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Ecobee Switch+


SetMonkey13

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Posted

These two items are not related. 

The ecobee switch+ contains an Alexa speaker and microphone device that will talk to ISY via the ISY Portal.

ISY can then, in turn, talk through NodeLink running on another computer (typically RPi) to many devices.

NodeLink has no bridging characteristics to replace ISY portal.

 

I have an ecobee4 with Alexa built in and although Nodelink allows interaction with the thermostat portion, the Alexa portion is not related to that process.

Posted

I'm just wondering if I will be able to control (and see the status of) the switch aspect of the ecobee device like I can with other parameters of my ecobee 3 thermostat.
If I can replace a ecobee sensor and an existing insteon switch in a room to one device (with the extra benefit of adding an Alexa to that room) I would consider getting the new switch.

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Posted

So you want to control and receive triggers from the switch portion of the device?

You could ask io_guy to write a Node for NodeLink to do this but you may have to buy him a unit to play with to make it work since I doubt he would have one. See the NodeLink forum thread. He may be too busy for some time also.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Honestly don't know why anyone would pay $100 for that switch.  

And their crap API will likely still require polling, which right now is 3 minutes min, aka useless.  Their push API has been vaporware for years.  

 

Posted
26 minutes ago, io_guy said:

Honestly don't know why anyone would pay $100 for that switch.  

And their crap API will likely still require polling, which right now is 3 minutes min, aka useless.  Their push API has been vaporware for years.  

 

After seeing the Holy Bible that comes back with every poll. I have to agree with that one. Ecobee needs to break the polls up into several levels. The current weather is always about 4-5 hours behind anyway and how many times do we need every temperature setting for every 15 minutes through out the whole day? L

The data starts to look like an attempt at a DoS attack. :) 

Posted
Honestly don't know why anyone would pay $100 for that switch.  
And their crap API will likely still require polling, which right now is 3 minutes min, aka useless.  Their push API has been vaporware for years.  
 
A sensor is $40 and Echo dot is $30-40 and a smart switch is $40. So cheaper to get Switch+ instead of all the various parts (two which would have to live on a table or dresser).

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Posted
On 4/1/2018 at 6:22 PM, io_guy said:

Honestly don't know why anyone would pay $100 for that switch.  

And their crap API will likely still require polling, which right now is 3 minutes min, aka useless.  Their push API has been vaporware for years.  

 

I can't disagree with you there, the Thermostat API is pretty ?

Posted

If it happens, I'll support it.  I'm not holding my breath.

On the developer forum we've been screaming for local access since the API existed.  Ecobee argued back with absolutely ridiculous reasons to not do it (like security).  Really tough concept, here it comes, mindblowing - a read-only socket you could connect to that sends a real-time status feed.  That would take the worst coder at ecobee literally about 1 day to code.

They have the best thermostat on the market, now if they only had even a half-baked local API...

Posted

With any polling required for a vocal sensing device or a light-switch with triggered events, any polling speed required would be a sin. Cloud connections are all the rage right now but should fade out of popularity in time, as people experience household items not working when the cloud, router, wiring, bankruptcy etc.. etc... goes down.

 

Agreed! After trying most of the popular brands ecobee has the best thermostat for  options, HVAC control, best looks, ease of operation, and sensor accuracy on the market. Like all the rest they use completely fabricated and goofy terminology for parameters, though.

 

$119.99 plus taxes = $135.59 CAD. Even cheaper than the USD equiv. Buy a separate Amazon Dot and Insteon SwitchLink,  cheaper with less obsolescence possibility.

The ecobee4 is not a good Alexa vocal component. It responds OK to far away voices, but standing right in front of it, an Alexa Dot at the other end of the room (25' away),  behind my back, always answers instead. Being too close to the wall it gets a reflected sound off the wall simultaneously. I suspect this unit would be even worse for vocal clarity. Ecobee4 does not support 5GHz WiFi.

https://www.amazon.ca/ecobee-Switch-Smart-Amazon-Built/dp/B079K3PB16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522705125&sr=8-1&keywords=ecobee+switch

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