Hiya Folks,
An absolute newbie when it comes to home automation so if this is improper to be posting such elementary questions, kindly say so and I'll go away. I have a cabin that I would like to be able to control the thermostat/furnace remotely. Specifically, I believe I would need to go with a phone controller linked into a 2-stage thermostat (there's no high speed internet access....all I have up there is dial up). I've been looking around and have stumbled on a number of ways to do this and some are more complex but offer more future expandability should I want to go there. I've been looking at the specs for the Sensaphone systems (the 400), Wisdom Wireless Security controller, the Aube CT-241 phone controller, and a number of other options that I haven't delved into all that much yet. It's a small cabin at around 1000 sf and I've no real plans to add window or door sensors, etc... but like some of the options that the Wisdom offers in terms of being able to add these later should I chose to do so. It might be nice as well to add in exterior environmental sensors just to see what the weather's doing up there (ie. temp, wind) in which case, the Sensaphone appears to be a better unit. Oh, I'd also like to be able to remotely turn on the outside light independent of turning the thermostat up. I think I would prefer to do things wireless although I can hardwire the thermostat. I was considering using some sort of an X10 controller/switch for the light and using the aformentioned products to control that using my commands via phone. So here are a few of my questions. One, have you found that just installing a phone controller, thermostat, light control is enough or is there a tendency to all of a sudden want to expand? I know this depends on personal habits but I hate to buy just a phone controller and a year later wished I had a more extensive system. Two, are there alternatives to the Sensaphone and Wisdom that I should be considering? Three, am I just way off base on my approach and need to re-group? I really appreciate all the help and look forward to your suggestions.
Thanks very much,
jlc
An absolute newbie when it comes to home automation so if this is improper to be posting such elementary questions, kindly say so and I'll go away. I have a cabin that I would like to be able to control the thermostat/furnace remotely. Specifically, I believe I would need to go with a phone controller linked into a 2-stage thermostat (there's no high speed internet access....all I have up there is dial up). I've been looking around and have stumbled on a number of ways to do this and some are more complex but offer more future expandability should I want to go there. I've been looking at the specs for the Sensaphone systems (the 400), Wisdom Wireless Security controller, the Aube CT-241 phone controller, and a number of other options that I haven't delved into all that much yet. It's a small cabin at around 1000 sf and I've no real plans to add window or door sensors, etc... but like some of the options that the Wisdom offers in terms of being able to add these later should I chose to do so. It might be nice as well to add in exterior environmental sensors just to see what the weather's doing up there (ie. temp, wind) in which case, the Sensaphone appears to be a better unit. Oh, I'd also like to be able to remotely turn on the outside light independent of turning the thermostat up. I think I would prefer to do things wireless although I can hardwire the thermostat. I was considering using some sort of an X10 controller/switch for the light and using the aformentioned products to control that using my commands via phone. So here are a few of my questions. One, have you found that just installing a phone controller, thermostat, light control is enough or is there a tendency to all of a sudden want to expand? I know this depends on personal habits but I hate to buy just a phone controller and a year later wished I had a more extensive system. Two, are there alternatives to the Sensaphone and Wisdom that I should be considering? Three, am I just way off base on my approach and need to re-group? I really appreciate all the help and look forward to your suggestions.
Thanks very much,
jlc