We Installed the World's SMARTEST Electrical Panel...Is it Worth the Risk?

William and his crew are super awesome and you'll be surprised how easy it is for them to take your home efficiency to the next level!

If ya'll are interested in having a SPAN Panel in your own home, check out this link and do your own research!

[AprilRaine]

I just moved into my newly constructed house in Northern Idaho and I have to tell you, all I kept thinking about through this whole build is would this pass the "STUD PACK" inspection? I also binged watched all your videos BEFORE we went through the 1 yr building process and you taught me so many things that when it came to what we wanted in our build I had a list of 62 questions that I actually floored the builder because he's NEVER had a 63 yr old woman ask questions like that. I learned from watching every single video you put out. Now I wish I could have had you build my home to the detail you all put in the Dream Garage. You do fantastic work and you should be proud.

[tdxyz]

From thier FAQ: "Today, SPAN does not have an open API for local control."
This needs to be added before I'd consider installing a SPAN panel. It's a cool idea to monitor, and manage energy usage, but dependence on the cloud is too big of an issue, even if SPAN's current leadership is benevelant. And it would help deter issues like the one Chamberlain made for themselves with their garage door openers.

[steve_main]

Hey StudPack I saw that you donated to Arlo's retirement on the Perkins Brothers Builders channel! Thanks for supporting him! I sent a few dollars his way also! Great community we have on YouTube of builders!!

[clinta]

Stud Pack needs to watch more Louis Rossman and see how often these companies will change the EULA on something you already bought and force you to agree to new terms you didn't want to keep using the hardware you already paid for. Call me a cowboy, but we need to stop allowing these cloud services into our homes. Smart home stuff is great, and the hardware for this panel looks really cool, but it should be local, talking to a home assistant server in your media closet where only you control it and your data stays private.

[redwaller]

I'm so glad you're choosing to hard-wire the internet connection to that thing. So many "smart homes" are just a bunch of wifi connected devices and once you have enough they start really bogging each other down. If it's a permanent installation it should be hard-wired just like y'all did here!

[Noahboss]

As a someone who as spent years in the cyber security industry I have many questions. First it connects both though LAN and WiFi so any device on that local network could in theory shutoff/control your power. (Yes this is a problem with the smart meters too however its much more likely for an compromise to occur on your local network with so many IOT devices).
Second: what happens when they get new panels and the current panel no longer gets security updates. Going bsck to my previous point if the company runs out of business that actually poses a significant number of risks to not just your smart panel but all of them.
Third: not having local API access is more of a personal issue I have with it especially since tools like Home Assistant would be a perfect addon to a panel like this.
Lastly your point on everyone already having your data. Yes this is partly true. However, just because a lot of your personal information is for sale online doesnt mean we should be adding to it. Its also worth noting that almost every company is trying to switch to a subscription model for everything so there is no guarantee that the current state is going to remain.
I could go on. But I thinj my point is made. While its a very cool technology which definitely could save you money in the long term. Understand what thoses risks are.

PS
If you are going to be installing a large number of IOT devices. Setting up a separate VLAN/wireless network specially for then would be strongly recommended.

[MrZed]

Rather than the panel becoming a 'dumb panel' if SPAN goes out of business, SPAN should make the app/panel have local control by default. This would be a solution to the people that are concerned about others controlling their panel. This would also mean that once you have the panel you no longer need SPAN to be in business to see/control it with the app. And if you think they couldn't do it for some reason, local control is how a lot of devices in the smart home segment are controlled. Only the products that people should stay away from force cloud integration to control the product locally.

[Sammywhat]

Thank you, Jordan, for getting these videos out to us as you do. I know how much work it is and I for one really appreciate your diligence and efforts!! Cheers man!!

[williammoore]

I love it when Paul talks to tradespeople. He asks great questions and has an awesome rapport. Knows how to ask basic questions that lead to very informative answers.

[LikeAnOldFordTruck]

Perfect timing! Wife is watching 90 day fiancé and I needed something better!!!

[drewcama]

Paul you are a #1 interviewer and spokes person. Sure it takes a few takes some times, but you explain things so well and relaxed. It's a pleasure. Your a diamond in the industry of home reno shows and U Tube presenters and influencers. You could probably demand a premium for marketing the sponcors products. Great episode it was my pleasure. Oh and Jordan big shout out to you for the behind the scenes editing that makes it all look and sound so professional. 5 **** guys all the way. No wonder that electrician kept calling you Sir.

[rrittenhouse]

Ask Span how to handle when you sell a house with a span panel... How do you know the old owner loses access to the smart panel? Do they let you to have multiple phones access the data? Can you make a home assistant integration for Span?

[black.phoenix.]

As an International Industrial EE this is what I love to see. I love to see and look on YouTube for electrical installations, it is so relaxing to see work being done on panels. Specially when every country have their own way of doing stuff: EU vs US vs Asia.

Nice work being done in your son's house Paul, those electricians did a crack of a clean job with the connections, no rats nests as I unfortunately commonly see most of the times.

Keep up the good work, I'm loving this series as I said before.

[TheSolver-PR]

The electrician has endured some tough times that required lots of attention; however is burnt injuries occurred, I'm glad he's doing the good job. God blessings on him.

[dngriffiths]

The electricians did a beautiful job on the panel -- this level of care and attention to detail are rare in my experience.

[garbo]

I'm old school and from previous experiences good luck getting tech support, replacement boards or even chips on any electronics over ten years old. Hard to throw away a few $10, O00 VFD drives that were only 8 years old because vendor could no longer get parts to build or repair boards. Of course the new drives now have heavy wires that can only enter thru the bottom of drive while old drives had the conduits entering top of drives making you spend over halve a day to install a trough and splice ever wire. Had the same problem with $1, 000 to $15, 000 lightning / dimming controls.

[pcatful]

Appreciate the video work improvements, bells, and whistles over the years--especially over the span of this whole garage build season.

[cguy]

I went back and forth between Leviton and Span. I decided that a smart breaker (while more expensive upfront) was better than a smart backbone. Much easier to change a breaker than a whole panel should technology change. Plus Leviton has been around a LOT longer!

[Robe]

Love the videos guys, Paul should have his own TV show, he has come a long way since the beginning 🙏 great job stud pack, a huge fan from Perth Australia 🇦🇺

[johnvrabec]

Nice to see you both at least turned away when closing the main breaker to protect in case of an arc flash. Our company has a yearly recert on our training for arc flash and COHE.

It's great to see this project getting closer and closer to completion, but, it will be bittersweet at the end as we all look forward to the next video. Great work and knowledge we all gain from this build, even if we don't ever do what you have been doing. Learning is always a good thing.