We've launched an exciting new project of our own! Introducing the Kickstarter app for iPhone!
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      Creator Simon on August 8, 2012

      are you gonna try it again ?

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      Creator Allen Robel on July 12, 2012

      Hi Cameron,

      Completely agree with your points. Indeed, I'm still interested in your product specifically because it is self-contained (directly IP addressable). For example, your product could be used to reboot the Vera when it crashes :-) among other things.

      After having used the Vera and various Z-wave devices for a couple weeks, I concur with you that current implementations have their quirks and the system as a whole isn't quite ready for those who either aren't technically inclined or simply don't want to hassle with technical issues in their daily lives.

      In short, I'm still in for 10 Elphis if/when you guys get to market! :-)

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on July 12, 2012

      Allen,

      Thanks for the note, and nice job setting up your system! The EtherRain system looks very cool! Our goal is to make the system easy to set up and use so that our mothers will want to use it. We don't want to deal with port forwarding, scripting, or complicated software. I agree there is very cool stuff you can do with Z-wave, ZigBee, Insteon and arduino products, but you need proprietary gateway hardware and usually need non-free software to work along side, which is what we're trying to get away from.

      Thanks,
      -C

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      Creator Allen Robel on July 12, 2012

      I ended up buying a MiCasaVerde Vera Lite controller and various Z-Wave devices and using an iPhone/iPad app (SQ Remote HD) to control them. Downside is that you need to map port 80 to the Vera in your router (or trust upnp). Upside is that the possibilities are seemingly limitless (I've integrated GE and Leviton dimmers, Aeon Lab's SmartSwitch (which includes power monitoring) and door sensors, and just ordered an EtherRain sprinkler controller. If you are a tinkerer, and a script kiddie, you can use Lua for upnp aka Luup, to get very creative e.g. turn off the main water valve if a moisture sensor triggers. So far, so good!

      I'd encourage the Elphi folks to look into this angle if they haven't already.

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on July 5, 2012

      Joses,

      I encourage you to try the WeMo! We bought one, and think there are significant ways to improve their setup process, sharing with friends, and the ability to move the WeMo from location to location. It's tough to get it all right, and there is enough space in the market for at least two players.

      -C

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      Creator Joses on July 5, 2012

      Belkin has the WeMo now =/.
      Same premise. but they have a motion sensor included for $100.

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      Creator Bryan Hardin on June 29, 2012

      Shame these guys didn't make it, hopefully they'll still find a way to bring Elphi to the market.

      I noticed another product, that has whole home power monitoring and smart plugs, on an Engadget review from the other day: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/26/futuredash-energybuddy-hands-on/. Seems they have an Indiegogo campaign.

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      Creator Kris Bright on June 29, 2012

      Awww...v.v I was really hoping to be able to eventually get my very own Elphi! V.V
      This is one idea that deserves to see the light of day. I can imagine one day everyone having built in Elphi devices in every house. Everyone able to turn on or off EVERY appliance and piece of electronics in their entire house!

      sigh the future I guess is going to have to wait a little while longer. v.v

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      Creator Karl-Heinz Strass on June 26, 2012

      I'm a backer and really hope somehow you can make it through!
      I had one thought though regarding the form factor: Would it be possible to build an "Elphi" that fits into a regular outlet box, so that it could be installed in the wall? Typical wall outlets have two recepticles, you could use the space of one of them for the electronics/Wifi etc and then still have a Wifi switchable power outlet. If that worked, I'd increase my backing by a few units!
      Best of luck, please keep me posted, even if the Kickstarter funding does not suffice.
      KH

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 25, 2012

      Stevi,

      Thanks for your support! We'd love to be able to break $50, but that depends on volume. Even at $89 on this campaign, we are not making money. Also, regarding Joses' question - we are still hoping that funding will come through in the last couple days, but we are also looking at other more traditional funding sources. We'll keep you posted.

      Thanks,
      Cameron

      Hope this helps!
      Cameron

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      Creator Stevi Deter on June 25, 2012

      What's the expected list price for these when you get into production? $89/ea seems a little steep, but I'm pledging more to give money to great idea I think should make it to the next step.

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      Creator Joses on June 24, 2012

      so, in the case this doesn't get funded. will i be able to get one still?

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 19, 2012

      Hi guys! Sorry for the delay.

      Glen - if you'd like to add additional units at $69 + $89, that's great! Just write us a note when the project closes. There will be a field there for your comments.

      Bobby - We are budgeting about $15k for regulatory approval based on quotes we have received from test labs. We need to get approvals from the FCC and UL. Our wifi chip is already FCC approved, but we need to test the whole system for E&M radiation, and the UL is important for safety.

      Hope this helps!
      -Cameron

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      Creator Glen Murphy on June 19, 2012

      Is there a way to up my single early bird pledge to multiple units? Just set the pledge to $69 + $89 per additional unit?

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      Creator Bobby Wood on June 19, 2012

      How much do you anticipate the regulatory approval process will cost? A goal of $90,000, especially in regards to the size of the device, and potential applications (more of a novelty) may be turning off potential backers.

      Regardless, I hope the $89 gets taken out of my bank account :-)

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      Creator Ondrea Graye on June 17, 2012

      Heard about you guys on appadvice......im down to support you guys!!!

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 17, 2012

      Allen!

      Thank you for your support! That's great. Yes - we'd love to produce light socket retrofits and wall panel replacements, but remain laser focused on getting this initial product right.

      Thanks for your thoughts!
      -Cameron

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      Creator Allen Robel on June 17, 2012

      Just signed up for ten. Best of luck to you guys! Any plans to build a unit that screws into a light socket (for ceiling lights) and/or a unit that replaces light switches (perhaps with dimmer capability)? Maybe they'd be cost prohibitive, but thought I'd ask. Great start though!

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 17, 2012

      Mark,

      Good questions. First, the expected lifespan was determined by the mechanical relay switch we are using. We made a conservative estimate based on a hypothetical user who was continuously changing state on a very heavy current load. Under a lighter load, it should last much longer. It would also be theoretically possible to pry open our enclosure, de-solder our boards and replace a broken relay, but this would be a big inconvenience.

      Second, regarding wifi: there is no need to downgrade or change your security system. The Elphi plug supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 security! WEP is older and less secure but we wanted to make our system backwards compatible. Regarding wifi b/g/n: Elphi needs type b, but it won't limit other devices from using type n, so we do not see this as something that will degrade your network performance.

      Hope this helps!
      Cameron

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      Creator Mark on June 17, 2012

      I have two questions, I was looking at the FAQ and it says that the Elphi will stop working in about three years. Why is this and can the user fix it?

      I'm also wondering about the requirement for an 802.11b compatible wireless network. If that's the case won't we have to downgrade our wireless security from something like wpa or wpa2 to wep? Isn't wep very insecure in this day and age?

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      Creator Adam Patt on June 17, 2012

      Why don't you play up the energy monitoring ability? This is kill-o-watt on steroids. There is one device I'm probably going to put on remote control, but mostly I want to put it on things around the house to see how much energy it's using without having to track it by hand.

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      Creator Alan Cohen on June 15, 2012

      How is it possible that there are 488 Likes on Facebook and only 222 backers?? Come on people!

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 14, 2012

      Hi Joses and John,

      Thanks for the vote of confidence in our system! We agree exposure is key and are actively looking at avenues to increase it - spoke with TUAW today! If you know anyone else who would like the Elphi, please let them know.

      Regards,
      Cameron

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      Creator Joses on June 14, 2012

      I'm with John Ko. I love the idea and i know the applications are endless. just needs more exposure.

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      Creator John Ko on June 13, 2012

      I am a backer .... but judging from the progress so far, there is a high likelihood that the goal of $90,000 won't be reached. If that is the case, what will happen to this project? I would really like to get a hold of one but if the project is not funded, will you still continue to make these? I hope more people will support this.

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      Creator Linda on June 12, 2012

      Nice work - love the video!
      can't wait to get my Elphi in October
      - Linda

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 12, 2012

      Thanks for the idea Komodo! We had not originally considered the mobile impaired market, but it definitely makes sense. We'll keep it on the radar.
      -Cameron

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      Creator Komodo OpenLab on June 11, 2012

      Two words: awe-some! Make sure you follow the app design guidelines here: http://komodoopenlab.com/tecla/developers/ that will help us make the world a better place! How you ask? Just take a look:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch…

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      Creator Ben Wilde on June 11, 2012

      Nice one chaps.

      Can see this being a significant milestone in the transition to all devices one day being interconnected and 'smart' in the way they use energy. The fact you've included a metering chip is terrific. Monitoring and control will start with the power socket and looks like you have a nice product beyond the cumbersome, expensive smart plugs we have in Europe. Wish people like AlertMe had innovated to the point you have with Sharing & Scheduling. Trust that you come out with a 220V version for the UK one day :)

      Hoping your product will be low-energy Zigbee compatible either already - or one day as well.

      Good luck.

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 10, 2012

      Rafael,

      Where are you located? If you live in a place with 120VAC, the Elphi plug will work. You can look up your type of power here: http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm If you live in a place with 220VAC, it will not be save to use the Elphi plug at this point.

      Hope that helps (and hope you live somewhere with 120 volts!),
      Cameron

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      Creator Rafael Rodrigues Colombo on June 10, 2012

      Hi,
      What about the International Shipping (outside Canada)? How much more do I have to pledge?
      Thanks. Great product.

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      Creator Joses on June 8, 2012

      the light automation was exactly what i was thinking about. that would be nice. i've got my bluetooth on all the time, but not my wifi. but Elphi is strictly wifi isn't it? i was thinking it would be easier, for me at least, to have my lights turn on and off depending on proximity of my bluetooth radio.
      i would keep wifi on, but i don't know whether it consumes battery even when not connected to a nearby network. does it?

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 8, 2012

      Thanks Joses! We think there are a ton of options! We're using it for the espresso machine, and I've been using it to turn on/off lights. We're also working on location based triggers that will automatically turn off your lights or heat when you leave the house ... stay tuned!

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      Creator Joses on June 8, 2012

      i pledged for one, but i wonder what i'm gonna use it for haha. i'm sure i'll find something.

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 3, 2012

      Ralf, thanks for the support. We've received a lot of interest from Europe, so that's definitely planned if we launch successfully in the US.

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      Creator Ralf Hülsmann on June 3, 2012

      Cool idea, what about a germany/european version next ?

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 2, 2012

      Ryan,

      Thanks for your interest, and yes - WeMo is similar, but we believe there are several things that make our system better.
      1) You can plug two of our devices into a standard wall outlet. With the wemo, you're limited to 1.
      2) I have not seen any announcements about the WeMo monitoring power. That could come out, but I haven't seen it yet.
      3) WeMo is also using a more complicated system architecture. Their plug includes wifi and 6LOWPAN. 6LOWPAN is a new, thinly adopted protocol. From what I understand, several future devices they plan to launch will only be 6LOWPAN enabled (and require the plug as a gateway). Based on research we've done, once you introduce multiple protocols - and especially thinly adopted protocols - the potential for complicated setup and problems goes up.

      That said - Belkin's WeMo is not for sale yet. All I know about it is based on their website and several videos we have seen. I hope this helps,
      Cameron

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      Creator Ryan Cavender on June 2, 2012

      Just came across this from belkin. How will you guys be different? http://www.belkin.com/wemo/

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 2, 2012

      Thomas,

      There is no need to do any port forwarding or hardware configuration on your end! The Elphi plug initiates a socket connection to a specific port on our servers, which makes this unnecessary.

      Hope this helps,
      Cameron

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on June 2, 2012

      Thomas.mm, no port forwarding or mucking with your router necessary! One of our main goals was to have the Elphi plug maintain a real-time connection with the cloud service with the minimum possible configuration by the user.

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      Creator thomas.mm on June 2, 2012

      Do I need to forward a port on my broadband router to shut on/off from the internet ?

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on May 31, 2012

      Sousanator, we plan on making the protocol available on both ends- http (smartphone apps, web apps, etc) and tcp-ip (plugs). We use tcp on the plug side so we can real-time communications; unfortunately with 3/4g tcp doesn't work well so we opted for http instead.

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      Creator sousanator on May 31, 2012

      Will you be releasing the TCP/IP protocol so I can control and view from my own control devices?

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on May 31, 2012

      Thanks Chris! We appreciate your help!

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      Creator Chris Hardeman on May 31, 2012

      Awesome! I've been searching for something just like this and had not found what I wanted, until now. Best wishes on making your Kickstarter goal. Cheers.

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on May 31, 2012

      Nick,

      Great question! Outdoor holiday lights are a great application! Please keep in mind that the Elphi plug must be located within range of wifi. As for water resistance- this initial version of the Elphi device will not be waterproof. We are looking into adding water resistant baffles to keep out water, but at this point I would keep the plug covered.

      Hope this helps!
      Cameron

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      Creator Nick (Duztenz) Reed on May 30, 2012

      Any options for outdoor use? ...holiday lights, pool lights, security lights, etc

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on May 30, 2012

      Dan, a lot of people having been asking us whether we will offer our system outside of North America. Besides technical issues like voltages and plug shape, there are a lot of unknowns in terms of legal, IP and regulatory approval. We'll look into this tomorrow.

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      Creator Dan Knox on May 30, 2012

      is there a possibility that you can ship to the UK? and if possible how much would needed to be added to a pledge? :)

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      Creator Cameron Colpitts on May 30, 2012

      Gotcha - no worries!

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401
Backers
$61,154
pledged of $90,000 goal
0
seconds to go

Funding Unsuccessful This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on June 29, 2012.

Funding period
May 30, 2012 - Jun 29, 2012 (30 days)

  • Pledge $30 or more

    10 backers

    Thanks for your support! You'll get a special limited edition Elphi tshirt. Share your enthusiasm for 21st century automation! Also, you'll be the first to hear about new Elphi features and updates and we will feature you in the thank you section of our website!

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
  • Pledge $69 or more

    100 backers All gone!

    EARLY BIRDS: Help us get started! You are pre-ordering one glossy white Elphi plug. Free shipping within the U.S. (Add $10 for shipping to Canada)

    Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
  • Pledge $89 or more

    132 backers

    PLUG FOR YOU: You are pre-ordering one glossy white Elphi plug. Free shipping within the U.S. Add $10 for shipping to Canada.

    Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
  • Pledge $169 or more

    52 backers

    PLUG FOR TWO: Two glossy white Ephi plugs. One for you, and one for your pet, girlfriend, or mother. Free shipping within the U.S. Add $10 for shipping to Canada.

    Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
  • Pledge $239 or more

    39 backers

    CONTROL YOUR WORLD, White belt: Three glossy white Elphi plugs. Control your espresso machine, your lamp, and your space heater. Free shipping within the U.S. Add $10 for shipping to Canada.

    Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
  • Pledge $389 or more

    15 backers

    CONTROL YOUR WORLD, Black belt: Five glossy white Elphi plugs, plus an exclusive invitation to our launch party! Control your music, lights, disco ball and smoke machine from your smart phone! Your date will swoon. Your friends will be impressed. Trust us. Free shipping within the U.S. Please add $10 for shipping to Canada.

    Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
  • Pledge $749 or more

    7 backers

    I LOVE MY GRANDMOTHER! Pre-order ten glossy white Elphi smart plugs. Hook up Elphi plugs to your grandparents' most used appliances to make sure they're up and active. Or, make sure your kid comes home safely from school when you're still at work. Includes an invitation to our launch party. Free shipping within the U.S. Add $12 for shipping to Canada.

    Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
  • Pledge $1,469 or more

    2 backers

    TRACK EVERYTHING PACK Twenty glossy white Elphi plugs. Control everything in your house, and track your loved ones. Plus, receive a an Elphi t-shirt, and an invitation to our launch party. Free shipping within the U.S. Add $15 for shipping to Canada.

    Estimated delivery: Oct 2012