Springtime Summit Stuff ~ IoT, Movies, Old Folks' Event, On The Blue: New Cutthroats, Pizza, & Spring Corn 23Mar26-26Mar26

Kala & I are up in Summit checking the Nest, attending events, and doing some sporting stuff. I first observed the lack of snow, weird year for sure. Then I added a temp sensor to the new boiler when it went over pressure and we didn't have hot water or heating on arrival. Zooz sensor was integrated with alerts on my SmartThings.

We saw Mercy on the NestMT, decent SciFi actually ~ cautionary tale regarding AI.

We went to a Longevity Project panel guided by the Summit Daily editor. It was packed but we got good seats and chatchkis and met some cool people and panelists. It's a good reminder that aging is Summit is really only for the healthy ~ there are precious few services here for the elderly.

I fished the Blue in town on Wed and caught a number of 14" cutthroats (must've been a stocking session) on the red/black PopTop emerger midge in low afternoon flows, but gorgeous weather. I used the Rodfather True Five today but sure didn't need it for landing. Where are all the big cutbows? It was kindof crowded and while I stopped at the "cop hole," it was occupied so I just left.

Closing the day was a nice stop 'out' at our fav pizza spot, Last Chance, and their taphouse spot, Cove & Craft, in Keystone.

Of course I closed the stop in the Rockies with a ski day at Keystone. So barren, so warm, likely so long for this year as closing day is Apr 5th.

IoT Additions ~ Levelor Electric Shades 25Aug25

Back on the Front Range there were some HoneyDo items to complete. A busted sprinkler was repaired first. Next ~ we've had some failures in some of the original 25 yr old shades. And, I regularly complain of the reflections on the TV in the family room from un-drawn window shades, but am too lazy to put the blinds down. So, we measured and procured new Levelor electric shades. We installed them today and they're great.

We bought solar charging panels for each of the 3 shades and I programmed them all to run on the same channel on the remote included. All 3 up or all 3 down is just what we need.

I did think it weird that the only microUSB port for charging is on the front of the shade; I get that primary access is for a charger but a 2nd connect from the back for the solar install would've been a lot cleaner.

It's simpler than ever to get ready for TV viewing in this room now with just the push of a button. I added shade control to Siri and that requires the Levelor hub, an account on Levelor InMotion, connecting my Levelor account to Apple in the cloud. The InMotion app and the hub are not very reliable actually so we'll see about cloud connections. "Siri, shades up." I thought about connecting Levelor to SmartThings or Harmony but voice is better and Apple is better about my data than Samsung or Logitech.

Blodgett IoT Upgrades & Extensions ~ Zooz Gear @ Home 08Mar25

I wanted to add especially flood sensors to the Blodgett IoT network, for the dishwasher on the main floor and the H2O heater on the lower level. The Fibaro stuff I've used before is old, ZWave 400, and expensive. I discovered a new vendor, Zooz, with a bunch of good sensors, strong support for SmartThings, and all having the most modern and secure ZWave 800 chips/support alongside their older versions. They are a tad expensive on Amazon but I bought it all from Smartest House for 60% of that. Their stuff is not only modern & secure but very well designed & packaged... and all the stuff is absolutely tiny with long lasting & larger batteries. Great job product design. So, I not only got the moisture sensors but a temp sensor, an open/close sensor, and a motion sensor, for next steps in other Blodgett situations, and to test their range. My experience thus far on these sensors is 5 stars for size, user manual, and operation (including "add device"). The product part of this company is well run. Of course the biggest issue with all this automation, whomever the vendor, is batteries ~ sure every sensor provides alerts when they are low on battery but do you have the right one and do you even remember where you put the sensor? With 2 houses I tend to use a lot of this stuff, so the tasks are doubled, but I need the insights. I appreciate the progress and compatibility, even though I know Samsung knows which room I am in and when, and at what temperature I take a spa and when, but I need the insights.

I get appropriate and timely alerts from my IoT installs and despite my general paranoia, my system is not harvesting bitcoin against my knowledge, nor sending data to China, nor participating in ganged robotic DoS attacks ~ it is just doing as I've asked, alerting me to issues. And, while I've expunged Google from the domicile (except for YouTube, can't do that), my biggest risks are likely from Apple, who is listening on the spy pucks and likely every search. Heck, disappointingly, even Mozilla/Firefox have given up the mantle of data privacy under the current administration... they'll sell what they know about you... grrr.

Fire, Smoke & CO Detection And Alarming 31May21

I checked our Blodgett smoke detectors and they were all manufactured between 1994-1998. The sensors in these things last about 10 years so, yeah, they are way too old. I replaced all 10 @ ~$32 each with new Kidde units; they are all wired for 120vAC power and interconnected with a signal line so when one goes off, they all do. Of course the bezels needed to be changed too, as did the connector to attach to the detector - so complete swaps; I did reuse the wirenuts. One was actually faulty so I returned it and got a replacement the next day from AMZ.

I also wanted to have the smoke/CO detectors connect to my home IoT network so I can monitor in the SmartThings app. I first checked the ZWave compatible detectors available but they are more expensive and only battery powered. Another alternative is to install a "listening" ZWave sensor which will trigger if it "hears" the actual alarm sound... sounded hokey. Instead I used special relays tapped off of one of my new smoke detectors to capture smoke alerts and CO alerts - basically I'm using the signaling built into wired smoke detectors to capture any event throughout that network. The relays convert to signals that open/clove 120v which normally one can use to drive something else like sirens or lights. Instead I connected the relay output to some normal Ecolink ZWave window open/close sensors (because they have a binding block to accept an external open/close signal). Here are the relays ($15 each) and sensor hardware ($30 each).

I used a standard project box ($9) to house all the stuff and tacked it to the ceiling in a back bedroom with a smoke detector, off of which I could tap. I ran 3/14 Romex between the tapped smoke detector and the relays inside the project box.

The open/close sensors are battery powered so I need ongoing access to them to change batteries (or I need to add a 3.3v transformer to the install). The sensors are attached to the lid of the project box; I drilled holes through the top for wiring and used smaller gauge wires to tie into the external trigger interface block of the sensor (see small red and black wires attached to block).

I then wired the whole mess together tying the relays into the smoke alarm interconnect signal wire, and power, and relay outputs to the open/close sensors. Here it is before buttoned up - wiring is pretty straightforward with instructions included with the relays. I tested stuff before stuffing it all into the project box.

 

Once I had the ZWave open/close sensors joined to SmartThings, I associated custom device handlers (from vseven on SmartThings community) to them to get a more appropriate UI and alerting scheme (detected/clear vs window open/closed) within SmartThings. Done! Here's what the app looks like but I receive normal iOS alerts and can get email and/or SMS if desired. The CO detection and alert is similar.

I now get SmartThings alerts if Blodgett is on fire or experiencing a CO event. I needed this IoT connection in order to monitor smoke remotely the way I do for the garage doors, the spa temps, flood detection, intrusion detection, etc. since we split our time between Blodgett and the Nest.

UPDATE 11Jun21 - It Worked So Well I Automated The Nest Too... Cleaner Install

Save The Spa! 15Feb21-17Apr21

Yep, Kala and I raced home from Summit Co in mid-Feb hoping to be in time to assure our Blodgett spa was going to survive the deep freeze. We got home in time to still see liquid but the water was cold and I could not get it to flow. We tried hot water and I installed a heater under the cowling (sketchy) but ultimately there was little we could do as the temps dropped to -22° and the pump would not turn over. I wasn't alerted in time as I didn't have instrumentation on the Blodgett spa as I do in Summit... a lesson.

The spa went into a very hard freeze and we began the search for a super-freak spa tech who would take on a likely massive rebuild. We found one, Chris Sawyer! We hired Chris by the hour hoping for a $2K rebuild. Ultimately though, massive PVC removal & replacement, including all manifolds, a pump replacement, the heater/controller replacement (went with Gecko), some jets and other parts yielded a $4.5K job. Don't get me wrong - this is so much better than having to buy new and we can't imagine there are many people capable of doing what Chris did. It did take 4+ full days to demo everything, rebuild everything and test, the rest was waiting for parts;  Chris even stayed over night in his camper on the street to complete some of the work. It was amazing and rarely was it as "nice" a day as the one shown here.

Wow, it took 2 months but we are completely back online! Chris said it was the most extensive freeze damage he's ever seen (and I believe it). I dialed in the chemicals and installed a wireless instrumentation system that can control the spa remotely as well as alert me on issues. This option plugged directly into the Gecko controller and uses an iOS app. Now both spas are part of my IoT networks.

Spa time for COS is back, and that's great as we are experiencing another 10 days of snowfall and cold temps here in mid-April and Kala's elliptical workouts deserve some back soothing and my arm is sore from hauling in pigs.

 

UPDATE 26Apr21 - No warranties were ever expressed or implied by Chris and Gecko tech support responded negatively to my request to be alerted/notified on a low temperature condition via their app - I though it had the capability when purchased, but it didn't; it's mainly a control app. Anyway, these led me to crack open the spa again on this gorgeous 72° Saturday and check for leaks and make some final hookups. I installed a separate temp sensor by taping it to the filter section. I modified it to run off of a 110v transformer and ran an extension cord to it. Noticing wetness inside I ran the jets and found some leaks - I fixed them on one of the manifolds by tightening and adding more hose clamps. Finally, I traced down air supply issues to some of the jets and got them going again. The spa is now running great and leakless and my Accurite sensor is alerting me to any temperature issues. It's buttoned up tight and true.

UPDATE 25May21 - The temp/humidity sensor connected to my Accurite wireless network was unreliable as to regular reporting - I couldn't effectively count on it to monitor and alert on low temperature in my spa really. I upgraded to an Aeotec Water Sensor 7 Pro for ~$45 today. This is a modern generation (700 chip) ZWave sensor which reports on temperature, humidity, and wet/dry state. I directly replaced my Accurite sensor; I velcroed it right to my filter area. It's connected directly into my SmartThings IoT network and there's automation there to alert me on wetness or low temps. A little more expensive but reliable and effective.

Blodgett IoT 30Oct20

We updated security and IoT at Blodgett. Of course I used SmartThings, Arlo and ZWave+ sensors and switches. I did not go overboard; thus far I've covered:

• Garage doors with tilt sensors
  
• Front doorbell with a sensor that connects to the existing doorbell transformer and alerts me when it dings
• Front outside lighting
• Blodgett Theater lighting
• Every room of Blodgett with motion sensing and 2 way audio security cameras
  

Undone as yet include:

• flood sensing
• online smoke/CO sensing
• proximity sensing to aid path lighting

Since we are "absent" to Summit Co on occasion, we most needed a security update. Too, we needed "Ring-like" features to capture and talk to package delivery (and potential package thievery) persons. Features completed include:

• Full home security motion detection and camera recording, including at night.
• More random lighting to mock homeness.
• Nightly schedule for outside lighting.
• Convenient remote control of theater lighting.