June 17, 2014 at 10:57Netatmo - a stylish core for a smart home
At first glance, Netatmo is simply a stylish weather station that measures temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels and noise. But in fact, the gadget has enormous potential, and around it you can build your smart home without wires, a soldering iron and programming.
Netatmo consists of two blocks: one for the house and one for the street. Blocks differ only in height and internal filling. Also in the kit you can find a set of batteries, a cord for connecting the station to a computer, a power supply with several adapters. And, quite surprisingly, the kit includes Velcro and even a dowel for attaching the outdoor module.
The main Netatmo module can be powered by four finger batteries, or maybe just by mains. The outdoor module eats only batteries.
First of all, we have to follow some simple steps to set up a weather station:
And so we get the home weather station. Thanks to the external module, through the application in the phone or through the browser, you can always find out the weather on the street and the forecast for the coming days. Not very cool, right? Indeed, to obtain this information, we need the Internet, in which there are enough weather forecasts. But the internal module will allow you to monitor the situation at home in real time, which will not be too useful if nothing can be done about these changes when you are not at home.
Therefore, it is time to gradually move on to the most interesting. Let's start with sensors, and end with a smart home!
A very important function of the Netatmo home unit is that it can measure the level of carbon dioxide. The station itself will send notifications that tell you about the need to ventilate the room. This feature was especially appreciated by my friend freelancer who spends all his day at home.
Immediately I will share another interesting observation. I often sleep for 10 hours on weekends, but wake up tired anyway. And according to Netatmo logs, it turns out that already an hour after I went to bed, the level of carbon dioxide became three times higher than normal. And in this stuffiness, the body was very difficult to recover. Now I do not forget to open the window for the night.
Carbon dioxide measurement is especially important in the nursery. Another feature that will make Netatmo a real babysitter is a noise sensor, with which you can send yourself notifications when noise exceeds a manually set or default threshold. This will let you know when the child will wake up, when he will break his favorite vase, and when he will watch films on Ren TV, instead of going to bed.
Now it's time to talk about the more serious features of Netatmo, because it is not just a multifunctional “digital thermometer” for 7.5 thousand rubles. In order to fully use the weather station’s functionality, you need to remember the actively developing IFTTT service (IFT), which supports this gadget.
For those who are not in the know, IFTTT stands for "if this than that", that is, "if this condition is met, then do so." And thanks to this service, our station can indeed partially control a smart home.
A complete list of ready-made IFTTT scripts can be found here.
Suppose we want to store carbon dioxide change data in Google Docs. To do this, find the desired script on the aforementioned site, click "Use Recipe", log in to Google Docs and Netatmo and give the service and gadget the right to interact. Then we indicate the excess of what level of carbon dioxide we want to register.
It is worth saying that there is one significant limitation. Of course, we can set up a Twitter or FB account and force Netatmo to post weather reports at home and on the street, we can save statistics in Google docks and interact with a bunch of applications. But this is still not a smart house, but a talking house, or a socially active house =)
Before plunging deeper into the study of a smart home, I want to draw an intermediate conclusion. Out of the box, Netatmo is a very stylish weather station with a set of important features. And it is time to compare it with other devices on the market.
It should be noted that Netatmo stands out against their background by the lack of a display, but also differs by the presence of a connection to a wi-fi network, logging, a web client and the availability of applications for iOS and Android. As for the sensors used, as a rule, there is a standard set everywhere: CO2, humidity, temperature, noise. And, of course, IFTTT, and appearance make Netatmo stand out.
A truly smart home will only become possible with smart gadgets like Netatmo.
These are bulbs that work in tandem with a transmitter connected to a home wi-fi network. They also work great with IFTTT and can turn on, off, change the color of lighting. All this can be done manually through a browser or using an application for iOS and Android, or you can come up with something more interesting.
Netatmo on the IFTTT website has a number of standard recipes for the interaction of the two devices.
Roughly speaking, this is a socket that can be controlled via Wif-fi, and, accordingly, through IFTTT. Belkin also makes humidifiers and units with motion sensors that can also work in tandem with Netatmo. But sockets give us the greatest scope for imagination and functionality.
Now, with the help of IFTTT and a set of smart gadgets, sensors built into Netatmo will help not only to know the temperature, but also to influence it. At home, you no longer need to receive messages from your weather station, but you can receive all the information on the change in the semitones in the lighting. That is, our smart home is becoming more intelligent and less intrusive.
The Internet of things is still developing, therefore, to build a truly smart home that will suit a particular person, Arduino, Raspberry Pi or something like that can not be done. If the need to work with breadboards and program code is not scary, then below I will talk a little about how it is very simple to make Arduino an important organ of a smart home controlled via IFTTT.
Not everyone can afford to limit themselves to only smart gadgets that need to be purchased to introduce additional functionality of a smart home. In addition, it is one thing to simply turn on the fan when the temperature rises at home, and quite another to regulate the modes of operation of the fan depending on temperature. All this can be done with basic knowledge of electronics.
To do this, we need Arduino + Ethernet shield in order to control the functionality of the board could be via the Internet. And in order for Netatmo to be able to control the Arduinka via IFTTT, we need the Lithouse service .
The service website has instructions on how to teach Arduino and IFTTT to communicate. When this step is left behind, unlimited possibilities open up before us. Using the information received from Netatmo, you can control any household appliances, its operating modes and any devices that can be controlled from Arduino or another similar board.
Thus, we get the opportunity to implement a control board, which through IFTTT will collect data from all home sensors, and again through IFTTT without any extra wires can control household appliances. In this concept, Netatmo becomes a stylish set of basic sensors (Temperature, humidity, noise level, carbon dioxide content), which can control a number of devices directly, but the functionality of which will be supplemented by the Arduino board and connected new devices.
In this review, I tried to describe all the possible options for using Netatmo to show that this is not just a weather station, but something more and that is why it is worthy of attention. Stylish design, logging skills, a web interface, applications for a tablet or smartphone, IFTTT - this is all that compares it favorably with all competitors.
Netatmo can tell you when to air the room, it can become a smart baby monitor in the nursery, or it can just tell you what happens to the weather at home and beyond in your absence.
With other smart gadgets, Netatmo will be able to control home lighting, send you non-intrusive light notifications, and control household appliances to control your home weather conditions.
Personally, I think this is a great gadget for those who care about home comfort and the appearance of surrounding things. Netatmo proudly decorated a place in the corner of my desk.
P.S. You can buy a smart weather station Netatmo here , at the already famous habrasociety store Madrobots , which sent me this gadget for review.
First look at Netatmo
Netatmo consists of two blocks: one for the house and one for the street. Blocks differ only in height and internal filling. Also in the kit you can find a set of batteries, a cord for connecting the station to a computer, a power supply with several adapters. And, quite surprisingly, the kit includes Velcro and even a dowel for attaching the outdoor module.
The main Netatmo module can be powered by four finger batteries, or maybe just by mains. The outdoor module eats only batteries.
First of all, we have to follow some simple steps to set up a weather station:
- We go and register on the official website
- Download the program for the computer. It is needed for the first and only connection of the station to the computer. In the program, we simply select the home wi-fi network and enter the password so that Netatmo can constantly upload all the data from its sensors to the network.
- We install an application on a smartphone or tablet in which all data on weather, CO2 level and noise level are visually displayed.
And so we get the home weather station. Thanks to the external module, through the application in the phone or through the browser, you can always find out the weather on the street and the forecast for the coming days. Not very cool, right? Indeed, to obtain this information, we need the Internet, in which there are enough weather forecasts. But the internal module will allow you to monitor the situation at home in real time, which will not be too useful if nothing can be done about these changes when you are not at home.
Therefore, it is time to gradually move on to the most interesting. Let's start with sensors, and end with a smart home!
A very important function of the Netatmo home unit is that it can measure the level of carbon dioxide. The station itself will send notifications that tell you about the need to ventilate the room. This feature was especially appreciated by my friend freelancer who spends all his day at home.
Immediately I will share another interesting observation. I often sleep for 10 hours on weekends, but wake up tired anyway. And according to Netatmo logs, it turns out that already an hour after I went to bed, the level of carbon dioxide became three times higher than normal. And in this stuffiness, the body was very difficult to recover. Now I do not forget to open the window for the night.
Carbon dioxide measurement is especially important in the nursery. Another feature that will make Netatmo a real babysitter is a noise sensor, with which you can send yourself notifications when noise exceeds a manually set or default threshold. This will let you know when the child will wake up, when he will break his favorite vase, and when he will watch films on Ren TV, instead of going to bed.
The first approach of smart home
Now it's time to talk about the more serious features of Netatmo, because it is not just a multifunctional “digital thermometer” for 7.5 thousand rubles. In order to fully use the weather station’s functionality, you need to remember the actively developing IFTTT service (IFT), which supports this gadget.
For those who are not in the know, IFTTT stands for "if this than that", that is, "if this condition is met, then do so." And thanks to this service, our station can indeed partially control a smart home.
A complete list of ready-made IFTTT scripts can be found here.
Suppose we want to store carbon dioxide change data in Google Docs. To do this, find the desired script on the aforementioned site, click "Use Recipe", log in to Google Docs and Netatmo and give the service and gadget the right to interact. Then we indicate the excess of what level of carbon dioxide we want to register.
It is worth saying that there is one significant limitation. Of course, we can set up a Twitter or FB account and force Netatmo to post weather reports at home and on the street, we can save statistics in Google docks and interact with a bunch of applications. But this is still not a smart house, but a talking house, or a socially active house =)
The first conclusion.
Before plunging deeper into the study of a smart home, I want to draw an intermediate conclusion. Out of the box, Netatmo is a very stylish weather station with a set of important features. And it is time to compare it with other devices on the market.
It should be noted that Netatmo stands out against their background by the lack of a display, but also differs by the presence of a connection to a wi-fi network, logging, a web client and the availability of applications for iOS and Android. As for the sensors used, as a rule, there is a standard set everywhere: CO2, humidity, temperature, noise. And, of course, IFTTT, and appearance make Netatmo stand out.
Even closer to smart home
A truly smart home will only become possible with smart gadgets like Netatmo.
1. Phillips Hue Bulbs
These are bulbs that work in tandem with a transmitter connected to a home wi-fi network. They also work great with IFTTT and can turn on, off, change the color of lighting. All this can be done manually through a browser or using an application for iOS and Android, or you can come up with something more interesting.
Netatmo on the IFTTT website has a number of standard recipes for the interaction of the two devices.
2. Belkin WeMo switch
Roughly speaking, this is a socket that can be controlled via Wif-fi, and, accordingly, through IFTTT. Belkin also makes humidifiers and units with motion sensors that can also work in tandem with Netatmo. But sockets give us the greatest scope for imagination and functionality.
Second conclusion
Now, with the help of IFTTT and a set of smart gadgets, sensors built into Netatmo will help not only to know the temperature, but also to influence it. At home, you no longer need to receive messages from your weather station, but you can receive all the information on the change in the semitones in the lighting. That is, our smart home is becoming more intelligent and less intrusive.
Truly smart home
The Internet of things is still developing, therefore, to build a truly smart home that will suit a particular person, Arduino, Raspberry Pi or something like that can not be done. If the need to work with breadboards and program code is not scary, then below I will talk a little about how it is very simple to make Arduino an important organ of a smart home controlled via IFTTT.
Not everyone can afford to limit themselves to only smart gadgets that need to be purchased to introduce additional functionality of a smart home. In addition, it is one thing to simply turn on the fan when the temperature rises at home, and quite another to regulate the modes of operation of the fan depending on temperature. All this can be done with basic knowledge of electronics.
To do this, we need Arduino + Ethernet shield in order to control the functionality of the board could be via the Internet. And in order for Netatmo to be able to control the Arduinka via IFTTT, we need the Lithouse service .
The service website has instructions on how to teach Arduino and IFTTT to communicate. When this step is left behind, unlimited possibilities open up before us. Using the information received from Netatmo, you can control any household appliances, its operating modes and any devices that can be controlled from Arduino or another similar board.
Third conclusion
Thus, we get the opportunity to implement a control board, which through IFTTT will collect data from all home sensors, and again through IFTTT without any extra wires can control household appliances. In this concept, Netatmo becomes a stylish set of basic sensors (Temperature, humidity, noise level, carbon dioxide content), which can control a number of devices directly, but the functionality of which will be supplemented by the Arduino board and connected new devices.
Disadvantages of Netatmo
- Not the largest number of gadgets that support IFTTT (although there are more of them every month)
- The difficulty of setting up all the work scenarios. That is, you will have to think carefully through everything and spend several hours or days to configure all the scripts and debug them.
- I would only buy a home module separately. This would reduce the purchase price, which would almost not lose functionality. After all, the external module shows the weather on the street, which I can find out via the Internet. It’s much more important for me to know the data about my home with the ability to influence it.
Strengths
- Stylish design
- Ability to log on all measured parameters
- Ability to send notifications in a user-friendly way
- Availability of a web interface and applications for iOS and Android
- Ability to work with IFTTT
- Small dimensions
- Convenience of fastening the external module
Last conclusion
In this review, I tried to describe all the possible options for using Netatmo to show that this is not just a weather station, but something more and that is why it is worthy of attention. Stylish design, logging skills, a web interface, applications for a tablet or smartphone, IFTTT - this is all that compares it favorably with all competitors.
Netatmo can tell you when to air the room, it can become a smart baby monitor in the nursery, or it can just tell you what happens to the weather at home and beyond in your absence.
With other smart gadgets, Netatmo will be able to control home lighting, send you non-intrusive light notifications, and control household appliances to control your home weather conditions.
Personally, I think this is a great gadget for those who care about home comfort and the appearance of surrounding things. Netatmo proudly decorated a place in the corner of my desk.
P.S. You can buy a smart weather station Netatmo here , at the already famous habrasociety store Madrobots , which sent me this gadget for review.