Home Automation
 

Any forum members with home automation? I'm particularly interested in a KNX solution to integrate power, energy monitoring, lighting, heating, smoke/fire alarm, security alarm into one system. This will be for my own house.

I have been given a contact from an electrical contractor I know but would be good to hear any first hand comments on any home automation system before I speak with them.

Cheers
+++

I did a lot with home automation, but chose to develop it myself....

The offerings at the time were hideously expensive, and not always as well integrated as I wanted, where some basic electronics and some free software has got my lights / heating / tv / sky / audio / temp monitoring all sorted, and energy monitoring is on the to-do list...

All based round RS232 with a few C# apps, SQL back end, ASP .net web front end....

Thanks for the reply Ian. Are your lights controlled via RS232 or something else, like Philips Hue? Any modifications to the lighting wiring?

The C# apps, SQL back end, ASP .net web front end will be beyond me, so to create the rules for automation I was looking at the open source OpenHAB.

Whole house was being gutted, and rewired, so I took advantage and rewired everything around my system.

Everything, and I mean *everything* is hard wired back to a central point. Light feeds, light switches (cat 5), temp sensors, data ports, pir wires, audio, video, power sockets (individually), blinds, projectors, heating controls are all in one room.

So I can terminate any connection, with any device I fancy.

At present, most of the lighting is on simple relays, but I have sat on my desk the boards for an 8 way RS232 dimmer unit that a clever mate of mine has designed....

Its very much a work in progress, and not an easy retrofit, but I detest any dependency on wireless technology as its subject to random acts of not working when it fancies, and that's not the level of reliability I want....

As a mate of mine said, his wife said - If home automation isn't as intuitive and reliable as turning on a telly, then its failed.... +++

I have two Nest Thermostats that control heating and hot water. Also have 9 Nest Protect smoke alarms with integrated movement sensors and night light features. Because Nest products 'talk to each other' my house knows if I'm at home or away. When it switches to away mode it will optimise heating and hot water until I get back. You can control everything of course via mobile phone.

Garage door operators are made by Hormann. Remotely controlled and monitored by Hormann app on my phone. I can see if doors are opened, closes or partially closed (in %). Can open, close or put doors in ventilation position from my phone, from my car or with classic remove commanders.

Garden and outdoor security lighting is made by company called LightSymphony. Can control lighting from phone app, all lights individually. PIR sensors switch security lighting wirelessly.

A LIFX bulb is about as advanced as I've got for home automation but it's great! Any colour or mood you like and lots of special effects too. All controlled through wifi via the phone/tablet app and you can set things such as a timer if you're on holiday or have it replicate a sunrise in the mornings. They also do a 3-pack of GU10s and it just so happens I have 3 standard LED GU10s in my porch at the moment +++ , nothing fancy like Cat5 though!

http://i65.tinypic.com/k3vwhx.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/303iglw.jpg

I was saw lifx on their original kickstarter project, but the costs for the units spiralled when they went live..... They had promised figures of around $20-$30 per unit.... Yeah right... ;)

To put it in perspective, I have 63 GU10's in my main living area, and lifx just isn't going to be cost effective for that....

It is good, but also the GU10 bulbs are very deep, due to the cooling you need in there, and they will foul I imaging on quite a lot of light fittings....

Hoping economies of scale and improvements in technology bring those, and the Philips equivalent etc down to a reasonable price one day and make them more affordable for a whole house setup.