Nest cameras and thermostat, offline

Personal Finances Building / Maintaining a Home
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Tied to the recent thread about doorbell cameras… I recently bought a Nest learning thermostat “gen 3” whatever, and 2 wired cameras to watch the inside of the house while we’ve been away on a trip. Got them all installed & set up quickly with the Google Nest and Home apps. Great, the day after we left recently I checked them out.

That night (away night #2) there was a brief power outage. Since then, they have all shown “offline”. Despite

  • the wifi (Google wifi pucks) automatically rebooting along with the cable internet
  • my neighbor going into the house and validating all good with the wifi and the thermostat, reconnecting the Nest to the wifi network from the thermostat
  • reinstalling the Nest app on my phone
  • research and posts on reddit/google nest forums (no useful responses)

Until I get back there the cameras are bricks and I can’t confirm the temperature in the house remotely. This is over $400 of hardware made useless by what should be a designed recovery process.

First world problem, definitely.

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Aghhh, sorry to read this, was looking at Nest… Maybe their ‘support’ line can explain what happened… Weekend is likely not a good time to call…

BIL has a Nest doorbell camera, but not the additional cameras or thermostat…

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Wish I had advice, but I don’t have Nest. On occasion I have had to reboot the “hub”. I have one for my wireless cameras, and one for my smarthome devices. Usually rebooting the router is enough, but occasionally the hubs get “lost” and need a reboot also.

I do have a Google mesh, and I can control everything from Google Home. One trick (but you have to be there so the Google Home device can hear you) is to instruct Google to “synchronize devices”, and it will go through everything that should be connected and reestablish the connections.

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Why can’t you just set the temperature before you leave and schedule it to what you want before you arrive?

I’m not a fan of critical things having internet access and being self contained.

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canonian

I’m not a fan of critical things having internet access and being self contained.

Top of the list for me is a device that listens for your commands and executes.

And then listens to ALL being said in the house.

Creepy.

Reminds me of “HAL”, in 2001 - A Space Odyssey.

Maybe later? A week from Tuesday?

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My husband and I are engineers.

We avoid Alexa and Siri and all house listening devices. We do not post on Facebook. We have programmable thermostats but they don’t connect to Wi-Fi. We bought a washing machine that had some sort of Wi-Fi. Why? Didn’t use it.

For a house camera it would be good. Knew a guy at work and several times a day his phone would ding. Deliveries.

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I did. As well as turning the water off in case the power went out for more than 2 days (hasn’t happened in 12 years) or the thermostat did something unexpected, like stop controlling the temperature after the power came back on. >8-{

to
Why can’t you just set the temperature before you leave and schedule it to what you want before you arrive?

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My husband and I are engineers.
We avoid Alexa and Siri and all house listening devices. We do not post on Facebook. We have programmable thermostats but they don’t connect to Wi-Fi. We bought a washing machine that had some sort of Wi-Fi. Why? Didn’t use it.

We have Nest thermostats in the house which are Wi-Fi connected. It is a joy to be working in the furnace room (on furnace or other equipment) and be able to control the thermostat from afar. I also appreciate the ability to set-back (or forward) temperatures, and to set schedules or make changes from my phone rather than standing at the wall.

We have many Nest smoke detectors, both wired and unwired, which use Wi-Fi to communicate. We use multiple Google mini’s as intercoms throughout the house, since we can not hear each other from end to end or floor to floor otherwise. (Say: “OK Google, [sentence]” and it broadcasts through all the speakers.) We also use them for timers when cooking, as a way to put NPR or music streams in the kitchen, and rarely but occasionally to ask a question.

I also have two Alexas, which I plan to use to control window shades which must be adjusted up to 4 times a day because of sun.

We both post on Facebook, and me on Twitter. I may have other enabled devices but can’t think of any at the moment. I’m not afraid of them.

The worst thing that happens that I can think of is when I search for something and then it starts stalking me around the web, but I find it more amusing than otherwise. I will say, however, if I decide to begin abusing my wife or my pets I will disconnect those devices that can actually listen, the better to hide the evidence.

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The worst thing that happens that I can think of is when I search for something and then it starts stalking me around the web

Glad you think this. Naive to say the least however it will not affect most people unless they find themselves in the public eye for one reason or another.

I will say, however, if I decide to begin abusing my wife or my pets I will disconnect those devices that can actually listen, the better to hide the evidence.

Actually in this scenario as more women are abusive via voice communication the devices could be your best defense.

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I think for some, it’s the fear of the unknown, lack of understanding the limits of techs stuff, how it can help etc… Drip system, latest round is up on a Rachio controller via wifi, thermostat is a Honeywell, wifi connected, both handy once set up… Working in the yard, I can check out nozzles, new runs, set the timing… Furnace I can set a low temp if we’re gone, release it to the normal schedule on the way home so it’s not an icebox when we walk in later…

Smoke detectors, not in the wifi loop. but are linked via RF fr the 3 areas, laundry, home & shop…

No other wifi appliances, so far, but I won’t fight 'em… New LG TV & Soundbar have ethernet & wifi access, the xfinity remote responds well to voice requests, as do the LG tremor & AppleTV remote… My Apple Watch responds in I fall, if my heart rate goes wonky, my DW’s watch already has given her early warnings go afib specs, Doc really appreciated the data… Our iPhones continue to react to our voices, track our walking, and even each other as we wander about shopping, etc…

Long ways from going back to compass, maps when traveling, either than as backups…

Other family members, younger than us, are still confused on using GPS, even though their cars have it, BIL, long retired geologist, still insists on paper maps…

Negotiating Facebook, twitter, no problems, more of a headache are the robots-calls for Spectrum and other scammers, no easy way to block them, bring us close to dumping the line…

There is a learning curve to all of it, still looking at doorbell cameras, but pretty set on the Logitech one Apple sells, odd are it fits the best with the rest of the ‘things’ and those of the future… Still sitting out details of CarPlay & the Alpine head unit I just added to the F150… Just takes time… And learning, reading, videos, when needed…

Lots of support out there, here at TMF and many other forums… Just have to ask, as well as answer other’s questions from time to time… I like LG’s "Life isGood’, as it shuts down… PositivelY!

weco

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Glad you think this. Naive to say the least

I wonder why. It’s not as though we walk around the house announcing our PIN numbers or stock account numbers. We use credit cards, but I’m not sure how having a Google Mini is going to help someone hijack that. (And if they do, well the nice credit card companies take my side anyway. Yes, one got used by someone who sent flowers and X-boxes to someone, but that card was stolen by a card skimmer at a gas station, we later learned.)

however it will not affect most people unless they find themselves in the public eye for one reason or another.

I have been in the public eye before, if there’s any dirt they’re welcome to it. As I say I’m not planning any criminal activity, but I suppose that could change if there’s a nuclear holocaust and I have to eat.

I’m sort of amused by the paranoia of the “Bill Gates is putting a computer chip in your bloodstream” people, since everybody knows it was Steve Jobs, and he put it in your pocket :wink:

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Hi Goofyhoofy,

“Yes, one got used by someone who sent flowers and X-boxes to someone, but that card was stolen by a card skimmer at a gas station, we later learned.”

Our’s was tapped by wait staff at a Red Robin restaurant. Not by the waitress either.

It was a busboy! :scream:

No access to the card, right?

You know those little stations on the tables?

This twit put scanners in the stations at a few tables and collected the info on his phone. :mouse2:

He and another guy were arrested 3 weeks later and some of the “goods” were collected. :pushpin:

Gene
All holdings and some statistics on my Fool profile page
http://my.fool.com/profile/gdett2/info.aspx

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We recently had a Nest thermostat installed. It seems to have quirks, including simply not functioning or throwing the setting much lower than programed. It’s possible that this “learning” thermostat is too smart for us, but given DH is an MIT engineer, I suspect not. It has been way more hands on than I prefer, though I tend to prefer low tech. Instead of giving me piece of mind when away because we would be able to check on it, I worry about it working at all. And what does one do if the internet is down, which is all too often the case!

FWIW,

IP
preferring a thermostat that just does what it is told rather than one that tries to prove it is smarter than you

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IP
preferring a thermostat that just does what it is told rather than one that tries to prove it is smarter than you

I hate it too, when hardware starts arguing with me.

It’s all a part of this Brave New World we’re living in.

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that Dave.”

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=open+the+pod+bay+doors+hal&t=h…

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I’m far from a technophobe. Yet I still scratch my head at some of the places technology is used.

Why does my fridge need WiFi?

As to thermostats, I can certainly see a use for remotely controlling it. But I don’t need it making decisions about what temp to set.

Let me set a daily schedule or three. (Summer, winter, and vacation would be good.) And if I need something different for a special occasion I can override it remotely.

—Peter

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Peter asks Why does my fridge need WiFi?

So it can tell you what groceries to buy, so the stove can make your dinner.

If you’d give “permissions” that the fridge talk to your Model Y and your grocery store, you could just show up at home and dinner would be served 5 minutes after your arrival.

Your roomba would transfer the groceries from the Y to the kitchen.
You wouldn’t need a spouse.

:sun_with_face:
ralph

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Your roomba would transfer the groceries from the Y to the kitchen.

There’s the problem.

Half way to the kitchen, the cat would knock the groceries off the roomba so it could ride. Then when they got to the kitchen, the stove would try to cook the cat, resulting in the cat bolting from the room and knocking the dishes out of the dishwasher as it was putting the clean dishes away. That would generate another call to the roomba to clean up the broken dishes.

So I’d come home to a cat with singed fur, broken dishes in the trash, and dinner rotting in the hallway.

In short, pretty much the same as my wife cooking dinner. :wink:

–Peter

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It’s possible that this “learning” thermostat is too smart for us, but given DH is an MIT engineer

I had that frustration at the beginning, I remember. Then I decided to tell it to “stop learning” or whatever the appropriate choice is called. (*Been over 5 years). Since then I’ve had no problems; I used them to control a 2 unit, 3 zone system at one house, and here a 2 unit system that has odd quirks depending on the season. (Passive solar against water makes the house positively fry in the afternoons, even on cold days, except when it’s cloudy, and then…)

Perhaps all of that is why it couldn’t “learn”. The other thing I realized is that we’re not working, so we’re home 7 days a week, but sometimes not at all on a Tuesday. The Nest will never “learn” that.

And what does one do if the internet is down, which is all too often the case!

If the internet is down it continues to function on the schedule you have set, you just can’t change it remotely.

I appreciate the ability to set the whole house humidifier in winter, the heat & cool on the same day sometimes, and to run the fan as a separate function with a “timeout” after x hours. And there are other things like “eco” settings and emergency settings and the like; I paid attention to those in the early days, but not since.

Yes,I hate it when machine try to “help” me when I didn’t ask for it. It’s like autocorrect: fine when it works, mystifying and maddening when it doesn’t. But after getting through the early phase I would stick with the Nest even if these two stopped working.

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Oh. You have an unsupported roomba.

The HOA requires the newer version.
What else do you have that’s not supported?
It’ll go easier for you if you tell us up front.
Of course we already know a lot. We use wifi.

We’ll be in touch.
:alien:
ralph

https://www.turnto23.com/news/national/hoa-forecloses-on-mor…

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So I’d come home to a cat with singed fur, broken dishes in the trash, and dinner rotting in the hallway.

In short, pretty much the same as my wife cooking dinner. :wink:

–Peter

LOLOLOL (for real; spouse asked me “What’s up?” Also enjoyed it.)

GREAT STORY.