Now when my Clothes dryer stops, I get a text message. Cost $50.

No more wrinkled clothes at least if I am home when the dryer stops :-)

How did I do it?

I bought a smarthings multi-sensor for $50.

Opened my Smarthings App and added this sensor in few seconds.

Installed the magnet part of the sensor on the Dryer above the door and the sensor below the door. That way, I can also see 3-axis motion of the sensor for what it is worth. See photo below.

67 is the temperature. Inactive above the temperature is the accelerometer.
To the left of the battery is 3 axis x, y and z. That can be used if mounted on
a old garage door which is vertical when closed and horizontal when open for example.

Then I used my smartphone and installed an App to sense end of vibration when the dryer stops. My dryer has manual timer and "wrinkle guard". To test it I used a 10 min timer, set the Min cycle time to 10, "fill time" to 1 (really it is time between cycles if the dryer supports it. The default is 5 min.

I then entered my phone number for the text.

 As you can see, I renamed the App Clothes Dryer stopped.
That is why I got the text message about 5 min after the dryer stopped.

(Thanks to Tyler Lange of Smarthings who actually walked me through how to copy this App and create my own version of it on the smartthings website.)










Part of my chat conversation to the nice support guy Tyler Lange.

Me: ok. opened the Laundry monitor app.
Tyler: Alright two settings to tinker with
Tyler: Minimum cycle time and time to fill tub
Me: ok. I am doing a test case. I set the dryer to 10min. set min cycle time to 5 min. Fill time blank.
Tyler: Sounds good. If we can't get it right I can escalate your ticket to our development team so they can give you more specific feedback.
Me: OK Dryer stopped.
Me: No text message yet.
Tyler: Alright the SmartApp is still running
Tyler: Give me a minute as I check into this
Tyler: Alright the app just changed to inactive
Tyler: And a notification was sent
Tyler: Did you receive it?
Me: Hey. Just got text message. I guess it takes time?
Tyler: Here's what I think is going on
Tyler: There's a 5 minute window at the end of the cycle where it's verifying that it's not just moving on to the next cycle
Tyler: If you go into our ide at http://ide.smartthings.com, create a new SmartApp then click Browse SmartApps in the top right
Tyler: You can paste in the code for Laundry Monitor and lower the value of the default fill time
Tyler: That should make that notify you quicker
Me: Got it. One sec.
Me: OK.. Created blank new app. How do I copy the Laundry monitor App?
Tyler: Click browse smartapps in the top right
Me: Got it. Changed the defalut to 1min.
Tyler: That should help
Me: Yes. Thanks. You are terrific. I will write a blog. What is your full name Tyler? http://hari-google-blog.blogspot.com/
Me: You can see my blogs on this topic.
Tyler: Thanks for the link! I'm Tyler Lange 

Does you US home need Solar Power to lower your bill? May be. may be not...

I was sent a link sent around by an electrician who is claiming that he spent less than $100 to do his own and install solar power and he is actually getting back a few dollars from his power company rather than paying $100 to $150 a month. That is utter nonsense. 

After US federal credit of 30% I have 4300w solar system with 24 175W BP solar panels and a 4000W inverter to connect to the grid. It is supposed to have a lifetime of 25yrs. Inverter has a lifetime of 10yrs. It is 4.5yrs since I had the system. I paid $14k back then. Prices have fallen a lot since then. It generates about 500KWh per month on the average.
Assuming nothing really fails for 25yrs (I may have to replace the inverter. Paid $4k now $2k and may be $1k to replace) 6000 KWh per yr * 25 = 150,000KWh for $15k is about 10 cents per KWhr.

I did a spot check of what I would do today for a similar system.

Realistic way to do it the low cost way is to panels and supplies, Have a certified electrician install. I found these 250W solar panels by Sharp which is know for relaibility.

See this link.

You need 17 panels for a 4250W system. $200 each plus tax, shipping probably costs $4k.

Panels produce DC. To converter to AC, you need  inverter.

You need one per panel if we use enphase micro inverter 250-60-2LL-S22

That would be 17 * 200 = $3400. 

A single sunny-4000 inverter like the one I have costs $2500 with tax and shipping.

So the cost would be $4k + $2.5k + permits, electrician costs, misc mounts $1.5k

You get 30% federal credit on income tax. Net cost $5.6k. Over lifetime and $1k to replace the inverter. Your Assuming it produces the same 150,000KWh the cost per KWh would be 5 to 6 cents.

First of all you need know the cost per KWhr and what your real bill is.
I found this list of energy prices for each state
Electricity tables state by state 2013

Note that the average cost per KWh was 11.72 cents.

However, in each state, the rates differ in each county.

"In 2012, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,837 kWh, an average of 903 kilowatthours (kWh) per month. Louisiana had the highest annual consumption at 15,046 kWh and Maine the lowest at 6,367 kWh."

See details at this link
Electical Energy consumption by state

In theory, an average state with 11.72 cents per KWh and average home consuming 903 KWh is costs about $106 per month. So, you could say that savings could be $50 per month on an investment of $5.6k. That sounds great?

Not so fast. Size of each panel is about 5f x 2.5ft. You need a south facing roof big enough to mount 17 panels of this size and no trees or other building blocking the sun. If you live in a gated community or a condo, they should not object to your solar panels.

Why did I do it then? in Alameda county, CA where my home is, the "baseline" quantity is about 400KWh which varies from season to season and above the baseline, the price per KWh was 24 to 42 cents. My energy consumption was about 1000KWh per month and I was paying $250 per month electric bill.
With Solar system generating 500KWh per month and replacing bulbs with energy efficient bulbs, old single pane windows with double pane windows, I got my usage down to 750KWh because I did energy audit and found these things. Now I pay $300 per year instead of $3000 per yr. I am getting my money back in another 1yr or so (about 5.5yrs from start). Worked for me.

So, do you jump on the Solar band wagon? May be, may be not...

So you think 2014 wil be down in US Stock market. Think again.

Update 9/4/14: When I wrote this 7 months ago and boldly predicted that for the next 10 yrs, the growth per yr would be 6.1%, S & P 500 was at1848 and today 2006. That is 8.54% in 7 months. I guess I got it right. Don't be surprised if it is flat till the Christmas sales are reported in Jan 2015. In the mean time, 1.8% dividend in S & P 500 is better than the near zero or even negative return in a bank.

I looked at the last 57yrs.

-->

				7.6%	Average change in S & P 500 was 7.6% per year.
					In the last 57 years, the average below 8% or negative for 20 years
					Best performance was in 1982 34%. 2013 was 26%.
					1994 to 1998 had 18 to 30% per year
					1994 to 1998 had 18 to 30% per year
				8.4%	Average per yr over last 20years
				6.1%	Average per yr over last 10years
					Average per yr over next 10yrs could well be over 6.1%
DATE	VALUE	Absolute Change last 10yrs	% Change last 10yrs	% Change last 1 yr	Comments
Average			113%		In 10 yrs more than doubled on the average.
					Losses in 4 of the 30 10 yr periods recovered in 1 to 3 years
1957-01-01	44
1958-01-01	46			4%
1959-01-01	57			24%
1960-01-01	56			-3%
1961-01-01	66			19%
1962-01-01	62			-6%
1963-01-01	70			12%
1964-01-01	81			16%
1965-01-01	88			8%
1966-01-01	85			-3%
1967-01-01	92			8%
1968-01-01	98			7%
1969-01-01	98			-1%
1970-01-01	83			-15%
1971-01-01	98			18%
1972-01-01	109			11%
1973-01-01	107	38	54%	-2%
1974-01-01	83	1	2%	-23%
1975-01-01	86	-2	-2%	4%
1976-01-01	102	17	20%	18%	Money invested in 1965 recovered and went over 88 1 yr after the 10 yr period
1977-01-01	98	6	7%	-4%
1978-01-01	96	-2	-2%	-2%
1979-01-01	103	5	5%	7%	Money invested in 1968 recovered and went over 98 1yr after the 10 yr period
1980-01-01	119	36	43%	15%
1981-01-01	128	30	30%	8%
1982-01-01	120	11	10%	-7%
1983-01-01	160	53	49%	34%
1984-01-01	160	78	94%	-0%
1985-01-01	187	101	117%	16%
1986-01-01	236	134	132%	27%
1987-01-01	287	189	192%	21%
1988-01-01	266	170	177%	-7%
1989-01-01	323	220	214%	22%
1990-01-01	335	216	182%	4%
1991-01-01	376	248	194%	12%
1992-01-01	416	296	247%	11%
1993-01-01	452	291	181%	9%
1994-01-01	460	300	187%	2%
1995-01-01	542	355	190%	18%
1996-01-01	671	434	184%	24%
1997-01-01	873	586	204%	30%
1998-01-01	1086	820	308%	24%
1999-01-01	1327	1004	311%	22%
2000-01-01	1427	1093	327%	8%
2001-01-01	1194	818	217%	-16%
2002-01-01	994	578	139%	-17%
2003-01-01	965	514	114%	-3%
2004-01-01	1131	670	146%	17%
2005-01-01	1207	666	123%	7%
2006-01-01	1310	640	95%	9%
2007-01-01	1477	604	69%	13%
2008-01-01	1220	135	12%	-17%
2009-01-01	948	-379	-29%	-22%
2010-01-01	1140	-287	-20%	20%
2011-01-01	1268	73	6%	11%
2012-01-01	1379	385	39%	9%	Money invested in 1999 recovered and went over 1327 3yrs after the 10 yr period
2013-01-01	1466	501	52%	6%	Money invested in 2000 recovered and went over 1427 3yrs after the 10 yr period
2014-01-01	1848	717	63%	26%

For $40 I replaced a switch which turns on light at sunset and shuts it off at 10pm.

I bought GE Z-Wave dimmer switch for $42. That was $25 more than I paid for a Levitron dimmer.

It took me actually more time to try 10 of my circuit breakers to shut off the power to the switch I wanted to replace. Once that was doen I swapped the old mechanic switch with the GE switch.

Worked perfectly.

I then opened the SmartThings App on my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 phone running T Mobile stock Android 4.3.2 and selected the plus button to search for devices.

See this blog how I added devices.

That is it. I can use my phone to turn on-off-dim-bright the light.
I used this Cree dimmable LED. The light is just as bright as the "100W equivalent" FEIT CFL I replaced.

Of course the CFL costs just $2 each Vs $20 for this bulb. CFL does not dim.
Not as instant ON. Besides CFL consumes 23w Vs 9.5W for the LED.

I had 3 bulbs consuming 69W. Now I have three consuming 19.5W for the same light. This light is ON for 4hrs a day. So, more green I guess.

Now comes the more interesting part.

I used ifttt "recipe" to turn ON this light at sunset every day and shut it off at 10pm every day. I can use my phone to control it at random.

Now isn't that cool?

Now I can monitor, control my home without monthly payment. Cost $100 plus $50 per sensor.

This is part of my ongoing quest for how "Internet of Things" can be practical and replace expensive monthly service by ADT, ATT, Comcast Xfinity and others.

It all started when I first tried iSmartAlarm.

Without monthly fee, I have home alarm system. If intruders go past it, they have to deal with my dog. Alarm siren rings, phones get text message and check how the security breach happened and then we call police. These days, police stopped responding to automatic phone calls. Security companies have some one to call the neighbors and then police. I don't need the middleman.

Then, I added Belkin WeMo InSight to get a text message when my Laundry stops. That worked nicely. Did not have wrinkled or smelly clothes since then.

Then I added Kwikset electronic deadbolt.

It has Z-Wave wireless and Kwikset will be happy to sell you a device which connects to their server and you pay $10 a month or so. I decided to try SmartThings Hub.

Someone wrote a nice blog about it. Read it if you like. Better yet, see SmartThings on Youtube.

I first activated the hub using their instructions. Just needed to go to their website using their App on my smartphone, enter the activation code.

Then I tried to let it discover my Kwikset electronic lock. It was searching for ever. I sent a request online and also email last night.

This morning I was pleasantly surprised by email from Ryan of SmartThings.
He said that the SmartThings Hub was partly paired with the lock. He used chat messages to quickly remove it and added back. It worked like a charm.

Photo below shows discovered (Green device).

Then I opened the main menu and found the device.

Then I was able to lock or unlock the door by pushing that UNLOCKED icon.
Then I selected the gear icon right above the UNLOCKED icon. It opened the below screen.

All this took just 5 min. The when I hit refresh, it showed battery status is 60%. However no matter what I do either from the phone or from the lock directly (only 2 ways) the status is stuck at unlocked. Ryan of SmartThings agreed that it a bug they are working on. He offered to push firmware update Release Candidate to my hub. I agreed. RC is usually quite stable. After he pushed it to the hub, I saw battery status 40% and device status is stuck at unlocked. He apologized and asked me check blog.smarthings.com for updates.

I guess that will be a future blog and I may add another sensor or 2 by then...

Kwikset 910 series zwave electronic deadbolt $110 is flimsy.

Updated Jan 11, 2015

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS.

Main issue is very bad battery life even with the best AA alkaline battery.
Barely a month if used once a day on the average. I really do not want to
remotely unlock my door over internet. If someone I trust needs to enter,
I will give them the code to unlock. Schlage Camelot electronic deadbolt
I use has a 9V battery and in 3plus years I replaced the battery once on a door
used many times a day. It costs less than $90.
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NJJ1MQ?keywords=schlage%20camelot&qid=1452558472&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4

You can read how to install if you want to, else you can stop right here.
_________________________________________________________________________________
See  photos (last one is video if it works) here.

I bought Kwikset SmartCode 910 Satin Nickel Electronic Deadbolt with zwave chip on E-Bay but Amazon also has it.

It took me just 30 min to install.

I also ordered SmartThings Hub for $100.

It has an App on Android and IOS devices.  I connected the hub to my router, installed this app used the code which came with the hub and activated it.

I can see the hub as active when I login to smarthings.com website and also on my phone.

Supposedly all I have to do is choose + button on the App to add the lock, press a button on the lock and it should connect.

All it said was searching... and never found the lock. Smarthings is a small company funded by Kickstarter. I sent them a request and waiting to hear from them. I will write about the outcome once I am done. "Internet of things" began in 2013 and so very pre-mature. Not for the average Joe user yet. A challenge for me though...

For now, I can say that the lock works fine and I like it better than Schlage because of more key combinations and easy of replacing the batteries without any screw driver. Schlage lock I have has a 9V battery which my son installed almost year and half ago and it still works. Schlage has 4 number code using 10 buttons. This has 4 to 8 number code using 5 buttons.

If you cannot see the video on my Google+ link for Photos (last one is video), it is also on Youtube. Google has to get this process right.

AARP helped in my Auto + Home Insurance. Shop around.

I started auto insurance with my first care back in 1984 with Statefarm and when I came to California in 1989, the rates started going up even though I never had a claim. California AAA gave me a better price around 1995. Then I had one very low speed accident in 2001 where I rear ended the car in front of me at a yield sign when the car in front moved and suddenly stopped. Perhaps CA AAA paid about $3k max for both the cars. They increased the premium by almost $1000 a year for 3 years (effectively collecting what they paid). 3 years later, I switched to Costco American Express auto insurance which later became Ameriprise. 12 years later in 2012 June I had one accident in small town where what I thought was yield for me and stop for the other car in a 25mph zone was the other way around. No injuries but my car was worth $10k and that is what I got. The other car seemed to be worth $5k. My wife hit a speed bump at night on her minivan at barely 10mph at night but it damaged a cruise sensor on her Sienna which costs $2k to replace. The Toyota dealer suggested that I file a claim and I had to fight with Ameriprise to get coverage. This happened in early 2012. When I got my renewal, the premium went up by whopping $2k per year which they said will remain for 5yrs. So, they planned to collect $10k from me even though I paid them perhaps $15k in the past 12 yrs.

So, I was able to get Hartford insurance with AARP for $1k less than the new quote from Ameriprise which would remain for 5yrs. If I am lucky, my wife will not be called a "bad driver" 3yrs from her only "accident" by Jan 2015 and may be the rate will come down by $600 per yr.

So, AARP did help me for now. However, the summary of the story is that if I paid $2k for my wife's Sienna instead of filing the claim, I would have saved at least $2k in 3 yrs. Basically Ameriprise collected whatever they paid for the Sienna. The lesson to learn is that if there is no third party involved, pay it rather than file a claim. This is true even for Home owner's insurance. The repair person always tells you to file a claim and they quote a very high price and tell you that you don't have to pay anything out of pocket. If I shopped around I would have probably found some one to fix the cruise sensor for $1k.

Conclusion: AARP can help you if you are over 50 and got a high quote for auto insurance if you have an accident. AARP was actually $3 more expensive than best internet rate for a motel 6 I booked $61 Vs $64. I plan to take a cruise to Hawaii and Alaska. Last time I used Costco after checking AAA and Costco. Next time I will check AARP. Also, I saved $100 per yr when I got 100 mile coverage for me, my wife and son (less than 25years). The service is offered by Allstate. I did not use it so far but I guess that may be another blog in future...

Shop around for insurance every time you have a renewal on Home or Auto insurance. Once you are their customer, the insurance companies don't have any motivation to reduce your premium even if you have no claims. Excuse is inflation. Same is true with Cable/Sat TV and Internet service providers. Only new customers get a promo. I do have a story to tell about Dish Network and Comcast one fine day...