velhaconta

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Build your own

Not great advice considering these could easily burn your entire house to the ground if not done properly.

Most people do not have the knowledge and skills to even begin to attempt this.

I have built many LiIon battery packs and it is not a huge savings over buying pre-built packs from professionals. The cells are going to be the primary cost no matter what. Then you still need to get an inverter and charge controller and package it all nicely.

These things are intended for people who like the convenience. Telling them to build their own is equivalent to telling my parents that Ring doorbell is overpriced and they should roll their own solution. You know, bu ya DVR, buy compatible cameras, connect it all and securely exposing it online. Easy right?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not really. That is one thing I have no need to automate. We rarely change our blinds. They are almost always open.

If it was super cheap, like $10 per window I would just because why not.

But the cost for what it provides is probably some of the worst ROI in the HA space.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It is much cheaper because you are getting a fraction of the capacity. The one you linked has 3 kWh of capacity. The power wall has 13.5.

The power wall also has a 6 kW inverter instead of 3 (and I seriously doubt it will output 3 continuously without overheating).

Plus you are not connecting these things to your home breaker panel like the powerwall does.

I'm not a Tesla fan, but you have to compare apples-to-apples.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Just break it. It is garbage anyway.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It could be many things.

Does the switch work locally? Can you hit the button on it and make it turn on?

Are you sure the load is good? Have you tried it with another load or validated the load works without the switch?

Did SmartThings find, recognize and add the switch?

Is the switch still within range of your z-wave network?

What would be my best option to get a smart switch on this that would run my electrical outlets in the eves?

A smart switch is a good option since the outlets are already wired to the switch. It should work.

The other option are smart outlet plugs. The problem is these can't do anything if somebody turns of the switch.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

What you need are smart thermostats. It sounds like the hard part will be finding smart thermostats that work with your particular units.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Scene controller?

the wiring is 12VDC

Ugh, nevermind. Maybe you can find a 12v presence sensor.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, the problem is that is the job he was brought in to do and they are just now figuring that out. Now what? Let him go and hire a manager that plays United style? Who would that be?

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