[HH] Home remote control - not exactly hardware hacking.

Wed Dec 7 16:44:27 EST 2011

I saw a bunch of Home Automation products built around PlugComputers at the Marvell PlugIN a year or so ago... http://www.amahi.org/ was one of them... I think you need a halfway decent wireless system in your house for this class of products...

On Dec 7, 2011, at 2:21 PM, Tom Metro wrote:

> Jerry Feldman wrote:
>> Tom Metro wrote:
>>> I recommend starting small and simple. If you go Z-Wave start with one
>>> of these:
>>> http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-HA07C-Settings-Wireless-Control/dp/B000BRGU2E/
>> 
>> ...it is a pain to change the setting on the time change as well as
>> adjust for sundown.
> 
> The above timer actually supports a sunrise and sunset timer setting,
> which theoretically further eliminates the need to make timer
> adjustments. I found the feature a bit unpredictable, and limiting
> because it didn't support setting an offset. (Maybe you want it to turn
> on later, because the sun sets later at your lat/lon. Or maybe you want
> it to turn on a bit earlier because it is an indoor light on a shaded
> side of your house that gets darker before sunset.)
> 
> So I ended up just programming in fixed times, which I adjust a few
> times a year.
> 
> Ultimately I want it to be driven by light sensors, so when you have a
> dark rainy day like today, the lights come on earlier.
> 
> 
>> What I would like to do more long term is to control the thermostat.
>> My current thermostat is good, but very few compensate for holidays.
>> Additionally, if I am away from home and I forget to set it for
>> vacation, with home automation I would be able to.
> 
> Check out this thermostat:
> http://www.nest.com/
> 
> It costs $250 (currently sold out). Has an iPhone inspired UI (and 320 x
> 320 pixel color display). It learns your usage patterns so you don't
> have to manually program a setback schedule.
> 
> The site says it has an "activity sensor" to tell when people are
> around, but they don't specify the technology. There's no visible PIR
> sensor on the face. (Specs say it has proximity, near-field, and
> far-field sensors, plus ambient light sensor.)
> 
> It is WiFi connected and will use weather data to adjust its settings.
> As you'd expect it also lets you remotely control the thermostat via an
> account on the manufacturer's web site (and via mobile apps.). (And that
> likely means the feature will become useless if the manufacturer goes
> out of business. I understand why companies favor this approach, but I
> hate it. No mention of an API or hacker community, but they may exist.)
> 
> Specs say it supports Zigbee wireless networking in addition to WiFi.
> (Zigbee is structurally similar to Zwave, and is sometimes used for home
> automation, but it is a general purpose communication protocol, and
> lacks a home automation specification, so random devices from different
> manufacturers don't work together. They probably use it for
> inter-thermostat communication so that functionality would work
> independent of the availability of WiFi.)
> 
> While it may be the most stylish thermostat you can find, and even comes
> with its own stylish screwdriver, $250 is pretty pricey. And it
> supposedly works best when you link multiple of them together (up to
> 10). I imagine you'd need to spread a few around your house in order for
> the automatic away detection to work well, unless you happen to walk by
> your thermostat a lot when you are home.
> 
> 
> On the more practical side of things, you can get a GE Zwave thermostat
> for $60:
> http://www.safemart.com/GE-Security-Wireless/GE-Z-Wave-Wireless-Thermostat-IS-ZW-TSTAT-100.htm
> 
> 2Gig (an alarm panel mfgr) Z-STAT Z-Wave Programmable Thermostat for $88
> http://www.amazon.com/2Gig-Z-STAT-Z-Wave-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B004MM4800/
> 
> Trane for $126:
> http://www.amazon.com/TZEMT400BB3-Remote-Energy-Management-Thermostat/dp/B0052MHPP4/
> 
> Honeywell for $159:
> http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-TH8320ZW1007-Enabled-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B005EJ7YO2/
> 
> 
> When I last looked into Zwave thermostats a few years ago, the
> Wayne-Dalton model was the most popular choice (due to selling for under
> $100), but got complaints about a cheap plastic enclosure that broke
> easily. Looks like it has since been discontinued.
> 
> The Trane was the next option, but that the time sold for over $200.
> They've come out with a new model and dropped the price (reviews seem
> positive).
> 
> The others are newer to the market. The GE one is made to work with
> their alarm panels and I don't see any reviews indicating whether it is
> generally compatible with other Zwave controllers. (I happen to own some
> GE alarm equipment, but don't use the Zwave functionality as they
> stupidly made it dependent on you subscribing to a 3rd party alarm
> monitoring service.)
> 
> The 2Gig is also meant to work with an alarm panel, but the manufacturer
> explicitly says it is compatible with other controllers, such as the
> (Linux running) MiCasaVerde Vera controller. The reviews on it sound
> promising.
> 
> 
> Looks like there are a bunch of WiFi thermostats on the market now too,
> like:
> http://www.amazon.com/Homewerks-Thermostat-CT-30-H-K2-Wireless-Module/dp/B004YZFU1Q/
> 
> Probably a good bet if you just want to be able to remotely control a
> single thermostat and not integrate it with a home automation setup. I
> imagine each one has its own proprietary interface, and requires use of
> a manufacturer's web site to communicate with it.
> 
> 
> If you are an industrious hacker you can pair one of these Zwave
> thermostats with several Zwave temperature sensors, or temp/light/motion
> sensors:
> http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=HomeSeer+HSM100&tbm=shop&cid=6168500570220552410&os=sellers
> 
> and create the equivalent of the multi-thermostat Nest thermostat setup.
> 
> 
> For me, the most interesting aspect of a home automation connected
> thermostats would be heating efficiency tracking. The thermostat can
> report the amount of time your furnace was running (my old programmable
> thermostat does this, but not convenient to record that info
> daily/weekly), from which you can calculate fuel consumption (unless you
> have the latest variable-burn rate technology). Correlate that with the
> "degree days" statistics for the period, and you can see how efficiently
> your heating system is working. Then when you make adjustments to your
> insulation, you can pretty quickly see if that is reflected in improved
> efficiency.
> 
> -Tom
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