Homeowners are increasingly concerned about data privacy in smart home products, according to Copeland. Homeowners see smart devices as boosting home security Homeowners are still generally comfortable in using new technology, but this year smart thermostat non-owners are less likely to feel comfortable using new tech compared to 2022 levels. Smart device owners tend to be younger compared to non-owners with more from the boomer generation. However, 2024 homeowners are less likely to consider themselves … More → The post Homeowners are clueless about how smart devices collect their data appeared first on Help Net Security.
What smart thermostat do you use, if any?
I currently use an ecobee with home assistant. If integrated via homekit it will run locally but I would like to remove homekit from the equation and doing things this way means you don’t get all of the features of the ecobee (like air quality monitoring) that you would get if you integrate via their api and utilize connection to their servers. I have tested and it does work without internet this way.
But finding a local only thermostat that’s not totally ugly is a bit tough. I was looking at the venstar t7850 as that apparently has a totally local api and can run in an isolated vlan with no internet access but a huge color lcd on my wall is a bit of a turn off
I haven’t found one that works entirely locally yet (plus, for a thermostat that’s wired anyway, I’d like it to be wired ethernet instead of Wi-Fi and that makes it even harder to find), so I’m still using a “dumb” programmable one.
Frankly, I’m considering DIYing one. I’d love to figure out how to make something with similar look and feel to a Google Nest, but that sounds difficult.
My kingdom for a home of devices that run on poe and can function in an isolated vlan without internet access
That reminds me that I’ve always been mystified why thermostats require a battery when they’re wired to a furnace anyway.
What’re the advantages of a smart thermostat compared to one that you can have a schedule on? Unless they aren’t available without that anymore I haven’t shopped for one just thinking of our office one that has a day / night type settings. The one our office has is fairly plain, LCD screen with like 6ish buttons, shows if it’s fan, off or heat / AC on. Seems simple enough without needing a smart device.
I can see wanting to use an application to set it would be nice but seems like smart devices aren’t worth that comfort.
it’s nice to be able to change the hvac remotely, enables laziness (I’m on the couch and I want it to be 2-3 warmer cooler without getting up? Nice), occasionally can be helpful for forgetfulness (I didn’t set a modified schedule for vacation and can change it from Latvia or wherever)
Like most smart home stuff it’s not essential at all but if you’re so inclined it can be a fun project. If you are deeper into it like I am it can be helpful as you can go beyond simple schedules into automations; my hvac is not based on hard rule schedules but occupancy based. it’s a combination of a traditional schedule but it can be overridden if no occupancy is detected or if phones are approaching the geofence (to make sure the house is reasonably warm/cool by the time we arrive). It’s a bit more complicated in practice and took a little while to iron out the kinks but now it works while and has led to lower utilization overall