I think I’m done with most of Google for HA

[Madcodger]

Nest was not our first smart thermostat, but we had two for a while and I was a big defender of the brand early on, as it worked great and played well with HA systems (thanks to some smart plugin authors). We now have only one that has been tied into a pellet stove. But this takeover by Google and killing of the works with Nest program now means Im likely going to get rid of it because it will likely stop playing well with the rest of the system.

I think the lesson here is that I will no longer rely on anything Google, other than perhaps their browser and the fun of Maps and Earth, both of which are just novelties that would have little effect on me if they disappeared. Ive come to the conclusion that Google just doesnt play well with others, and when they buy a company, theres always a significant risk they will kill off the things that made it a good company/product. So yeah, Im out.

Also, to those of you who long argued with me about how cloud-based products were evil (I took the cloud-supporting view), Im much less sure of my past position. I dont think we can get away from cloud-based products for some things in todays world, but actions like this (by Google) do make these products/services seem a lot less reliable. My big fear now is with what could eventually happen to Ecobee, which is my current tstat flavor.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I'm still upset with Google for killing SageTV.

 

[George M]

I'm still upset with Google for killing SageTV.

YES!
I still use my SageTV's daily.
Haven't seen anything that beats them.

 

[pvrfan]

... My big fear now is with what could eventually happen to Ecobee, which is my current tstat flavor.

 
Agreed.  I've had my Ecobee for 6-7 years (or is it more?) and I would have been more comfortable if they charged a few dollars per year for continued connection.  As it is, it is a kind of Ponzi scheme where new sales of the t-stat fund the ongoing operation of the installed base.  
 
That said, I wonder if the server-side stuff could be reverse engineered and replaced with a local proxy.  Probably wouldn't be able to have remote access anymore but that is my least-used feature.
 
Craig

 

[upstatemike]

My Nest thermostats look good but otherwise are nothing special apart from the features added by an excellent Homeseer plugin. Ecobee looks good and I will likely switch to that. Being cloud based provides easy integration to Alexa and still works fine for manual control when the Internet connection is down. Ecobee is expanding its product line so the company seems healthy enough to risk the investment.
 
Does anybody know what frequency Ecobee uses for its remote temperature sensors? Are those 2.4GHz Wi-Fi or something else?

 

[vc1234]

Does anybody know what frequency Ecobee uses for its remote temperature sensors? Are those 2.4GHz Wi-Fi or something else?

 
A proprietary 915MHz protocol.

 

[ano]

Google is EVIL. Don't forget that.
 
https://killedbygoogle.com/

 

[upstatemike]

Google Nest is the new Revolv

 

[viroid]

My HAI OmniPro2 tstat's, are hardwired to my Elk M1G panel. If I had to do it again, I think I'd centrally mount RCS or Aprilaire tstat's and deploy remote temp sensors everywhere.

Reliance on Cloud is a big reason that I hardwired 99% of my system to an Elk panel rather than using modern wireless technologies. I do have an instance of HomeSeer running, which gives me the ability to tie Cloud into the mix, and tinker with things such as zwave, but they are merely extensions to my system, not the core components.

Leveraging older tech isn't without it's own challenges, but at least it works when the internet is down.


...v

Sent from my LGUS997 using Tapatalk

 

[Dean Roddey]

I got an e-mail the other day informing me that Google had purchased the rights to me and was phasing me out.

 

[dgage]

Ecobee is a decent thermostat and service but I’ve been frustrated by the outages over the past few months. I don’t know that I’d necessarily recommend them anymore. Since I have RadioRa2, I wish I had just bought a second RR2 tstat.

 

[pvrfan]

Ecobee is a decent thermostat and service but I’ve been frustrated by the outages over the past few months. I don’t know that I’d necessarily recommend them anymore. Since I have RadioRa2, I wish I had just bought a second RR2 tstat.

What outages?  I have an Ecobee and I haven't noticed any such issues.
 
Craig

 

[LarrylLix]

What outages?  I have an Ecobee and I haven't noticed any such issues.
 
Craig

Then you haven't been monitoring outages. They were offline almost ever second night for a few years. Recently they have been admitting it.
 
I was posting a list of outages until I got tired of documenting every day. Then ecobee support started publishing outages themselves, stating they were upgrading the software every time,  but I can't find the webpage now. IIRC it was linked from the ecobee web portal.
 
Ecobee is still the best thermostat yet. I have tried many brands only to find them lacking in features as well as having wandering sensors. Ecobee wanders the least based against the average of 8 other sensors and the temperature feel for humans. I am very sensitive to temperature changes.
 
As badly as all the rest of the stats did, ecobee humidity reporting still wanders all over the place.
 
UPDATE: Ecobee started reporting the days they weren't down.
https://status.ecobee.com/#

 

[pete_c]

Here a happy camper with the serially wired Omnistat and remote sensors (both thermostat and panel sensors) and having no Internet dependencies.
 
 
 
I have read of a new improved Ecobee stat with a better Alexa speaker and microphone.  All of the reviews are positive.

 

[upstatemike]

Main thing for me is how fast a thermostat reports changes to Homeseer. With my Nest thermostats even though they are monitored over the Internet a manual change is detected instantly and the voice announcement of the new setting happens before you even take your hand off of the thermostat. Is Ecobee that quick? If not I might need to move to a serial thermostat or s super fast reporting Z-Wave model.