Nest Smart Thermostat Stupidity

Smart Thermostats are stupid. $250 for what amounts to a $30 thermostat with $10 of extra smarts and a $180 display is simply insane. Then you add the installation costs and security risks and the risk that it will become useless within 15 years and it becomes clear that Smart Thermostats are a very very stupid investment.

I have new approach. I call it the Better Smart thermostat. It costs the same as today's inexpensive "dumb" Programmable thermostats, but has 100% of the capabilities of the Nest.

Take today's $30 thermostat and keep it as a regular, simply-programmable thermostat. It has a temperature sensor, a display, and some relays for turning the systems on and off. Then add BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to give it the ability to get hints from an external device.

That's it. No fancy display. No special wiring. No 802.11n. It uses BLE, so it can use regular AA batteries.

But with BLE on-board, some significant opportunities emerge. Now the thermostat settings can be easily modified from an app on a iPhone or iPad. Away from your house? Enable Away mode. Coming home? Enable Home mode. Super-cold weather? Fire up the heat earlier. Daylight Saving changes? Fix the time of the clock. Temperatures approaching freezing? Trigger an alarm. Record temperature history. Key track of "system on" energy use. Program setback schedules from a computer.

Need 8 for your electric heat radiators? Great, you can afford 8. Unlike the Nest and their insanely designed counterparts.

And if BLE becomes obsolete, or if you simply don't care about smartness, you still have a 100% good and secure thermostat.

Fixing a SodaStream Jet, part 1: Disassembly Guide

I've had my SodaStream Jet for years, and once in a while something has gone wrong. Disassembly is the first step to repair. Start with this article to see how to disassemble the SodaStream, and then once you have that down, scroll through my other articles to see how I repaired specfic SodaStream problems. SodaStream Jet Disassembly Guide Tools Required Flat head screwdriver Phillips head screwdriver 1. Remove the Carbonator. Duh. 2. Remove the black panel lever The front big black tilt lever needs to be removed first. Removing this panel is tricky, but it isn't impossible. Looking up at the bottom of the black panel, there are two tabs, one on the left and one on the right. These tabs fully secure the panel in place. The trick is to use a flat-head screwdriver under the plastic to gently lever the tabs out of the way. Note in the pictures how I approach these tabs with my screwdriver. I usually release the left side first, and then I release the right

Fixing my Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer

Not everyone would bother repairing a $25 beard trimmer, but why not fix something for under $5 instead of spending another $25? My Wahl 9918 Groomsman Beard and Mustache Trimmer has admirably performed its beauty duty for many years, but the time came when the battery just wasn't holding a charge any more. Most people would just put the trimmer in the trash and buy a new one, but I figured I could repair my otherwise excellent Wahl and save some money. In fact, even high priced trimmer and rotary shaver brands, like Norelco and Remington, can be easily repaired using a process similar to the one I used to fix my Wahl. Read on to find out how. I opened up the Wahl by popping off the black plastic faceplate with a tiny flathead screwdriver, which revealed two screws. By removing the two screws I was able to easily open up the unit, revealing the guts of the device. Backplate off, Revealing the screws The internals are rather simple: a motor, a simple circuit boar

Fixing a SodaStream Jet, Repair #2 - Broken Fill Button

My Soda Stream Jet's fill button broke, which means I can not longer carbonate water by pressing the pushbutton. This caused all sorts of grief in my household. Here is how I managed to repair my Jet to give it another 10 years of life (hopefully). First, a look at the button The fill button on the top of the SodaStream is actually a simple lever. Pressing down on the button moves a pin that does the actual work of pressing open the Carbonator's valve. Unfortunately, the axis point is fairly thin and can see a lot of stress. That's where my Soda Stream button cracked. [ I think the usage tip here is "don't over-press the button like a gorilla, it doesn't do anything but put high stress on the button."] Cracked levering point of the button The Pesky Lever Retaining Pin The Fix It was pretty easy for me to replace the button: Take off the back of the Soda Stream and remove the carbonator. Push out the the button lever's steel retaining pin. This takes qu

Sodastream Carbonator Leakage, Usage, and Weight

SodaStream 60L "Carbonator" CO2 cylinders have a specific weight when empty, plus about 410 or so grams for the CO2 they should have when they're "full". A little while ago I went to buy a replacement Carbonator from my local hardware store. The dealer pulled a new Carbonator out of the box and sensed it was lighter than usual. He put the "light" Carbonator in the "empty" pile and sold me a different one. At that moment I concluded that it would be smart of me to weigh both new and empty SodaStream carbonators. Here are the results. Weighing a SodaStream Carbonator - for both Science and Consumer Protection. The dealer told me that sometimes the carbonators leak after they leave the SodaStream filling facility. That means there could be an opportunity for customers like me to get ripped off! The SodaStream cylinders I buy claim to have a net product weight of 410 grams - and that means that a full Soda Stream Carbonator shou

MacBook: burnt out magsafe connector repair

My MacBook (A1342 model from 2009-2010) stopped working, thanks to a cheap knockoff magsafe charger. The magsafe connector looked burnt with heat-distorted melted plastic and some black carbon surfaces. Plugging in the charger resulted in no lights and no action. My MacBook was dead. First I tried to clean up the connector with some Q-Tips, tooth picks and solvent, but that did little, as seen in this "after" picture (below). The heat generated by the aftermarket charger permanently deformed and distorted the MacBook's magsafe connector. Clearly the damage was significant. Burnt Magsafe Connector - Replacement Required! Looking at iFixIt , I determined that it would not be difficult to replace only the magsafe connector with the right tools. I hoped and prayed that the problem was isolated to the connector assembly and not the logic board. I bought a replacement magsafe connector assembly (available from Amazon) for under $20 and started to replace it by

Repairing an HP Pavillion DV6 Motherboard

Here's my procedure on how to remove and replace the logic board of an HP Pavilion DV6. My model is a DV6-3122US, and many DV6s of the 3000 series are similar. These machines often fail to start due to a motherboard failure. With a motherboard failure, upon pressing power the fan will first spin and the power light comes on. The capslock key will flash white once every 4 seconds, and the f12 key will stay a solid orange, and the screen - although powered up - displays black only. Although the caps lock "single blink" indicator at boot implies a CPU failure, in my experience it is not due to the CPU itself but the supporting components on the motherboard. The only solid solution is to repair or replace the motherboard. Replacement boards are readily available. I bought one and replaced it myself. Disassembly Procedure NOTE: The screws are different sizes, and its important to reinstall them correctly. I color-coded the different screws in the photos below and

The Lance J. Technoweb

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