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Shimmer

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#116052 16-Apr-2013 21:27
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I'm keen to hear what other people have been doing with home Automation. What works, what does and what achieved the holy grail of wife acceptance?

I've been playing around for the last  3 months with rolling out a number of Zwave devices to control mostly lighting and the odd appliance around the house. In that time the following have been my results.

The successes
* TTS announcement and Media Centre pop up of who is calling the homeline
* TTS reminder of when to put the rubbish out/Bed time annoucement for my daughter
* Framed and wall mounted Android tablets to control devices (using HSTouch and Homeseer). Idle screen set to photo screensaver so when not in use looks like an electronic photo frame
* External lights turning on based on location of my mobile phone and geofence around house
* HVAC automation
* Home energy monitoring
* Temp monitoring/graphs
* Automated lights in Hallwaye/access way
* Automated lights in Kitchen/Family room based on motion/brightness of the room (ended up making the logic have as a secondary condition whether the TV was turned on or not, so that laying on the couch and not triggering the motion detector for a while wasn't considered to be an empty room.

The failures
* automated lights in bathroom/toilet using motion sensors (apparently it's not cool for the lights to go off) * showing other people how I can control home lighting via mobile phone when the wife is home alone
* TTS front door announcement when motion sensor triggered (false positives saying there is someone at the front door when nobody there
* speech recognition (don't do it if it's in the same room as TV - way too many false positives and ended up turning it off for peace and quiet). Great novelty factor nothing more.

Next projects
* using IR to control Roomba vacuum to do it's thing when I've left the house
* also starting to think about how I can control the cat door so that it blocks the neighbours cat from coming into the house at night and spraying, open to suggestions on that one

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BuffyNZ
241 posts

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  #800776 17-Apr-2013 10:47
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Would love to read some write ups on how you achieved some of the above.




Recursion: See recursion.
--
“It is important not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good, even when you can agree on what perfect is. Doubly so when you can't. As unpleasant as it is to be trapped by past mistakes, you can't make any progress by being afraid of your own shadow during design.”

     --Greg Hudson, Subversion developer




BlueShift
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  #800809 17-Apr-2013 11:04
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Shimmer: * also starting to think about how I can control the cat door so that it blocks the neighbours cat from coming into the house at night and spraying, open to suggestions on that one


I've seen somewhere that someone set up a microchip reader on their cat door to read the embedded chip in their cat to unlock the door.
Also the "Flo Control" project to use image recognition on anything attempting to enter the cat door, and not only exclude other cats and animals (nice photo of a racoon trying to sneak in), but to deny their own cats when they have something in their mouths.

davidcole
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  #800816 17-Apr-2013 11:06
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BlueShift:
Shimmer: * also starting to think about how I can control the cat door so that it blocks the neighbours cat from coming into the house at night and spraying, open to suggestions on that one


I've seen somewhere that someone set up a microchip reader on their cat door to read the embedded chip in their cat to unlock the door.
Also the "Flo Control" project to use image recognition on anything attempting to enter the cat door, and not only exclude other cats and animals (nice photo of a racoon trying to sneak in), but to deny their own cats when they have something in their mouths.


Why reinvent the wheel, when those magnetic cat doors do the trick.





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  #800836 17-Apr-2013 11:25
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BuffyNZ: Would love to read some write ups on how you achieved some of the above.


+1

Niel
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  #801217 17-Apr-2013 21:55
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+1 for a good RFID reader on the cat flap. You need a panel reader which is about the same size as the flap if you want a decent range.




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Shimmer

54 posts

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  #801910 18-Apr-2013 21:33
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As a couple of people were interested in how I've done things so far...

Everything I've done so far has used off the shelf products and via tailoring other peoples scripts so more about standing on others shoulders than doing anything special.

Home Automation server running Homeseer Pro 2.5.0.80
Plugins
DLNA Manager 1.0.0.38
HSTouch Android 1.0.0.2
HSTouch iPhone 1.0.0.2
HSTouch Server 1.0.0.70

Additional Scripts
SnevlLatitude
SnevlCallerID
Jon00PerfMon
Jon00HTML2Image
Jon00VDGraphing

Hardware
Aeon Labs Multisensor x 4
Aeon Labs in wall Dimmer x 2
Aeon Labs in wall switch x 6
Aeon Labs Home Energy Monitor
Aeon Labs plugin switch controller
Z-extender HVAC IR blaster x 2
USB 56k modem
old core 2 duo 2.6ghz running Win 7 x64 that

Caller ID announce Mostly uses inbuilt functionality of Homeseer Pro combined with a USB 56k modem. Additional script SnevlCID script installed to provide events and phone book/last call functionality. HS Speaker client installed on Media Centre PC for TTS annoucement. To get the call details to come up as a popup in media centre I've used VMC Contorller (http://vmccontroller.codeplex.com/). This provides a web interface that I can call and pass the caller ID details do and control how long the popup box shows for.

Rubbish reminder (nothing fancy) HS Pro and a date/time based event, plus speaker client on MCE PC and HSTouch clients used for TTS announcements.

Wall mounted tablets grabbed a couple of the cheapest android tablets I could find (ended up being some APads). HSTouch client installed. Created HSTouch screens for control using the provided templates. Tried making some DIY frames but looked fugly so ended up going to a picture framer and got him to make me some custom frames. It took him some time, but i'm pleased with the results. Android also had to have fullscreen and wakelock installed so that the screen never went to sleep so that it could always be woken by touch and not needing a button pressed and also to keep the wifi active. Set to go to screensaver (family photos) after 1 minute inactivity then go to black screen after 15 mins
sample screen


wall mounted


External lights on as I get home Mobile phone has google latitude enabled, + backitude installed to control the frequency of updates and also controling accuracy of the updates it sent. On HS Pro then an event to check the latitude account and check against lat/long coords of my house. Script SnelLatitude installed to further refine results, trigger events and create custom page to show my location on the wall mounted tablets.

HVAC Automation I looked at some wired HVAC controllers but instead took the cheapo less sophisticated option of using some Z-Extender HVAC IR blasters that just learn the commands from the HVAC remote and use inbuilt thermometer control in HS Pro.

Home Energy Monitoring I've used the Aeon Labs Home Energy Monitor (chose the battery powered option rather than hard wired). It's been interesting to compare how accurate it's been vs the readings and new smart meter graphs I'm getting from my electricty provider. To generate the graphs I've used another HS Pro script Jon00VDGraphing

  #801941 18-Apr-2013 22:20
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Thanks for all those details mate - very interesting reading. Where do you source all your hardware from? Locally or do you import from overseas? How do you find the Homeseer software? 

I am very interested in this sort of thing so will be doing some thorough research based on your experiences.

Thanks again for taking the time to note everything down!

Cheers,
Ben

 
 
 

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LennonNZ
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  #801958 18-Apr-2013 22:52
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Where did you get the hardware from? http://www.e-life.co.nz or someplace else?
I presume you are using the NZ Z-Wave Frequency Stuff not the US Freq stuff?




Shimmer

54 posts

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  #801968 18-Apr-2013 23:13
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coz of the voltage/z wave frequency limitations you're kinda stuck with bying local or from Australia. I did have a look locally but didn't find anything at a decent price so ended up getting all the zwave stuff from Australia mostly from smarthome.com.au. They've been pretty good to deal with though there were some long waits for back ordered items so not such how much stock they keep.

re homeseer. I've never liked the price of it and always seems a bit steep, but every now and then they do a sale so it's a little more pallateable. I initially tried a bunch of different automation apps but this was the only one that worked consistently with all the z-wave devices I had purchased. The web interface is ugly, but very much functional.HSTouch designer takes a while to figure out it's limitations, but gives you a fairly limitless ability to create mobile app views however you want. The 2 biggest pros Id give is that it's super conifgurable and a really strong developer community. The neagtives, because it's super configurable it's not so intuative and takes a while to figure it out. HS3 is claimed to be released in beta soon, but news of it's impending launch has been going on for months/years so I wouldn't hold my breath.

  #802756 20-Apr-2013 13:20
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Shimmer,

Been doing some reading etc and was wondering if you could answer a few questions about the Z Wave/Series hardware and Homeseer software.

As far as I can tell Homeseer will only run on Windows - I have an Ubuntu 12.04 home server which runs 24/7 so I would want any home automation software to run on that ideally. 

You stated you run Homeseer, which I gather is where all the scripting and event based stuff is handled. Do you have a central controller of some sort? To interface to the actual Z-Wave devices? Is it just the USB stick plugged into your server running Homeseer? Or am I missing something here?

If I was to buy one of the Vera controllers would this provide me with enough control over my individual Z-Wave devices in terms of scripting and events etc?

Cheers,
Ben

LennonNZ
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  #802760 20-Apr-2013 13:29
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There are a number of things you can use if you want to run the controller via Linux or a non homeseer software.

The Frequency used in NZ is the Problem

Coming out soon is this...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2037429657/almond-80211ac-touchscreen-wifi-router-smart-home?ref=live

Of you can get a http://www.e-life.co.nz/2-the-hold-steady.html which has linux drivers

There also is: http://razberry.z-wave.me

but I have talked to the people who make it and they would need an order of around 200 of them to make the NZ/AU Freq version of it.. Cost maybe around $8000 for 200 of them maybe but I really don't know . I would have to ask if other people are interested

a RaspberryPi with the RazBerry or the USB on a Rasberrypi would use a lot less power than a windows PC doing it all.

  #802791 20-Apr-2013 14:50
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Some very useful stuff in there Lennon - thanks for that.

I have 3 RPis already, 2 running Raspbmc on my living/bedroom TVs and the third is connected to my weather station panel which tweets weather details on the hour.

So I would be very interested in running home automation software on a Pi.

It looks like it is a non start currently tho, perhaps the USB stick is the only option for us. I read somewhere else that someone had got the USB controller working in Linux but it was a bit fiddly.

The Almond+ looks like a pretty useful option - once it is released - and they have pledged to product an Aust/NZ version (for Z Wave). And if it retails for US99 then it could well be a cost effective option.

I can see this becoming my winter project...

  #803159 21-Apr-2013 17:26
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Shimmer,

Just wondering if you have come across Z-Cloud?

From what I understand I could buy a cheap(ish) Z-Wave USB Stick, plug it into my Ubuntu server and run the Z-Connector software, and then be able to control everything from my browser - including setting up scenes and schedules etc.

Seems like a pretty cheap way to get involved and still get full scene/scheduling/control. Or am I missing something? It has also been shown to work using a Raspberry Pi running the connector agent.

I am still reading/learning but I believe I can then install apps on my iPhone and iPad to interface to my Z-Wave network as well.

Just wondering if you disregarded this option and chose a dedicated Homeseer server approach for any reason?

Cheers,
Ben

LennonNZ
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  #803194 21-Apr-2013 18:33
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I have heard back from the the Razberry people (Z-Wave board for Raspberry Pi) which will do NZ/AU Freq.

I would have to sell 100 odd of them at a price similar to the USB Device to come out not owing anything.

Anyone know 100 odd people who would want to pre-order :-)


  #803201 21-Apr-2013 18:53
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I would definitely grab one!

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