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I live in Norway, and over here they're mandating new "smartmeters" for power tariff bullshit, at the same time that home automation and LED lighting along with dimmers is all the rage. Which makes articles like these quite interesting: https://www.utwente.nl/en/news/!/20...rgy-consumption
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Sep 10, 2017 21:50
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We have smart electric meters in Texas, electric and water ones. The water ones were not great and reported usage that raised water bills insanely high. I have a friend that's been fighting a $1200 water bill for two years. That's $1200 a month
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Sep 10, 2017 23:15
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Subjunctive posted:Yeah, but people will make fun of me less if it's a physical intrusion vs yelling "Hey Siri, unlock the front door" through an open window.
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Sep 12, 2017 20:40
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Egbert Souse posted:I'm stumped at which home automation system to get into for my security/lighting needs in my apartment. Video camera motion sensing you'll find isn't as reliable as a door sensor or dedicated motion sensor. Especially if the camera is outdoors--spiders and flying insects tend to wreak havoc when the sun goes down.
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Sep 12, 2017 20:49
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DangerZoneDelux posted:We have smart electric meters in Texas, electric and water ones. The water ones were not great and reported usage that raised water bills insanely high. I have a friend that's been fighting a $1200 water bill for two years. That's $1200 a month Anyone know if there's a way to buy my own old-school electric meter and get the electric company to agree to use that? There's plenty of old spinny-meters in the area. I actually want it because I moved in to a new house and want to go breaker-by-breaker to have a 100% picture of my power consumption, and verify that with all breakers off that the meter is stopped dead.
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Sep 12, 2017 21:43
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HycoCam posted:The Amazon Alexia device will only lock doors. Alexia specifically won't unlock doors for just this reason--someone yelling through an open window. Not so much with Siri. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/09/22/siri-opens-smart-lock-to-let-neighbor-walk-into-a-locked-house/amp/
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Sep 12, 2017 22:09
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Zero VGS posted:Anyone know if there's a way to buy my own old-school electric meter and get the electric company to agree to use that? There's plenty of old spinny-meters in the area. I actually want it because I moved in to a new house and want to go breaker-by-breaker to have a 100% picture of my power consumption, and verify that with all breakers off that the meter is stopped dead. Where are you at? Either way probably not. Smart meters in theory are supposed to give you a break down of your usage and there is a pretty detailed report that's generated online. Some Reddit dudes figured out how to use this info to select your best electric provider since it's "deregulated" in Houston.
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Sep 12, 2017 23:47
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Zero VGS posted:Anyone know if there's a way to buy my own old-school electric meter and get the electric company to agree to use that? There's plenty of old spinny-meters in the area. I actually want it because I moved in to a new house and want to go breaker-by-breaker to have a 100% picture of my power consumption, and verify that with all breakers off that the meter is stopped dead. FYI, there's several solutions out there that you can hook up to your electric panel to monitor power usage on a circuit by circuit basis.
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Sep 13, 2017 00:18
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I wanted Sense, but they don't sell in Canada.
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Sep 13, 2017 00:18
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Look at those YouTube conspiracy videos of people changing their electric meter cause they think smart meters are NSA spy machines 😆
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Sep 13, 2017 03:07
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lol thank you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtWcg3dx0mk although if big brother were that competent, it would be kinda scary tbh
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Sep 13, 2017 04:07
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Zero VGS posted:Anyone know if there's a way to buy my own old-school electric meter and get the electric company to agree to use that? There's plenty of old spinny-meters in the area. I actually want it because I moved in to a new house and want to go breaker-by-breaker to have a 100% picture of my power consumption, and verify that with all breakers off that the meter is stopped dead. At least in Dallas the utility company will put an old school meter to replace a smart meter but they charge you for installation and something kind of absurd for meter reading. Also I believe there is something up with the smart metering. I mean not to get too conspiracy minded but my electricity bill tracks significantly with the temperature, but the thing is I run my fan 24/7 and I'm on a chilled water system so the only cost to cool my house is powering the solenoid to the coolant pipe which should be using a very tiny amount of power that should barely register on my electricity usage. Or maybe not, maybe my solenoid is a massive, massive power hog, I don't care enough to investigate a few dollars a month.
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Sep 13, 2017 04:18
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Three Olives posted:At least in Dallas the utility company will put an old school meter to replace a smart meter but they charge you for installation and something kind of absurd for meter reading. I just got a thing in the mail about them switching my meter yesterday and the rate was $50 to keep the old meter and $25 per month to read it.
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Sep 13, 2017 05:45
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South Park is getting in on the fun with Alexia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf0WJQfGQoY
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Sep 14, 2017 20:17
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HycoCam posted:South Park is getting in on the fun with Alexia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf0WJQfGQoY Watched that last night and my Alexa was getting triggered.
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Sep 14, 2017 20:57
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HycoCam posted:South Park is getting in on the fun with Alexia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf0WJQfGQoY My Alexa goes off all the time when people are over and say something vaguely resembling "Alexa", and I have to warn people not to gently caress with it on purpose because it's apparently irresistible when you're drunk, so I've been waiting for a show to gently caress with us like this. God voice recognition can't come soon enough.
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Sep 15, 2017 04:00
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paternity suitor posted:My Alexa goes off all the time when people are over and say something vaguely resembling "Alexa", and I have to warn people not to gently caress with it on purpose because it's apparently irresistible when you're drunk, so I've been waiting for a show to gently caress with us like this. God voice recognition can't come soon enough. We've tucked the Alexia out of sight in our house. Connected it to some chessy Frisby bluetooth speakers hidden above the kitchen cabinets. Changed the voice activation from Alexia to Computer and used the UK English language setting. (Gives it a British accent.) Has done a great job stopping guests and their kids from messing with the device.
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Sep 15, 2017 04:50
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Welp, I went and dropped $200 for the Honeywell Skybell Trim camera, I guess it is like one of those Ring.com video doorbells, but they give 7 days of free event storage (as opposed to Ring's $3/month entry plan) and Skybell is partnered with Nest, so I'm taking that to mean that they are somewhat legit and that Nest probably isn't planning on doing their own doorbell. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1345555-REG/honeywell_dbcam_trimbr_skybell_slim_video_doorbell.html I got the Canary from Groupon for $99 but even at that price it really sucks (PIR motion sensor causes it to miss stuff and the beginning, recordings are always only a couple seconds, Air Quality readouts are literally worthless because they abstract the particle sensor output to just "normal/abnormal". It seems like this Doorbell would obsolete everything the Canary is trying to do, plus the doorbell is rated for outdoors so at least I can capture package dropoffs and stuff.
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Sep 15, 2017 06:01
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I use the Canary Flex outdoors with power run to it, and it takes care of the problems you mention. (Particularly the air quality thing because it doesn't do that!)
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Sep 15, 2017 13:48
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Just bought one of these Rachio Smart Controllers 8 zone 2nd gen since they're under 150 on Amazon as the daily deal today. Good reviews from Sweethome, so hopefully it'll help the summer water bill. Plus, they link with Nest and Home and poo poo. Only downside is that usually when something like this hits the daily deal it means that generation 3 is around the corner. However, as long as it waters my lawn and connects to the internet and saves me something off my >100/mo water bills then I'm fine. Hell, during the heavy months it'll be a net savings after one season if it can find 10-20 a month.
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Sep 20, 2017 14:23
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Nest event livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU7lYMzxrl0
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Sep 20, 2017 17:09
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Vagrancy posted:Nest event livestream: Is this stream unusably bad for anyone else? It's stuttering like crazy for me while everything else on the internet acts normal.
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Sep 20, 2017 17:12
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wolrah posted:Is this stream unusably bad for anyone else? It's stuttering like crazy for me while everything else on the internet acts normal. Yeah, it just suddenly became unwatchable. Typical
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Sep 20, 2017 17:14
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Vagrancy posted:Yeah, it just suddenly became unwatchable. Typical Sounds like the full Nest experience to me!
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Sep 20, 2017 17:15
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Facebook live mirror by some dude
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Sep 20, 2017 17:25
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 CNET coverage of the event Verge articles: Nest Cam IQ Outdoor Nest Hello Nest Guard Nest Cam IQ's getting Google Home built-in with a future update
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Sep 20, 2017 18:12
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This home automation poo poo is already starting to piss me off. So, Nest Thermostats don't work with SmartThings. Next, I can join my Skybell Video doorbell to the SmartThings hub by logging in to it with the app over wifi, but I guess I can't connect over Z-Wave? Also, I get that home automation stuff comes with a premium, but loving $55 for a dimmer switch with motion sensor? https://www.amazon.com/GE-26933-Motion-Dimmer-Z-Wave/dp/B071Y38FX5
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Sep 21, 2017 00:22
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My understanding is that Z-Wave certification fees are approximately exorbitant, but I haven't dug into them myself.
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Sep 21, 2017 00:33
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Zero VGS posted:This home automation poo poo is already starting to piss me off. So, Nest Thermostats don't work with SmartThings. Next, I can join my Skybell Video doorbell to the SmartThings hub by logging in to it with the app over wifi, but I guess I can't connect over Z-Wave? Z-wave costs as much as it does because it works fairly well and consistently compared to a lot of other stuff. Or at least that's the theory. That dimmer switch isn't expensive at all considering what you get.
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Sep 21, 2017 00:37
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Honestly, I'd pick these up to my situation. Walk downstairs to my kitchen and have it turn on the lights automatically in the morning? Why not. Seems like a really simple automation endpoint for running little programs
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Sep 21, 2017 05:48
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Son of a bitch I didn't know they made those with motion sensors. I would have gotten those instead!!
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Sep 21, 2017 22:21
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Zero VGS posted:This home automation poo poo is already starting to piss me off. So, Nest Thermostats don't work with SmartThings. Next, I can join my Skybell Video doorbell to the SmartThings hub by logging in to it with the app over wifi, but I guess I can't connect over Z-Wave? Full integration across all vendors in an immature market shouldn't be a surprise. Anyways, I bought some nest cams, non IQ, and may buy the home guard thing. Looks simple and integrates into their own product suite. I don't need my system call the police.
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Sep 21, 2017 22:37
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Burt Sexual posted:Full integration across all vendors in an immature market shouldn't be a surprise. Yeah but Nest seems to intentionally be trying a walled garden approach. On top of the video recording fees I'm thinking I really don't like Nest, but I guess I'm stuck with their Thermostat E since it's the only wifi thermostat that looks nice.
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Sep 22, 2017 00:04
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Zero VGS posted:Yeah but Nest seems to intentionally be trying a walled garden approach. On top of the video recording fees I'm thinking I really don't like Nest, but I guess I'm stuck with their Thermostat E since it's the only wifi thermostat that looks nice. Buy a different one that is open sourced? Lol
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Sep 22, 2017 01:37
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What's wrong with ecobee? I love mine
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Sep 22, 2017 02:56
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paternity suitor posted:What's wrong with ecobee? I love mine Eh my walls are white so I just don't want a black box on the wall, the Thermostat E is very subdued. Also the E was a good bit less money. I guess if someone like Ecobee follows suit with a similar offering I'll deitch this out.
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Sep 22, 2017 09:07
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Apparently IKEA is releasing colored versions of their Tradfri bulbs that I posted about. There's a review on YouTube and also a post on reddit where someone saw one (in the Netherlands). I don't remember if the video review mentioned price, but from the picture on reddit it looks like a color bulb + dimming switch is 35 euros, which isn't actually too bad considering a Hue bulb itself is what, $50? It also looks like it's not suppose to be released yet cause the review showed that the iOS app had no color controls, even though it did recognize the color bulb and recognized the preset colors. He also shows that it can pair with a Hue Gateway and be controlled via the Hue app just fine to select colors. Only drawback is I guess the IKEA bulbs are 600 lumens and the Hues are 800 lumens. Practically I don't know how much of a difference this makes, though. I was already planning on going to IKEA tomorrow to return the white bulbs I got cause I was just gonna go with a Hue, but if they have the colored bulbs I might change my mind since 35 euros for a bulb + remote doesn't sound too bad. Plus I could connect them to a Hue later then I don't see a problem at all. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Sep 22, 2017 |
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Sep 22, 2017 17:13
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When I got into Hue a year back I got one full color bulb, and honestly it feels like the biggest waste of money I spent out of all the somewhat overpriced smart home components I've gotten. I have a bunch of hue whites, and now any bulb I get is the hue ambiance. The ambiance one covers all the color temps and dimming needs you could have without the premium cost for wimpy and dull random colors that we honestly never use once the coolness factor wore off after an hour or two. I would be pretty hesitant to get a bulb at only 600 lumens as opposed to 800, but that is because most of my house lighting is in single bulb table lamps. As it is sometimes 800 feels just a hair not bright enough on my hue white bulbs, but color temp control on the ambiance does alleviate that a bit if is really jack up the blue tone.
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Sep 22, 2017 18:25
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I found one of the things I was looking for, a Z-Wave Plus CO2 sensor with alarm: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MCO-HOME-CO2-Sensor-MH9-CO2-Z-Wave-Plus-/112114554811?epid=0&hash=item1a1a8c57bb:g:elwAAOSw5ClXxaM6 Apparently that same company is working on a 10-in-1 model: http://www.mcohome.com/show.php?id=107 ... which will track temperature, humidity, PM2.5, VOC, PIR motion, ultra sonic motion, light intensity, noise, CO2, and smoke, all over Z-Wave Plus. I'm asking them when it'll be available.
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Sep 23, 2017 00:06
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I can't bring myself to buy smart LED bulbs when I just bought 40 various LED bulbs for $40 with instant $40 rebate...
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Sep 23, 2017 02:13
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