Hi guys
I hope everyone is having a great day. I was recommended to you after posting a similar thread on 'Smartthings'. I got some great advice which ended up with me here and I'm hoping that you might help me set up my jungle smart home. In a nutshell, my partner and I left the 'real world' and have been volunteering in the rainforest for the last 3 years at a place called 'Finca Bellavista' (http://www.fincabellavista.com). It's a beautiful jungle paradise were we all live in trees - thats the short version.
During that time we have been designing our dream home, again I will keep it short. It's designed to be completely off grid and to never cost us money (this is the short dream scenario version of the story). It is built of long lasting products, photovoltaic solar system. home biogas, superscreen, wood composite etc etc. Imagine the best of both worlds - the modern infused with the jungle, outside is paradise while inside is techy and comfortable. You can view more of it on the 'Fusion Home blog' (http://www.thefusionhomeblog.com/#!the- ... home/ur7go)
I'm going to get to the point here....HGTV is filming the construction of the home, woohoo!!! We start construction in 2 weeks and are estimating the build to take 4 months. During that time we have to find the coolest smart home system that is going to work seamlessly. We hope to have wifi but need to find a way to pick up wifi signal about 1 km away (we are high up with a clear shot - if anyone has any ideas, please help) but will pick up 3G. I'm hoping to rely on bluetooth more but from what I understand the technology is not quite there yet.
Here are the questions I asked Smartthings (but now we are talking zwave stuff with you guys and I'm way over my head)
Will the smatthings work in Costa Rica?
Do I have to be connected to the internet all the time to make them work?
Will they work in close proximity with no internet?
Weather is no issue, its always hot and we have screen, not windows. What gadgets would you recommend?
Is there a monthly fee? We don't want that
Any advice, ideas, support etc will be very much appreciated.
Thanks for your time guys!
Pura Vida
Matt
"Here are some of the responses I got from the other thread (smartthings)
There are a couple of other options that might be suitable, but I think indigo is the most likely match.
For one thing, in your situation I would want to feel confident that whatever you have installed would continue to run even if the company goes out of business or changes its product line. You don't want to be orphaned in the jungle in that sense. Of course, no electrical device runs forever, but cloud-dependent architectures can be turned off at any time, leaving customers with nonworking systems. One of the advantages of indigo is that since it is software that you download onto your Mac, it will continue to run even if the company disappeared.
When it comes to looking at light switches, again, in your situation, I would first look at the warranty. There is a significant difference in quality among the various switches available on the market. This is generally reflected in warranty. The device with a one-year warranty may be engineered to a lower standard then one with a five year warranty. Of course, the better engineered one will probably also cost significantly more. But evaluating that is a different situation for you then for someone who could just run down the street to a local Home Depot and buy a replacement.
But I'm sure you're making similar decisions for everything else you're putting into the house I just wanted to verify that the same is true in the home automation market. "
"One more thought: Zwave operates on different frequencies in different countries. A device or controller cannot change frequencies. So you have to make sure everything is on the same frequency as your controller before you buy it.
There is an "official" z-wave frequency for Costa Rica, but it is used by very few other countries and I'm not sure if it's required by law. Judging just from Internet postings, there are many people in Costa Rica using the US frequency instead, which gives them a much wider choice of devices.
So one of your first steps for z-wave will need to be to find out what frequencies are legally allowed at your location.
For example, in New Zealand use of the US z-wave frequency for home automation is illegal, because the same band is used in first responder radios. But in many countries it's legal to use the US frequency even if another is recommended first."
We really would appreciate any help you can give us
Thank you again