[adriancr]

Note, this is what I use things but I also have dumb switches to control if things fail. I also dont put control in hard to reach places. I just use outdoor sensors + smart bulbs.

Use case 1: Open all lights in yard at night when exterior gate is open or motion detected. Shut off after set amount of time of no activity.

Use case 2: light in shed/basement/garage on when door is open.

Use case 3: control lights via telegram / get notifications as alarm system.

Use case 4: water sensors anywhere you can get a leak. (have been flooded while away)

Use case 5: you dont want to rewire the house but want to link multiple lights together.

Use case 6: you want to remotely enable lights outside from second floor to check what the dog is barking at.

I can go on.

What the guy did wrong was ignore failures and not have a way to deal with them

[greggman3]

I have been fortunate to have never been flooded but I'm curious if you got the alarm would the situation turn out much better than if you didn't?

[s5300]

Yes, it really just depends on the circumstances.

At a friend's house at 2am in San Diego, first hard rain in months, outdoor drain that parallel garages cement slopes into was clogged. Water got to be hilariously high, he'd mentioned that before he rented the place his ground level bedroom adjacent to the garage had been remodeled because of a flood. So like, 8 inches high. Anyways, we had thousands of dollars of lithium batteries on the garage floor... shit got dangerously close, and all it took was clearing some leaves out of the drain to fix. If nobody would've happened to be there though, would've been quite the bad situation.

That's a bit not answering your question tho - with regards to alarms tripping, know somebody with a warehouse in Sacramento - owner hadn't been at the shop for a few days, employee had. One night a security alarm trips, he makes the 20 min drive to the shop, turns out the security alarm circuit had shorted from water 4" high water level caused by a paper towel clogging a sink that was left on. Fortunately he had mostly everything on raised shelving.

If you you have a reason to have some alarms, and they go off when you're away, you'll likely be able to say whether or not it's worth it to call emergency services and say literally break my windows and go inside to see what happened. In the case of a burst water pipe or something, they'd be able to shut off your water mains saving you from further damage. That's the jist or so.

[sokoloff]

There are motorized whole house water valve shut offs that can be connected to leak sensors. Have a water heater rust out, leak, fill the pan, trip the sensor, shutoff the house water, continue to slowly leak its 30-60 gallons out, but at least it’s not continuous, pressurized leaking until you notice.

Even without an automated valve, you could shut off a manual valve yourself if alerted to a slow leak.

Leak sensors can also help if you have a failed sump pump. My sump pits have a main pump, about 6” higher a second battery-backed pump with a (local) alarm. It’s a good idea, but the battery pump often fails to run when needed because of sitting so long, so the alarm is a wise addition. (If it ever goes off while you’re not testing the system, something needs attention.)

[adriancr]

Manual shut off water pipes and power outlets if it looks bad. (as others mentioned you can automate this)

Then check source of flooding and try and fix it, see other people's comments.

It's better then to have your home flooded for a long period of time while you're off at work or sleeping or somewhere else.

Also better then having a short / potentially getting electrocuted.

[WalterBright]

I have a couple motion sensing lights. They randomly click on and off. P.O.S.

[adriancr]

During the day they are mostly useless outdoor.

During the night position them where there's not much infrared pollution.

I used to get random on/off from car lights reflected off home.

I used to get notifications from cats and birds too in the middle of the night.

I got small aqara sensors that you just glue to places and just moved them around until I got good spots.

Also, if they go on they just turn on lights so not much of an issue. Alarm is not driven by them but by smarter cameras.