Martinr36
MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
yeah I've got one of them as well, it regularly gets told to fast forward 4 minutes 40
How smart is your home?
- Thread starter Scott
- Start date
3qtrsamericano
Bright Spark
Smart thermostat is one of the best things ever. Has some proper uses.
All the rest of the stuff is because I'm super lazy and want to actually attempt to reduce my carbon footprint. I just leave absolutely everything on standby and never turn anything off.
The routines I have setup with all my stuff means that basically everything other than my Router, Modem, PS5 & CCTV system is switched off.
I'm hoping that the power use of the smart-stuff is less than what I've had on previously (Subwoofers, etc).
Remains to be seen though
Nest thermostat was definitely handy pre-Covid. To be able to control the heating and hot water remotely etc. Not used it much since as WFH since March 2020.
Not really lazy or all that concerned about carbon footprint (I'll take a V8 anyday!). Just a geek who likes his toys. ☺️
3qtrsamericano
Bright Spark
Not opted for one. I think it's a control thing. I'd rather "spin the wheel" and report my energy usage via my app 😂.
Martinr36
MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Yep that about sums it up for me as well, when i was working part of my job entailed monitoring the energy we were using and tallying it against the monthly bills for each utility, most of our sites were on half hourly meters and the main site monthly electricity bill could be £50K+, so you had to get the figures right
3qtrsamericano
Bright Spark
I think all my bulbs are now LED.
I just ordered a Tumble dryer with a heat pump as apparently they're more energy efficient. 🤷♂️
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
This is the next thing I need to do, all our light fittings are Halogens which I believe as of September can no longer be sold along with incandescents.
A few of ours have failed anyway at the power adapter, so need replacing either way.
I did try some LEDs in them, but they strobe. So have to replace the PSU's.
It's a bit fiddly as the fittings are some of the original designs and not that great, so gotta be careful about messing those up.
This is the perfect opportunity for you to become Britain’s first fully RGB lit household…. If you don’t do it, I probably will.
You haven't already?
Martinr36
MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I did think about getting some of the colour controllable bulbs for the lounge, apparently it's also possible to connect hue to aura sync.........
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
A flat I had back in the day with my girlfriend at the time, they'd just done it up and our landlord was just a stand up guy who went over and beyond at any given opportunity, it had configurable colour LED's all over the house. Every shelf and kitchen cabinet had lighting from underneath or behind, so the whole place looked insane. And that was around 2005 so right at the start of it all.
Was a lovely place.
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
My home is dumber than a box of frogs from the box of frogs dumb place. I don't have a single smart device and don't intend to start. I just don't see the point. It all seems to me to be another example of a solution looking for a problem. Get off your behind and turn the lights on or off yourself!
The smartest thing in my home is me, and I'm way too smart to waste money of stuff that I don't need.
That's not to say I'm a Luddite, far from it. All our lights are LED (that's a throwback from boat life where power is critical) we have an eco-friendly washing machine that uses less power and less water (and takes three times as long, but who cares). We walk everywhere (it's a smallish town) and we have an electric bicycle (that looks like a small motor scooter) if we need to visit the out of town Lidl supermarket.
I'm very much in favour of us all using less energy and less water (water is an important resource on an island, even a big one like Crete) but so called smart devices seem to me to the antithesis of 'going green' because they consume additional energy for no good purpose. Just as I don't believe you can justifiably claim to be green with a mobile phone and several social media accounts, I don't believe you can claim to be green with a bunch of smart devices in your home wasting power waiting for you to tell them to do something you can easily do for yourself...
It seems to me that society today is becoming less active, more technology dependent, more power hungry and more disposable - and yet the young today have the nerve to accuse my generation of ruining the planet! If you really want to save the planet then dump all your social media accounts, throw your mobile phones away, and scrap all these dumb 'smart' devices. You don't actually 'need' any of it......
Edit: A slightly off topic story that a good friend of mine related on the hill walk yesterday. He picked up his 14 year old granddaughter who was visiting from the UK and who had been at a water park here with some other (UK and Greek) friends. As they were driving home and the granddaughter was engrosed in her mobile phone on some social media account or other, he passed her his mobile phone (a proper smartphone, not a Jethro Giubs clamshell antique) and asked her to phone nana (his wife) to let them know they were on the way. He told her the number was in his contacts under Sue.
The granddaughter said (and he swears this is true) that she didn't know how to use it as a phone, could she please message her instead?!!!
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I was fine in my old house, just using the lights as timers, but as you can see from my list I have a lot of stuff to turn off.
As much as I admit to being lazy to checking that particular list every night, it's due to the size of the task. Add into the fact that I have 2 female mini-me's who insist on going around turning stuff on and leaving it that way no matter how much I tell them (I'm almost at the plug removing stage) it just makes it miles simpler.
Additionally my house is massive. My family regularly get lost making their way out the door
If I was loaded I would hire a person to do it for me..... they wouldn't even need to be that smart
As much as I admit to being lazy to checking that particular list every night, it's due to the size of the task. Add into the fact that I have 2 female mini-me's who insist on going around turning stuff on and leaving it that way no matter how much I tell them (I'm almost at the plug removing stage) it just makes it miles simpler.
Additionally my house is massive. My family regularly get lost making their way out the door
If I was loaded I would hire a person to do it for me..... they wouldn't even need to be that smart
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
What does the job pay??
Martinr36
MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
So easy just to say "Alexa, good night"
I actually have 2 commands..... Alexa - Bedtime.
Everything is turned off other than my lamps to illuminate my path. My bedroom lamp is also switched on, as is the upper bathroom light.
Once I'm in bed, I say "Alexa, Good night". The same list is struck off only the lamps are all switched off too.
Same thing happens at midnight on weekday evenings and 3am at the weekend.
ubuysa
The BSOD Doctor
All my lights are set to turn on and off when I operate the appropriate light switch (or when the over-sensitive circuit breaker trips). I find that this works very well and I only need to illuminate rooms that have occupants.
3qtrsamericano
Bright Spark
Calling out the command "Pansy" makes Alexa turn on the stair and kids bedroom lights so that my two pansy kids can go up by themselves when it's dark. 😂