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Nest Thermostat in 2026 (artificially-awesome.com)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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Hey all, I spent the weekend updating my home's thermostat to a smart model. I took a somewhat unusual path and went with a discontinued 2nd Gen Nest thermostat. Read about my journey - Nest Thermostat in 2026 - Artificially-Awesome

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[–] 31 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (5 children)

Congrats on the C wire! I was lucky in my 1950s house that when they installed AC in the 90s they ran a new thermostat wire with the C wire, they just didn't hook it up, so all I had to do was find a power source for it and hook it up in the basement!

I've gotta ask - why a nest thermostat? There are cheaper options out there that you haven't got to de-evil. I use a Honeywell Z Wave unit and it's great.

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  • [–] [S] 23 points 2 days ago (2 children)

    Great question and the answer is a combination of things. First, I got an absolute great deal on it, just $25 shipped. Second, I knew the hardware itself was really high quality. And lastly, I don't have a zwave radio in my home (this far) and looking at the ZigBee thermostats seemed like a bit of a minefield. I do mention in the blog post that I was considering a Zen ZigBee thermostat and then when I found the super cheap Nest decided it was worth a try even if I later replace it.

    Nice luck on the A/C upgrade! I'll never I understand why a house this modern skipped out on running a 5+ wire cable.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    That is a sweet deal! Can't reccommend a z wave dongle enough though. I don't really have much wifi stuff in my smart home any more.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 days ago

    I agree and I've always tried to keep WiFi IoT devices to an absolute minimum. I have a couple dozen ZigBee devices that have been rock solid, and if my count is right I have 6 on the WiFi IoT network.

    • Lay-Z-Spa smart control built on an Esp32
    • A vintage fan that I replaced the internals including an Esp32 for remote control
    • Two WLED Esp32 controllers
    • A Govee controller
    • And now the Nest

    This feels like a reasonable number, and being mostly based on reliable Esp32 boards helps. With that said, I would absolutely urge anyone adding smart home equipment to look into ZigBee, ZWave, Thread or some combination.

    My Zigbee devices have been reliable and have very low latency which is really important for things like lights / switches.

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