markharro

Thanks but I dont mean a terrestrial transmitter

My interest is in the best quality footage whether that is HD or 4K but without paying to view the latter. There is a tiny bit of 4K on iplayer for example. I don't think that there is currently any 4K content broadcast on either Freeview or Freesat but would love to be corrected. Does anyone know if/when 4K will start to come on stream on Freeview/sat? Same goes for Dolby Atmos content. Finally is there any easy to use website to plug in your postcode that will then show the direction and angle the Freesat satellite is at as we are quite shaded to our southeast where I suspect it lies?

Yes that would work as well I think.

I've just bought a Homepod mini and and Nanoleaf bulb and Eve Energy smartplug as an experiment to see how good the new Thread wireless standard is. In short I have found it excellent - extremely quick to respond and very consistent. It has made my mind up that this will be the first choice for smarthome stuff in new project. What is needed though is a smart plug socket that is Thread enabled so it removes the need to plug in the smartplug and then another plug into that. Anyone know if there are UK Thread enabled smart sockets available right now?

Just starting out with this App having bought a Homepod mini and smart light, Want to try to automate the light to switch on/off at random times to give appearance of someone at home - is this possible in the App?

Having now invested in an Apple Homepod mini and the nanoleaf bulb and got the whole lot working together with homekit I have to say that my initial impression is extremely favourable. It just works, instantly and consistently. This Thread technology looks extremely promising and seems to me to offer real potential for a low-cost DIY home automation system that can rival a more "professional" system

https://www.bimblesolar.com/330w-perlight-solar-panels-all-black as a random example and I think the GSE tray is about £30-40

That sounds like a very expensive panel - I thought the GSE trays were around £30 so £270 for a 350? watt panel? I would have thought half that,

I think the point Dreadnaught is making is that this is the big boys' collaboration to fix the very issue you are mentioning ie to produce a unified system to bring order to the current mess. As it seems Apple Google and Amazon are on board with this I suspect it is worth paying attention to.

Thanks - I think you had mentioned this in another post that I read - I had hoped that "Thread" was this standard but from what you say it will be a subset of "Matter"? Do you know enough about this to advise whether (assuming I purchased a Homepod and Nanoleaf light to work via thread it would integrate into any future Matter infrastructure?

That might have been right up until now but all I am reading about Thread indicates it is superior to both z wave and zigbee - here for example - https://techtechandmoretech.com/news/thread-smart-home/

Just been reading about the Apple Home App - people saying its terrible even after 5 yrs of evolution. Seems really puzzling - how can't Apple make what must surely be one of their flagship Apps work properly?

Just been reading about this. Not really interested in the music capabilities as I am still a hifi separates man and, to be frank, not interested in gimmicky functionality, but what would be good would be automated blinds (even better if triggered by a temperature rise within the room); and lights that can be programmed to come on and off randomly to simulate someone at home. A couple of years ago I bought one LIFX bulb to experiment with but ended up just using it to amuse my daughter with the changing colours and then the dropped connections got annoying. I have just read that the relatively new Apple Homepod mini has a new or newish wireless technology called Thread which (appears) to offer instant action/solid connections when eg you use an App to switch something on or off that has the same wireless technology. The other plus point apparently is that all the devices mesh together so you end up being able to extend wireless connectivity easily without relying on wifi or extenders or hubs etc. Again I may be wrong here but it appears this https://nanoleaf.me/en-GB/products/nanoleaf-essentials/ is the only bulb atm that comes with this Thread wireless. Indeed a quick look on the Thread website shows a certified product list but there are not many devices listed (no blinds for example). https://www.threadgroup.org/What-is-Thread/Thread-Benefits#certifiedproducts Is this because this is so new or maybe because there are alternatives out there that are better? Be interesting to hear from anyone who knows this area who can comment - particularly anyone with experience of the Nanoleaf bulb? thanks

Just been reading up on Apple Homekit - in particular the thread wireless technology - this is sold as giving mesh capabilities and instant interaction etc. Looks like the only thread enabled bulbs available right now are these https://nanoleaf.me/en-GB/products/nanoleaf-essentials/ Has anyone used these bulbs with Homekit? thanks

We are currently trying to get planning permissions to demolish our existing house and then build a new passivehouse. The build wouldn't start for at least another year. I am giving thought right now to things like TV/broadband/wifi/security/electric blinds etc. I have to declare that I approach all of this as an amateur but we simply don't have the budget for fancypants consultants for this so I need to find easy solutions. So to throw a few things out there - 1 We don't need a landline for phone calls but obviously require an internet connection. Is 5G becoming an option now in terms of cost/performance to run a whole house's requirements? 2 Should we plan for ethernet wiring throughout the house or rely on wifi? I do have concerns about the potential health issues of a strong wifi signal but it is hard to understand if these are justified? 3 I suspect that we need some ethernet wiring at a minimum. In simple terms do we just need a router to take the incoming signal and then a big enough ethernet switch to handle all the connections needed? 4 For future proofing will CAT 6 cable be sufficient? I am thinking that we need provision for 4k right now but does CAT 6 handle 8K? 5 Intruder alarms - any recommendations for DIY systems either wired or wireless? 6 Any simple solutions recommended for lighting eg to set up random on and offs when you are out to look like someone is at home? 7 Blind automation - this could be important for passive house to address potential overheating in summer. Are there any simple solutions that can trigger a blind to be lowered when eg a temperature sensor records above a certain level? Any other things I should be thinking about. Don't worry about music as I have old school hifi separates that are good to go and am thinking of supplementing with a Plex media server etc. thanks

This is interesting. In our current house we use an aerial in the attic for Freeview and it works albeit passing lorries can shake up the signal from time to time. If all goes to plan this house could be demolished in about a year to make way for a new passivehouse. I am giving thought right now to things like TV, broadband etc. We can get by with Freeview and iplayer so my question is - obviously you can access the latter via a broadband connection but is there anyway to access Freeview through the internet instead of through a rooftop aerial? Or will there likely be in the next couple of years? thanks

Thanks for the comments.

I was hoping to make use of my existing Google (nest) fire alarm and buy more of these but it turns out that they don't make a heat detector and have no plans to so another solution is needed. From a quick bit of googling these appear to be options - https://fireguardplus.co.uk/fireguard-product-range/ and https://www.safelincs.co.uk/fireangel/ Can anyone endorse of suggest something else? I have been looking at intruder alarms recently as well - the Texecom Richocet system appears to include smoke/heat detectors in a single unit. Does anyone have experience of these in an intruder alarm system? Would these comply with the new Sottish rules or do you need a standalone heat detector? thanks

I am pretty sure that 0.6 would be more than thick enough. It is going to be screwed on to supporting battens along the top of the wall. I need 4 lengths - 2 of around 6m and 2 around 3m. At the price quoted for 0.9mm it looks like 20m worth is going to be around £300 at that guage but I think in any event that would be too thick for the purpose as I need to be able to bend it easily to cater for the undulations in the (lime) wall. Thanks for the advice - will try roofing merchants - it is a long shot but can anyone recommend any good ones in or near Edinburgh?

I need about 20m or so to complete an uplighter detail so for internal use and it needs to be thin enough to be malleable. Searching online just seems to produce craft supplies at crazy prices. Can anyone suggest a source at a reasonable price? thanks

Thanks Dave but thats begs the question can a G98 inverter service an 18kW array allowing you to self-consume as much as possible and only throttle when export is going to run over the 3.68 limit? This is what I don't understand. Is a G98 inverter simply one that has the throttling function built in to it?

I asked some questions about DNO approval on another thread and this has opened up more questions. We want to install about 18kW. My understanding is that I can do this and fit an invertor that maximises self-consumption eg electric car and ASHP and as long as it automatically throttles export at the 3.68kw limit then there is no need for DNO approval? Is this correct as I don't want to and cant afford to pay £100s just to be told that I cant install so many panels even with throttling or I need to use a much lower capacity inverter for example? All this stuff just seems a total nightmare to understand when you move above the standard 4kW array size.

We don't even have planning yet so don't have that level of detail. What I do know is that our shading is likely to be 25% so we are thinking to use a Solar edge inverter along with their optimisers. Don't we just need an inverter rated to deal with the maximum the panels will produce at full capacity but that is also capable of the grid throttling?

Thanks Dave but this is just adding to my confusion at the moment. Can you comment on the basic points I have enquired about so I can understand if I am on the right track with those? Thanks

Thanks AL I think I understand this but for the avoidance of doubt lets say its a blue sky June morning and I hook up an EV with a drained battery and we have the useual household load as well. Assuming say a a spare capacity of 70 kWh in the car's battery to charge will we get the full benefit from a 18kWp array in charging without any throttling with the standard export limit. My understanding from what you write is that we will and that its only after the car and house batteries are full and generation starts to exceed our background house demand that we will have the inverter restriction kick in. So in essence the only financial loss to us is in a lower potential export income? The greater loss to the planet of course being that available energy for export is lost?