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So, what do I need to fake a 3 way setup. Say I replace a standard single switch with a zwave switch...it seems like I should be able to put another switch somewhere in a single gang box that only has power that will control the other switch and fake a 3 way setup. Is there a purpose-made switch for this or can/should I just use a regular zwave switch, not hook anything up to the load side, and set up something in smartthings?
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Nov 5, 2017 20:49
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Thermopyle posted:So, what do I need to fake a 3 way setup. Say I replace a standard single switch with a zwave switch...it seems like I should be able to put another switch somewhere in a single gang box that only has power that will control the other switch and fake a 3 way setup. Most zwave brands have that exact thing available, usually a bit cheaper than an actual load-controlling Switch. http://www.gocontrol.com/detail.php?productId=25
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Nov 5, 2017 23:12
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Sanity check, please. I’ve got a Honeywell RTH9580WF thermostat, and I’m tired of Alexa not being able to change from heat to cool, and its own scheduling sucks. (App’s pretty good, though.) Talk me out of getting an ecobee3 Lite and buying a couple of sensors rather than getting an ecobee4 (that I’ll immediately turn off its built in Alexa integration and just let me Echos run it). Seems like the 3 has better hardware quality, I have a c-wire, and I don’t mind buying sensors a la carte given the lower price of the 3. Rational reasons against this choice, such that I should choose the 4?
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Nov 6, 2017 18:31
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Tapedump posted:Sanity check, please. The 4 is $40 off today because it's Alexa's birthday or something. I think if you consider the cost of the 3 plus buying a sensor it might be a wash.
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Nov 6, 2017 18:48
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Tapedump posted:Sanity check, please. Ive heard most people like the 3 vs the 4. I also got the 3 lite with 2 free sensors on a fathers day deal and love it. Apparently the alexa in the 4 is super annoying and if you shut it off it has a constant red light (like when you mute an echo). Also given how much my living room dot and kitchen echo fight over who gets to respond throwing in another variable sounds awful. Get the three. It does everything the 4 does without the drawbacks (assuming you already have full house alexa coverage which sounds like you do)
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Nov 6, 2017 20:53
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Oooh, the red-light disabled Alexa in the 4 could be a WAF problem. Funny how this is the very day I'm strongly considering this, given the price cut of the 4.
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Nov 6, 2017 21:04
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Just unlink Alexa, don't mute it. You can still enable the Ecobee Alexa skill and control it from other Echo devices.
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Nov 7, 2017 00:00
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I bought a 3 lite this weekend and I really like it. Drawbacks of going that route over the 4 are the lack of built in Alexa, which you say doesn’t bother you. Also you don’t get the bundled sensors and it cannot control humidifier units at the furnace and I think it can’t do ventilators if you have those. Otherwise the basic performance is the same from what I understand.
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Nov 7, 2017 03:25
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Thank you all for your input. I've gone with the 3 since I found a deal on sensors, and my old 1973 home only has a simple furnace and heat pump.
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Nov 7, 2017 17:24
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Tapedump posted:Thank you all for your input. I've gone with the 3 since I found a deal on sensors, and my old 1973 home only has a simple furnace and heat pump. Where did you find the sensor deal? I’m interested in picking one or two up.
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Nov 7, 2017 20:48
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If I get an ecobee3, do I really need the room sensors for a 700 sqft apartment? I'm assuming not, but I just want to someone to confirm.
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Nov 8, 2017 01:51
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MonkeyFit posted:If I get an ecobee3, do I really need the room sensors for a 700 sqft apartment? I'm assuming not, but I just want to someone to confirm. Depends on where your thermostat actually lives. For us it was important to have one in our babies room since the heat doesn’t distribute evenly throughout the house. If your thermostat is on an outside wall it’s not a bad idea to put the additional sensor somewhere more central.
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Nov 8, 2017 14:25
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ElCondemn posted:If your thermostat is on an outside wall it’s not a bad idea to put the additional sensor somewhere more central. It's pretty central. Thanks for the help.
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Nov 8, 2017 15:06
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Is this the place to talk about security cameras too? Somebody stole one of my parents' goats  So they are asking me to put together a quote for security cameras. Are there any reasonably priced NVRs out there now that aren't unreliable buggy pieces of poo poo? Or should I just roll a PC with Blue Iris? Cloud based solutions are not an option due to lovely rural internet.As for the cameras themselves, is HikVision still considered a reliable option?
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Nov 8, 2017 15:17
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CopperHound posted:Is this the place to talk about security cameras too? PC with Blue Iris. And Hik is a fine option as long as you understand that the cameras should be behind a firewall with no port forwarding or other direct exposure to the internet.
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Nov 8, 2017 16:17
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Thomamelas posted:And Hik is a fine option as long as you understand that the cameras should be behind a firewall with no port forwarding or other direct exposure to the internet.
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Nov 8, 2017 16:24
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housefly posted:Where did you find the sensor deal? I’m interested in picking one or two up.
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Nov 8, 2017 18:13
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Thomamelas posted:PC with Blue Iris. And Hik is a fine option as long as you understand that the cameras should be behind a firewall with no port forwarding or other direct exposure to the internet.
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Nov 8, 2017 18:15
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Tapedump posted:VPN access to the host for remote viewing would be okay, right? (Edgerouter Lite 3 with L2TP/IPSec) VPN access would work. Generally I prefer to isolate the cameras onto a separate network and then use the VMS for viewing.
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Nov 8, 2017 18:26
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Oh, indeed. No access to the Internet by the cameras themselves, you bet.. but the VMS made VPN-viewable. Roger that.
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Nov 8, 2017 18:44
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Ecobee4 is getting a firmware upgrade to support Alexa ESP. I'm gonna give it a second shot I guess...
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Nov 9, 2017 21:04
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It works sort of. I️ was able to turn on my entertainment System and start up Spotify from the ecobee, but then it got mixed up. It started playing a different playlist than it showed on my phone, phone couldn’t control fire tv, echo dot stopped listening to commands like pause, and then ecobee Alexa couldn’t control firetv...I️ will turn it back off for a while, some bugs to work out it seems.
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Nov 10, 2017 00:55
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So ESP works but the Alexa implementation is still trash. Got it.
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Nov 10, 2017 00:57
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Anyone having problems with Alexa and Smart Things scenes? I wonder if it may be related to assigning an echo to a group/room thing. My bedroom Dot no longer recognizes 'Good Night!' but when I look at Scenes in the app it's listed there. I'm so used that "Alexa, turn on Good Night" is the last thing I do that it's jarring.
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Nov 10, 2017 15:02
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Has anyone dabbled with building their own custom system with NodeRed? I noticed it has Zwave ability, and can even work with Alexa using the same emulated Philips Hue bridge trick that Home Assistant takes advantage of. The dashboard looks nice as well, and even looks much like Home Assistant. I think I might start playing around with it and see what I can come up with.....
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Nov 10, 2017 15:08
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I picked up two of Best Buy's Insignia brand wi-fi outlet plugs since they're on sale for $14.99 each. While I haven't tried them with HomeKit yet, they didn't require a hub and simply hooked into my wi-fi. Only took about five minutes to set up. The Insignia app is basic, but it has surprisingly fast response time (only a second of delay from click to on/off) and you're able to schedule the lights. I'm actually thinking of buying a few more to have all the lamps in my apartment controllable since they work so fast. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-wi-fi-smart-plug-white/5529012.p?skuId=5529012
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Nov 12, 2017 05:48
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I want maybe 4 lights to turn on and off at random times during the day/night when I'm away. Can this be achieved easily? I have google home. Also, it would be great if I could always control/check the current status of the lights at anytime through the internet.
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Nov 12, 2017 07:21
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Philips Hue can do this through the app, it lets you schedule it for certain days/times as well.
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Nov 12, 2017 16:40
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Frank Dillinger posted:Philips Hue can do this through the app, it lets you schedule it for certain days/times as well. So all the lights in my house are LED "daylight" (white) lights. I assume the hue lights can replicate this. Does my Google home act as the hub then or does the hue app connect directly to them?
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Nov 12, 2017 17:48
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lol internet. posted:So all the lights in my house are LED "daylight" (white) lights. I assume the hue lights can replicate this. Does my Google home act as the hub then or does the hue app connect directly to them? No, you need a hue hub. The phone app and/or google home will connect to the hub, which will connect to individual bulbs.
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Nov 12, 2017 18:01
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Thomamelas posted:And Hik is a fine option as long as you understand that the cameras should be behind a firewall with no port forwarding or other direct exposure to the internet.
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Nov 12, 2017 18:02
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CopperHound posted:Okay... I didn't realize what a clusterfuck security camera supply chains are. The only direct to consumer vendor I can find that doesn't seem sketchy as gently caress is B&H, but they cost ~$100 more than I was expecting. Is there a cheaper supplier where I don't have to worry about bricking or getting a Chinese interface when updating firmware? Hikvision cams are tricky (hacked firmware on Chinese market cams) but you can buy legit Dahua cams on aliexpress. I bought two from BEC technology/Empire technology (same guy, posts as EmpiretecAndy on IP camera forums. Ships DHL, haven’t had any issues.
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Nov 12, 2017 18:24
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lol internet. posted:So all the lights in my house are LED "daylight" (white) lights. I assume the hue lights can replicate this. Does my Google home act as the hub then or does the hue app connect directly to them? You actually like the pure white bulbs? You don’t find them fatiguing?
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Nov 12, 2017 19:38
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Grassy Knowles posted:No, you need a hue hub. The phone app and/or google home will connect to the hub, which will connect to individual bulbs. Great thanks! Any idea if Lutron system would do what I want? I wonder if the whole Hue thing might be an overkill. I want to essentially mimic someone at home if I'm not at home. (lights on and off random times.) eddiewalker posted:You actually like the pure white bulbs? You don’t find them fatiguing? Not at all. lol internet. fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Nov 12, 2017 |
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Nov 12, 2017 19:50
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Are these lights with in wall switches or are they plug in lamps? If they're lamps, you can just buy cheap timers that the lamps plug in to to shut them on and off.
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Nov 12, 2017 20:24
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CopperHound posted:Okay... I didn't realize what a clusterfuck security camera supply chains are. The only direct to consumer vendor I can find that doesn't seem sketchy as gently caress is B&H, but they cost ~$100 more than I was expecting. Is there a cheaper supplier where I don't have to worry about bricking or getting a Chinese interface when updating firmware? They aren't the only one but some of it is that Hikvision generally sells to end users through partners that rebrand, like Swann. And B&H's pricing is slightly under the walk in price at ADI. If you don't want grey market, that's as cheap as you're going to get for Hikvision.
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Nov 12, 2017 20:25
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Thermopyle posted:Are these lights with in wall switches or are they plug in lamps? Even with the cheapest timers it seems like the Hue starter kit is the better deal.
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Nov 12, 2017 20:44
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LastInLine posted:Even with the cheapest timers it seems like the Hue starter kit is the better deal. It just depends on how many lights he wants to do and how into automation he wants to get.
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Nov 12, 2017 20:55
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Thomamelas posted:They aren't the only one but some of it is that Hikvision generally sells to end users through partners that rebrand, like Swann. And B&H's pricing is slightly under the walk in price at ADI. If you don't want grey market, that's as cheap as you're going to get for Hikvision. Here's the best kept secret for indoor Hikvisions: Order from Annke for $50 a pop. These take official Hik firmware, though they come with custom firmware. Follow the instructions on post 18 to get these cameras updated with official Hik firmware with all security patches. bobfather fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Nov 12, 2017 |
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Nov 12, 2017 22:38
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Thermopyle posted:Are these lights with in wall switches or are they plug in lamps? Thermopyle posted:It just depends on how many lights he wants to do and how into automation he wants to get. One room is a lightswitch room. The other room has a lightswitch but it controls a lamp through the outlet. I really don't care that much about automation but I just want the cheapest method. I prefer not to have a set timer as I want the times different everyday instead of the same time everyday.
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Nov 13, 2017 06:12
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