Use phone GPS to turn thermostat on/off

[yomanwill]

Installed the 3m50 and for under $100 this thing is really cool. Using my PC/Android phone to control the temperature has made a programmable thermostats actually useful. I have a couple ideas, hopefully some are good:

Use phone GPS to turn thermostat away mode on/off. Basically, manually turning the temp low to high is such a pain . How I envision it working is you set a home location and once you "leave" the home location it sets the thermostat to away. Then as you approach the home location it kicks it back on.

Also, if there is some sort of public webpage that shows what the current temp and program is. They wouldn't be able to edit anything, just show the current status.

Thanks,
Will

[ride525]

Will,

I too, would like an easy AWAY button. You suggested that GPS on phone could trigger an away. I like that idea, it's so simple. But what if there are still folks at home? (In my case, I have GPS on my cell phone, wife does not, so what happens if I leave.)

Otherwise, you idea is even more simple than that being discussed in post right next to this one in time, how about reprogramming the SAVE ENERGY button so it no longer is hard coded 4, but a users settable number, perhaps 10 or 15 degree change for instance. That way it would be a truly AWAY button, which, by the way, is described on the 3M50 packaging as "Home & Away Button".

I sure hope something can be done about this. I was looking, and even $29 Hunter thermostat at Lowes has Away Button.

Let me know if you think of how your phone idea might work, I like it's simplicity. (Maybe I could just let my wife freeze, if I left with my cell phone.)

[qoncept]

I just got my 3M-50 last night and I've already been playing around with software development. This is a great idea and I'll definitely look at adding the functionality to any software I write.

[Lbendlin]

Instead of using the GPS you may want to consider using the mobile network cell id.

[Lbendlin]

If you still want to go with GPS, and you have an Android phone and know a thing or two about HTTP POST here's an option for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2YZqe0zr3U

[eric.woodruff]

I am planning on having a local computer (or my DDWRT router) check the status of certain devices (i.e my phone) on my wifi network and auto-set the away mode based on that. No GPS required.

https://plus.google.com/108868516469845 ... CtXxKf1w2u

[fecund]

I'm thinking of implementing the above --^

I can query wifi associations on my wifi router and will use that to determine "who is home".

[mhrivnak]

I like the idea of monitoring smart phones on the local wifi. It's simple and effective. However, the GPS approach has the advantage of anticipating your arrival and changing the "away" status before you get home, so it's a bit more comfortable when you arrive.

One fairly easy way to implement the GPS strategy is with Google Latitude. (https://developers.google.com/latitude/) It's easy to make RESTful requests to track locations. You get GPS coordinates, and a bit of quick math will tell you how far each person is from home. You might even track whether they are moving toward home or are stationary. Example algorithm, without much thought put into it:

- If all residents are more than 10 miles away, set away mode.
- If each resident is more than 10 miles away OR more than 6 miles away and has been stationary for 20 minutes, set away mode.

To make it fancier, we could consider social networking checkins. For example, a family dinner rule:

- If all residents are together and at least one of them has checked in to a restaurant using Latitude, Four Square, etc., set away mode until they leave that location, regardless of other rules.

There are lots of interesting possibilities!

[WestMichigan]

This sounds like a way to come back to a cold home by mistake. If this is ever added, it needs to be optional.