All of that Newfangle Smart Stuff...

Alexa Dot second gen

I have concluded that some of these newfangled smart sh*t thingies, I own, kind of sucks! I have no problems with 98% of the electronic gear I own, but it’s that 2% percent that has me pulling my hair out. So far I have seven Alexa devices, one Spot, two Alexa Show’s, three, second gen Dot’s and one third gen Dot. What bugs me, they are, or so it would seem going deaf, or they just act like they are deaf.

It kind of bugs me that, when watching TV, and someone on a, particular, show will announce the “wake word”, and my Alexa, in the Kitchen will wake up. (I changed all but the Kitchen and upstairs bathroom to another wake word). That is over four meters away from the TV! I have to yell and tell it to shut the… 

On the other hand, I have a second gen Dot, several centimeters away, next to my couch, as I watch TV. I give it a command and, nothing! I have to repeat it twice, most times, and she will tell me, she has no idea or can’t help. I then have to ask Google for an answer. But, I digress…

I have no problems with the lights, the doors and the other 30 or so items I have installed throughout the house, but... I installed a light switch (relay, hub) in my kitchen 2 years ago. It's now DEAD! In fact, the bottom load died after 1 year, 1 month 10 days after I purchased it. 40 days past the warranty. I had to rewire the thing to get it to work, then. I called the company and they told me it was defective, but wouldn’t do anything about it.

On the other hand, I purchased a couple of light switches a few months back but couldn't figure out where to put them, considering, I purchased connected bulbs in 98% of my lights, just because they were on sale, 2 for $30, a steal as far as light switches go, it was an impulsive buy, kind of thing.

 

Funny thing, I have electronic gear that, some of them are over 30 years old and, still work! I am beginning not to trust this new stuff...electronic smart stuff. Most are WAY too expensive and seem like they don't last long and most only have ninety day warranties, a few with one year warranties. Meaning, IMO the manufacturer doesn't trust their stuff.

For instance, I want to open my blinds via Alexa, open in the mornings and close at night. I have 6 blinds that I would like for this to happen to. It just happens that, now, the blind motors now cost $150 a piece! Heck, to buy a motor to open my door wall, that one motor cost $250! That would seem like, it’s not going to happen in the near future, maybe, and I just might have to buy them one at a time. I shall see…

Anyway, my Kitchen light works, now...let me test..."Alexa, turn on the Kitchen Lights." Lights on.  So far so good.

Ecobee3 Lite Wi-Fi Thermostat

I purchased my Ecobee3 lite, this past August and installed it on September first. My bills are fairly normal, September - October, $19. October - November $26. I just got my Nov. - Dec. bill -- $96! That's $30 more than the last 2 years. And, my Old Thermostat, which was over 14 years old, would run for a few hours to heat the house to 70 degrees. And, it would run for at least an hour to keep it at 70.

I retired 11 years ago and have kept my temp the same as I was working, on at 6am, off at 8am. Then On at 3pm and off at 11pm.  With my Ecobee3 lite, I keep the upper number at 69. This things says that I should save $42 per year...I am guessing if I never turn it on it just might.

All in all, I like this thermostat (because of the new tech surrounding it and working with it.). I will have to see what happens for the Dec. - Jan. bill, which, at the beginning of 2017, was only $138 and the next month was $122.

I am guessing that I have to read more on how to program my Ecobee3 lite and maybe get some of those additional sensors to help manage my heating.

Echo Dot, do you hear me now?

Fred Green: "I guess I should give up drinking: I have an Alexa Echo Dot in my kitchen and two others around the house. The wake word is "Computer" for the two others, and Alexa for the Kitchen Dot. I went into the kitchen and wanted to turn on the coffee-maker, I yelled, "Computer, brew coffee." nothing happened, so I went over to it and yelled into the darn thing, "brew coffee".

Nothing. I proceed to unplug it, then plug it back in, gave it a command, nothing. I was thinking it was going deaf and I was going to write a review on Amazon and tell them this thing died after 3 months.
I had to push the button to turn on the coffee pot and turn on the light in the kitchen. A couple hours later I realized that I was supposed to say, "Alexa, brew coffee". I kept saying "Computer" and of course it ignored me. I really gotta quit drinking..."



'via Blog this'

I made it to the 21st Century...

Amazon Echo Dot -- with Alexa

Automation…welcome to the 21^st century, as I listen to Amazon Alexa play soothing electronic music in the background. I can’t say that I am late to the game, I have had automation, with my lights, and only lights since the late 1970s. When I moved into my first house, in 1984, I took all of the switches and transceivers with me and automated the house.

I then purchased additional transceivers and wall switches so that I had the control to turn on all the lights in the house and a few other things I can’t remember, now. During that time, you could only control your lights by clicking the corresponding number on the transceivers the switches were assigned to. The system was called X10 Powerhouse, sold by Radio Shack, at the time. I still have all of my switches and transceivers.

However, three or so years ago my computer running XP, I purchased back in 2003, died and the X10 software was on that computer. The lights were programed to turn on at up to 255 times a day, if need be. Last year I found, at a local computer store, a hard drive enclosure. I put the old hard drive into the enclosure and sure enough, the drive wasn’t damaged and worked fine.

I hooked the drive to my main computer and all of the software was still intact. The only problem, Windows 10 isn’t backward compatible. I went online to find if X10.com had the software for Windows 10. For some reason, the site doesn’t look the same. I am guessing that some entity has taken the company over. They say there is software to control the switches, but I couldn’t download it. I was just SOL.

(I’ve gotta take another break – this break is brought to you by, Captain Morgan Spiced Rum and Kroger Eggnog, this Writer’s favorite winter and writing drink!)

 In the meantime, I just purchased timers for the main lights, the modern kind where you can have them come on at various times of the day or week. That worked well, to a point. I just had to deal with it and be complacent. Then I heard about Amazon Echo. I wanted it, needed it, but, at $199.00 (back when it first came into existence), it was a little too pricey for me, so I put in my Amazon wish list and just waited.

Out of the blue came, Amazon Dot. At first, I didn’t understand it. Why was it so small? Of course, I got the details later. I added that to my wish list and waited. Since I have been doing those online surveys I had been able to save about $20 a month, which doesn’t sound like much, but it helps where you want to get a few things on Amazon.

Lo and behold, Amazon lowered the price of the Amazon Dot to $39 in November! You will never guess how much I had saved. I knew exactly what I wanted and (before Amazon Prime) a week later I got my Amazon Dot. And so it began. I had to figure out what I could do with it, though. Now, actually a few weeks ago until yesterday, I just played music and asked Alexa dumb questions.

After many hours, (actually, many hours of YouTube and automation webpages), I figured out what to get first…Lightbulbs! However, I didn’t realize that connected lightbulbs were that expensive $15, up to $50 for one bulb. I thought only one type would fit and work, style A19 light bulbs. I purchased a four-pack for $20 only to find out you have to have connected lightbulbs. I had to return the four-pack.

I found some, near inexpensive, connected bulbs, only to find that the Home Depot, close to my home, had just two of the bulbs I wanted left. I decided to get a third bulb, a Phillips Hue bulb. I took the set home and put the Phillips Hue bulb in first. I had read that you needed a Phillips Hue hub to work with this particular bulb. Before all of that, I had purchased a Wink2 hub, reading that I have to have a hub to control of my automated toys and stuff.

I couldn’t get the Hue bulb to work. I checked the site and found out that the Hue bulb will only work with a Phillips Hue Bridge (hub). I started to think to myself, why in the world would I buy a Phillip’s Hue Hub when I already have a hub. The Wink hub said that it works with the Phillips Hue bulb. But, two hubs to work one bulb?

So I had to go back to the Home Depot and get a Cree connected bulb, they had one but it was slightly more than the two I purchased previously. Today, after all the work was done, I can now say, “Alexa, turn on all the lights…” and like magic, the lights come on. Now, I just have to figure out how to put the lights on a schedule.

I just realized that I only have five lamps in my house and only need to three of them on, at night. All the other lights are on switches, 24 bulbs, not including the garage and back porch, in all. So, I checked the prices of the switches, they start at about $30 and up for one switch. The fan, in my living room, for instance, is a dual switch and they cost about $70. I am guessing it is expensive to automate one’s home.

Some of the things, next on the list, a Nest Thermostat, automated front door lock, and a garage door opener. I am guessing if it will take a year to get my house automated, but it will be well worth it.

I wonder what else the future will bring – hopefully replicators, transporters, phasers, robots and other toys to play with, or do I have to wait until the 22^nd century?

Now that I think about it…what do I do with all of my X10 transceivers?