LOL …
In all seriousness though it’s getting tougher for kids to get started these days … I have no idea how some young adults these days plan to afford their first house anymore. When I was younger a of first time buyers in housing were looking at “war time houses” as they were often in great shape, on the small side, and reasonable to purchase – now those same houses are selling for 3x the price they were 20 years ago. Move closer to large urban area (for me that’s Toronto) and housing in getting beyond the silly level – check this out: http://globalnews.ca/news/3162259/toronto-house-sells-for-more-than-1m-over-asking-amid-record-year-for-home-sales/ and it’s not a “upper end” property by any stretch … I’m sure it’s a nice home but …… From: Af <af-boun...@afmug.com> on behalf of Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> Reply-To: <af@afmug.com> Date: Monday, January 9, 2017 at 11:24 AM To: <af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation Interesting how DIY and automation have changed things, used to be you’d give a neighbor a key and pay their kid a few bucks to feed your pets and check the water heater. Now that kid is unemployed and watching ISIS videos on the Internet in his parents basement. Or he’s driving for Uber, until they switch to self-driving cars, then he’s unemployed in his parents basement doing you know. Do you see how you’re contributing to the end of life as we know it? From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Paul Stewart Sent: Monday, January 9, 2017 10:01 AM To: af@afmug.com Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation True and in my case it was always something I would think of when 1000 miles away ;) From: Af <af-boun...@afmug.com> on behalf of Jaime Solorza <losguyswirel...@gmail.com> Reply-To: <af@afmug.com> Date: Monday, January 9, 2017 at 10:53 AM To: Animal Farm <af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: Home automation Most water heaters have a vacation setting. On Jan 8, 2017 8:16 PM, "Jay Weekley" <par...@cyberbroadband.net> wrote: It would be nice to turn the water heater off and keep my ac/heat on minimal settings while I'm away for extended periods and turn them back on a few hours before I get home from my phone. Paul Stewart wrote: 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? No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/email-signature> Version: 2016.0.7996 / Virus Database: 4749/13731 - Release Date: 01/08/17
