Shut down Alexa

Discussion of hardware related issues
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wove
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Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

Shut down Alexa

Post by wove »

We turned off our Alexa devices. It was not done of security concerns, but to just save power consumption. The Alexa view uses about 35watts and the Echo Dot uses about 15watts. With that running 24/7 it adds up and we did not feel we were using it enough to keep it up and running. I have also been thinking of shutting down my NextCloud server. It uses ~15watts 24/7. That is not horrible at all, but essentially all it does is replace "sneaker net". It is very convenient, but for personal syncing I need not be so lazy and just use sneaker net on a semi-weekly basis.

It is all but impossible to find a camera that one can remotely turn on, watch whatever it might be pointing at and turn it off when done watching. We do not need to record the video, we do not want to be alerted when there is movement. I am thinking this might be a nice project to setup on a raspberry pi, perhaps to replace the nextcloud server.
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dai_trying
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Re: Shut down Alexa

Post by dai_trying »

For the camera, have you thought of an EspCam module, it uses very little power on standby (not being viewed is probably more accurate) and can be accessed by a simple web interface to turn on/off. I have a couple that i bought for a project but haven't got to it yet but did give them a quick test and they seem pretty good and there are a couple of different lens types to depending on view distance/focal length required. a quick Youtube search will show you some examples.
wove
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Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

Re: Shut down Alexa

Post by wove »

Thanks for the pointers. The project feels like a good winter project with now being the time to gather resources. The YouTube channel "Explaining Computers" has posted a few videos about cameras and the raspberry pi, along with example scripts to control them. The colorful birds against the white snow chatting and squabbling with each other make for a very nice ambient backdrop in the house, so it is something we would really like to get back. It would be nice if Pi devices would become more readily available again.
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dai_trying
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Re: Shut down Alexa

Post by dai_trying »

I use a Pi with a camera for Octoprint to monitor and control my 3d printer and it works great so I'm sure you could find the right software to make it (the Pi) work exactly how you want it. :)
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