Remote Control of My Home Thermostat

[David]

I would like to install a thermostat on my home furnace that con be
programmed for various temperatures at various times of the day. This
part of my project is easy.

But, I also want to be able to control the thermostat remotely. That
is, when I'm not at home, I'd like to be able to change the
thermostat's programming. Is something like this possible? Control
via telephone would be the most convenient.

David

[Bill Kearney]

<David> wrote in message news:td5gp5dikjpf3d9h42g9tioipbj7svducc@4ax.com...
>I would like to install a thermostat on my home furnace that con be
> programmed for various temperatures at various times of the day. This
> part of my project is easy.
>
> But, I also want to be able to control the thermostat remotely. That
> is, when I'm not at home, I'd like to be able to change the
> thermostat's programming. Is something like this possible? Control
> via telephone would be the most convenient.

Proliphix makes ethernet connectable thermostats. I've got one of their
NT20E units. Works as expected. I can connect either directly to it
(through the firewall at home) or through their website service. Either way
works well.

The trouble with anything that connects by the phone is using the phone for
anything else. You end up tying up the phone on that one task. Or you end
up with a serious mess of a hack using some of the few pieces of software
for consumer voice response applications. Most are a pain in the ass to set
up and only work with one or two rather expensive phone interfaces. Seems
like it ought to be an easy solution, it ain't.

Truth be told, once you set up a decent schedule most thermostats never need
to be changed. Except for seasonal changes, of course. But for regular day
to day stuff there's not much point to it. There's a high likelihood that
efforts to "save money" are going to end up costing more in the long run.
There are always going to be exceptions, of course, but those edge cases
don't come close to justifying it for the majority of situations.

That said as someone that's squandered more than his fair share of pennies
trying to automate crap.

-Bill Kearney

[David]

On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:03 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
<wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
><David> wrote in message news:td5gp5dikjpf3d9h42g9tioipbj7svducc@4ax.com...
>>I would like to install a thermostat on my home furnace that con be
>> programmed for various temperatures at various times of the day. This
>> part of my project is easy.
>>
>> But, I also want to be able to control the thermostat remotely. That
>> is, when I'm not at home, I'd like to be able to change the
>> thermostat's programming. Is something like this possible? Control
>> via telephone would be the most convenient.
>
>Proliphix makes ethernet connectable thermostats. I've got one of their
>NT20E units. Works as expected. I can connect either directly to it
>(through the firewall at home) or through their website service. Either way
>works well.
>
>The trouble with anything that connects by the phone is using the phone for
>anything else. You end up tying up the phone on that one task. Or you end
>up with a serious mess of a hack using some of the few pieces of software
>for consumer voice response applications. Most are a pain in the ass to set
>up and only work with one or two rather expensive phone interfaces. Seems
>like it ought to be an easy solution, it ain't.
>
>Truth be told, once you set up a decent schedule most thermostats never need
>to be changed. Except for seasonal changes, of course. But for regular day
>to day stuff there's not much point to it. There's a high likelihood that
>efforts to "save money" are going to end up costing more in the long run.
>There are always going to be exceptions, of course, but those edge cases
>don't come close to justifying it for the majority of situations.
>
>That said as someone that's squandered more than his fair share of pennies
>trying to automate crap.
>
>-Bill Kearney

After recieving your message, I looked around a bit. I found a system
on smarthome.com that uses my home phone. It seems to be ok because
its not online all the time. It only uses the phone when I "call" the
system to make changes or to get a status report.

The biggest problem I haven't seen a fix for is my 5th wheel RV. When
I retire in a few years, my wife & I plan on full time traveling in
the RV for a number of years. Since the RV is not tied down, but
frequently on the move, any system that uses a land line phone won't
work. A cell phone system could be expensive because the system would
require a built in phone and a contract with a local cell provider.
I'm considering the internet as an option, but I haven't seen any
systems that use the internet to communicate remotely.

[greenpjs@neo.rr.com]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:39:12 -0500, David wrote:

>On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:03 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
><wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>><David> wrote in message news:td5gp5dikjpf3d9h42g9tioipbj7svducc@4ax.com...
>>>I would like to install a thermostat on my home furnace that con be
>>> programmed for various temperatures at various times of the day. This
>>> part of my project is easy.
>>>
>>> But, I also want to be able to control the thermostat remotely. That
>>> is, when I'm not at home, I'd like to be able to change the
>>> thermostat's programming. Is something like this possible? Control
>>> via telephone would be the most convenient.
>>
>>Proliphix makes ethernet connectable thermostats. I've got one of their
>>NT20E units. Works as expected. I can connect either directly to it
>>(through the firewall at home) or through their website service. Either way
>>works well.
>>
>>The trouble with anything that connects by the phone is using the phone for
>>anything else. You end up tying up the phone on that one task. Or you end
>>up with a serious mess of a hack using some of the few pieces of software
>>for consumer voice response applications. Most are a pain in the ass to set
>>up and only work with one or two rather expensive phone interfaces. Seems
>>like it ought to be an easy solution, it ain't.
>>
>>Truth be told, once you set up a decent schedule most thermostats never need
>>to be changed. Except for seasonal changes, of course. But for regular day
>>to day stuff there's not much point to it. There's a high likelihood that
>>efforts to "save money" are going to end up costing more in the long run.
>>There are always going to be exceptions, of course, but those edge cases
>>don't come close to justifying it for the majority of situations.
>>
>>That said as someone that's squandered more than his fair share of pennies
>>trying to automate crap.
>>
>>-Bill Kearney
>
>After recieving your message, I looked around a bit. I found a system
>on smarthome.com that uses my home phone. It seems to be ok because
>its not online all the time. It only uses the phone when I "call" the
>system to make changes or to get a status report.
>
>The biggest problem I haven't seen a fix for is my 5th wheel RV. When
>I retire in a few years, my wife & I plan on full time traveling in
>the RV for a number of years. Since the RV is not tied down, but
>frequently on the move, any system that uses a land line phone won't
>work. A cell phone system could be expensive because the system would
>require a built in phone and a contract with a local cell provider.
>I'm considering the internet as an option, but I haven't seen any
>systems that use the internet to communicate remotely.

Then you missed the earlier suggestion to look at Proliphix. That's
what they do. You access them from your home network and/or from the
Internet. You can access directly if you know your home IP address.
If your home IP address varies, you can access them from the Proliphix
web site. (In that situation, the thermostat "phones home" to
Proliphix periodically to report its current IP address). I can
control mine from any Internet connected computer or my iPhone.

[David]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:15:05 -0500, greenpjs@neo.rr.com wrote:

>On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:39:12 -0500, David wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:03 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
>><wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>><David> wrote in message news:td5gp5dikjpf3d9h42g9tioipbj7svducc@4ax.com...
>>>>I would like to install a thermostat on my home furnace that con be
>>>> programmed for various temperatures at various times of the day. This
>>>> part of my project is easy.
>>>>
>>>> But, I also want to be able to control the thermostat remotely. That
>>>> is, when I'm not at home, I'd like to be able to change the
>>>> thermostat's programming. Is something like this possible? Control
>>>> via telephone would be the most convenient.
>>>
>>>Proliphix makes ethernet connectable thermostats. I've got one of their
>>>NT20E units. Works as expected. I can connect either directly to it
>>>(through the firewall at home) or through their website service. Either way
>>>works well.
>>>
>>>The trouble with anything that connects by the phone is using the phone for
>>>anything else. You end up tying up the phone on that one task. Or you end
>>>up with a serious mess of a hack using some of the few pieces of software
>>>for consumer voice response applications. Most are a pain in the ass to set
>>>up and only work with one or two rather expensive phone interfaces. Seems
>>>like it ought to be an easy solution, it ain't.
>>>
>>>Truth be told, once you set up a decent schedule most thermostats never need
>>>to be changed. Except for seasonal changes, of course. But for regular day
>>>to day stuff there's not much point to it. There's a high likelihood that
>>>efforts to "save money" are going to end up costing more in the long run.
>>>There are always going to be exceptions, of course, but those edge cases
>>>don't come close to justifying it for the majority of situations.
>>>
>>>That said as someone that's squandered more than his fair share of pennies
>>>trying to automate crap.
>>>
>>>-Bill Kearney
>>
>>After recieving your message, I looked around a bit. I found a system
>>on smarthome.com that uses my home phone. It seems to be ok because
>>its not online all the time. It only uses the phone when I "call" the
>>system to make changes or to get a status report.
>>
>>The biggest problem I haven't seen a fix for is my 5th wheel RV. When
>>I retire in a few years, my wife & I plan on full time traveling in
>>the RV for a number of years. Since the RV is not tied down, but
>>frequently on the move, any system that uses a land line phone won't
>>work. A cell phone system could be expensive because the system would
>>require a built in phone and a contract with a local cell provider.
>>I'm considering the internet as an option, but I haven't seen any
>>systems that use the internet to communicate remotely.
>
>Then you missed the earlier suggestion to look at Proliphix. That's
>what they do. You access them from your home network and/or from the
>Internet. You can access directly if you know your home IP address.
>If your home IP address varies, you can access them from the Proliphix
>web site. (In that situation, the thermostat "phones home" to
>Proliphix periodically to report its current IP address). I can
>control mine from any Internet connected computer or my iPhone.

Thanks for the help. This does solve my problem!