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[1140.68 --> 1142.16] Doesn't sound bad at all, actually.
[1142.42 --> 1143.34] Sounds quite doable.
[1143.62 --> 1144.14] Yeah, very slick.
[1144.22 --> 1145.18] I've been very impressed with it.
[1145.42 --> 1149.30] I think I came across this first on the Intimate.tech YouTube channel.
[1149.38 --> 1150.78] We had him on a few episodes ago.
[1151.40 --> 1152.58] The Quinn LED guy.
[1153.08 --> 1154.36] They just seem to work really well.
[1154.36 --> 1160.22] I had a couple of Bluetooth dropouts with the ESP32s being on a different end of the house.
[1160.34 --> 1165.78] So, I've ended up buying four ESP32s, which is the most expensive part of the setup.
[1166.52 --> 1168.98] One on each floor, at each end of each floor.
[1169.54 --> 1172.52] And they're basically stacked on top of each other, each end of the house.
[1173.28 --> 1179.66] So, I mean, even at $11 each on Amazon for an ESP32, we're not talking crazy amounts of money.
[1179.86 --> 1184.12] And you can definitely order them a lot cheaper than that on AliExpress if you're willing to wait for the slow boat.
[1184.36 --> 1187.62] So, now that you're getting the temperature data, what are you going to do with it?
[1187.62 --> 1188.74] Are you going to do any automations?
[1188.92 --> 1191.40] Because that's, I mean, that's really where it gets next level.
[1191.90 --> 1192.60] Yeah, I want to.
[1192.72 --> 1194.26] I haven't quite figured it out yet.
[1194.38 --> 1196.94] So, we're going to talk more about this in the post-show, I think.
[1197.02 --> 1201.52] We've got something in there about thermostats and the Venn style unit that I use.
[1201.52 --> 1206.84] But what I want to do is take the average, and this is something Dr. Z does a lot of.
[1207.12 --> 1213.44] He takes the average of several sensors and then uses that as his thermostat input number.
[1213.78 --> 1219.36] What I would like to see is I take the average across the entire top floor of my house, for example,
[1219.36 --> 1222.36] and then use that as the input to the thermostat.
[1222.36 --> 1228.54] I haven't figured out how to use a custom input with a thermostat that has an integration.
[1229.02 --> 1233.12] You can do that with the generic thermostat module of Home Assistant,
[1233.36 --> 1238.80] but I haven't quite joined all the dots up to make it work with a pre-configured one.
[1239.20 --> 1240.50] Justin wrote into the show.
[1240.50 --> 1246.94] So, he said he was actually writing in because on Coder Radio, which, by the way, not this podcast.
[1247.44 --> 1248.02] Where's my robe?
[1248.24 --> 1249.46] Yeah, I'm working on it.
[1249.82 --> 1251.64] I am wearing the minimum viable robe at the moment.
[1251.88 --> 1256.62] I was talking to Mike about his problems with he moved into a new place and it comes with a smart thermostat,
[1257.16 --> 1259.32] and it's been freezing him out at night.
[1259.62 --> 1261.84] And mine has my system every now and then.
[1262.76 --> 1266.42] Something happens and the automation triggers don't fire and I cook out.
[1266.42 --> 1267.34] I get too hot.
[1267.50 --> 1268.74] A heater doesn't get turned off.
[1268.74 --> 1274.76] And I generally, this fix has always just been, I reboot my Home Assistant host,
[1274.94 --> 1277.16] and then it doesn't happen for another couple of weeks.
[1277.32 --> 1281.06] But Justin wrote into the show and he said, you'd mentioned that failed automation.
[1281.38 --> 1284.24] Home Assistant, like you were just talking about, Alex, he says,
[1284.68 --> 1287.60] has a generic thermostat component and it is fantastic.
[1287.80 --> 1289.86] I use it in several rooms of our house.
[1290.16 --> 1295.32] You provided a temperature sensor and a switch and the component handles all of the rest.
[1295.32 --> 1302.34] It looks like there's some affordance for it understanding if you want something in a target temperature,
[1302.34 --> 1307.28] that it might need to kick in a little bit at a different time in order to actually get that temperature just right.
[1307.36 --> 1313.78] Like it seems clever and like a way better idea than me completely building this automation from scratch like I have been.
[1313.78 --> 1317.16] So when you do go down that route, I agree with listener Justin.
[1317.40 --> 1318.66] Check out the generic thermostat.
[1319.20 --> 1320.98] Yeah, I need to connect those dots for sure.
[1321.10 --> 1327.12] I mean, in my specific situation, the room above my garage happens to be where we spend most of our time.
[1327.58 --> 1331.60] And if I close the door to the hallway on this room and the heat is running,
[1332.20 --> 1336.32] it can easily get four or five Celsius higher in this room than the hallway.
[1336.32 --> 1339.82] When the forced air is blowing, it gets very dry, the air,
[1339.94 --> 1342.98] and the static electricity becomes a bit of a problem and stuff like that.
[1343.10 --> 1348.98] So what I really want is just a way to use that sensor that I'm looking at right now in this room
[1348.98 --> 1351.66] as the dedicated input to the thermostat.
[1351.74 --> 1353.82] If I can use an average, then, well, even better.
[1353.94 --> 1356.78] But what I absolutely want is an automation that fires
[1356.78 --> 1362.40] when that particular sensor gets above a certain threshold that it just doesn't turn off the heating
[1362.40 --> 1363.56] because that's not what I want.
[1363.56 --> 1368.56] I just want it to stop heating me for a bit right now and then evaluate things in 10 minutes
[1368.56 --> 1372.58] and figure out whether it needs to still keep blasting us with the heat or not.
[1373.04 --> 1380.82] And to add an extra layer of complication, if it could also be somehow energy efficient aware,
[1381.16 --> 1386.16] so if you were running off grid or maybe in your case you have like a Tesla Powerwall
[1386.16 --> 1388.28] and the grid was down and you were running off battery,
[1388.54 --> 1393.00] if the system could adjust to use less power but still maintain a minimum comfort,
[1393.00 --> 1394.46] that'd be the next level.
[1394.70 --> 1396.88] You know, like that's what I really want now for Joops.
[1397.32 --> 1398.56] That's our next business idea.
[1398.96 --> 1400.44] You know, we had cloudfree.shop.
[1400.90 --> 1406.80] You know, the next one is this sort of mega thermostat that beats the pants off the nest.
[1407.12 --> 1407.44] Right.
[1407.92 --> 1412.76] So Jim wrote into the show and he wants just our thoughts on going solar.
[1412.88 --> 1416.88] He says, I'm looking for solar for my home and I'm not really sure where to start looking.
[1416.88 --> 1420.46] Everywhere I go, I get bombarded with ads and people who seem like salesmen.
[1420.96 --> 1423.52] I've looked at businesses like Tractor Supply and other sources,
[1423.72 --> 1426.90] but I worry about what they're selling and if they're actually the best tech.
[1427.60 --> 1430.04] And he wonders what we did to look into this,
[1430.06 --> 1431.86] because I know you've considered solar for the home,
[1431.94 --> 1433.62] you've considered Powerwalls for the home.
[1434.48 --> 1438.90] I'm curious what your route and trajectory is when you go off on a research binge for this.
[1439.30 --> 1443.28] It's amazing how quickly you end up at the Tesla stuff when you start Googling this stuff.
[1443.28 --> 1446.68] They must spend a lot on marketing or SEO or something.
[1446.68 --> 1452.22] I ended up looking at getting, I think it was like 12 panels put on my roof.
[1452.32 --> 1456.28] Ultimately, it ended up being too expensive to consider right now.
[1456.30 --> 1458.50] And they weren't in North Carolina yet and stuff like that.
[1458.58 --> 1460.30] So I haven't done it yet.
[1460.52 --> 1467.42] It's definitely on my list because I do feel guilty about burning several hundred watts a day of permanent,
[1467.74 --> 1469.84] you know, server electricity and stuff like that,
[1469.88 --> 1473.10] that could very easily be supplied through solar.
[1473.10 --> 1477.32] So, you know, part of it is I want to try and do my bit for the environment.
[1477.50 --> 1479.76] But the other part is it'd be nice to save some money too.
[1480.20 --> 1482.90] Yeah, the research of it for me has always kind of been,
[1483.26 --> 1487.16] I try to find communities that are discussing the type of builds that I'm doing.
[1487.24 --> 1489.60] So in my case, they're more mobile builds, but, you know,
[1489.78 --> 1491.82] we just shift communities depending on the build.
[1492.20 --> 1496.14] And then also YouTube tends to play a pretty significant role.