Arlo Solar Panel

The Arlo Solar panel is a great addition to the Arlo Pro Camera for those who don't feel like recharging batteries every few months.  I believe the panel also works with the Arlo Go cameras.

I have had the panel installed for about a month now and it had kept my battery charged at 100%.  There are some customers on the Arlo forums that seem to be having issues with the panels showing an error message in the app.  I have never experienced any errors with my panel.

I have two Arlo cameras but only chose to purchase one panel as my front camera does not get that much activity and I only have to charge the battery every 6 months or so.  Also the camera faces north so there would no easy way for me to face the panel toward the sun which is obviously key to solar panels.  

If you are considering installing one of these panels male sure of the following:

1. The panels are facing the sun, preferably south (if you are in the Northern hemisphere) and angled properly.  There is an app called SinplySolar that can help you with angling your panel
2. The plug for the panel is fully seated.  To make the panel water tight the connection is kind of difficult to seat filly especially if you are on a ladder.  
3. Make sure there are no trees or other obstructions between the panel and the sun.

So far I am pretty happy with the performance of my panel.  It will be interesting to see what happens when the days get shorter and colder and we start seeing some snow.  Hopefully the panel will still be able to keep the batter charged.   Time will tell I guess.

Update:  November 2017

I noticed a message the other day on my Arlo App stating that "Charging Paused, Battery temperature is too low".  It seems that the solar panel cannot charge the battery when temperatures are 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below.  Although I am pretty sure I was seeing the message the other day when temperatures were in the 40s.  Pretty disappointing.  This basically means my solar panels are going to be useless from November through March.  Kind of defeats the purpose of the panels as the main reason I bought mine was so I would no have to climb up and replace the battery when it is cold and icy out.  So for those looking at getting one of these panels, if you live in a cold region be aware that they won't charge your batteries when it gets cold.

Sonos - Playbase

For the past year I am been browsing around looking for a good soundbar that would fit in my family room.  In my old house I had a pretty good Cambridge Soundworks  6.1 surround sound system installed, which did not come with me to the new house.  In my new house wanted better home theater sound, but I did not want to run wires. With the layout of the room, it would be impossible or at least extremely ugly to run wires around the walls.  I have been looking at higher end soundbars, but I was unable to find one reviewed well enough to encourage me to pull the trigger.  My other issue is my TV sits so low on the base that most soundbars would block the IR receiver.  This seemed to be another instance where the technology was not yet where I needed it to be but if I waited long enough something would eventually be released.  I have not been real impressed with the performance of any of the Bluetooth speakers I have owned and I have never really been a fan of Bose products.

I had read about a bit about Sonos products, and really wasn't looking very closely at them as they are pretty pricey.  Then last month I came across a couple reviews of the Playbase.  Although pricey, it seemed to fit the criteria of most of what I was looking for.

• Great Sound
• Plenty of bass for movies
• Expandable
• Wireless
• Can play music form just about anywhere

So after a lot of research I pulled the trigger and picked up a Playbase.  I have to say I am impressed.  The sound obviously does not rival my old 6.1 system but it is pretty damn good.  I no longer find my self turning the volume up to hear dialogue and then down when the explosions get too loud.  It also looks great under my TV.  Very sleek and unobtrusive.

What has impressed me the most is the ability to stream different types of audio.  I have been a Pandora user for a while so it was great to be able to use it on the Playbase as well.  I am also able to listen to local radio stations through TunedIn.  The system supports 49 streaming services so most likely your favorite is supported.  Most impressive is I am able to share out my whole music library on my PC and stream it to the Playbase.  The great thing is it just works.  The app is great, very intuitive.  You don't get any drops like on Bluetooth.

I can't really find much to complain about regarding the system but if I had to come up with something....

• Its expensive - Yes it is expensive but for me it is worth it
• Limited connection options - The playbase connects from your TV using an optical cable only. 
• It does not support DTS or other advanced audio formats

The problem is now I am wanting to add more components to the system.  While the bass output is good I am sure it would sound a lot better with the sub so I will probably be adding one soon.  And once I have the sub I might as well get a couple Play1s for the rear.  Then of course I need a Play 3 for the office.   Not to mention the kids rooms and bathroom.   The good thing is once I do build the whole system out it will be so easy to setup and manage through the app.  You can have one audio source playing in one room and another audio source in another room.

Also on the horizon is integration with Amazon Echo so if you are a user of voice control products it is coming toward the end of 2017.  Overall very happy with my Playbase and looking forward to adding more components as budget permits.

Wemo Smart Light Switch

When I purchased my home my outside lights were on a timer that would turn the lights on at night and off in the morning.  All was working great for a while until somehow the timer lost its settings and was either on or off all the time.  This was an older Intermatic timer that are infamously hard to program.  I  found a manual online and was able to get it programmed again but then about 6 months later it lost its settings again.  Frustrating.

So I decided to look at some of the new smart light switches.  These switched can be controlled remotely from your phone and programmed to turn on and off at sunrise and sunset.  There seems to be a lot of them out there but I kept landing back on the WEMO light switches.  They are relatively inexpensive and are reviewed pretty well.  Installation was easy if you are familiar with basic electrical work.   I am no expert but I can switch out a light when necessary.  Setup was pretty straightforward as well.  I couple things to keep in mind before purchasing.

1. Make sure the outlet has a neutral wire, this switch will not work without one
2. Make sure the switch is not 3-way, controlled by two switches.  This will not work either.
3. Make sure you get good wireless reception where you will be installing the switch.  It will not work without a good signal.

Once you get the switch installed.  You need to download the app and it will guide you through the setup process.  It created its own temporary network that you need to connect to then you add and name your switch.  You can control the switch manually, from the app or set up rules to have the switch turn on and off at a certain time.  I used the sunrise/sunset settings which adjusts the on/off times throughout the year.  So far so good.  The app can be a little flaky as it has shown the light as on when it was really off a few times.  The app does have a refresh button that usually resolves the issue.  I have cut power to the house a few times and the switch had no problem reconnecting to the network.

This isn't a smart product that is going to save me any money but it is a nice set it and forget it product that replaced a switch that was giving me a headache.  I have a few more outside lights that are not on timers that I will probably upgrade at some point.  Great product that I highly recommend.    

Update: After 5 years my Wemo switch died.  Well the switch still works as in I can still turn on/off the light with it but it seems to have lost its wifi connectivity.  Which is the while point of the switch, if I can't run automations and schedules it is just a dumb switch.  It is showing as unresponsive in Alexa and even the Wemo app can't see it.  I tried factory resetting it and adding it back in but it was a no go.   I called their support line and after about an hour of trouble shooting the support rep also concluded that it was dead.  It was obviously out of warranty but I was at least expecting them to offer me a discount on a new switch.  But no.  So it now seems that there are other manufacturers offering similar switches for half the cost so I will post a new update when I get my new switch.  So at this point I would not recommend the Wemo switch.  I think a premium product such as this should last more than 5 years.

Nest Protect - Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector

Having installed a couple Nest thermostats in my home and really liking them it made sense for me to take a look at their Protect smoke and carbon monoxide product.  The Nest Thermostat is expensive but the utility companies provide rebates and you will save money on your electricity and/or gas bill so for me the cost is justified.

The Protect provides no savings so the feature set would really need to blow me away in order to make the investment.  For me the feature set is just not there yet to justify the cost.  I have a large house, almost 5000 square feet of living space so obviously I have a lot of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  Although I did not realize how many I actually had until I walked around and counted them for this project.  I could not believe that I have 19 smoke or carbon monoxide detectors in my home.  Some of them are standalone carbon monoxide detectors which I could get rid of if I got the Nest Protects.  But that just brings the number down to 16.  So my cost to replace all smoke detectors would be almost $2000.  Not happening.

A few of my smoke detectors are hard wired so I may at some point replace some of those but will probably wait for the next generation to see if Nest will add to the feature set.  For me, at this point the cons far outweigh the pros as I see them.

Pros:

• Remote Monitoring
• Cool Factor
• Night Light

Cons:

• Cost - I can get a dumb smoke and CO detector for $30
• They expire after 7 years - at the price it would be nice to get more than 7 years out of them
• Limited Feature Set - The Ecobee thermostat has remote temperature sensors that can be added on so the temperature of your house is not just measured at the thermostat.  Would be great if Nest would put a similar sensor in the protect to extend the range of the thermostat.  There are probably all kinds of other sensors they could add to justify the cost such as air quality.
• Product was initially buggy - A friend of mine has a couple Protects and remember him telling me that his would randomly tell him that there was smoke in the hallway at 3am.  There was no smoke in the hallway.  I think he has the first generation Protects and I don't think this is still occurring but it does give me pause. 

So for now it is a wait and see what happens with the next generation Nest Protect.  Maybe the price will come down.  Or maybe they will add a must have feature.  I really want to talk myself into getting a couple of these Protects but I just can't justify it, yet.