For an extra $15.06 you can even get them installed, which will save you from having to execute the following steps:
- Open box.
- Remove sensors from box.
- Pull plastic tab from battery compartment.
- Drink a celebratory craft beer.
(I might or might not have made that last one up.)
$15 !!! It says $110 for installation for me.
You have a “complicated” setup. Going to have to bump the hourly rate up. (Craft beers are expensive)
I keep teasing the wife about calling for that $39 HA assessment I keep seeing ads for by Nest/Google. Just to see the look on the guy’s face, see what they think I need, how much it’ll cost.
Amazon hates you.
Then again, it’s probably a regional variation (and the total for me is $69.95, the $15.06 being the difference between the bare item price and the price w/installation).
But, no…really…Amazon just hates you.
$69.95 to install for me. Hmmm, tempting 
.
The shame is, someone is paying.
I not offered installation. You guys must live in better neighborhoods than me.
Besides taking the temp how does these interact with ecobee?
They also detect occupancy , Remember that they only update every 30 minutes, so not really useful for anything else
I really have to wonder about BestBuy $150 to set up a Harmony remote.
The $100 for GeakSquad to set up new router is tempting though, as long as they import all of the settings and static addresses off my current routers.
My question is how would this save money?
If I have two in different areas in the house it would average both but make the AC unit work harder to level out the house.
Then the other thought is I use the easy 3 plan where my rates in the summer are higher between 3-6, so I have to precool the house from 12-3 so that it is comfortable when we stop running the AC between 3-6.
How would these sensors work in that scenario.
Add smart vents?
It wouldn’t. What they do is allow you to fine tune your thermostat’s behavior by giving it extra data on what the temperature is in different parts of your house. In my case they’re of no value over and above the 1 remote sensor that already comes with each Ecobee3. I have a 2-story house with 2 HVAC systems, each controlled by their own Ecobee3. Each floor has 1 room where we spend the majority of our time, so it is the temperature in these rooms that we want to govern the thermostats’ behavior. 1 remote sensor in each of these rooms is enough to do the job (and they’re required because neither room is where the Ecobeess are located).
So for me additional sensors would be a waste. But if you want the temperature in multiple areas of your house to be taken into account, and at least two of those areas are ones in which your Ecobee3 isn’t located then extra sensors are what is called for. UNLESS…of course…you have other types of temperature sensors in your ST ecosystem and want to develop your own rules that use them and the Ecobee3 ↔ ST integration to control your t’stat.
Well thought out. I have he lite so it didn’t come with a sensor. I do like having he extra data but as long as I can prevent the thermostat from trying to level out all three locations they can be useful.
I don’t know if it is in fact " saving me money", but I do know having remote sensors upstairs in bedrooms setting them at 63* at night instead of keeping the dining room where the main thermostat is 63* is a lot more comfortable. Upstairs was always warmer than the downstairs. ( Steam heat so bedrooms get heat first and heat rises ) If I turned the thermostat down too far it would take forever for it to bring the house back up to temperature.
Now I have heat averaged out across all Ecobee sensors at 69* during day ( with ST sensors turning off the heat if any ST sensor reaches 72* ) and I use only Ecobee remotes in bedrooms to keep them at 63* at night. ( ST will boost if any ST sensors drop below 60* )
The house maintains a lot more level temperature.
I don’t think the idea of the extra sensors is so much about saving money. Saving money would be had by setting control setpoints to money saving points. Or idling your system when away or during high energy costs periods.
I think it’s more about comfort. It’s about controlling the temperature based on presence or which room is the active room of the house. My house is a perfect example of that. It’s a story and a half design.
So the upstairs and downstairs Temps are never the same. Usually they are always opposite. For example in the summer the AC controls on downstairs located thermostat so it’s cool downstairs and very warm upstairs.
Now with my Ecobee3 installed I could tell the AC to run based on a sensor that’s upstairs where we are sleeping vice where the thermostat physically is. Then when we’re watching TV downstairs shift to that sensor.
Which could potentially save me money cause I’m not trying to cool the currently unused “hot” upstairs while we’re not using that part of the house.
I’m not lucky enough to have a house that’s open and possibly easy to balance the temperature to be equal throughout.
Just my opponent and kinda how I look at it.
This works well if the room you are in is less than the others rooms. That does maleness sense. Why base your cooling point on a room no one is in versus a room someone is in
Is this Ecobee remote sensor concept same as the have Nest thermostat + community developed app “Nest Manager” along with ST motion sensors ? With the Nest manager installed, can we set the temperature of the thermostat based on the bedroom motion sensor temperature ?
Pls correct me if I’m wrong.
63? Dear goodness my wife would freeze to death and my kids would revolt.