Hehe… there are faucets that you can make “smart” now as well – last I looked 
they were extremely expensive though.

 

For practical stuff, I really like to know when bathroom lights are left on for 
extended periods of time by kids … when the garage door is left open at night 
etc…. especially with the price of electricity here (even with LED lighting) … 

 

Also, when nobody is home for periods of time I’ll get an alert when lights are 
left on … my hot water tank is connected – it stops heating the water when 
nobody is going to be around …

 

Paul

 

 

From: Af <af-boun...@afmug.com> on behalf of Chuck McCown <ch...@wbmfg.com>
Reply-To: <af@afmug.com>
Date: Sunday, January 8, 2017 at 4:20 PM
To: <af@afmug.com>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation

 

No, get the dog to take out the trash...

 

From: Ken Hohhof 

Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2017 1:53 PM

To: af@afmug.com 

Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation

 

I guess I have a DumbHome.

 

And oddly, the things I might want to check remotely don’t seem to be on the 
list.  Like did someone leave the bathroom faucet running or a burner on the 
stove lit.  With  LED lights I don’t obsess that a light might be left on for 8 
hours.  And I don’t need my fridge ordering more eggs from Amazon.

 

The worst DIY home automation item has to be these Ring Doorbells.  For the 
time people spend dealing with their bugs, they could just hire someone to 
house sit and call them when someone is at the door.

 

Now if I could just get the dog to bring in my wife’s paper in the morning.

 

 

From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Paul Stewart
Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2017 2:40 PM
To: af@afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation

 

Look at my other posts but in short…

 

Ecobee3 thermostat system with remote sensors deployed on each floor in 
different areas

Zwave vents that are controlled to maintain temperature in different areas of 
the house

Light switches all GE (which do not have instant status option but that’s fine 
for me) including dimmers

Elk alarm system integrated with controller

Controller is Vera

Amazon Echo/Alexa voice control

Weiser touch screen door locks

Water sensor in basement (zwave)

Whole home energy monitor

 

List goes on and one J

 

 

From: Af <af-boun...@afmug.com> on behalf of Tushar Patel <tpa...@ecpi.com>
Reply-To: <af@afmug.com>
Date: Sunday, January 8, 2017 at 8:40 AM
To: <af@afmug.com>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation

 

Do you have part list you used you can share?

You mentioned Zwave. What else?



Tushar

 


On Jan 8, 2017, at 5:58 AM, Paul Stewart <p...@paulstewart.org> wrote:

My house used to run purely on Control4 system .. professionally installed and 
quite expensive.  I got sick of $125 service calls for rather simple stuff to 
be done and decided to replace it with a DYI system…. The Control4 system with 
labour and service calls etc set me back around $25k in total.

 

Right now with the DYI system I have probably $4k invested plus my time … at 
most.  Zero monthly subscription, zero headaches …. And no service calls.

 

The one part though that I think a lot of folks overlook (as I did) is working 
with electrical in your house … I replaced outlets and switches for example and 
the zwave stuff I used is much deeper than normal switches – I wish now that I 
had just hired an electrician to mess around with that stuff in particular as 
it’s not something I do every day kind of thing ….

 

I know someone in my area that does home automation for a living … done it for 
years.  He is very busy … his main clients are folks who have cottages and wish 
to remotely control/monitor their properties especially during times they are 
not visiting it very much …  

 

Paul

 

 

 

From: Af <af-boun...@afmug.com> on behalf of Joe Novak <jno...@lrcomm.com>
Reply-To: <af@afmug.com>
Date: Friday, January 6, 2017 at 4:13 PM
To: <af@afmug.com>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeautomation/

 

Just reading that a little bit may peak your interest in the DIY stuff. I am 
considering setting up a system at home. https://home-assistant.io/ is the 
software I'd like to use to run it.

 

On Fri, Jan 6, 2017 at 1:48 PM, jay weekley <iluvbroadb...@gmail.com> wrote:

That's what I was wondering.  I look at the stuff Lowe's and wonder how many 
people have the knowledge to set it all up but I have zero knowledge in the 
products.  Maybe it's time to automate my thermostat. 

 

On Fri, Jan 6, 2017 at 1:37 PM, Lewis Bergman <lewis.berg...@gmail.com> wrote:

There is so much do it yourself gear out there now I would think the only money 
would be in the very high end stuff. Things you probably have to focus as a 
sole business.

 

On Fri, Jan 6, 2017 at 10:23 AM jay weekley <iluvbroadb...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is there any real money to be made in home automation?  Any recurring revenue?  
How about headaches and problems?

 

 

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