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Bond smart Wi-Fi ceiling fan remote hub review

REVIEW – If your home is anything like mine, remotes rule your life, especially for your home audio/video. If you have ceiling fans with wireless control, it only adds to the clutter.

I have been searching for a solution to both eliminate my remote clutter and also add voice control to my four ceiling fans. Olibra has a solution. Enter Bond. Bond Home.

What is it?

Bond is a hub that adds remote control for wireless ceiling fans, both from Android or Apple devices and from Amazon Echo or Google Assistant.

What’s in the box?

Bond comes with the hub itself, a micro USB cable, wall plug, a very basic setup guide, and a future feature card.

Hardware specs

  • Width: 3.75″
  • Height: 1.1″
  • Network connectivity: Wi-Fi only
  • Power: micro USB
  • Remotes supported: Radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR)

There is no network port on the Bond. It connects to your network via Wi-Fi.

Design and features

The design is fairly typical for a device hub. It is glossy black plastic and feels sturdy in the hand. The top center ring lights up various colors, depending on the mode. It shines white when first plugged in, flashes green when ready, shines blue when online, flashes blue in learning mode, flickers blue when learning a remote and shines red when there is a problem.

The hub itself doesn’t really do anything but send out signals. The real magic is in the Bond app. Available from both iTunes and the Google Play store for no cost, the Bond app drives all the functions.

Setup and installation

First, connect the Bond hub to the network. If you have ever added any type of hub to your network, you already know the drill. Install the app, set up an account, connect the hub to your network by providing your network name and Wi-Fi password in the Bond app. Once you do that, the hub indicator ring will change from green to blue, indicating that the hub is online. This is where the fun begins.

Click “Add a Device” in the Bond app. The app prompts for the type of device to add.

Currently, Bond supports ceiling fans, some electronic fireplaces and is in beta for some air conditioners. If the app is to be believed, support for a bunch of other devices is in the works.

After choosing Ceiling Fan, the app prompts to choose a specific button on the remote and press it while holding the remote within a few inches of the Bond hub. The indicator flashes blue to indicate it is ready to learn.

The indicator will flicker as it reads the wireless signal from the remote and then flashes green to acknowledge it read it correctly. Bond maintains an extensive database of fan remotes and their associated signals. Once the hub reads the signal and the app looks up the specifics in the database, it will return a list of functions it thinks the remote has. Confirm that by testing the fan functions by hitting the remote button icons in the app. The app supports multi-speed fans and fans with upward and downward facing lights, with or without dimmers. Once the functions are confirmed, provide a name for the device and it is ready to be controlled from the app.

In this screenshot, “Living Room” is the name of the Bond Hub. I have four devices added to that hub, my four fans.

Bond can control up to six devices per hub. You can add as many hubs as needed and switch between hubs in the app.

Bond supports voice control via both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. I integrated with Alexa for this review. Alexa supports Bond via an Alexa skill that needs to be added in the Alexa app. The skill needs your Bond username and password. Once linked, have the Alexa app discovers devices and the Bond devices show up in Alexa. With my four fans, each with a light, eight new devices showed up as expected. Once they were there, I could turn my fans on and off, change speed, and turn the associated light on and off by voice.

One of the issues with a device like this is that many ceiling fans remotes toggle the lights on and off. What this means is that the remote doesn’t know if the light is on or off, it just sends a “change state” command to the fan and the fan changes the state of the light. If it is off, it turns on and if it is on, it turns off. Since the app functions essentially like a remote, that isn’t an issue. But, if you add voice control, Alexa or Google Assistant won’t know if the light is on or off, so a voice command to turn it on or off, may not work.

Bond has a solution for that with Light State Tracking.

Basically, the Bond app remembers the state of any light. So, when you tell Alexa to turn on the light and Bond thinks it is on, it does nothing. The caveat here is that if you use the physical remote, Bond has no knowledge of that. So, if you turn a light on or off with the physical remote, be sure to change it back again, also with the remote, or Bond will be out of sync and think on is off and off is on.

All my fans are three-speed fans. The app says that I should be able to control the speed by saying, “Alexa, turn on central fan, speed <1, 2 or 3>”. That has never worked. Alexa acknowledges the request, but the hub does nothing. Instead, I have to say, “Alexa, turn on central fan <33%, 66%, 100%>”, for low, medium or high speeds, respectively. It’s a minor quibble, but “…speed <1,2,3>” makes more sense to me than “speed <x>%”.

One ongoing issue is that Alexa and the hub seem to have occasional spats where they aren’t talking to each other. I can’t identify any cause or repeatable series of events that cause it. Eventually, they kiss and make up and everything works as designed.

All my fans are RF devices, meaning that the remote uses radio signals for communication. My Bond device is in the living room, near both the central fan and piano fan. It works perfectly with the bedroom fan and bathroom fan that are in different rooms. Bond also supports infrared (IR) devices. Of course, this means that the Bond device has to be able to physically see the device to be controlled, as IR signals are light and require a line of sight from the hub to the device.

Another nice app feature, at least on Android devices, is widget support.

You can add one widget for each fan, including one or more buttons on the widget.  If you include a single button, the widget shows that one function button.  I chose to add most of the features – light on/off, fan power and all three-speed settings.  The widget produced is a clever scrolling widget, allowing access to all the buttons from a single, scrollable widget.  Pretty slick.

Finally, Bond supports IFTTT (If This Then That). I set up automations with my Ecobee 4 thermostat. If the temperature in the living room is under 75 degrees, IFTTT has Bond set the fan to low (30% is IFTTT’s speed 1). IFTTT triggers Bond to bump the central fan to 50% (speed 2) if the living room hits 77 degrees and 100% (speed 3) at 79 degrees.

What I like

  • Attractive design
  • Easy setup
  • Alexa & Google Assistant support
  • Wide range of supported remotes
  • Widget support for one-touch control from my phone

What needs to be improved

  • Limiting the hub to six devices seems short-sighted, but the app does support multiple hubs
  • Minor usability issues with fan speed voice commands
  • Occasional Alexa/hub communication failures

Final thoughts

This was the only solution of this type that I could find. It brought voice and/or phone control to my fans, and eliminated clutter in the living room and on the nightstands. Sitting in the chair after playing a couple hours of pickleball and being able to say, “Alexa, turn central fan on, 100%” is a real asset to my automated house lifestyle. Having the fan automatically speed up and slow down with the temperature when we have the windows open is a real plus as well.

Lutron has just announced a potential competitor in this space, the Caséta speed controller, although Lutron’s website makes it look like the fan needs to have a wired controller. That doesn’t help me as my fans are all wireless. We shall see once more details are released.

Overall, I really like the Bond hub and what it has added to my automated home. It is a bargain for the price.

Price: $99.99
Where to buy: Bond, Amazon or Home Depot
Source: I purchased Bond with my own funds.

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Bond smart Wi-Fi ceiling fan remote hub review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 5, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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Minger Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway Review

REVIEW – I have always been a weather nerd.  From my earliest memories, I remember watching the sky hoping and praying for a good thunderstorm to roll across the area.  I had even originally planned to be a meteorologist until I found out how many calculus classes were required for the degree!  That being said, the lack of a degree in meteorology never kept me from being fascinated by the weather and capturing the data associated with it. Hey, my real job is a data analyst so go figure!  When the Gadgeteer offered up the opportunity to review the Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway I jumped at the review.  Read on to see how well it worked out for me.

What is it?

The Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway is exactly what it says it is.  It comes with a wireless hub you plug into the wall and connect to your home’s WiFi.  Then you can attach multiple of their Thermo-Hygrometer units to the gateway and monitor the temperature and humidity in various places around your home.  You just need to be sure you place the sensors where a WiFi signal is available.  You can then install the Govee Home app on your IOS or Android device and see the values those sensors are returning anywhere your phone gets a cellular signal.

They mention monitoring a baby’s room or maybe a wine cellar for those who are lucky enough to have one.  Another good place to put one if there is enough room is a cigar humidor.  Basically put them anywhere you want to monitor the temperature and humidity.   I placed one on my back deck on a side rail (it did not blow off in 45 mph wind gusts the other day so I put it in a good spot) that was out of any direct sunlight but had good airflow.  The other I placed in my living room.

I have owned what I call a professional weather station and have learned a lot about where you should place temperature sensors outside.  Ideally, they should be 6 feet off the ground in a well ventilated spot not in direct sunlight.  Way back when I first got my original weather station I had the temperature sensor mounted under an eve on the side of my house.  Yes, it was in shade, but all the heat rose and was trapped under that eve so my temperature readings were a good 10 degrees or more than they should have been!

What is in the box?

The box was very plain and simple, but it may have been because I received this device for review and it was not the true public packaging.  That being said, there were only four things in the box.

  1. Two wireless temperature and humidity sensors.  They both had a pair of triple A batteries inside and I simply removed the cover and pulled a tab to make the batteries touch the contacts.
  2. One user manual
  3. One gateway hub that plugs into a standard US socket.  It only works with 2.4 GHz WiFi not 5 G.

Setup and Use

Setup for this set of sensors is pretty painless.  The first thing you do is to install the Govee Home app on your phone.  It is available for both Android and IOS.  The next series of screens will take you through the setup starting with the 4 screenshots above. When you first open the app you are presented with this screen.  I clicked on the top left blue badge titled ‘Become a Savvy User’.  It took me to the next screen explaining the benefits of becoming a Savvy User.  I like discounts and I like voicing my opinion (go figure!) so I joined.  The next page is the signup page where you enter in your email and pick a password.  The fourth screen shows me logged in and now a Savvy User.

The next four screens now show the steps I went through to set up the gateway and temp-humidity sensors.  I clicked on the home screen icon at the bottom of the page.  From the home screen, I then clicked on the plus sign on the top right hand of the screen to add a device.

The first screen above shows the plethora of devices they offer.  This particular screenshot is on the second page of products and I picked the Wi-Fi Smart Gateway.  The user product manual that came with it specified that I was to add the gateway first so that is why I picked it instead of the Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer.

Once I picked the gateway, I was presented with the second screen.  I followed the instructions after plugging in the device into an outlet that was in the same room as my router.  The third screen popped up quickly and I switched over to my phone’s WiFi connections and connected to the Govee Gateway.  I then went back to the app and saw the 4th screen above.  What you don’t see is the next screen where I had to enter in my WiFi password and connect the gateway to my router.  Now the gateway is on my WiFi network.

Immediately after I was connected to the network I was presented with the top left screen above.  I was happily surprised to see the Gateway found my two sensors and immediately connected to them.  The top one is the one outside and the bottom one is the one in my living room.  Note that I have since changed the name of both devices to something meaningful through the settings screen offered on each device.  You can see the main screen gives a nice overview of the current temp and humidity of each device.  If you click on any one of the devices you are presented with the second screen which is the hourly screen.

The detail screens (these are the ones you get when you click on a device from the main screen) all default to display the hourly screen.  From there you can pick day, week, month or year.  You can also see the settings icon on the top right of the page.  The second screenshot above shows the hourly screen.  The third and fourth screens show you the popup that happens when you touch one of the points on the screen.  I like how it pops up the detail to show the temp and time/date it happened.  This works for both temp and humidity.

The next screenshot above is the weekly screenshot.  We had a front come through early Sunday morning and you can see the drop in temperature and humidity.  The next two screenshots are the monthly displays.  The third one is how it pops up very compressed.  The app lets you use two fingers and expand the data points which is really cool.

The second screenshot is the month expanded.   Something else that is really cool for a data nerd like me is the export data button you can see on the bottom of the third screen.  If you click on that you get the fourth screen.  You can specify intervals down to the minute and then pick start and end times.  When you click the little paper airplane up top the app will send you a CSV file in the mail with all of the detail.  Very cool!!

This last screenshot shows you the devices settings page.  I have scrolled down a bit, but at the very top is where you can give the device a meaningful name. The rest of the screen is dedicated to alarm notifications.  You can set the min and max temp and humidity and if the device exceeds either one you will get a notification from the app.  This works exactly as it should.  I set the min temp for outside to 57 degrees and I started getting notifications the moment it dropped below that.  There are also calibration options which I also think is a nice feature.  If you have another thermometer that you trust implicitly, you could use it to calibrate the ones from Govee.

What I like

I love how easy the device is to use.  The app is very flexible allowing you to see temp and humidity values across any number of time periods.  I also find the ability to export the data into a CSV file a big plus.  Being able to set alarm notifications would also be a big plus for anyone putting these sensors in sensitive areas like a baby’s room, greenhouse or cigar humidor.  They also offer a fast return service.  If you ever experience a problem with the device, the app lets you put in your Amazon order number and they will send you a replacement right away with no need for you to send the old one back.  They have a two-year replacement warranty.  I personally never tried that feature, but it seems to be a cool option to have.

What needs to be improved

I cannot find anything that needs to be improved.  What can I say, I love this device.

Price: $79.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Minger.

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Minger Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 26, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Makers will love the one button to rule them all

NEWS – Makers, home automation hobbyists, or anyone who loves a good DIY challenge should take a look at the Touch Encoder by Grayhill. This easy to program device can be used to control computers, home audio, HVAC systems, thermostats, drones, or almost anything you can think of. The Touch Encoder features an intuitive dial with a 320X300 touch-screen, and an IP67 rating that makes it water and dust proof.

But how do you program it? Well, there’s an iOS app for that with an Android version coming soon. The tablet-based development platform comes with a library of configurable standard widgets that include things like light dimmers, power controls, and more. Touch Encoder is available now at www.touchencoder.com for $182 (Touch Encoder Only) and $526 (Touch Encoder with Software Development Kit).

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Makers will love the one button to rule them all originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 21, 2019 at 12:00 pm.

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Airdog X5 air purifier review

REVIEW – I have allergies and sinus issues 24/7 365 days a year. My nose is almost always a little sniffly. TMI? Sorry. But I know that I’m not the only person who has these types of issues. While several people on the team have reviewed air purifiers, the Airdog X5 is the first one I’ve tried and the first one I’ll be reviewing. Why have I waited so long to do a review in this product category? I didn’t want to deal with replacing (and buying) HEPA filters. The Airdog X5 has no consumables so I was happy to accept the offer to review it. Let’s check it out.

What is it?

The Airdog X5 is an air purifier for your home or office that uses ionic wind filtration technology to filter pollutants like pollen, pet dander, hair, allergens, bacteria, and viruses out of the air that you breathe.

Hardware specs

Can purify a 300 square foot room in 20 minutes
Size: 22.5(H) x 10.7(L) x 10.7(W) inches
Item Weight: 22.5 pounds
Shipping Weight: 28.9 pounds
CADR(PM2.5): 200CFM
Noise Level: <63dB(A)
Power: 100-240V~ 50-60Hz

What’s in the box?

  • Airdog X5 air purifier
  • Collecting plate
  • IR remote

Design and features

The Airdog X5 air purifier is a free-standing unit with a white and black plastic housing that stands 12 x 12 x 25 inches tall. The top of the unit has a fan grill and there’s a display area on the front that shows an air quality index reading with a green, yellow, or red LED below it while the unit is powered on and not in sleep mode.



Unlike many air purifiers on the market, the Airdog X5 does not use a HEPA style filter that has to be replaced on a regular basis and offers better filtration than traditional HEPA air purifiers. The X5 removes microscopic particles (down to 14.6-nanometers) from the air including viruses like the flu virus.

Instead of replaceable filters, the X5 has a large module with metal fins. This is the collector plate.

This collector plate module slides into the back of the unit.

The cool thing about the collector plate is that it can be washed either by hand or in your dishwasher when the front display shows a C which means it’s time to clean it.

The top surface of the Airdog X5 is where the clean air comes out. It’s also where the power button and panel of status LEDs are located.


The Airdog can be controlled with the included remote control or you can use the multi-function power button on the unit itself. Either way, you can control the airspeed, toggle the child lock, and toggle WiFi on and off if you want to use the mobile app.

App


The app will let you see the air quality status of the X5 no matter where you are and you can control it via the app by turning it on/off, putting it sleep mode, auto mode, change airspeed, or toggling the child lock. You can also set timers of when to run it and see a graph of the air quality index readings over the last 15 days. Since you can do everything with the included remote control or on the device itself, (except setting timers) I don’t find the app all that useful.

Take a nice deep breath of clean air

Setting up the Airdog X5 is quick and easy. All you have to do is find a wall outlet, plug in the power cord, and press the power button on top of the unit. After a minute or two, the front display will show the AQI (air quality index) reading that is based on the particle numbers that the sensor inside the X5 measures in the air (range is 0-500).

AQI less than 50 is Excellent (green)
AQI between 50 and 100 is Good (yellow-green)
AQI between 100 and 150 is Moderately polluted (yellow)
AQI more than 150 is Hazardous (red)

I’ve been testing the X5 air purifier for a few weeks and have not seen any numbers over 50 thus far. Most of the time the readings hang around 7-12 or so.

The unit doesn’t make a lot of noise. You can hear it in a quiet room but it’s not going to bother you or disrupt the ability to hear a TV or others talking. I’ve been testing the unit in our basement living room and haven’t had any issues noise wise. You can set the unit to sleep mode which runs the unit at a lower fan speed and turns on the display. This is a good setting if you use the X5 in a bedroom as it won’t disrupt your sleep.

In auto mode, the unit is very power efficient compared to traditional air purifiers and only uses about 0.5 kWh per day.

What I like

  • Easy to use
  • Relatively quiet
  • Makes the air smell clean
  • No filters to replace on a regular basis
  • Can wash the collector plate in the dishwasher

What needs to be improved

  • Longer power cord

Final thoughts

The main thing I noticed about the Airdog X5 after only an hour or so using it is that it does make the air smell cleaner. It’s not a forest after a rainstorm type of clean smell, but the air has an obviously cleaner smell to it. I hesitate to say it smells like a hospital because that doesn’t sound like a good smell. But it does smell clean and healthy. That said, my house apparently has pretty clean air as indicated by the AQI readings and LED status light on the front. I’ve yet to see anything other than a green light. That’s good though, so I can’t complain that I haven’t seen bad readings.

After using the X5 for the past 3 weeks, I took the collecting plate out of the back of the unit to see if it looked dirty yet and so far it looks exactly like it did when I installed it. I plan to continue to use this unit and will report back after more time has gone by so I can include a picture of the collecting plates to show what they look like when they are ready for a cleaning.

You might be wondering if my sinus and allergy issues have cleared up while using the Airdog X5. I really can’t say that they have. Does that mean the X5 is useless? No, I don’t think so. I can’t expect that sitting in the same room with an air purifier for a few hours a day will be the antidote to my sinus and allergy issues. I will say that while I’m in the same room as the Airdog X5, that I feel like I’m breathing easier and better. Placebo? Could be. But as I mentioned, the air just smells better while it’s running, so it has to be better too right?

Price: $549.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Airdog.

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Airdog X5 air purifier review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 25, 2018 at 12:00 pm.

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Google Home and Nest are better together – and will save you $100!

NEWS – If you’re looking for a time and for products to start building your smart home system, now is your time, and Google Home Hub and Nest are your products!  Nest is now offering the Google Home Hub, and they are offering you $100 savings and free shipping if you buy a Google Home Hub with select Nest products: Ring doorbell, Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Cam Indoor, and Nest Cam IQ outdoor camera.

Google Home Hub has a viewing screen built-in which works great with the Nest Hello video doorbell and the cameras.  You’ll be able to see what’s happening inside or outside your house without having to move to a window or door and risk alerting an intruder you’re home.  With the Thermostat, you can check or set your temperature right on the screen of the Google Home Hub.  And of course, with Google Assistant built in, you’ll be able to control everything with your voice: “Google, show me the front porch”;  “Google, make it warmer”.

Bundle prices start at $248 for the Google Home Hub plus a Nest Cam Indoor.  Go to the Nest website and start smartening up your home now!

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Google Home and Nest are better together – and will save you $100! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 11, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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