off because it is following the virtual device. A virtual timer.

To change the length of time, open the smart lighting automation from step two (The one that uses the power allowance feature) and change the amount of time there.

You can set up different virtual timers for different trigger conditions or different lengths of time. Just remember that once you set a power allowance, that will always apply to that particular device for the conditions specified in that smart lighting automation.

You can also use the same method to set up a countdown timer which delays a switch turning on for X minutes. The only difference is that in step 3 instead of having the physical device come on when the virtual timer comes on, you will have the physical device come on when the virtual timer goes off. You also need to change the default “turn off as well” so that it will not apply.

Purchase:  Aeotec by Aeon Labs ZW056 Doorbell

The hardest part was installing a custom Device Handler through the Smartthings IDE.  Please make sure you do not pair this device yet with your SmartThings app.

First login to your SmartThings IDE

https://graph.api.smartthings.com

Next Click on “My Hubs” (this was my biggest problem at first, it wasn’t actually pulling up my devices so the Device Handler at first was never getting installed to my Hub).   If you see a message that says “You don’t have any hubs yet. Please use the SmartThings mobile app to claim your hub.”  You need to click on “My Locations“, then Click on your Hub Name mine was  called “Home“.  It should ask you to login again.  You should now see your Hub information.  Great you are now actually logged into your account.

We are going to be using the custom Device Handler created by krlaframboise on the SmartThings Community – [RELEASE] Aeon Labs Aeotec Doorbell

On the SmartThings IDE Page, at the Top Click on “My Device Handlers”

Next Click on “Create New Device Handler” button in Green.

Navigate over to the GitHub Device Handler Code at https://github.com/krlaframboise/SmartThings/blob/master/devicetypes/krlaframboise/aeotec-doorbell.src/aeotec-doorbell.groovy be sure to copy the entire code contents.

Now that the code is copied we want to place it back in the SmartThings IDE Device Handler.  On the Create New Device Handler Page, Click on “From Code“.  (Like shown below).

Once the Code has been Pasted in, hit the “Save” button then hit the “Publish” button.

That’s the complete setup for getting your Custom Device Handler added to your SmartThings hub.  The next step is you want to pair your new Aeon Labs Doorbell to the SmartThings hub.  Like I said in the beginning if you already have your device connected to the Hub you need to Remove it and run the exclusion tool to remove the device.

Open up your SmartThings App and Choose “Add a Thing” Make sure this is the only way you add the device, do choose from the List it needs to find it manually and apply the Custom Device Handler.

Once the SmartThings application finds your new Doorbell it should say “Aeotec Doorbell” if it does not and says something about a Siren, your device handler is installed wrong.

In the image below is what the settings will look like over your Aeon labs / Aeotec Doorbell in Smartthings.

Now that my Custom Device Handler was installed correctly.  I was able to go and Create a Custom Automation Rule so when the doorbell was pressed it would trigger an event.

I made it so the Automation Rule would turn on my (2) Hue Blooms and starting playing my Sonos Kitchen speaker on the event the “Doorbell” button was “Pushed or Held“.