Big long old house with thick stone walls. Wifi everywhere thanks to Airports and Homeplugs. But Elgato things use bluetooth. So how does it communicate from the lounge where I am with my iphone through umpteen walls to tell a plug to switch something on?
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Elgato Eve: How does it work without wifi in big house?
- Thread starter jnorris235
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Thanks for your time - sorry to be thick though...my point is with a long house I'll have another plug or thermo well out of range of the Apple TV (though there will be a wifi router there in that room) and people keep advising it will work, one guy even suggested it would use wifi which I'm sure it doesnt.
So again, does it or does it not work with things out of bluetooth range of the apple tv. Even Elgato wouldn't answer that straight!
The Eve plug does not sound like a good fit for your home. Something needs to be in bluetooth range of the plug, either an iPhone, iPad or ATV4. Siri will complain the plug is unreachable otherwise.
If a device has limited power, like a battery powered Schlage Sense door lock, it makes sense to use bluetooth since bluetooth uses low power. But a smart plug is already plugged into household mains, so why use a low powered radio like bluetooth when a high powered radio like Wi-Fi offers 10x the range?
I have several iDevice plugs which are Wi-Fi and I like them. I like my Ecobee thermostat which is also Wi-Fi.
If a device has limited power, like a battery powered Schlage Sense door lock, it makes sense to use bluetooth since bluetooth uses low power. But a smart plug is already plugged into household mains, so why use a low powered radio like bluetooth when a high powered radio like Wi-Fi offers 10x the range?
I have several iDevice plugs which are Wi-Fi and I like them. I like my Ecobee thermostat which is also Wi-Fi.
Thank you for that. Seemed obvious it was no good unless you were in a one bedroom apartment at best, but conflicting answers, especially from Elgato themselves. Shame because it is the only wet central heating system radiator controller (or even plugs) that works without a £250 hub. We cant afford to use a central thermostat because the house has big unbeatable areas - just want to heat the rooms being used. I'll wait for exactly the same idea but that uses wifi or the mains.
Thanks. IDevice, thought it was a generic name you used! Over here (UK) they are astonishingly expensive, and some pretty weird devices too. I will explore more!
I have a few Eve Thermos in my house, and I find that the lack of a WiFi bridge is a frustrating element.
I do understand the reasons for choosing Bluetooth LE, over a Bridge, or even on-board WiFi, but unfortunately, due to the constraints of a standard building, the devices just take too long to communicate, if at all, over bluetooth. All Elgato need to do here is build a Bridge to make their devices a WiFi option, but I suspect that will never happen.
Even with an AppleTV in range, the devices take way too long to communicate, and if I want to look at the temperature in the nursery, am I going to wait 2 minutes for the data to update, or am I just going to go up and look? I can't even imagine what it would be like trying to use one of the switches!
It's a real shame, as Elgato have been releasing some nice new devices in the UK recently, but I won't use them any more due to the Bluetooth constraints.
I do understand the reasons for choosing Bluetooth LE, over a Bridge, or even on-board WiFi, but unfortunately, due to the constraints of a standard building, the devices just take too long to communicate, if at all, over bluetooth. All Elgato need to do here is build a Bridge to make their devices a WiFi option, but I suspect that will never happen.
Even with an AppleTV in range, the devices take way too long to communicate, and if I want to look at the temperature in the nursery, am I going to wait 2 minutes for the data to update, or am I just going to go up and look? I can't even imagine what it would be like trying to use one of the switches!
It's a real shame, as Elgato have been releasing some nice new devices in the UK recently, but I won't use them any more due to the Bluetooth constraints.
I have a door/window sensor at my back door and my Apple TV is at the very front opposite corner of the house. Works absolutely fine. I also have an eve power socket for the tv which works fine too, about a second for data to update.
However!
I have sent back an eve weather for being inaccurate and difficult to find, remotely or locally. This was located approx 5 metres away from the Apple TV.
However!
I have sent back an eve weather for being inaccurate and difficult to find, remotely or locally. This was located approx 5 metres away from the Apple TV.
It just shows open or closed state. Can then be used as trigger, eventually I want a trigger of if door opens after sunset then turn lights on in kitchen. No HomeKit light switches in uk yet
Can confirm that Philips Hue works (really) well with Homekit with instant response. It uses another RF standard called Zigbee - one advantage being that each bulb (in the case of Hue) acts as a repeater and so can extend the range considerably. Could be useful in your large house.
Elgato mentioned on twitter earlier that a Bluetooth range extender is coming "at the end of the year" which should make things work better, although in my (British sized) 4 bed house everything works well