PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - Ecobee3 or other wifi thermostat

PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum (http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/)

- Off-Topic Discussion (http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/off-topic-discussion/)

- - Ecobee3 or other wifi thermostat (http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/off-topic-discussion/362314-ecobee3-other-wifi-thermostat.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesDean (Post 3408938)

Lol. I can see it now.

"Yes you american capitalis pigdog, sweat. SWEAT FOR MOTHER RUSSIA". <Evil Laugh>

What would be interesting is motorized/computer controlled dampeners around the house in conjunction with individual room temp sensors.

I was recently interested in wifi enabled deadbolts, until I started reading reviews. It's not that the technology isn't sufficiently robust and secure . . . it's just that using a key is so much easier than a smartphone for getting in and out of the house. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTI (Post 3408947)

I can definitely see that. I suppose it's good if you or a family member lock themselves out of the house (assuming of course you have your phone with you).

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwampYankee (Post 3408936)

Despite the protestations of the tin foilers and crotchety old farts, I'm very interested to see how they work out. I may even get a couple just to play around with them. With a new high-efficiency furnace, actual wall insulation and new energy-efficient windows in most of the house I'd like to track and see how much I can cut down on the heating and cooling costs. Might even just run standard thermostats for the first year to establish a baseline.

If the Ruskie hackers want to turn my thermostat up to 90 degrees in the middle of the day, so be it.

I ordered the Ecobee3 yesterday and it should be here tomorrow. New AC system is being installed on Thur to replace a 20yr old system. I went low efficiency for the AC (13 seer). I figured at $3200 installed I would not earn back the several thousands more for a 19 seer or higher unit. My electric bills are not that high, my highest was about 300 and that is with a pool and sun room AC unit. The electric savings would not justify it. Going to blow another 22" of insulation in the attic when all this is done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwampYankee (Post 3408936)

It's not a question of hacking. It's a question of whether you want big pig corepirations to have EVEN MORE DATA about you. They can either charge for the service of your being able to access your thermostat online, or they can make it free. In that case, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT. They make their money by marketing the data, anonymously or otherwise.

Also, if the thermostat is tied to a kloudkrap service, they can force obsolescence in a few years by simply turning off the servers that provide connectivity to the product. If the thermostat is designed to be Internet accessible, but doesn't need a cloud service, chances are that HTML will still be with us in 10-20 years.

And you'll still be able to connect to the thermostat's IP address with a browser assuming port forwarding is set up correctly. No middleman servers required.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdrun (Post 3409042)

Unless my ISP gives Ecobee my personal info Eco won't know jack about me except what my zip code is, if even that. The obsolescence is a possibility but by that time there will probably be better tech out there anyway. Not something I am worried about.