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I focus on Smart Home, Home Automation and General Technology reviews with guides and step by step how to videos. Home automation can be incredibly rewarding when done right so I'll share my tips, tricks and knowledge to help you get the best out of your smart home technology, security cameras and general tech.
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The main issue with Eufy - and the reason I returned the entire system - is that only the bottom half of the frame in view is monitored for motion detection. They told me this themselves. For me this meant I would never be notified when someone was walking my path to the front door and I would only be notified when someone was at the back of my car, not when they were walking to it via the drive or at the front of it. My car was parked FACING the road! To combat this they suggested I lower the camera and raise the angle of it. This would have meant the majority of the frame would have been the houses opposite. But worse still it would have meant the camera would have been within arms length of someone standing beneath it! Also their customer support was God awful.
Thanks for the tips. I added swipe and the battery notes straight away. I was going to manually add the battery types to my low battery messaging automation. Adding notes has certainly simplified it. Great work and thanks again, also thanks to the creators.
Thank you for your comments. In my opinion, a 2-3-5 month review period is insufficient for an accurate assessment. This short timeframe often results in "positive feedback" from reviewers who haven't used the product for at least a year( or they are sponsored or making money online by providing ,,positive ,, feedback). A review period of at least 12-16 months, ideally two years, is necessary. Given the significant financial investment and the product's impact on daily life for your entire family, I did extensive research, comparing Wiser with at least three alternatives. After comparing many pros and cons, I decided to purchase Wiser. Over the course of two years, we have encountered numerous issues that have added stress to our daily lives, making it clear that the system is not worthwhile. Instead of simplifying our lives, it has forced us to engage with our heating system daily due to constant problems, whether with the app, the TRVs, or the hub. A quick search for long-term user reviews will reveal a substantial number of dissatisfied customers. I am now mentally preparing to remove the system and revert to traditional TRVs before the cold season. Systems that control heating must comply with strict legal consumer requirements. Any system that fails to meet these standards should not be permitted for sale. In our 17 years of residing in this house, we have never used as much gas as we did with the Wiser system.
An absolutely useless system. Installed throughout the entire house 2 years ago, 6 radiators, extra thermostat controler, and signal extenders. This system is very inaccurate in result you have to cold or to hot house, resulting in a waste of money on extra heating costs in addition to the system itself. It's worth mentioning that it was installed by a certified plumber. The batteries run out very quickly; you'll need to replace them 3-4 times a year. The app is glitchy all the time. I deeply regret purchasing it; it's a waste of money and time. Now I have a completely useless system that I HAVE TO REMOVE and RETURN BACK TO THE OLD FASHIONED THERMOSTAT. I'VE LOST THOUSANDS OF POUNDS.
Not disputing your comments as every product has a number of users it doesn't work for. I did a lot of research into this before buying it so knew there were a lot of happy customers using it as well as a minority who had been experiencing problems. I've had mine since February and I'm yet to replace any batteries whatsoever. I have had to buy 1 extender to make the network 100% stable, but then it's ZigBee and that's how it works. To counter the fact that the TRVs report a slightly higher temperature with them being next to the radiator I've had to adjust my desired temperature accordingly (although I wish Drayton would put something in the app to do this). I installed this all myself as it's a simple DIY install, hub, 6 radiators and a themostat, and I've found it's worked flawlessly and it has definitely saved me money though I'm yet to total that up! These systems aren't for everyone and such an investment requires research and asking questions on forums and Facebook groups, not ideal but definitely way better than buying blindly.
What do you think of this new camera from EZVIZ then? Let me know in the comments below and if you enjoyed the video then don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to the channel 👍
Great video. I’m quite new to the Home Assistant world, and just thinking of swapping out my Philips hue which is stupidly expensive. What’s the Cheapest controller I can use to control HA?
If you've got old hardware lying around then that's the cheapest option. Next would be a raspberry pi which is also low power consumption but maybe opt to get an nvme drive with it as well rather than using an SD card. Then you move into things like the NUC and similar small computers. If you're happy to buy used then you get can some real bargains out there, more powerful than the raspberry pi and plenty of headroom for future needs. This is the route I went.
Thank you for making this video. A professional criminal syndicate is very aware of these vulnerabilities in my area. Although I have the updated software version on my Homebase2, it hasn't mattered; the first two vulnerabilities mentioned are occurring. I am of the belief that a WiFi security system is worthless due to white collar criminal tech expertise. As you mentioned, hacked cameras are an advantage for the hi tech criminal/syndicate. We are at this point in America now. Closed circuit, wired security is the only preventable solution.
I got an error at the end of flashing, is it now flashed or not? I am not sure.. Opening port COM3, baud 500000 Reading data from CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_coordinator_20230507.hex Your firmware looks like an Intel Hex file Connecting to target... CC1350 PG2.0 (7x7mm): 352KB Flash, 20KB SRAM, CCFG.BL_CONFIG at 0x00057FD8 Primary IEEE Address: 00:12:4B:00:26:B8:76:A9 Performing mass erase Erasing all main bank flash sectors Erase done Writing 360448 bytes starting at address 0x00000000 Write 104 bytes at 0x00057F988 Write done Verifying by comparing CRC32 calculations. Verified (match: 0xe83aa727) ERROR: int() can't convert non-string with explicit base edit: put it back in my HA-device and it works. Gives the just installed firmware as version.
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Thanks for the wonderful review. I have a question regarding human tracking, does the camera goes back to its original position after the person disappeared? If i understand, the detection is based on what appears on the camera lens view and not like PIR cameras? Thanks
Thanks for the review, I agree that it should also have some way to detect if anything is left. One could probably get a load cell to detect the weight of the whole unit, and use a separate sensor for that. Interesting with the Batteries. Does it act as a ZigBee Router or end device? Would be nice if it was a battery backed ZigBee Router.
Nice video. I'm the same as you, have mainly zigbee devices and also some wifi. I upgraded to unifi network some years back. Can I ask where you gout the horn sounds for your alexas? I'm working on exactly the same idea but having trouble to get the alarm sound as good as yours. Thanks, Eddie
Thanks, if you're using the Alexa integration with HACS then the wiki for it has some of the known sounds as well as a link off to the Alexa Skills Sound Library which then lets you search everything that Alexa can play.
Most ISP routers will probably struggle eventually but everyone knows they're rubbish anyway 😉 I'm quite surprised with the power usage on these, I've had a few ZigBee devices discharge quicker but I think it's good to have options whatever network you opt to use but thanks for watching and the feedback 👍
Very good review,I saw this camera while looking for a camera with 4g ,and this brand together with Eufy has good Wi-Fi cameras (I own a couple of them).I want to try it .Thanks for a depth and informative review,I am very much persuaded by your review to get one for myself. The pros outweighs the cons.The video is In English…5 star to it.
Are you using Wi-fi devices? What did you think of these? Let me know in the comments below and if you enjoyed the video then don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to the channel.
Great vid - have been looking for a recommendation on zigbee blinds. The fact they priced in dollars put me off as was not comfortable they would should to UK OK. Any chance you can run a decibel meter when using lol? I have the electric blinds2go blinds (controlled by RF / BroadLink) and they are loud lol!
They are great blinds, quick delivery as well. As for sound, with the sound meter right next to the motor it's 54 and 5 feet away it's 42. Hope that helps.
I enjoyed you calm walk thru. I haven't checked yet but do you have a step by step on the alexa ... I have my grand kids room to play a harry potter sound and when they are here the volume always is too low. I tried to see how you did the volume control.
Thanks for watching and the feedback. I don't have anything yet on the Alexa bit but I'm planning on doing some quick videos on stuff like that so watch this space 👍
I'm using most of those, apart from the swipe navigation, which, incidentally, you haven't included a link to. Good stuff though. Always interesting to hear what HACS components other people use.
With it being a Zigbee network I suspect it's highly likely that the quality of connection is one of the main reasons for battery drain. I've seen this with Aqara sensors I have and when the network has improved the battery drain has normalised.
It would be helpful if you did chapter markers to jump between to different Integrations. For example, I don't have anything Alexa in my house and would rather skip that bit.
Nice one thanks! Will instal a few of these, they look great. The most useful one I have installed is Stephen Beechen's "Google drive backup" Its been flawless. Also allows easy backup to a samba share. So best of both worlds backup to local and cloud. And alot more! Try it. You won't be disappointed.
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Awesome. Was super excited that finally ..finally! had found a compatible smart lock. Alas. My lock is on a thin framed aluminium door. So the locking mechanism is only 25mm centre from the door frame edge. How wide is the switchbot pro? My door frame is only 6cm... Is there a "thin" version of this smartlock ? Also is it easy to get into home assistant? Maybe do a follow up video on that?
Check out the specifications chapter of the video it has all the dimensions there but I think you'll be ok. As for Home Assistant, just waiting on the official integration to be updated to support it but as the previous version of the lock is in there I see no reason why the new one wouldn't be.
Hope you enjoyed the video, a bit longer than planned 😂 but hopefully you found it useful. If you did then don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to the channel.
@@Byteofgeek Tis a pleasure!I started it many years ago, primary for data extraction into grafana but then i expended it to do so much more.. Alas I moved home, had two kids and renovating the house and geeze, time (and money) poor!. Mark Parker (@msp1974) has taken the lead and has done SOO MUCH to improve it from my release (2.x). Things are settling down and I expect to get back into the swing of it soon 🙂
