Brand New Home - Automation setup

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jburrows

31 posts

Geek

#185501 25-Nov-2015 12:25

Hi Team,
I am currently having a new house built (Frames have just been put up) and I am looking now at getting the Home Automation plan sorted.

The Plan so far is to inegrate with Apple Homekit (I have an Apple TV) where possible and if not possible use IFTTT:
1. Front door lock (The new Schlage Sense)

http://www.schlage.com/en/home/keyless-deadbolt-locks/sense.html

2. Garage Door - Chamberlain MyQ Garage Door Opener or MyQ compatible Garage Door Opener with MyQ device attached.

http://www.chamberlain.com/smartphone-control-products/myq-smartphone-control

3. Blinds and Curtains - Luxaflex Q-Motion

http://www.luxaflex.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Luxaflex-Q-motion-brochure.pdf

4. Themorstat - Ecobee3 Thermostat controller - I am hoping that this will be compatible with the Central Gas heating that we are installing.

https://www.ecobee.com/

5. Lights (Outdoor and Indoor) - Not sure what to do about lights......I was thinking Philips Hue but this could get expensive very very fast - open to suggetsions

6. Security (Cameras, Motion Sensors, Smoke Detectors etc) - Not sure about this either.....quite like the looks of Morepork but open to suggestions on this too

7. Front Door Bell - SkyBell

http://www.skybell.com/

I think that is all - may have missed something

If any of you have suggestions or have tried some of these things please feel free to post and let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Jeremy

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Chrisclarke

139 posts

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#1477946 24-Jan-2016 21:57

Interesting read! I'm embarking on a similar project but retro-fitting and existing house.

For lighting I'll be using a combination of hue and wemo (the wemo light switch will replace a number of existing switches to enable the kids to use 'conventional' wall switches and the wife and I to use iPhones or Siri - once Belkin add home kit compatibility. I really wanted Lutron Caseta which has replacement wall switches plus the ability to add Pico remotes which can be mounted on a fake 'wall plate' to give another switching point. However while they are cheap and readily available in the US they only support 120v and there's currently no AU/NZ version available.

Tado's Smart AC will handle the heat pumps (and promises home kit compatibility soon).

I've been looking at options for blinds - Lutron Serena is home kit compatible but doesn't seem to be available locally - would have to be made and imported from the US which would add significant cost. So I was interested to see the luxaflex product. I can't see any indication that QMotion is HomeKit compatible though - have I missed something, or are you planning to just control from the app and forgo the home kit integration for your blinds?

Talkiet

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#1477964 24-Jan-2016 22:51

Timely info... I am teetering on buying a place or if that offer isn't accepted, kicking off a new build and I'll be putting some level of automation into it.. The Schlage locks looked good until I realised they only worked with apple kit. Ugh.

I did see another one recently (but forget the model) which had NFC capability, keypad, actual Key, external battery backup (byo 9v and touch it to some contacts in case of flat battery), smartcards that could be (re)programmed for one time use or use only at certain hours (great for giving to a contractor so they can get one time entry to your house)...

Not sure whether I'd go for computer controlled window coverings - While I can think of uses for them (random or scheduled changing while on holiday - during the day based on temp) I think I'd deal with manually opening and closing blinds :-)

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

CYaBro

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#1477984 25-Jan-2016 00:24

Chrisclarke:

Interesting read! I'm embarking on a similar project but retro-fitting and existing house.

For lighting I'll be using a combination of hue and wemo (the wemo light switch will replace a number of existing switches to enable the kids to use 'conventional' wall switches and the wife and I to use iPhones or Siri - once Belkin add home kit compatibility. I really wanted Lutron Caseta which has replacement wall switches plus the ability to add Pico remotes which can be mounted on a fake 'wall plate' to give another switching point. However while they are cheap and readily available in the US they only support 120v and there's currently no AU/NZ version available.

Tado's Smart AC will handle the heat pumps (and promises home kit compatibility soon).

I've been looking at options for blinds - Lutron Serena is home kit compatible but doesn't seem to be available locally - would have to be made and imported from the US which would add significant cost. So I was interested to see the luxaflex product. I can't see any indication that QMotion is HomeKit compatible though - have I missed something, or are you planning to just control from the app and forgo the home kit integration for your blinds?

Pretty sure it is the Lutron Serena that my mate sells and installs.

If you are in Auckland I could put you on to him if you like?

If not he can probably find out who the closest supplier is in your area.

MadEngineer

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#1477988 25-Jan-2016 00:53

Cbus

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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#1478011 25-Jan-2016 07:52

MadEngineer: Cbus

RIP. I didn't see a single product at CES, and it's pretty much dead.

I spent a lot of time at CES looking at home automation kit as it was everywhere. Z-wave is definitely leading the space right now and there is a lot of awesome kit either in the market or due soon. Jut remember if you're thinking of importing products to make sure they support NZ's frequency band. A huge % of home automation products do not which is crazy, and speaking to a few manufacturers there they only seem focussed on the US market which seems rather narrow minded.

I'll find a few of the brochures later from companies that looked look, there was one in particular from Sweden who are distributed in NZ who IMHO had the best wall mount controller in the market.

billgates

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#1478055 25-Jan-2016 09:39

@sbiddle Which company is that sells in NZ with a Z-wave controller?

Do whatever you want to do man.

sbiddle

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#1478060 25-Jan-2016 09:51

billgates:

@sbiddle Which company is that sells in NZ with a Z-wave controller?

I just pulled out my brochures - the company is Fibaro. Their wall mount controller was certainly the most impressive out of everything home automation based that I saw at CES. No idea of the pricing though but after seeing their products my pick is they're going to be a little more expensive than the cheap Chinese stuff.

The guy I spoke to was a NZer who is actually back in NZ now working for them.

billgates

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#1478075 25-Jan-2016 10:27

Great. Thank you.

Do whatever you want to do man.

SumnerBoy

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#1478077 25-Jan-2016 10:37

Was his name Johnny by any chance? He is the Fibaro distributor here in NZ. Fibaro are generally pretty good at releasing their products for all markets, including AU/NZ, same as Aeon Labs, how most of the others are not interested, as you noted sbiddle.

Hopefully those wall controllers will be available here soon, they sound pretty slick.

As for the OT, I would also recommend looking into ZWave. You are not tied to one vendor since all devices should work with your ZWave hub or controller.

If you are up for a bit of tinkering then it is worth looking at the Aeon Labs Z-Stick. They are cheap and work great, even in a Raspberry Pi 2. There is a blog post on my site with more details. This then opens you up the world of open source software which is really taking off in this space.

People are realizing you don't want to be locked into one vendor. Check out openHab for a great example of this.

These ideas are not black box, turn key solutions, but they do provide the most flexible and extensible system IMO.

Sounddude

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Vocus

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#1478079 25-Jan-2016 10:39

Topic hijack.

Has anyone found a Z-wave or wifi light switch, which sends signal back to a central controller (Smart things or OPenHAB), which could then turn on/off my wifi light bulbs?

All the ones I have found so far the the opposite. Light switches which are used to turn on/off conventional lights.

SumnerBoy

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#1478086 25-Jan-2016 10:45

The Fibaro Universal sensor can parasitically monitor two binary seniors or switches. When their state changes a ZWave message is sent to your controller.

Using openHAB you can detect this change and then fire off a command to your Wemo via a very simple rule.

sxz

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1478127 25-Jan-2016 11:37

If you don't mind telling us - I'm interested in the expected costs. Particularly around electronic deadbolts, blinds and lights!

sbiddle

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#1478165 25-Jan-2016 12:32

SumnerBoy: Was his name Johnny by any chance? He is the Fibaro distributor here in NZ. Fibaro are generally pretty good at releasing their products for all markets, including AU/NZ, same as Aeon Labs, how most of the others are not interested, as you noted sbiddle.

Not sure of his name, but I can't imagine there are too many people working for them in NZ!

There was a massive amount of home automation kit at CES and from speaking to a lot of people there I don't think there will be too much of a future for Apple Homekit except companies that want to limit themselves to the Apple fanboys. Most companies have no interest, and much prefer to develop for Z-wave and/or Zigbee and stay standards based. There are plenty of advantages and disadvantages over the competing standards but the simple reality is Z-wave is huge in comparison to everybody else in what however is still a very small market.

Yabanize

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#1478180 25-Jan-2016 12:54

How about August SmartLock (You put it over a regular dead bolt) + The August doorbell. Which lets you unlock the door when someone rings the doorbell. Also has homeKit

Ring also integrates with some smart locks. Dunno which ones SkyBell works with

MadEngineer

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#1479218 26-Jan-2016 17:48

Another suggestion: http://www.vynco.co.nz/pdfs/ENVIRONEXUS_pre_print_WEB.pdf

whatever you go with, make sure that it doesn't get so complicated that you must navigate a menu to turn off a light switch. This does happen, especially when the installer wants to show off and ensure that you have all 1001 functions in every room.

the list in your OP has too many different brands imho. you're better off getting the installer to advise so they can get everything from the one place, off the shelf stuff that has been sold for years with proven reliability. For example most of what you've listed could all be done from a simple home alarm. The most highly regarded feature of home automation is having all lights turn off from one control - something you could program an alarm to do when you arm the house with the added benefit of the same lights coming back on upon returning. Why have one app for your back door, another for the garage, another to set the alarm, another for the curtains ... when you can have just the app for the alarm that does everything.

depending on how much individual control you want you'll need to consider if you want cable run to each and every light from the switch board ($$$), or if you're happy for them to be wired in groups.

btw, automatic motorised curtains cost thousands per window

consider what AV gear you'll be putting in as some of this can run/control/heavily integrate with home automation (hitting the PLAY BLURAY button dims or fades out the lights, sets the sound zone to the home theatre, raises the TV out of its cabinet or draws the projector screen curtains ...)

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