Thinking About Smart Home Power Usage • Hacker News Board

Re: Thinking About Smart Home Power Usage

#51

Post by inferiorhuman » Fri, Feb 14, 2020, 2:36 AM UTC

filoleg wrote: post #49

inferiorhuman wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That changed with updated bulb firmware. Initially bulbs would reset to their default state on power on, but they're now able to save state. The way I read it this behavior is not dependent upon the hub or app. The Phillips app is so junky I just use the hard power switches somewhat frequently. https://huehomelighting.com/new-power-feature-to-retain-colo...

Luckily, their protocol is interoperable, so I don't think you are required to use their app, even for their initial setup (not 100% sure on the last part, but I am about 90% there). Their lights work great with HomeKit, as well as many other devices do. So instead of having a separate app for Kasa switches, app for Hue, app for LiFX, and an app for Nanoleaf, I can control them all straight from HomeKit. Considering…

Their lights work great with HomeKit, as well as many other devices do. So instead of having a separate app for Kasa switches, app for Hue, app for LiFX, and an app for Nanoleaf, I can control them all straight from HomeKit. Considering that this is easily doable, it seems totally possible to do this with something other than just HomeKit as well.

Ehhh... I can't speak to the rest of the HomeKit integration but the Siri stuff isn't so great either. First it required upgrading the hub, it still only works with Philips bulbs (even though the Hue can control other smart bulbs like IKEA whatevers). After setting it up I still get "device not responding" responses from Siri at least 1/5th of the time.

Using a different app would potentially improve the problems between the hub and phone, but not between the hub and the zigbee devices.

Re: Thinking About Smart Home Power Usage

#52

Post by KajMagnus » Fri, Feb 14, 2020, 6:54 AM UTC

rconti wrote: post #42

Side note: Has Disqus ever worked, for anyone? I've tried dozens of times over the past few years. It never provides a 'logged in' comment box. Once I login, if i try to login again, it complains about a form submission error. I've never bothered to troubleshoot because mostly I want to avoid using Disqus but a couple times a year I decide to give it a go, and.. nothing. I have or had an account, which doesn't seem t…

You can see the Disqus comments, but if you post a comment, then, that won't work?

If you have time, maybe you'd like to go here: https://www.kajmagnus.blog/new-embedded-comments and scroll down and try posting a comment, and tell me if you run into problems? (That's a different commenting system; I'm developing it. And it'd be nice to find out if there are unknown problems preventing people like you from posting comments ... Maybe the same thing as with Disqus, and I could fix the problem in my case?)

Re: Thinking About Smart Home Power Usage

#53

Post by rconti » Fri, Feb 14, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

reificator wrote: post #45

rconti wrote: post #42

Side note: Has Disqus ever worked, for anyone? I've tried dozens of times over the past few years. It never provides a 'logged in' comment box. Once I login, if i try to login again, it complains about a form submission error. I've never bothered to troubleshoot because mostly I want to avoid using Disqus but a couple times a year I decide to give it a go, and.. nothing. I have or had an account, which doesn't seem t…

Sounds like an adblocker or something blocking a resource that Disqus "requires" in order to function.

I don't run 'em, but could be something built into Safari. I always figure "oh, maybe it's an early product, they'll fix it".. but disqus has been around awhile :)

Re: Thinking About Smart Home Power Usage

#54

Post by tbyehl » Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 8:51 AM UTC

barbegal wrote: post #4

The problem of saving power with small household devices is similar to the problem with micro-transactions. The overhead of connecting devices into a smart system is far greater than the recovered cost in terms of both money and energy. A smart switch can easily run to $100 to purchase and install and $10 a year to run. So it needs to save you ~$20 a year to be worthwhile. For large appliances that are regularly used…

'Dumb' timers and thermostats have existed for a long time, the value of something smarter isn't necessarily about reducing power consumption.

I put smart switches on my exterior lights to run them on a schedule. The value proposition was 'People don't arrive to darkness because we rarely remember to turn them on.' I'm trading an increase in consumption for utility.

My 'dumb' pool pump timer died and I replaced it with a more expensive smart model. Now, in addition to running the schedule, the pump also runs when the temperature approaches or drops below freezing. It may be running more or less than under the 'I manually override the timer when it's unusually cold and I remember' scenario but the value proposition was 'Prevent a pipe burst because I forgot to turn it on.'