Smart Things NZ - your online store for home automation products

To post in this sub-forum you must have made 100 posts or have Trust status or have completed our ID Verification

Forums › Startups › Smart Things NZ - your online store for home automation products

1 | 2 | 3

ajobbins

5053 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1277

Trusted

#1092096 19-Jul-2014 18:07

DarthKermit: I thought of an idea: electric blankets can be quite risky with causing fires. If you had a dedicated circuit (I know, it would add expense to a house), you could use your smoke alarm rule to kill power to them. And any other appliances you deem to be risky.

Problem with that is once it gets to the point where the smoke alarm has gone off, it's probably too late for cutting the power to do much. It's already caused a fire. Suspect RCD devices would be more effective.

Twitter: ajobbins

gzt

17344 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6349

Lifetime subscriber

#1092127 19-Jul-2014 19:02

Maybe not. Smoke alarms will detect all kinds of latent fire without flame.

SumnerBoy

2079 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 306

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1092313 20-Jul-2014 09:32

DarthKermit: I thought of an idea: electric blankets can be quite risky with causing fires. If you had a dedicated circuit (I know, it would add expense to a house), you could use your smoke alarm rule to kill power to them. And any other appliances you deem to be risky.

Yep that is a great idea. Not hard to implement, you just need a smart switch on your electric blanket, and add it to the 'smoke alarm' rule as you mentioned. It is a good example of the other side of home automation, i.e. not just a gimmick for the geeks but actually quite a good safety feature. I really like the fact that all lights in my house come on if it is dark and the fire alarm goes off - makes it easier to get out of danger.

Having entire circuits shut down is a great extension of all this though. Would probably need something custom however, since most of the smart switches I have seen can only handle about 10-15A.

Another good idea I want to implement is to add a motorised valve on my incoming water mains. And hook this up via a Z-Wave relay. Then any time one of my flood sensors detects water, I can automatically shut of the water and hopefully minimise any damage. Another extension of this is to add a flow meter to the water mains, and if it is seen to be 'flowing' for more than 10 mins for example, raise a flooding alert.

SumnerBoy

2079 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 306

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1092314 20-Jul-2014 09:34

gzt: Maybe not. Smoke alarms will detect all kinds of latent fire without flame.

And by having temperature sensors all around the place it is also quite easy to track rapid increases in temp - i.e. a potential fire. Just another way to potentially detect a problem.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79608 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 38034

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1108866 15-Aug-2014 10:45

freitasm: You might have to change name after all. It seems Samsung is about to buy SmartThings...

Confirmed Samsung buying SmartThings for US$200 million.

Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Geekzone and Quic social @ DataVault Auckland 18 Oct 2025 11AM - 2:30 PM

einsteinsboi

49 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#1123268 6-Sep-2014 17:22

freitasm:
freitasm: You might have to change name after all. It seems Samsung is about to buy SmartThings...

Confirmed Samsung buying SmartThings for US$200 million.

Hmm, I think you might be ok because your name includes NZ, and, if as you say both companies started within months of each other then you might have a valid argument when it comes to copyright issues. However, considering that you're now up against a company that has gazillions to squash you with should they choose to, it may be worth considering a rebrand early in the game, unless Samsung decides to rebrand SmartThings and absorb them into their brand (sorry didn't read the whole article).

What I would recommend is that no matter what route you take, geotarget your website for the NZ market as that will reduce your chances of being completely buried in search results for your target keywords. A google search for "geotargeting your website" should yield a lot of information on how to do it for the various search engines.

Wishing you the very best!

SumnerBoy

2079 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 306

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1123269 6-Sep-2014 17:28

Many thanks for the tips einstein - I will have a look and see if I can 'geotarget' my site!

1 | 2 | 3