The Doozer Family Self Build

markin

cat5 works, watching netflix in HD on a 100mbps internet connection with the Wifi only 6 meters away can get annoying at times, Generally keep wifi only for mobile devices. And cat5 in every room mean you can add a wifi point to any room if the happens to be a black spot in that area.

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: Well that's sent me down a rabbit hole of smart light switches!  I've spent a small fortune on lighting and automatically thought 'no' to the cost of a control system as someone had mentioned ££££s. 

The Sonoff switches are not particularly expensive, and there are other versions around at a slightly lower cost. Coupled with Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi, you can have a home automation system quite cheaply.

I have H.A. running on a NanoPi with an assortment of sensors & switches to monitor everything from temperature to energy consumption and control heating - Total investment has been less than £200. All open source, and no reliance on a third party for cloud services.

ComicGeek

Doozergirl said:

I can't get my head round the Sonoff website but the Lightwave website seems pretty friendly.  

I'm a big fan of Lightwave, very easy to install. Have done a few 1000m2+ houses using this, absolute fraction of the costs of a traditional rack system and so much more intuitive. 

FreeBear

ComicGeek said: I'm a big fan of Lightwave, very easy to install.

Just seen the price of the Lightwave stuff... Ouch. £60 for a switch (OK, it does dimming as well, but still) compared to £12 for a Sonoff.

Doozergirl

FreeBear said:

ComicGeek said: I'm a big fan of Lightwave, very easy to install.

Just seen the price of the Lightwave stuff... Ouch. £60 for a switch (OK, it does dimming as well, but still) compared to £12 for a Sonoff.

I need at least 5x 4 gang dimmers.  I can't seem to find any by Sonoff.  

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: I need at least 5x 4 gang dimmers.  I can't seem to find any by Sonoff. 

The D1 switch plus RM433 may do what you are looking for. The switch could be mounted next to the light fitting and the remote located anywhere you like - That cuts down on wiring.. If you don't like a remote, you could use an app on your phone or Alexa.

Agreed, not the easiest of product to find on their web site...

ComicGeek

FreeBear said:

ComicGeek said: I'm a big fan of Lightwave, very easy to install.

Just seen the price of the Lightwave stuff... Ouch. £60 for a switch (OK, it does dimming as well, but still) compared to £12 for a Sonoff.

Lightwave is aimed at a completely different market to Sonoff, so I don't think it's fair to directly compare prices as functionality is completely different as well. It was designed to compete against wired lighting control systems like Rako, who have now released wireless equivalents at £260 each!! In comparison to that, Lightwave is really cheap! We've had schemes that were quoted £10k for Rako systems that we could deliver for less than £500 with Lightwave, and with greater future proofing.

Doozergirl

Plodding onwards.   The buyers of our house want to move on the 10th November, so there's some pressure on.   I'll be updating the instagram account now that the photos might not all be of plasterboard!  

 

Our kitchen is being fitted this week and the tiler is also in. He nearly finished the kid's shower room today, no thanks to the plumber being unable to put anything in plumb.   Nothing was straight and the wall outlet for the shower hose has disappeared.  

If anyone knows of a plumber in the South Birmingham area that doesn't mind accepting regular work, turning up for it and doing a decent job could you let me know as I can't seem to find all three in one person.   

(We bought the Lightwave stuff, btw, I'm really glad you started that  conversation @FreeBear)

(I also discovered the £89 Sonos speakers created for Ikea that are Sonos 1 in a different case, so we've opted for those in the bathrooms on high level brackets run from fused spurs outside.)  

Doozergirl

Does anyone fancy talking about smart thermostats? 

We have UFH downstairs and 4 radiators upstairs.  One in the dressing room (no windows, so really well insulated and not used as a habitable room), 2 in the bedroom and 1 in the bathroom. 

I've lived with 1 Nest in the house and I am quite passionate about the smoke alarms.  

The electrician has put wires for one thermostat downstairs and one upstairs.  I've just had an online chat with Tado and they say to put a a thermostat downstairs and a smart TRV on each of the rads, giving me an outlay of £480 with their 'extension' pack.  I still need to buy 'normal' radiator valves to stick the smart ones onto, so I'm not saving anything on those.  The house is really well insulated, airtight and we have MVHR, so I'm not sure yet how much the upstairs will need heating.  

I would like the geofencing aspect as we're a bit unpredictable as to when we go in and out, so timers will often waste energy during the day if I am out.   

But £480?  Ouch. 

Doozergirl

 The Tado man has changed his mind because my brand new space age Worcester Bosch can't cope with the first option.  

So I guess I can live with the two thermostats at £300 and then see if I feel like I should invest in smart TRVs depending on the heating bills after we move in.  

Heat just disappears from our current house so anything's a bonus, but I've already spent a fortune on energy saving measures in this new one.   I've got energy-saving fatigue and I'm also running out of money until the sale completes on this house. 

Planning on moving in four weeks! 😳

Nobody needs to answer me, really!