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Post by speedysteve on Oct 27, 2018 16:10:33 GMT
My RF 433MHz/WiFi bridge turned up and took no time at all to set up on the network. The light switch was a little harder, and with no instructions whatsoever became more a game of press something-rename it-press something else-cross it off the list because it didn't work-press the next something... etc. I finally got there though. Weirdly, to me at least, the wall switch comes with a 4-button remote and the only way to get it working is via one, or more of the buttons. You also really need to rename the remote or you have to use the complete nonsensical name of the thing, plus whatever the default name of the button is, in your voice commands. Remote now renamed "living room" button renamed "light" and "Alexa, living room light on (or off)" is working like a charm. Again, the set up is not something I'd wish on a non-techie and/or someone without the patience of a Saint, and with the amount of swearing and stomping I was doing, I do not qualify for the latter. Overall, it's good progress though. All three lamps and the overhead lights in the living room now answer to my voice so that (lazy sod that I am) I can now turn the main lights off and a lamp or two on when watching the telly etc. without getting out of my seat. A general sense of achievement has been...errr...achieved. Why don't you just say it - wouldn't wanna wish the setup on Mike
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Post by Slinger on Oct 27, 2018 17:43:43 GMT
My RF 433MHz/WiFi bridge turned up and took no time at all to set up on the network. The light switch was a little harder, and with no instructions whatsoever became more a game of press something-rename it-press something else-cross it off the list because it didn't work-press the next something... etc. I finally got there though. Weirdly, to me at least, the wall switch comes with a 4-button remote and the only way to get it working is via one, or more of the buttons. You also really need to rename the remote or you have to use the complete nonsensical name of the thing, plus whatever the default name of the button is, in your voice commands. Remote now renamed "living room" button renamed "light" and "Alexa, living room light on (or off)" is working like a charm. Again, the set up is not something I'd wish on a non-techie and/or someone without the patience of a Saint, and with the amount of swearing and stomping I was doing, I do not qualify for the latter. Overall, it's good progress though. All three lamps and the overhead lights in the living room now answer to my voice so that (lazy sod that I am) I can now turn the main lights off and a lamp or two on when watching the telly etc. without getting out of my seat. A general sense of achievement has been...errr...achieved. Why don't you just say it - wouldn't wanna wish the setup on Mike Who? Me?
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 27, 2018 17:57:08 GMT
Yup. That and worse could happen to me
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 29, 2018 17:39:10 GMT
My mum noticed her Echo making a slight crackle or skip occasionally and thought it must have been an old record she'd requested Turns out it's fine on TuneIn which is compressed. On Spotify I have it set on the highest res. I don't think her WiFi can keep up. She's got the Echo a long way from the router. My Sonos system has an uncompressed mode. Always have it set to that but one is are Lan connected and they run their own mesh network for the others.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 29, 2018 19:26:23 GMT
Too much technology guvnor !
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Post by Slinger on Oct 29, 2018 20:34:06 GMT
I've just ordered another RF light switch, for the kitchen this time. If I can get that working without any major mental meltdowns I'll venture upstairs next. Bedroom and loo lights methinks.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 30, 2018 9:07:27 GMT
I know where everything is so avoid turning lights on unless I need to. Use artificial light only when I must and usually uplighters. Not even keen on very bright sunlight.
There are the sensing LEDs you can get which seem a good idea.
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Post by Slinger on Oct 30, 2018 15:28:51 GMT
Light-sensing switches are fine, but there's no flexibility. I want to turn off my living-room lights and switch on my bedroom lights when I'm going to bed. With light sensors, the bedroom lights would switch on as soon as it got dark enough, long before I was headed bedwards.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 30, 2018 15:57:15 GMT
The sensor is an all in one unit about the size of a packet of fags. Just what you need when you have to reboot the house
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 30, 2018 16:43:49 GMT
Too much technology guvnor ! No! Quite the opposite - just need a WiFi booster or a better router
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Post by Slinger on Oct 31, 2018 14:56:15 GMT
Well, how wonderfully intuitive. I sort of "guessed" how I got the first switch working, so I tried the sequence first today and lo and behold it worked at the first time of asking. There are no instructions. as I believe I mentioned, so the only guidance is a statement on the software setup screen that tells you to press the button on the screen to enter programming mode and then press the button on the remote to tie the two together, so to speak. What, it seems, you ACTUALLY need to do is press the button on the software to enter programming mode, press and hold the physical switch in either the on or off state, and THEN press the button on the remote. The counter-intuitive and non-mentioned bit comes when a blinding flash of insight tells you to repeat the process using exactly the same button on the software screen, and exactly the same button on the remote, but with the physical switch in the opposite state (i.e. on or off) to the one you used the first time around. Nowhere does it even hint that you need to program the same bloody buttons twice. Obvious, innit? Thank Gawd thinking around warped corners in a crooked line is my default state. This is the remote, by the way. Is there anyone whose first thought wouldn't have been "big buttons on, small buttons off"? All 4 buttons actually have exactly the same purpose, and each is capable of controlling one switch. At least the upstairs light switches seem like less of a challenge now. One (last?) word of warning, on the off-chance that anyone is considering going this route - The actual light switches do not fit in a shallow pattress. For reference, I've been using these dry lining pattresses, from Amazon, and they fit perfectly.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 31, 2018 15:45:43 GMT
I believe it all.
Convoluted. Designed by a bloke who stopped half way through No manual necessary as it is all "obvious", in the way that word is so very overused
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 31, 2018 15:50:27 GMT
I believe it all. Convoluted. Designed by a bloke who stopped half way through No manual necessary as it is all "obvious", in the way that word is so very overused I think they don't bother with decent User Guides anymore, knowing that some bloke with figure it out and post a YouTube video about it.. gives them more publicity. All publicity is good publicity.. Tronald Dump
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Post by Slinger on Oct 31, 2018 23:58:58 GMT
I couldn't resist. Somebody was selling a used Dot on eBay for £24.00, so I've got one for the bedroom now.
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Post by zippy on Nov 1, 2018 8:12:44 GMT
I believe it all. Convoluted. Designed by a bloke who stopped half way through No manual necessary as it is all "obvious", in the way that word is so very overused The 'user guides' that get me are the cryptic picture based instructions, e.g. where you have to guess what an arrow pointing to a round object is supposed to mean.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 1, 2018 8:49:15 GMT
Nicely designed products suffering from user interface coding by a bobble-hat wearing sociopathic geek in a darkened room.
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Post by MikeMusic on Nov 1, 2018 11:44:20 GMT
Nicely designed products suffering from user interface coding by a bobble-hat wearing sociopathic geek in a darkened room. Sitting on the fence again Martin ?
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Post by MartinT on Nov 1, 2018 12:02:47 GMT
I was thinking of any application from Adobe!
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Post by Slinger on Nov 1, 2018 14:19:22 GMT
One job I had involved me writing the user-manuals for Electronic Point Of Sale (EPOS) cash registers for a chain of shops. To do this the first thing I had to do was learn how to use them myself - a blindingly obvious first step. How many user-manuals/assembly instructions have you seen where it is bloody obvious that the writer hasn't even seen the product, let alone used it? I could have regurgitated chunks of the manufacturer's paperwork, but that's designed and written for people like me (?!) not shop-floor staff in a retail environment. I wrote a bloody good manual, though I say so myself. Even the company who supplied our hardware pinched a copy for their own use. They trained us (my boss and me) and we trained our company's staff. Hopefully, they (the hardware suppliers) were able to make their own manuals and future training more "user-friendly" by pinching bits of my manual, and yes, I am sitting here, after all this time, wondering if I could have charged them for it. My point is, it takes a bit of time and effort to provide decent instructions, and most manufacturers, it seems, simply can't be arsed. We end up doing their job for them, and they're quite happy to let that continue.
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Post by MikeMusic on Nov 1, 2018 16:07:27 GMT
Customers as beta testers
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