Amazon Echo to HA Controllers

[jkmonroe]

I use about 550KWh per month and my last bill was around $225.
 
I learned that I can change generation providers, which I need to do, but I still have to pay the absurd transmission fees.  I also have Solar City coming at the end of summer to do a site survey to see if I am sited correctly for panels which cover my typical monthly usage.  ROI on the panels is ~12 years if I purchase them, or I can try one of their lease programs in which I pay a fixed KW/h rate + a fee to Solar City for 15 years (and then own the panels).
 
I do find it interesting that I went the complete opposite direction as you.  I have a low power Mac Mini running a VM as my server, and nothing centrally distributed - Sonos devices which can be shut off at the outlet, Tivo Mini's which can be shut off at the outlet, TV's which can be shut off at the outlet, etc ...  I also wired my lights to be always on and put in smart bulbs, which has the benefit of not drawing any power for the switches (although that's not the primary reason I went this way).  All lights are already switched over to LED, and our primary computers are laptops.  There are a few things that are always on, like the Dropcams, Hue bridge, etc that can't be easily shut down.  My quest for reducing consumption is also what is preventing me from buying a NAS device like a Synology/qNAP and instead using USB 3.0 powered external 2TB drives
 
I really want to get the Brultech installed so I can start to see where I can save power, but I have a feeling it will all be in the A/C and refrigerator.  The other biggies like heat/hot water are gas.  The only thing I can do with the AC is keep the house warmer, which I have been trying to do (76/78), but it really sucks since it's been in the mid 90's.  If I can get my usage down to 300KW/h, which I think is doable, then installing solar makes perfect sense.  But I need to learn exactly what the draw of my big ticket users really are.

 

[jkmonroe]

Some additional efficiency tips -
 
Gila Solar Tint; a royal pain in the ass to install, but it seems to work.  useful for 'clerestory windows' that have no blinds.  unfortunately, i dont have before/after data.
 
Thermal Drapes; only on a glass door, but this definitely works.  we hate drapes, and this was a huge compromise, but we covered 100ft of glass, so it was worth it. 

 

[IVB]

Some additional efficiency tips -
 
Gila Solar Tint; a royal pain in the ass to install, but it seems to work.  useful for 'clerestory windows' that have no blinds.  unfortunately, i dont have before/after data.
 
Thermal Drapes; only on a glass door, but this definitely works.  we hate drapes, and this was a huge compromise, but we covered 100ft of glass, so it was worth it. 

Thanks. Is that to keep heat / sunlight out and reduce stress on a/c? I live in NorCal, we don't even have ac. Never gets much hotter than 84. Nor much colder than 50.

I am now curious about ghost power in the h/t. I need to hunt down my kill-a-watt. I wonder if I could rig the entire thing up to a single master zwave switch.

 

[NeverDie]

Gila Solar Tint; a royal pain in the ass to install, but it seems to work.  useful for 'clerestory windows' that have no blinds.  unfortunately, i dont have before/after data.

3M has a product now which rejects as much heat but doesn't reject as much light.

 

[jkmonroe]

Thanks. Is that to keep heat / sunlight out and reduce stress on a/c? I live in NorCal, we don't even have ac. Never gets much hotter than 84. Nor much colder than 50.

I am now curious about ghost power in the h/t. I need to hunt down my kill-a-watt. I wonder if I could rig the entire thing up to a single master zwave switch.

 
 
Yeah, the tint is supposed to reject 70% of solar heat.  So technically the AC should run less.  I am not entirely sure if it's throwaway or not, because I think I would want that solar heat in the winter, and a 15'x4' roll is only $35.  
 
I have some friends that live in SF - if I ever motivate, that's where I am heading.  The DMV is just awful for weather; stupid cold and now stupid hot.  

 

[ano]

I use about 550KWh per month and my last bill was around $225.

Wow, I'm staying in AZ. I used 960KWH last month and my bill was $101. We go have peak and low rates, so we try to not use much from noon to 7pm weekdays.  Today its going to be 108 out, so we cool it way down to 68 overnight up to 12 noon, then it goes off till 7pm. With lots of granite and tile, it will stay under 80 by 7pm. So far this year we have never used AC during the peak time. Solar here takes 20+ years to pay back. Its not worth it.
 
Amazon has been doing a great job at adding features to the Echo. Last week they added Google calendar integration, to you can ask Alexa for upcoming appointments, and she reads them back. It still needs a bit of work, but its better than nothing. It would be nice if it could connect to Brultech to get power usage.

 

[IVB]

 
Amazon has been doing a great job at adding features to the Echo. Last week they added Google calendar integration, to you can ask Alexa for upcoming appointments, and she reads them back. It still needs a bit of work, but its better than nothing. It would be nice if it could connect to Brultech to get power usage.

Well if it can issue custom url commands that would be simple to do with CQC checking and delivering the response. Via nuvo if there's no inbound TTS api for the echo.

Hmmm, inbound TTS api for the echo would open up some awesome things. Dean, let's hope we can have an echo driver by 2016...

 

[IVB]

 
 
I have some friends that live in SF - if I ever motivate, that's where I am heading.  The DMV is just awful for weather; stupid cold and now stupid hot.  

Oakland dude, Oakland. SF weather is miserable, cloudy and foggy in most of the city. The places that are better are unaffordable, as in, $2M for a mediocre 1400 Sq ft condo. The updated or nicer ones are higher.

Oakland weather is awesome, and in my super yuppie neighborhood it's still only $1.3M or so for a 1700 sq ft single family home.

 

[ano]

Thermal Drapes; only on a glass door, but this definitely works.  we hate drapes, and this was a huge compromise, but we covered 100ft of glass, so it was worth it. 

Yeah, getting those now for 120 sq./ft of window. At like $2000 for the drapes, its a LONG payback period.
 
In AZ we tend to use solar screens on windows as opposed to solar film. Many tests I have seen say the solar screens are more effective at keeping the heat out, if that is your goal. The fact that they are an inch or so from the window, keeps the heat from hitting the window. With solar film, the window heats up more and conducts more heat into the house. Plus solar screens are easily removed in the winter.

 

[NeverDie]

Yeah, getting those now for 120 sq./ft of window. At like $2000 for the drapes, its a LONG payback period.
 
In AZ we tend to use solar screens on windows as opposed to solar film. Many tests I have seen say the solar screens are more effective at keeping the heat out, if that is your goal. The fact that they are an inch or so from the window, keeps the heat from hitting the window. With solar film, the window heats up more and conducts more heat into the house. Plus solar screens are easily removed in the winter.

At our previous house we had solar film applied on the outside of double-paned sliding glass doors that had direct, unprotected exposure to the setting sun.  It was very effective.  Normally it's applied on the inside surface, rather than the outside, but then much more of its heat gets radiated into the room via conduction.  The downside is that the outside surface tends to get grittier dust than the inside, so you need to be very vigilant and extra careful when cleaning it so as not to scratch it.
 
I'd do it again.  Just passing on the tip in case it would benefit anyone else.

 

[ano]

At our previous house we had solar film applied on the outside of double-paned sliding glass doors that had direct, unprotected exposure to the setting sun.  It was very effective.  Normally it's applied on the inside surface, rather than the outside, but then much more of its heat gets radiated into the room via conduction.  The downside is that the outside surface tends to get grittier dust than the inside, so you need to be very vigilant and extra careful when cleaning it so as not to scratch it.
 
I'd do it again.  Just passing on the tip in case it would benefit anyone else.

Thanks. i didn't know you could do that. Is it special film? Even with inside film you have to be very careful against scratches. 

 

[NeverDie]

Thanks. i didn't know you could do that. Is it special film? Even with inside film you have to be very careful against scratches. 

It was 12 years ago, but IIRC, the film was relatively ordinary for that time period.  I do remember the installer recommending that it be installed on the inside surface, but when I vetoed that, he had no trouble installing it on the outside surface (it had a balcony, so he didn't need to do it acrobatically from a ladder).  Come to think of it, it may simply have been easier for them to clean the inside surface than the outside surface.  You need the glass 100% clean before applying.

 

[jkmonroe]

Heh.  Mine is on the inside of double pane - I couldn't imagine being on a ladder long enough to successfully install the film outside.  It took long enough to do it as is (also on a ladder, but a more manageable fall .

 

[ChrisCicc]

Well we received confirmation we're going to the Amazon Echo developer day later this month. We'll know for sure then just what the Alexa AppKit will be capable of. Part of it is a hackathon so I'll see how quickly I can whip up an integration. Excited!

 

[zenix]

I also wired my lights to be always on and put in smart bulbs, which has the benefit of not drawing any power for the switches (although that's not the primary reason I went this way).

 
Do you know what the parasitic draw for smart bulbs is? I tried to find some specs, and haven't found anything. I know that my dimmers consume 0.2W, wondering how that would compare to smart bulbs.