Nest Thermostat

thatOSguy said:
GH said:
thatOSguy said:
GH said:
ps9 said:
But is the CPU a neural net processor; a learning computer?.
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Personally not really very particular with learning or not.  I want it to do exactly as I programmed it to do.  I think the temperature swing is the biggest difference though as it should be their basic functionality to have tight temperature control.
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So when you tell it to be 72 degrees at 1pm, do you want it to kick on at 1pm and then let it ramp up or have it already cooled to 72 degrees?

This is a huge thing for us. We are on time of use (TOU) rate and I want to maximize my 12am-6am cheap electricity. So we set our thermostat to 72 degrees at 6am, and then 78 at 6:15am. The AC runs at the cheap rate, right up to the bell -- no more, no less. A learning thermostat is the only way to do that, especially given the ambient temp will vary from day to day.
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That's not the learning part I was referring to.. I believe both Nest and Honeywell can do that.  what I meant was the Nest trying to learn your pattern and adjusting accordingly.  For example, based on experience, say we scheduled it to set to turn on and get to 72F at 630 pm, then for the last few days, we came home early before 6pm and manually set it on, eventually, Nest will override your schedule and turn it on at 6pm.
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Sounds like for nest, "learning" = "guessing."
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This is from the description of Nest:
"Programmable thermostats were supposed to help, but they can be hard to program. Many people never program them. So we made it simple -the Nest thermostat programs itself."

I guess it will work for some people .. But I would rather program it myself than ,y thermostat doing it for me :D
 
Nest is up, install was a pain, switched the main breaker off, marked the wires, patched old holes, touch up paint, wait for paint dry, put nest up, but can't find good new holes for the new drywall screws.  Now my Nest is delicately hanging off loose screws.  At least it's working.  Just turned the A/C on with my iPad, cool.

Now where to find some drywall anchors....
 
ps9 said:
Nest is up, install was a pain, switched the main breaker off, marked the wires, patched old holes, touch up paint, wait for paint dry, put nest up, but can't find good new holes for the new drywall screws.  Now my Nest is delicately hanging off loose screws.  At least it's working.  Just turned the A/C on with my iPad, cool.

Now where to find some drywall anchors....
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I didn't even turn off the breakers when I installed mine.  I used the square backer plate that came with it so I wouldn't have to do any drywall work.  I think it looks better with the plate than without anyway.  After installing the first one downstairs, the second upstairs went a lot faster.  I got these two years ago when Michael's was selling $50.00 Lowe's gift cards for $40.00, picked up a bunch of cards and combined it with the 10% mover's coupon.  Nest is much more reliable than the 3M/Filtrete Wi-Fi thermostats I had previously.
 
It has been almost three weeks since Nest became self-aware.  So far no issues with its performance.  It's learning CPU starts cooling the house down before we get home on weekdays.  On other days where life randomizes our thermostat use, I enjoy the flexibility of turning on the A/C 30 minutes before getting home.  I despise walking into a stuffy home.  Nest has taken care of that problem for me. 

Install wise, I had to use the plate to make it more aesthetically pleasing as the old thermostat was installed over a gaping hole in the drywall.  Don't have time nor the skills to correctly patch 4"x 3" drywall, so the plate covered it all.  Luckily the hole exposed the stud that was close by and I was able to shift the thermostat over with the plate and avoid drywall anchors all together by securing it directly to the stud. 

Signed up for SCE program where Nest will shut down A/C down heavy power usage days.  Have the option to override of course.  On those days, Nest will cool the house down in the late morning to avoid the power crunch from 1-5pm.  I should get paid/credited by SCE for this. 
 
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First rush hour notice, gonna get paid tomorrow!
 
We used to have old Nest in our house.  Our new house has split aircon for upstairs and downstair so we carried over the old Nest on the downstair and tried the Honeywell 9000 upstairs.  After a week or so, Honeywell went back to the store and replaced with a new Nest :) 

MrsGH does not like the Honeywell interface and find it too complicated.  She miss the "learn/guess" feature of Nest wherein you it adapt to the temperature that makes you feel comfortable rather than having to program it.  I still think the Honeywell is technically still better once we get used to it, but MrsGH is more sensitive to temperature change (she easily gets headache/migraine with fluctuation temp), thus we switched back to Nest.

Also, for some reason, Honeywell does not have the away function .. you will have to manually set the temp up to be "away" -- or maybe I just don't know where it is.  This is somewhat a big thing because with Nest, just click away when we leave and turn off away when we get home.. as easy as that. 
 
The NEST sounds really amazing but does it help save money?  I like to open my windows when it's cool and breezy but once the outside temp exceeds 80 degrees I start closing window and doors and turning on the fan or avoiding the house altogether.

But once it's nap time I have no choice but to turn on the AC for the kids.

Will the NEST compensate for all these constant changes in the house?
 
Like others, Nest is more 'guessing' than 'learning' to me.  Couple times I would check my Nest app on my phone when we're not home and I see the AC going full blast to cool down.  But we're not gonna be home for the rest of the day.  Now I get paranoid and have to check the app frequently in case that happens again.  If I remember, I make sure I hard set Nest to 'Away' before I leave or I can also do that with the app.  It's more like I'm learning 'Nest' than the other way around.  Still a cool gadget, user friendly, and unfortunately my kid can reach it, so it's also kid friendly :)

I would still recommend it, just for the flexibility of turning on the AC before getting home and the ability to shut down from your phone (handy if you're upstairs and the thermostat is downstairs), yes I'm that lazy. 
 
ps9 said:
Like others, Nest is more 'guessing' than 'learning' to me.  Couple times I would check my Nest app on my phone when we're not home and I see the AC going full blast to cool down.  But we're not gonna be home for the rest of the day.  Now I get paranoid and have to check the app frequently in case that happens again.  If I remember, I make sure I hard set Nest to 'Away' before I leave or I can also do that with the app.  It's more like I'm learning 'Nest' than the other way around.  Still a cool gadget, user friendly, and unfortunately my kid can reach it, so it's also kid friendly :)

I would still recommend it, just for the flexibility of turning on the AC before getting home and the ability to shut down from your phone (handy if you're upstairs and the thermostat is downstairs), yes I'm that lazy.
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ps9, give it time .. based on experience (we owned the first generation Nest for some time), it gets better.. Good thing about Nest though is it gives you bunch of statistics of when it is on/off, the temp at home etc .. Mrs GH looks at this closely before (not very much now), so she would know if it had turned on more than it should.
 
thatOSguy said:
Nest doesn't know when your windows are open, does it? The Honeywell gives you absolute control, remotely if desired.
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Absolute control comes at a price of little extra complexity and learning curve.  Personally I think Honeywell is technically superior, but I will give the ease of use hands down to Nest. 
 
Once I convince the wife... I'm gonna get a Honeywell so I can have a Thermostat Fighter contest with ps9 to see which one really will end up as SkyNet.
 
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