Recent content by energy_conscious

Re: cost, Alarm Relay charges ~$10.50/month for the 3rd year of monitoring forward. And, yes, I don't think there should be an extra cost for cellular (but don't have any experience with them yet). I haven't gotten the HAI C3 yet. Is it easy to install? And will it work correctly as a...

Re: cost for Alarm Relay, my understanding is that the basic fee is $142 for the first year (including setup fee), and then basically $125/year after that. And they say there's a $15 setup fee for adding cellular service, and $48/year for support (including timer test, phone support, and...

I have an Elk M1 Gold system newly installed and am trying to figure out the best and most cost effective setup for monitoring. From reading this forum, I surmise that Alarm Relay is a good monitoring company to use. Has anyone had any reliability problems with them (i.e. not being notified...

Can anyone recommend a doorbell camera/intercom system? Here are the factors: *The purpose is simply for us to know who's at the door, and a keypad or integration with the door lock is not needed *We have Cat5e wired to the doorbell location, and would prefer a solution that would allow us...

Hi, My wife and I are building a net-zero energy house, and could use some advice figuring out how to wire things so we can most efficiently store and distribute HD video from a DVR. Here's what I'm hoping to be able to do: 1) Have Verizon FIOS connected to a single DVR with lots of storage...

Yes - that's why I don't think I'd be able to use Lutron - after repeated attempts they haven't responded how much energy their repeaters and servers consume, but I fear it would be too much. However, Vera is ~5W and HomeTroller is ~10W, and those are viable. And I like the idea of the...

Thanks. Have you (or anyone) tried the enocean switches or sensors in a residential context?? How reliable are they, and how do they connect to home automation gateways? We're also trying to future proof the house as much as possible, made the first floor handicap accessible, and are trying...

The production will vary by month, and according to PVWatts (the standard calculator for solar production in the U.S.), our system should generate ~12,000 kWh per year...

Believe it or not, there are many houses in Germany and some in Vermont and various climates around the country that have no AC or centralized heating system at all (they're so well insulated and designed that they're heated almost entirely from heat from the sun and cooled naturally as well)...

Thanks for all this great info. Does anyone know whether and how these various switches and dimmers control LED and florescent lighting? I've heard that some folks have had significant problems doing so, and want to make sure I get the right advice and equipment...

Thanks. When you say "remote", do you mean something that looks like a regular switch, but is hard-wired to the other switch as opposed to connected via RF? And does this work for 4-way switches? Do the Leviton switches use standard Z-Wave and are controllable from something like Vera...

Our solar installer is great, but is relatively new to the area, so don't think he'll know many. Re: keypads, I agree we won't have many, because I believe they consume some energy, and are more expensive than switches. And I envision that our smart phones will be mobile keypads... We did...

We do believe the home will be net-zero-energy and more than financially worth it. We're building the house so that it could last over a hundred years, and never have any energy bills (other than a grid connection fee), so some added initial expense will pay off. We also plan for this to be...

That's fair, but the house will be for a family of 4, plus frequent guests staying over, and includes two home offices (so will save on commuting and commercial real estate), and the basement will only be partially finished...

By "KP", do you mean control points? The number we get really depends on the cost. If it's not a significant cost increase over the dimmer switches we're already planning to get, I'd love to get them for the whole house. But, if they are really expensive (say $100+/switch upgrade), then we...