What's the smart home fail that almost made you quit and what fixed it?

[Alan]

What was the worst "smart home is a mistake" moment you've had? The one that almost made you tear everything out? What was the exact change that made it stable in the end?

It could be lights going off at the wrong time, sensors lying, automations going off twice, voice assistants not listening to you, devices dropping out randomly, or a system that got slower over time. I'm very interested in the one fix that worked, like moving something to local control, changing platforms, making automations easier, or switching the brand of a problem sensor.

Please tell us what platform you're on and what kinds of devices were causing the trouble if you can. The patterns are usually the same, but the fixes can look different.

 

[MasterDragon]

I almost quit when my WiFi devices kept dropping and the whole house felt laggy. The fix was moving the important stuff to local control and using Zigbee for lights and sensors. Once the basics were local, the “random” behavior mostly stopped.