Is it just me?

Is it just me that has a bunch of neat devices that even after months sit in a box with other neat devices because you really wanted a neat device for a particular thing but are just to lazy to install it?

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In my case that box contains an 868MHz 5dBi SMA antenna, SMA - IPX pigtail, U.FL socket, soldering iron, flux and solder braid....:rofl:

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Mine contains lights, recepticles, z-wave to ir converters, presence sensors, and a few other things. So of course I just ordered some Gledopto ip65 flood lights ( @aaiyar 's) reccomendation and some tuya 4-in-1 sensors....

Your not alone, i buy stuff when i think of it had some switches for 6 months before they got installed, now that 8 think of it the ikea lights are coming up for a year old never been out the box.

in my i need this now box i have a smart implant, 4 motion sensors, a set of ikea lights, 2 smart fcu's, 2 x switch implants, a contact sensor and smart button of the top of my head.

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Yep. I have a shelf full of zooz and inovelli neat things because I'm waiting to get enough money together to hire an electrician to come out and install all of it at once because I don't trust my self, and the wiring in this house doesn't look like any wiring diagram I've ever seen. All wires are black and lots of 3 and 4 way switches all over the place.

All black indicates no neutrals at the box.... (do you have knob and tube?) Neutrals are probably at all the fixtures... Pain for sure. Ok for dimmers, not for switches...

If I purchase something new, it is always because I have a specific need or desire in mind. Thus, as soon as the package arrives it gets opened and installed within a few hours. I am retired, so I normally have time to do that.

I do have several boxes full of stuff that I used in the past, but no longer use. The stuff is kept as a backup in case something fails.

CAT5e cables have been replaced with CAT6. I dumped CAT 5 but kept CAT5e.
WiFI 5 routers (AC) have been replaced with a WiFI 6 (AX) router.
Older WiFI4 (N) routers and adapters will be recycled, but the AC router and adapters will be kept as backups.
My DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem has been replaced with DOCSIS 3.1. The old device is kept as a backup.
I still have older memory chips, graphic cards, sound cards, USB cards, hard drives and SSDs that could be used as backup if the current versions fail.

I still have my old Smartthings hub. It is no longer powered, but could be returned to service in my Hubitat fails. I probably should purchase a backup Hubitat, but am waiting to see what happens with the Matter initiative.
I have a few older TP Link WiFi outlets that do not work with Hubitat, but could be used with the TP Link app and Alexa if needed.
I have some Smartthings and Centralite outlets that mess up the Zigbee mesh when used as repeaters if Aqara devices are in the mix. They have been replaced with eWeLink Zigbee 3.0 outlets, but I keep the old ones just in case they are needed.

There are some ideas that don't reveal their full silliness until after I have clicked on the "complete order" button!

Mike M

I almost did this with a tuya air sensor until @kkossev talked me out of it

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No knob and tube. House is only a bit over 2 years old. Last house built n 2016 was the same way. All black. This is in North Texas.

Only knob is volume control for patio speakers (any suggestion fir a touch controller for that?)

I consider myself a recovering "box of uninstalled devices" addict. :slight_smile:

From a full box of stuff about a year ago, I am now actually down to a couple dimmers and an outlet, and a few Picos. Everything else was installed or passed on to friends who could use it when I wasn't.

I guess you ca think of me as someone who is working hard not to buy things so that you guys won't see the dreaded "out of stock" notification. You're welcome. :wink:

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I'm really surprised you don't have neutrals on the boxes. I thought that was part of national code for a while.

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I'm worse i have 3 boxes of stuff in the basement.
Stuff to try. Spares for stuff i have, switches and outlets do die when you have 300+ devices

And unfort. old Spares which I will no longer
Use ... at least in the zwave case as they are
Not zwave plus.

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Probably sell them on ebay for beer money

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Or in my case Root Beer Float money... :smiley: :smiley:

Yes...that sounds like it was built w/out worry for the code. I would have expected that neutrals were required in all locales by much longer than a couple years ago!

I would doubt it's part of code. Like here it's person preference as to where the loop in is. It's just younger electricians wire to the switch because it's easier to 2nd fix. Also a lot more people now have down-lights rather than one light in the middle of the room. How ever you still get the old boys who refuse to change and will only wire to the light, they are also the ones who would then put a junction box in the ceiling rather than dropping down to the switch.

No harm in either method, it's just again more modern electricians think about making it easier later on knowing that testing will be needed (so would not be caught dead doing a junction box install). Some even think about smart stuff and know it's a good idea for that aswell. Where as the testing and smart stuff just wasn't what it is now 30+ year's ago.

I'm also generalising here because I know of young guys taught by a old spark who would only wire to the light. Where as my old man is a "old guy" but he comes round to my way of thinking and mostly wires to switch now.

I believe national code standards are just a suggestion for the most part. States can adopt it in full, over-rule parts of it, or totally re-write it if they feel like it.

Not sure if they still do it, but in IL when my parents old house was built maybe around 15 years ago, they still required all the wiring to be inside metal conduit for residential. So for that you pull your own wires through as needed (not preconfigured 2 or 3 wire Romex). They could really use any color they wanted (unless local code dictates wire colors) which is why in really old houses you might see yellow, blue, purple, or any random colors. You could just run all the same color wires, if you want to punish your finish guy and every person who ever opens up a box in the future. Inspector might not like it too much though.

@lcw731 I would be really curious to see some pics inside the boxes though. With 3 way switches you would think they would at least have some other colors for the travelers so they can tell the wires apart on the other end? Normal single pole switches they could run the hot feed to the fixture and then a hot loop to the on/off switch with no neutral but I think for a 3-way you always need at least one traveler (typically a red wire when using Romex).

Interesting...our first remodel (2004-ish) everything new got neutrals, nothing we asked for, so I guess either our electrcian (sub for general) our our general was in the neutral camp. :slight_smile: Our second remodle (last year) continued that progress w/neutrals.

CA code seems to have neutrals included, but I'm no electrical code monkey and can't tell if they are saying they are required, or that if you decide to use them, this is how you do it...

Sounds like you need to buy some kind of sensor(s) to detect when you reach a critical mass of devices in the box. Maybe buy some lights that could turn on to provide an indication of this... :grin:

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