Next step in whole home automation....

Making progress on the home automation front on the new home! Followed up the RING video door bell with the MyQ Universal smartphone based garage door controller.

MyQ smartphone garage door controller

Got the Chamberlain/Liftmaster MyQ for $99 at Lowe's and installed it in 15 minutes. One of the easiest installations.

Mounted the unit on the ceiling above the garage door controller, plugged in the power and got WiFi connected to the home network in 5 minutes using my iPhone. You have to first download the MyQ app and make bluetooth connection between the phone and MyQ router. And then follow the prompts to connect to home WiFi network. Easier if you have WPS supported router.

Next steps are to program the MyQ base (router) to act like one of your garage door remote controls. Once this is done, you mount the wireless sensor on the door itself that notifies the base whenever the door is left open.

And that's all you have to do and now over the cell network, you can remotely open the garage or make sure it is closed if you forgot to close when leaving for work or heading out of town. I drive back around atleast once or twice a week wondering if i had closed the garage door. Now i don't have to worry about that as i can set alerts to notify me when a door has been left open for a while.

Please leave your comments/feedback if you have one of these installed. Would love to hear about the pros and cons of the MyQ controller.

Next up in my automation journey are the Nest thermostat, Wink or Nubryte lighting controller (still undecided on which one to go with), kwikset or another electronic deadbolt lock! Stay tuned for more....

I just don't get it...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got a new Ecobee thermostat, still sitting in as box, waiting for me to get off my rear and install it....

But as I read more about thermostats. I don't understand one thing, everyone gives you a rebate or recommends you get ONE, but I have two thermostats in the house. I am sure a lot of you have the same setup.... now, what good does one thermostat do for you?
To be honest, I don't know the answer to the question, and if you get two in your house, then it's a s $500 investment. You need to live in your home for years before you break even. Might as well stay with "dumb" thermostats. Well, I didn't have $500 laying around so I just purchased a Ecobee 3 thermostat. If you are reading this, I need your help, send me comments on how you are using your smart thermostat to save energy costs, what are you doing in terms of home/away scheduling etc. I don't have all the answer, would love to hear opinions.... AND how do the two talk to each other....

Make em pay!

Free money!!! Well not exactly, but a way to make the money you pay for gas or electricity work for you. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was getting ready to get a wifi themostat, Ecobee3. I just received it and I was filling out a rebate form from the utility company and realized that probably not many of you know about these programs.... Did you know that most Utility companies have programs to get money back from them (YES, money BACK from utility companies) if you upgrade to more efficient appliances, or programmable/Wifi thermostats, adding insulation, energy saver (CFL or LED) light bulbs low flow shower heads etc. These rebates range anywhere from $5 to $150. All you have to do is fill out a rebate form and show proof of purchase. But do note that there is a limit on how many rebate they have for the year, best to check the local utility website and submit yours in the BEGINNING of their calendar year.

I've even seen some landscaping rebates from counties if you put in rain barrels or waterscaping  (landscaping planned to absorb rain water to reduce the need for watering. So, there is money out there, you just have to look for it. Here are a few tips:

1. Check utility websites for rebates on appliances, thermostats, windows replacements etc.
2. Check your county or city websites for any programs that may be run by them for energy efficiency.
3. Some states have tax free weekends for energy start rated appliances, wait for this weekend to get your big ticket items.
4. Some counties and cities have LED bulb rebates that can be found in stores like Costco etc. The discounts vary but worth calling around different sams clubs, costco that are close to you but in a different county to see if they have more rebates.
5. Turn the lights off and take short showers and wear a thick jacket at home.

If you have any other tips for saving energy (and money), leave a comment.

By the way, this is the thermostat that is sitting on my desk and ready for installation. Stay tuned.

-Kannan

We are back....

Hi everyone,
Ram mentioned it in his post earlier. We are trying to make a come back. It's tough trying to stay on top of new technology if you have a day job!!!! We will take a slightly different approach and just write about our journey to being more connected around the home. We are both looking forward to getting some home automation going and hope to share our experiences... please leave comments on our posts if you agree, disagree, have different ideas etc.

-Kannan (and Ram)

Knock Knock! Who's there?

After moving into a new home last month, i decided to get some home automation in place. The first gadget that I installed is the "RING" video doorbell (ring.com)

After parsing through many choices on Amazon, i settled on RING as i had heard about it recently and had good reviews. Once I got the unit home, I had to charge the built in rechargeable battery for a few hours to set it up and connect to the home wireless network which was easy with the RING app for iOS and Android. I installed it on my iPhone. Once it was connected to my home network, i had to get my drill kit and install the mount which holds the doorbell. It all took just about 30 minutes.

The good things about the RING video doorbell are

• its rechargeable battery that connects to and charges from the standard 24V that a standard doorbell is connected to. A smart idea given no one wants to connect the bell to another power outlet or remove it and charge it over USB every so often.
• next best part and my favorite is you can see and talk to people at your front door from anywhere in the world! I talked to a neighbor while on our way to dinner from the car few weeks back, and once from Shanghai this past week while i was travelling on business. The video and voice were clear. Now that is cool!!! Also it was nice to see the surprise on people's face when they hear the bell talk back to you 😄

• cloud storage of your videos is especially useful when you are away on vacation or out of town and there is motion activated video recordings. You can check on who it was at a later time. A great security camera feature combined with the doorbell
• motion activated recording which lets you know who was at your doorstep even if they do not ring the bell

Now the cons which are all associated mainly with the motion feature

• the motion detection is Infrared (IR) based like majority of security motion sensors. The drawback of IR is its reliability as it work at times and not at others. RING has the same problem as it does not detect motion sometimes. Add to this the delay in recording once motion is detected. A few times we noticed no one was there or we saw the back of the person walking away. The manufacturer needs to address this issue to make a great product even better. One way based on my knowledge of technology would be using ultrasonic sensing instead of IR for motion detection. This is what is used in vehicles for park assist where ultrasonic sensors on the bumpers detect obstacles and notify the driver through beeps.
• the other issue i noticed is that the physical enclosure or the camera needs to be adjustable to position or angle the camera better as most homes have the door bell between the door and a side wall or on the sidewall. So since the install location is to one side, camera view is off and could also be cause for motion detection issues at times. 

In summary a great first generation video doorbell and can only get better with minor improvements. I hear they are already working with many other partners for home automation interoperability like KEVO (wireless deadbolt lock), WINK (wireless lighting control), WEMO (wireless light switches and plug outlets) and more...

Please share your comments or experiences of RING if you have installed one or any other video doorbell for that matter. Thank you for reading our blog. 

Are your kids spending too much time on the iDevice?

First of all........as my co-contributor  mentioned, we have been in deep slumber for a long time. Sorry for that. A blog needs to be fresh and we will try to stay true to that going forward. 

Before the holidays in Decemeber, I realized that my kids (especially the 9-year old) were hooked to their iPads and would never put it down in the evenings or on weekends. Continuing to play games or watch movies or TV shows on Netflix and so on way into the night or even waking up in the middle of the night and using the iPad. I could have been a tough parent and said no more iPad and put it away but it didn't make a difference even after days of timeout for the iPAD. So i came up with the idea for an app for the iPAD or for that matter iPhone or iPod.  

The app is called "Time Nanny" keeping withe English traditions of how nanny's can straighten any kid out who is misbehaving or not listening to adults. Only in my case it is an electronic nanny :) called the Time Nanny. It was developed in partnership with ibizsoft Inc. and is available in the app store. Check it out on iTunes or at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-nanny/id781458719?mt=8

Time  Nanny

Now you can manage the time spent on the iDevice on a daily basis. Parents can set a time limit for each day of the week with this password based application. All a parent has to do is open the app, set a secret password, set a time limit and turn on the timer with "set alert". Upon completion of the allocated time, the Time Nanny will display a pop up message notifying your kids that their "time is up" for the day and will continue to display the message for an allocated time. The only options are to either shut down the iDevice or disable the pop-up message by opening the app and turn it off with your password. There is also the option to allocate a fixed amount of time like 30 or 60 minutes in place of a fixed time every day. In device "settings" you can change the sound or the alert location on the screen (banner or alert). The smart kids may kill the app but the alert is designed to pop up even if they kill the app. And the sound is an annoying one as well......it is another story that I decided to turn it off in settings in our iPad as it annoys me as well :)

This is working as my 9 year old puts the iPad away at 9 PM every week day and goes to bed. A good nanny does her job well!

This is a work in progress and needs bug fixes and updates. So please check it out and provide your reviews and feedback or even suggestions for improvements. 

Fell asleep at the keyboard....

Ram and I pretty much slacked off for the last 3 months. You know being a dad and holidays and all. So...what now? We need to get back on the bandwagon. Expect to see more from us in the coming days and weeks. Lots to talk about. Sneak preview of what's coming up.... new app adventures (YES! Ram has an app), road warrior technology for you frequent travelers, wearable tech that will run your lives and anything else we can think of to spend a few bran cells on. Till then.... HAPPY 2014! God, only 11 months left of it now....