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To avoid being accused of just bashing and not making constructive suggestions, here are some:

Netatmo Presence/Doorbell

  • Problem: If the SD card is defective, the camera/doorbell will stop working. This is a blatant design flaw.
  • Solution: Bypass the SD card and move the data to a NAS or DropBox account. Both options are already available.
  • Problem: The built-in WiFi antenna is extremely poor and shaky even with a large number of repeaters.
  • Solution: Better antenna and/or option to hardwire – > PoE.
  • Problem: The camera will connect to any access point, even if it is much weaker than a closer one.
  • Solution: Get them Mesh-ready
  • Problem: If the camera/doorbell has frozen, the only way to bring it back to life is to disconnect it from the power supply.
  • Solution: Periodic routines that check if the camera/WiFi is still responding. If not, it has to restart itself.
  • Problem: If there is a problem with a Netatmo cloud service, it affects the device.
  • Solution: Give users the option to bypass the cloud.
  • Problem: A firmware release does not work as expected.
  • Solution: When a firmware release has made it worse again, a user should be able to downgrade the firmware.

 

Netatmo Valves/Thermostat

  • Problem: If there is a problem with a Netatmo cloud service, it affects the device, as we can see with the latest issues (false measurement etc.)
  • Solution: Give users the option to bypass the cloud.
  • Problem: If a valve has any issues, one will not be able to hard reset it.
  • Solution: Give users the option factory default reset. For example turning the valve to the lowest temperature, hold for five seconds will do a FDR.
  • Problem: If a valve has a wrong temperature reading, the “true temperature feature” is the only possibility to correct it. If this feature is not working, as we can see now, it will heat without control. Incorrect measurement also happens when a window sill sticks out too far
  • Solution: Deliver the valve with a seperate temperature probe and connect both devices via Bluetooth.
  • Problem: Sometimes the valves drain batterys very quickly.
  • Solution: Maybe a better motor management can improve this issue.

If you have any other suggestion, feel free to comment. I will eventually add it to this list.

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