"Dumb" home devices work as expected for 25-50 years, and then you replace them.
"Smart" home devices work as expected for about a year and then they fail in new and exciting ways, and then you replace them.
replies(8):
"Smart" home devices work as expected for about a year and then they fail in new and exciting ways, and then you replace them.
> "Smart Local Control" home devices work as expected until the electronics fail
ftfy.
Recently one of my Zigbee-controlled thermostats started pumping cold air constantly. To fix it, all I had to do was open and examine the board; one of the varistors got some battery acid on it when I had an alkaline battery burst in the unit. Because it was a no-name with an actual PCB, I was able to solder a new varistor in place, and it works good as new.
So I would say that "Smart Local Control" isn't the problem, but rather the ability to repair the thing. Also, the thermostat was $45 when I purchased it 5 years ago, so it was a good investment IMO. I think that's why everyone is upset about the Nest gen 1 and 2 sunsetting; there should be no reason that these devices should be breaking now (no failing electronics) but they die anyway because the company is too cheap to keep an extra endpoint running.