Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

Netatmo TRVs are about £70 each though...

Yes, I had a think about that and realised that realistically that isn't going to happen in the short term. None of the existing valves are TRVs so it would involve replacing them and most have very short runs straight out of the wall like this which I can picture being pretty fiddly

The second hand Netatmo was cheap and easy so if I do get round to doing it all properly I won't have lost much once I sell it on.

Been looking into smart blinds for my place. Main attraction was blinds on a schedule in the spare room where they'll probably end up permanently open (or closed) and, most useful, the ability to schedule things to open and close whilst we're away.

In the end it worked out far too expensive though, pretty much doubled the blinds quote. Just adding it to the main bedroom added about £700!

More on thermostats and TRVs, I'm looking to put both in at ours, so that

a) the upstairs and downstairs (where the thermostat will be) can be on different schedules
b) my partner can do on-demand heat when she's working from home (i'm imagining by clicking the trv up) or hanging about upstairs
c) switch heating on-off remotely (holiday, on the way home) and set the schedule with a GUI

Hive 2 and Netatmo are the lead contenders, any thoughts on them or alternatives? I'd rather not have to wire in the thermostat. I'd prefer it to look nice.

Tado I saw some bad reviews of their TRVs, I don't love the subscription model (can't remember if it's required or the basic functionality is decent without it)

I don't use home assistant... One day but I'm quite far off atm. We're both iphone users so homekit preferred.

Thanks

I was probably going to go with Drayton Wiser before I decided I couldn't be fucked with it all. TRVs looked the most reasonable price and the whole setup looked decent. I don't know if it's Homekit compatible (not an Apple user) but it works with google and alexa.

Saying that, I've used Netatmo for the last 6 years and no real complaints. Thermostat can be used wirelessly (you need to wire the relay to the boiler and to power in that case), although it's not quite as sleek looking as some of the others, and it is homekit compatible. Also works with home assistant if you ever get there. Even lets you download all the info into csv/xls which is pretty rare (albeit a bit niche).

Thanks man - that last point, I remember someone a while back showing they’d pulled the temp log which actually really does appeal

Ha, I think that was me
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/260435/?offset=325#comment14588415

Aha yeah thought you’d written 6 months above!

Been looking into smart blinds for my place.

IKEA do smart blinds, you do need their hub i think but will then work with Smarthings IIRC.

Yes, I looked at those but you can't adjust the width and we're mainly looking at roman blinds.

It's going to be hard. Roman blinds only need s single motor, sands it doesn't have to be powerful. Venetians would require two motors, and one would need to be high torque and powerful. It's possible, but likely powered rather than battery.

I think this I just a wait thing... They'll do Roman blinds first and eventually the tech and motors will be miniaturised and powerful enough to do Venetians. I looked a couple of years ago and decided to wait on it... And would still have a problem with getting power to the blinds.

Tado isn't subscription in it's basic form. Interested to know what the bad reviews said, I get some slightly random unpairing from the bridge on mine, despite one of them being in the same room as it. I think I'm going to contact tado about them actually as the other ones I've installed have been flawless.

My other gripe would be that you can't group rooms or turn on/off all rooms at the same time (although the geolocation does this in a sense). This sounds relevant to your upstairs/downstairs situation.

The main issue is the number of windows. We've got 4 bay windows, so that's 3 or 4 windows per bay, and then a few others.

We will have venetian blinds in one room but not fussed about that being electric as it's rare that we'll actually change them.

I think it's only recently that they've started doing battery motors for roman blinds, previously it was only roller blinds due to the extra power needed.

How about shutters?

(I know - Kickstarter >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>)

You could DIY it

Kickstarter always has loads of electric blinds/curtains/shutters stuff, I don't think any have made it commercially. I know a couple of people who've bought into stuff that turned out to be shite.

Unfortunately I don't think my abilities would get DIY and neat together.

Thanks! Yea I’ve been reading maybe Tado w/o subscription is still good.

The complaints l (from memory) were that they’re loud, don’t do a good job getting the room up to temperature (that might be equally applicable to all), and there was something about customers being told to buy a second TRV at act as a temperature sensor in the room becuase the TRV in question is too close to the radiator? Again seems something equally applicable to all. I saw a review say Tado had proactively reached out to say one TRV seemed faulty and replaced it.

Can I ask you a couple questions? If you put the temp up on the TRV does it demand a boost from the thermostat/ boiler? Does it do a nice job of reacting to the weather (seems like a cool feature)? And are you happy with your set up?

Oh and do you use it with HomeKit at all?

The TRV's act as independent thermostats & zones - Each one will call the boiler for as long as necessary to bring the room to temperature.

You can also calibrate / offset them individually to make the temperature reading more accurate, as radiator mounted thermometers might not be the best place to measure room temperature.

I've never found a use for the other "advanced" features - window detection is pointless, as we don't leave windows and doors wide open when the heating is on. Similarly, with weather - if it's cold enough inside to need heating, we want it to a specific temperature, irrespectiuve of what is happening outside.

I'm pretty happy with it all in all, despite the small gripes I listed. Saves me worrying about balancing rads and I'm sat here in the warm working whilst the rest of the house is quite cold.

No homekit or any other such smart kit, linked to it anyway. I did have aspiration of trying out Home Assistant and hooking up the extractor fan to respond when humidity rises too high (each TRV measures humidity), but in all honesty I'm not clever enough for all that stuff.

The TRVs certainly make a noise, but I've heard that complaint leveled against most brands. I've kept one out of the bedroom for now for that reason, so that rad just comes on when any of the others do, same with the towel rail which is actually quite handy. I have noticed I hear the noise of the water in the pipes more if not all the the TRVs open at the same time in the morning. There appears to be a 2 or 3 minute delay on them shutting the heating down if you turn everything down 'manually' on the app, so I wonder if there's a slight delay in the opening in the morning.

You can adjust the temp on the TRV yes, buy spinning the top, or on the app, one reflects the other, and if that temp is higher than the one it thinks the room is it'll call for heat and the boiler fires up. Seems to track real world temps pretty well, although there is a disparity between the TRVs and the actually thermostat (which is probably more accurate) in the kitchen, so I need to check and calibrate them with the temp offset feature. I read that radiator covers mess with the TRV temp reading too.

Like TW says the extra features you pay for (check this is still their business model) are pretty useless.

Any recommendations for nice but not too pricey smart switches? If they integrate with hue, ideal, but if not any google home compatibility is fine. Need 2 gang for the kitchen where I can't justify replacing 14 x GU10 down lighters plus cupboards and strips with smart lights, nor do I need a lot of the smart bulb features, just remote/voice control.

the Philips Hue switch? it works well enough, and like all these things just don't put high voltage down it (like... don't use it to control charging a car, or powering an oven, kettle or toaster)

I had a look for this a while ago and couldn't find anything that played nicely with Hue.

Sonoff seems to be the popular option or there's a whole minefield of adding inline controllers and separate wireless switches.

The other option I looked at for GU10 was using the IKEA bulbs which do work with Hue and cost about a fiver each.

is the hue switch not just a battery powered trigger for existing hue lights?

I want the other way round - i.e to replace the existing light switch with a smart switch that can control dumb bulbs.

Oh, I misunderstood... I thought you had a socket inside a cabinet and that you wanted that replacing with one of these: https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-smart-plug/8718699689308

But you mean an actual wall 2-gang switch... but that you want Hue built into that.

I don't know of one of those I'm afraid.

Googled... this kind of thing? https://www.screwfix.com/p/lightwave-2-gang-2-way-led-generation-2-smart-dimmer-switch-brushed-stainless-steel/356fj

That sort of thing (but without another hub ideally.) - but put simply it isn't a £100 problem to solve - so wondered if people had had experiences with the cheaper options!

I had a look for this a while ago and couldn't find anything that played nicely with Hue.

there seems to be a glut of cheap options on Amazon now which didn't exist last time I looked - hence asking! To be honest, as long as google can handle it - it'll do the job.