New East Texas Pool Build- Part 2

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On the home automation front, my eventual plan is to integrate several different systems into one program. The software to run everything can be found at http://www.revolv.com. It is kind of pricey, but it will integrate with the wireless thermostats, the sonos units, and the wifi light switches. I especially like the fact that your GPS phone can communicate with it and you can set it to where when you get within a certain distance of your house, the outside lights will come on. Pretty cool. Has anyone tried this? Here is a picture-

 
I use a free service called IFTTT to control our outside lights. I've got it to where it accesses a weather site to get the sunrise/sunset times daily and then controls on the outside lights at those times. I've seen a few "recipes" that turn on/off your lights depending on location, but never added one.

Ifttt doesn't do nearly the "fancy" things revolv can......but is MUCH cheaper (free). Keep in mind too on IOS devices your app must be running in the background to have the GPS features to work on the revolv, which often adds to increased battery drain.
 
Thanks. This is important to know. The smart phones are great, but the more you use them for other things, the battery sure goes down fast. I learned that when I tried to use my smart phone to lay out courses for cycling. Battery was like it was leaking energy. But it did come in handy when I got heat stroke once and could not tell my wife where I was. She found me using find my iPhone and I was the opposite direction of what I had tried to tell her.
 
KenGood said:
...Finally, to the person on this website who recently finished his pool which has a really cool slide, I want you to know that I am about finished with my plan to steal that thing. I just need to rent a crane and get you all out of the house for a few days. If you mysteriously win a contest and a trip somewhere like Disney World, it was not me and it is not part of my plan. But you should be afraid, very afraid. Ha!
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So that's why I keep getting calls telling me I've won a 'free' cruise...!! :roll:
I'd like to see a crane lift the thing, it's going nowhere...! I have my killer cats on watch (I just have to convince them you're a mouse). :mrgreen:

Pool house looks great, hopefully the drainage issues are now resolved and you can get it plastered soon. Did you decide on a product yet?
 
KenGood said:
On the home automation front, my eventual plan is to integrate several different systems into one program. The software to run everything can be found at http://www.revolv.com. It is kind of pricey, but it will integrate with the wireless thermostats, the sonos units, and the wifi light switches. I especially like the fact that your GPS phone can communicate with it and you can set it to where when you get within a certain distance of your house, the outside lights will come on. Pretty cool. Has anyone tried this? Here is a picture-

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They currently do not support anything but the IPhone IOS so that leaves me out. My next thing I want to get is outdoor surveillance cameras so I can monitor our house while we are out of town and internet controllable lights so I can turn them off and on while out of town. I have the gates locked but kids still jump the fence. Being it is only a four foot high wrought iron fence only keeps the small kids out.
 
We have a four camera system, but only have three cameras actually in use. We are adding a camera in the pool house. I ordered it off of amazon and it looks so easy to install. We have a DVR recording each camera, but I have never been able to get the app to work so that we can see it at anytime. I meticulously researched the right DVR, but at the last minute, the company gave me a "free upgrade" and sent me a different model and the rest is history. Here is the camera that we use for our system-

 
For the kids jumping the fence - you need to dress your little dogs in "big" dog suits and teach them to attack! On a serious note, I bought a surveillance camera a few years ago that was suppose to work off an app on my phone, never could get that sucker to work! Numerous calls to tech support, back to AT&T, back to tech support. Finally just gave up. I'm sure they've improved the technology since then but that was a lesson in frustration for sure.
 

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So you won't be moving to Minnesota (or New Hampshire ^^^) I take it? :)

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You all make me laugh. Our family went to New York for the week of Thanksgiving. I have always loved New York when I have been there in the past. When we got off the plane, I realized that I have only been there in the summer and I had not ever been in November or another cold month. I immediately disliked New York. I was freezing the entire time we were there. I am used to putting out my Christmas lights in shorts and a t-shirt. I do not know how you guys do it. I was starting to get used to New York weather on the last day when it was time to come home. Now it looks like I brought it home with me. I have been cold since.
 
KenGood said:
I do not know how you guys do it. I was starting to get used to New York weather on the last day when it was time to come home. Now it looks like I brought it home with me. I have been cold since.
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Well for one thing we don't jump right from sunny and warm into cold. We get there gradually. With that, we acclimate to it easier. Once the blood thickens up a bit, it is easier to deal with. Around here, in early fall when it is 50* out we wear jackets. When it is 50* in early spring we wear shorts. Right now, it is about 20* outside. I will put on a light jacket if I go out.

There, that gets me back into the notifications for this thread
 
KenGood said:
Once things settle down, I do plan on upgrading the DVR to something that we can see on our apps both in the house and when we are away.
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Ken,
I use Blue Iris http://www.blueirissoftware.com/ on an old pc with good size drive. Records motion, archives and can be viewed remotely on most platforms. Works with most wireless cameras. The pc outputs video to a whole house modulator.
 
KenGood said:
Can you tell me some more about the whole house modulator. I have looked at those some, but have not seen any in action.
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The modulator is in a closet with the computer, satellite receiver and 2 Roku devices. They feed an analogue video and audo signal to the modulator, where you assign the desired output channel. The modulator connects thru a coax line to the distribution amp, located where all the room feeds and the incoming antenna/cable feed is located. Keep in mind this is an older tech solution (not highdef) and presents problems when digital tv's are in the mix. You may find some new digital equipment showing up on the market but the cost is high.

Bill

http://www.linearcorp.com/product_detai ... ductId=174
http://www.linearcorp.com/product_detai ... ductId=191
 
Sorry for all the drama you're going through, but it's nice to see forward progress. Hang in there... :goodjob:
Regarding the Pentair-Mastertemp; it's the same one I'm using for more than a year. Very heavy-use with no issues whatsoever (completely exposed to weather) and it's fairly efficient.
 

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