For you snowbirds who have "remote controlled thermostats", what do you use? What are the things you like, AND the things that you don't like about your model?I'm thinking about leaving my DSL/Internet link in place this winter, and installing a thermostat with remote control.I "must have" the following minimum features: -- alert if the house temperature drops below a predetermined temperature (45-degrees?) -- ability to check current temp from my smart phone or tablet. -- ability to adjust temperature from my smart phone or tablet. -- no monthly fees (other than having to keep my DSL active)Other nice to have, but not deal breaker features: -- alert if the house temperature rises above a predetermined temperature (80 degrees?) -- display outdoor temperature -- ability to tie in other sensors/cameras/whateverRight now I'm leaning toward a couple of Honeywell "WiFi Smart thermostat" models which cover all of my "must have" features. Cost around $200.Comments/recommendations?

I use an older Honeywell which has those features (they all pretty much do if WiFi enabled).But the Lyric ($150) is the one I'll be upgrading to:Honeywell Lyric

I am in my house right now with a Nest Thermostat. After some initial issues when it was originally installed (on an older existing furnace) it seemed to work fine for about 4 months (until mid March this year). I was still in Florida when it stopped transmitting local weather conditions at home. I have worked with Nest tech support since then and although they tell me it's a software issue.. it is still not resolved. Now that my furnace season has started again it is giving me incorrect readings of weather conditions here at home and just in the last couple of days it is screwing up the 'history' screen which shows that the furnace has been running all day every day... but I'm here and I know it's not!! So I'm with sch911 above! My next one will be a Honeywell!!

Turns out the Honeywells all require a "C" wire which my system does not have.Any other candidates besides nest?

BlackSilver wrote:Turns out the Honeywells all require a "C" wire which my system does not have.Any other candidates besides nest?Use the Venstar Add-a-Wire. Here's a videoVenstar Add-a-Wire installation

Remote thermostat | Good Sam Community

Hank_MI
Explorer
Nov 01, 2016
John&Joey wrote:
Hank MI wrote:
John&Joey wrote:
After 30 years in IT I set up my place with the eye on cost, KISS, and redundancy (i.e. I skipped the technology bling that breaks down at the worst time.)

What I did was bought $50 IP cameras, large outside thermometers, cube that turns a light on at freezing temps, and a flood alarm. All those items cost about $10 each and can be bought at a big box store.

I use the cameras motion and sound alarm to send me e-mails in the case of a flood (alarm siren goes off) or freezing temp (light comes on which is motion.) I also use the cameras (pan/tilt) to check out the room and what those large outside thermometers are showing for a temp in that room.

The camera's are open to the web which means I can keep an eye on everything no matter where I put it in park. Works for me.

And I spent roughly $100 for a Wifi thermostat. I don't need to monitor the temp but I can if I want to. It will email me if there is an issue. I can also turn on the AC or turn the heat up remotely. Very handy when you've been away, you arrive home to a comfortable house. I don't have a flood alarm but I suspect I didn't spend as much as you did.

The other thing you don't have are intruder alerts and the pictures/video that occurs if/when that happens.

You mentioned cameras to look at thermometers and flood alarm. You didn't mention any security aspects. Not sure how useful it would be to watch someone breaking into my house when I'm 1,000 miles away. If it sounds an alarm or calls the police, great. If all I get to do is watch, not so great.
Toolguy5
Explorer III
Nov 02, 2016
I have Honeywell I believe it is red link. It has a modem that plugs into my router. I can control it from my phone.
RavensFan24
Explorer
May 30, 2017
I'm potentially moving back to Florida next month and I have a travel trailer and 2 dogs. I am nervous about having the dogs in the RV without me there during the day simply because it's super hot in FL in the summer and if the AC dies....so do the dogs. I'm not sure if I'll be in FL 3 months, 6 months, a year or 10 years, so I don't want to commit to a lease right away, which is why I'm considering staying in the RV.

I've thought of getting a Nest Thermostat or something similar and using a Verizon hotspot to power the internet connection. The problem is I've heard that if the Nest loses wi-fi connection that the AC/heat will stop working completely.

Any suggestions on the best and most cost effective option to be able to monitor the temperature in the trailer at all times from my phone?
BarneyS
Explorer III
May 30, 2017
RavensFan24 wrote:
Snip...

Any suggestions on the best and most cost effective option to be able to monitor the temperature in the trailer at all times from my phone?

I use one of these to monitor our home while we are in Florida for the winter. It works very well but does use the home WiFi so that must be left on. You cannot change any heat/air conditioning settings with it as it is just a monitor for temp and humidity.
Barney
Itching2go
Explorer II
May 31, 2017
rclifton wrote:
I replaced my thermostat with a Sensi wifi thermostat and so far it's worked great. It does not require a "c" wire, it also retains control of the fan (on or auto) but you do have to figure out if you want to use the low or high fan wire unless you want to add an additional toggle switch. I love being able to have the fan on with the furnace at the same time, really helps to circulate the air.

The only down side is with no "c" wire if you access it a lot via wifi it eats the "aa" batteries pretty quickly. It takes 2, so I bought a 4 pack of rechargeable double a's and just swap them out when they get down to 1 bar.

X3 on the Sensi, with an additional advantage being the relatively low price compared with the others I was looking at. Compared to the Nest, it has a lot fewer features, but will do everything on your list. It also comes with one of the easiest installation instructions I've ever seen included in its smart phone app. I happen to have a C wire, so no need to rely on a battery. Clifton's post above would cause me concern, depending on how long I was going to be gone, and especially if I couldn't see the battery status on the app. Perhaps Clifton could offer some info on that.
Dutch_12078
Explorer II
May 31, 2017
We monitor the inside and outside temps at our Adirondack cottage with an Acu-Rite Home Internet interface that uses up to three wireless temperature and humidity sensors. It's connected to our router with an Ethernet cable. We have no need to adjust the temperature at the cottage, but the high/low temperature alert texts and/or emails are enough to let us notify someone local that can respond to any issues as needed. We can also check the current and past 24 hour temps at any time with our phones and laptops. When we still had our dog, we also had an Acu-Rite Home and sensors in the motorhome to alert us when were off shopping, etc, leaving the dog there alone.
austinjenna
Explorer
May 31, 2017
I use the Honeywell RTH9580WF model and it does pretty much everything you wanted

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