In trying to plan out my system, the more I think about this thing, the more obvious it becomes that one of the biggest advantages (wifi and modularization) is in many ways a mirage (nearly everything is cord-limited). Having wifi power strips, wifi auto feeders, and wifi smart outlets (for power monitoring) is a big advantage, but that's almost negated by the fact that all the inputs (other than power monitoring) still require a cord.
So yes, I can put a controllable outlet almost anywhere in the house for $25-40, but I still need a control module there if I want to do much of anything other than turn on lights or fans. And since the Control 2 and Control XS (as far as I can tell) don't even come with a $20 power cord, you're basically at $180 plus the cost of a probe to do any kind of remote sensing (at which point you might as well buy the $200 starter pack to get a power strip and temperature probe). I just seems like the incremental cost when you only need to add 1 or 2 things (especially if it's a pH probe) is really high compared to the balance of the system.
How about a wifi leak detector? That could be super handy if your RO filter is in another room and you don't need any other controls associated with it, even if the wifi adder is $25-$50. Or you could have a wifi TDS sensor as well (or any other sensor for that matter). But the easier way to approach this would be selling individual wifi sense ports in the $25-$50 range. Maybe even wifi probe ports for $80-$100. That would facilitate remote inputs without having to design a wifi version of every sensing device.
Accessories are obviously both a selling point for the ecosystem and a big part of the profit structure. If an additional control XS costs $170-$180 (powered) to add 4 accessories, and I only need to add 1 at the moment, I'm a lot more likely to pick up that next accessory for a wifi premium instead.
Taking this one step further, how about a quarantine tank module? Something in the $100 range that has a power monitored outlet (filter pump), 2-3 simple on/off outlets (heater and light), and a single sense port (temperature probe). Maybe a usb port for a fan. That would suit not only a quarantine tank, but would work quite well for all the simple nano tanks, freshwater tanks, etc. we all end up with scattered around the various corners of the house. Right now the cheapest way to set up a single simple remote tank with monitoring/control (no auto-top-offs or auto-dosing going on where you're worried about overflows) would be the $25 smart plug (monitor filter), the $50 wifi inkbird for heater safety, and an additional $25 smart plug or $40 power block if you need to monitor/control lights though the app. It would be so much better to have all that integrated with hydros, but you currently pay double the cost to get your heater notifications from hydros rather than inkbird. Also much easier than trying to sell the wife on $200+ to monitor the "cheap" tanks.
Some of this may well already be on the to-do list, and I totally understand taking time to develop things so they work well. I just haven't seen any of this talked about, and it seems like such an obvious use case when robust wireless control infrastructure is already built into the ecosystem.
So yes, I can put a controllable outlet almost anywhere in the house for $25-40, but I still need a control module there if I want to do much of anything other than turn on lights or fans. And since the Control 2 and Control XS (as far as I can tell) don't even come with a $20 power cord, you're basically at $180 plus the cost of a probe to do any kind of remote sensing (at which point you might as well buy the $200 starter pack to get a power strip and temperature probe). I just seems like the incremental cost when you only need to add 1 or 2 things (especially if it's a pH probe) is really high compared to the balance of the system.
How about a wifi leak detector? That could be super handy if your RO filter is in another room and you don't need any other controls associated with it, even if the wifi adder is $25-$50. Or you could have a wifi TDS sensor as well (or any other sensor for that matter). But the easier way to approach this would be selling individual wifi sense ports in the $25-$50 range. Maybe even wifi probe ports for $80-$100. That would facilitate remote inputs without having to design a wifi version of every sensing device.
Accessories are obviously both a selling point for the ecosystem and a big part of the profit structure. If an additional control XS costs $170-$180 (powered) to add 4 accessories, and I only need to add 1 at the moment, I'm a lot more likely to pick up that next accessory for a wifi premium instead.
Taking this one step further, how about a quarantine tank module? Something in the $100 range that has a power monitored outlet (filter pump), 2-3 simple on/off outlets (heater and light), and a single sense port (temperature probe). Maybe a usb port for a fan. That would suit not only a quarantine tank, but would work quite well for all the simple nano tanks, freshwater tanks, etc. we all end up with scattered around the various corners of the house. Right now the cheapest way to set up a single simple remote tank with monitoring/control (no auto-top-offs or auto-dosing going on where you're worried about overflows) would be the $25 smart plug (monitor filter), the $50 wifi inkbird for heater safety, and an additional $25 smart plug or $40 power block if you need to monitor/control lights though the app. It would be so much better to have all that integrated with hydros, but you currently pay double the cost to get your heater notifications from hydros rather than inkbird. Also much easier than trying to sell the wife on $200+ to monitor the "cheap" tanks.
Some of this may well already be on the to-do list, and I totally understand taking time to develop things so they work well. I just haven't seen any of this talked about, and it seems like such an obvious use case when robust wireless control infrastructure is already built into the ecosystem.
