Pocster

🤣 - it it’s changed as you suggest then yep I could be very well incorrect . The annual email I get has info in it about the scheme in general - never seen a mention of any changes .

Oh ! Don’t know now !!

Wife Appreciation Factor

Didn’t know it had changed !!!! So could be !!!!

Don’t think you can ‘cat’ a light switch . But you want cat’s everywhere . I have over 80 in and ( of course ) always have the situation where I need another . There are solutions to that of course - such as another router etc . With lighting most switches are WiFi ( Shelly for example ) , zigbee , z wave , matter ( too new imho ) or custom . I had mixed issues with z wave - mainly delays . I.e walk in bathroom light comes on in 1 second or light comes on in 10 seconds . Zigbee ( apart from the odd dead spot ) has even been awarded SWMBO WAF ! . Except when it fails 🙄

Hey I’ve got a Shelly rgbw and mini 1 you can have if you like ? . Not exactly what you need but will allow you to PLAY 😊

Maybe not . As he was the mcs installer and set me up for eligibility for the scheme I saw no reason to query it . From the scheme now I just get the annual confirmation that nothing has changed so that I am still eligible. My mcs installer for the record was recommended on this forum .

Just be careful with the direct from China ones . Can be hit or miss . But considerably cheaper . Now though I buy from Amazon deliberately so I can return it with reason for return as “ is crap “

I had to supply an epc to my mcs accreditation installer . It was a requirement. Which I assume the installer sends something into the grant scheme . Installer said it was required for the grant so didn’t query it

Actually just googled it - for boiler upgrades it is 7.5k . I was referring to new builds I think

Unless it’s changed . Plenty of posts on here where we all got different amounts based on how ‘bad’ our epc was .

I meant you’ll need an epc to qualify for the grant . The lower the epc the more the grant will be . But yes must obviously meet min regs .

You’ll need an epc also . Best to get this as low a score as you can 😉

Ups for home assistant is a good idea . Also as you say if a device fails I.e becomes unresponsive you can get your automation to do something else ; at least send a notification of the issue .

Yes

The steels are behind a 30min rated ceiling . This I think is what convinced him .

I think it’s rather a lot of nonsense in a domestic . Fireman getting tangled in cables so needs a cable tray - hmmmmmmm . Massive rsj not fire resistant? . How hot is the fire ? Burning for how long ? - until it fails . Going to be quite a wait I think .

No no no . You play with HA to avoid doing the build . Trust me on this 😊

Are we sure that it’s not its own proprietary WiFi signal ? . E.g my somfy blinds operate on 433mhz and therefore a bitch to HA .

This type of thing is quite easy in HA . I did have a quite complex thing running but it just kept failing . So “ Alexa play a random album by Coldplay in the kitchen “ My local music library was used ( no Spotify shite ) - would choose a random Coldplay album and play it on my music system ( raspberry pi to powered speakers ) in the lounge . It was awesome - for the record you could obviously say ANY artist in my music collection . So I need to look at that again once their Alexa variant comes out . I did have working temporarily when I go downstairs in the morning ( based on my having my phone ) . Alexa asks me without prompting “ do you want the radio on ? “ . An answer of yes did it . Stuff like that is a bitch as you need an Amazon developer account and is a royal pita . Not reliable ! Also of course using Amazon cloud based spies !! Soon all that and local !!

Sending stuff to China ( or wherever) is becoming more of an issue . Home assistant is all local . Also they have been working on their own Alexa type hardware . So you can have voice control without telling mr.chim all your details . BTW - it’s me that’s been monitoring your Alexa ; I have all your details and PIN code . To prove it I’ll empty your bank account . You ready ? . Here goes ! Done ! Ah (expletive deleted) ! Your account was empty anyway ! 😊

VVv

Well done ! Just like to add I beat you to sign off ! 🤣👍

Yeah . I’ve seen plenty of photo of burnt out Shelly’s / capacitors blown . They claim they didn’t overload it . My experience was a dimmer relay ( in a ceiling void so lots of airflow ) powering some lights ( max 20w - relay spec much higher than that ) . After 3 hours the Shelly shut down with overheat warning . Yet too see a zigbee or zwave device ‘panic’ over that . So I removed it . I only use Shelly’s for simple on/off ( so not on for long periods ) and where I have no choice I.e WiFi signal strong but zigbee weak .

This would be a nice easy and cheap way to automate. Personally I’ve not had good experience with Shelly’s .