I really doubt party lights are going to be more of a deterrent than bright flood lights.

Keep it simple. Just install bright motion lights somewhere appropriate. Add a camera for a little more teeth.

You could do something with WLED and strip lights. But it sounds like you want a solution and not a project with indefinite completion date.

Any smart lock will have the ability to be opened remotely. That is the smart part. But some will be only via their cloud app. Ideally you probably want a local solution. If so, avoid any WiFi options.

There are plenty of non-smart electronic locks that allow you to have a wired remote release.

I’ve had a Trilogy T3 in my house for 2 decades. It is a keypad lock, not smart. But it has a remote release wire that I connected to a smart relay. This allows me to open my door remotely without having to trust that some lock company got their digital security right when eve big tech companies fail.

O hope you have a good understanding of network security if you are forwarding ports like that.

It is like having doors on your house that are always open if the thieves only bother to check.

There should be no need to forward ports from the outside when things are done right.

I believe all those options will work.

What I am thinking of is something like a kasa smart plug

That will work.

but controlled by USB by the Pi.

Now you made it difficult. I’m not aware of any smart plug that can be controlled via USB. They are either WiFi and you make an API call or ZigBee/Thread/Zwave and you need a controller like SmartThings/Alexa/HomeAssistant to send the command to the device.

All my dimmers also have RGB LEDs built in. They are great for notifications.

I don’t think I understand your use case.

I just buy ZigBee switches. I control them remotely using HomeAssistant, SmartThigns and Alexa. Any user in the house has access to the same phone app.

If you are dealing with API keys you must be stuck trying to control WiFi lights across the internet through their cloud service and back.

If you want to change color temperature, a smart bulb is the only real practical way. But still a compromise in usability.

If you don’t, then smart switches on a proper mesh protocol (thread, zigbee, zwave; not wifi) is the only answer. That way everything just works as everyone expects. There is no user training. You don’t have to worry about your automation not working because somebody turned the switch off. Everything just works like you are used to, but now they are also smart.

1- there are smart switches specific for this. But most work differently than the old dumb switch. You usually wire them with only one master switch actually controlling the load and how many slave switches you need for the other locations. The salves just tell the master what to do.

There are some special ones that allow you to only have to change one switch to a new smart master switch and will work in conjunction with the existing dumb switches in the circuit. Much cheaper, but you only get dimming control from the master.

2 - Sounds like you need a double-switch. I know zooz has one. https://www.getzooz.com/zooz-zen30-double-switch/

Yeah, won’t work till you get that figured out.

This is most likely in the programming of the Sonoff. You want it to close the contacts momentarily, not hold it closed.

I can’t think of any sensor that won’t give you 8 million false alarms for each time it accurately detects the problem at hand.

If they never go to the bottom of the cage unless they fall, you could potentially but the bottom grate on load cells and tune it to tell the difference between poop falling and the full bird.

Thinking way outside the box, a camera running Frigate could probably be trained to recognize the the night-fright pattern and alert reliably.

If his plan is to get rid of it, he probably has already figured out how he is going to deal with the hole left behind.

What is the advantage of taking the time and effort to remove it in one piece just to toss it in the garbage?

Build your own

Not great advice considering these could easily burn your entire house to the ground if not done properly.

Most people do not have the knowledge and skills to even begin to attempt this.

I have built many LiIon battery packs and it is not a huge savings over buying pre-built packs from professionals. The cells are going to be the primary cost no matter what. Then you still need to get an inverter and charge controller and package it all nicely.

These things are intended for people who like the convenience. Telling them to build their own is equivalent to telling my parents that Ring doorbell is overpriced and they should roll their own solution. You know, bu ya DVR, buy compatible cameras, connect it all and securely exposing it online. Easy right?

Not really. That is one thing I have no need to automate. We rarely change our blinds. They are almost always open.

If it was super cheap, like $10 per window I would just because why not.

But the cost for what it provides is probably some of the worst ROI in the HA space.

It is much cheaper because you are getting a fraction of the capacity. The one you linked has 3 kWh of capacity. The power wall has 13.5.

The power wall also has a 6 kW inverter instead of 3 (and I seriously doubt it will output 3 continuously without overheating).

Plus you are not connecting these things to your home breaker panel like the powerwall does.

I’m not a Tesla fan, but you have to compare apples-to-apples.

Just break it. It is garbage anyway.

It could be many things.

Does the switch work locally? Can you hit the button on it and make it turn on?

Are you sure the load is good? Have you tried it with another load or validated the load works without the switch?

Did SmartThings find, recognize and add the switch?

Is the switch still within range of your z-wave network?

What would be my best option to get a smart switch on this that would run my electrical outlets in the eves?

A smart switch is a good option since the outlets are already wired to the switch. It should work.

The other option are smart outlet plugs. The problem is these can’t do anything if somebody turns of the switch.

What you need are smart thermostats. It sounds like the hard part will be finding smart thermostats that work with your particular units.

Scene controller?

the wiring is 12VDC

Ugh, nevermind. Maybe you can find a 12v presence sensor.