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Smart Home.


Jronman

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Anyone use anything that falls under the "smart home" category? Whether it be lights, thermostats, door locks, cameras, etc.

 

I currently have a couple LIFX led color smart bulbs. 1000 lumens per bulb and a 20+ year life span. Can output both white light in various kelvin temperatures ranging from yellow to white to blue and also can output colors as well using a color wheel. Completely dimmable as well. They are expensive and a bit bigger than the average light bulb. Will not fit in many flush mount or semi-flush mount. They are worth it to me but not sure about the average person. These bulbs are really high quality.

 

I guess my thermostat is somewhat smart. It can be controlled via a website.

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I have literally none of the smart home stuff. I don't see how saying a command a few times is easier than flipping a light switch. I do have a XB1 but even that drives me crazy, I have to use a higher-pitched voice for it to understand most of the commands.

 

You'd think I'd be all about the smart house and smart electronics because I do electronics repair professionally but I don't at all. I hate smart TV's interface. I still have an iPhone 5 because the newer iPhones don't seem to offer much other than a larger screen which doesn't fit in my pocket as well. I had a Samsung S2 Skyrocket and hated Android, Windows looks decent but there are no apps and little in the way of accessories. I swear I'm not a grumpy old man, I'm 30.

 

I do like my LED light bulbs because I hate soft white, I want every light bulb to be "daylight."

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Can be a grumpy and definitely an old man. I do not care for "smart" anything, except people. Use a flip cell phone if I carry one at all and use a separate camera when I need one. I have been using and repairing computers since I used an old teletype terminal and paper tape to interface (no monitor, print only) with a GE235 mainframe in high school, so it isn't that I don't understand technology. I just don't need or want most of it. I find a lot of it very intrusive and am old enough to remember privacy. Good luck to those who like it though.

Teletype-IMG_7287.jpg

GE.235.1964.102646091.pdf

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I wanted a "smart" thermostat but my wife is against all the wifi in the house. Who knows what the long term effects can be. When we had the new 200 amp service put in, they wanted to put the meter on the outside of my daughters bedroom. We said no way and had it run to the other side of the house, so it is away from the bedrooms.

 

We even went so far as to put "shielding" up behind the drywall behind the meter, 4 ft in each direction. It may have been a total waste of money, but it gives my wife a little piece of mind.

 

We also have a switch in the master bedroom wired to an outlet across the house where we plug the wifi in. This way we can turn the wifi off from the bedroom.

 

Like I said, all of our precautions may be for nothing, but having a child in the house is out main concern.

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43 minutes ago, SetBuilder said:

I wanted a "smart" thermostat but my wife is against all the wifi in the house. Who knows what the long term effects can be. When we had the new 200 amp service put in, they wanted to put the meter on the outside of my daughters bedroom. We said no way and had it run to the other side of the house, so it is away from the bedrooms.

 

We even went so far as to put "shielding" up behind the drywall behind the meter, 4 ft in each direction. It may have been a total waste of money, but it gives my wife a little piece of mind.

 

We also have a switch in the master bedroom wired to an outlet across the house where we plug the wifi in. This way we can turn the wifi off from the bedroom.

 

Like I said, all of our precautions may be for nothing, but having a child in the house is out main concern.

what is the long term effects of wifi?

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1 hour ago, SetBuilder said:

I wanted a "smart" thermostat but my wife is against all the wifi in the house. Who knows what the long term effects can be. When we had the new 200 amp service put in, they wanted to put the meter on the outside of my daughters bedroom. We said no way and had it run to the other side of the house, so it is away from the bedrooms.

 

We even went so far as to put "shielding" up behind the drywall behind the meter, 4 ft in each direction. It may have been a total waste of money, but it gives my wife a little piece of mind.

 

We also have a switch in the master bedroom wired to an outlet across the house where we plug the wifi in. This way we can turn the wifi off from the bedroom.

 

Like I said, all of our precautions may be for nothing, but having a child in the house is out main concern.

 

I've heard of doing that with the wifi switch to turn it off, but that was from a paranoid guy, so i don't buy it.

 

41 minutes ago, Jronman said:

what is the long term effects of wifi?

 

Probably some quack came up with an unfounded theory about effects of wifi signals on human brain activity.. hmm can't say it's not interesting, just no proof

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43 minutes ago, Jronman said:

what is the long term effects of wifi?

 

Do a google search on "Smart meter radiation" and "WiFi radiation" I'm not trying to push you one way or the other. If it costs a few hundred bucks to make my wife happy about it, then so be it.

My electrician took some readings at the meter and inside the house and he said the shield was definitely doing something, and he is a total conspiracy theorist...

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8 minutes ago, KnarlyCarl said:

 

I've heard of doing that with the wifi switch to turn it off, but that was from a paranoid guy, so i don't buy it.

 

If we ever sell this house, it will take the next owner months, to figure out what that switch controls. :)

 

Guess which one it is...

11701141_1170255529658189_152803173866855527_n.jpg

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5 minutes ago, SetBuilder said:

 

If we ever sell this house, it will take the next owner months, to figure out what that switch controls. :)

 

Guess which one it is...

11701141_1170255529658189_152803173866855527_n.jpg

 

 OH MAN wow!! 6 double gangs and each one can be split into two, you have 24 outlets to check out of this lot LOL

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Just now, KnarlyCarl said:

 

 OH MAN wow!! 6 double gangs and each one can be split into two, you have 24 outlets to check out of this lot LOL

 

My wife planned out the lighting and outlets. In our 2500 sqft house between the outlets, sconces and ceiling fixtures, there are at least 140 boxes, probably more.

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6 minutes ago, Jronman said:

@SetBuilder let me guess the very top left is outlet is the switch since it looks different than the rest. May I ask why so many outlets on one wall?

 

Nope, that one has direct USB ports for charging phones etc. It is the wall behind my wife's desk, she hates cords running all over the place. So she wanted short runs for computer, printer, lamps, router, etc. 

https://www.leviton.com/en/products/electrical-wiring-devices/usb-charger-devices

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1 minute ago, SetBuilder said:

 

Nope, that one has direct USB ports for charging phones etc. It is the wall behind my wife's desk, she hates cords running all over the place. So she wanted short runs for computer, printer, lamps, router, etc. 

oh I think I understand now. I was looking for a switch but could find any but now realized I need o find the outlet the switch controls and not the switch itself. Im guessing the switched outlet is one of the 3 on the right not sure which one though.

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12 minutes ago, Jronman said:

oh I think I understand now. I was looking for a switch but could find any but now realized I need o find the outlet the switch controls and not the switch itself. Im guessing the switched outlet is one of the 3 on the right not sure which one though.

 

Now your catching on, one of a 4 gang switch in the master bedroom controls the bottom right outlet (By her desk). :)  On each side of the bed we have a 4 gang that is half hot. The switch controls the other half, it is also a 3 way to the switch by the door. This way you can turn on the bed side lamps as you enter the room and turn them off with a switch by the bed, instead of reaching up to turn the knob on the lamp.  

 

Even with as much planning as we did there are still a lot of things we would have done differently after living in the house. I just don't feel like opening walls up again. Although I may open a few.... It never ends.

IMG_5305.JPG

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2 hours ago, SetBuilder said:

I wanted a "smart" thermostat but my wife is against all the wifi in the house. Who knows what the long term effects can be. When we had the new 200 amp service put in, they wanted to put the meter on the outside of my daughters bedroom. We said no way and had it run to the other side of the house, so it is away from the bedrooms.

 

We even went so far as to put "shielding" up behind the drywall behind the meter, 4 ft in each direction. It may have been a total waste of money, but it gives my wife a little piece of mind.

 

We also have a switch in the master bedroom wired to an outlet across the house where we plug the wifi in. This way we can turn the wifi off from the bedroom.

 

Like I said, all of our precautions may be for nothing, but having a child in the house is out main concern.

That's something to think about for sure. Can you imagine if it turns out that WIFI is harmful to your health? That would be Cigarettes all over again.  People would say "Remember when we used to allow  WIFI in the house?" 

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I'm giving away all my cordless tools just in case Tesla was wrong.....in all seriousness we can't live in a bubble either....they way I see it is we are living in a world that is so fast paced so over crowded and so controlled by man something has to give and when it does it kills people....then we learn and go forward or we don't learn and still go forward. greed is a big factor, if you pour that in the drain you will get a $10,000 fine? really what does $10,000 do to fix what has been done? 

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