Starting over

[reidfo]

Hi all, I've been pretty quiet on the board lately and have not been doing anything automation related due to the loss of my partner late last year. I'm buying a coastal house in Texas (existing, built in '75 and renovated in 2013) and starting over - in many respects.

I plan to scrap my current HS3 implementation and start over in the new house. It's an existing home with little to no prewiring for anything other than cable TV. I'm interested in hearing your ideas on what you've done if you've started from scratch, or what you would do if you had the opportunity.

The house I'm buying:

• Is on a canal, and I'll be adding a boathouse with lift
• Is on pilings with the living area elevated, and a smaller bedroom / man cave / bathroom on the lower level
• Has attic access over the entire portion of the upper living area
• Has a pool with manual controls (first time I'll have owned a pool)
• Has hot and neutral to every switch box (AFAIK)
• Has a tankless water heater with remote (Rinnai)
• Is approximately 1500 square feet upstairs
• Has an LG window AC unit downstairs
• No security system - this is a community where few people ever lock their doors

I have a bunch of HS Z-Wave dimmers that I've never installed and will be taking with me. I also plan to install IP cameras outside (I use BlueIris for those). I'd also like to control the pool, but have no experience there. I have an Ecobee 3 thermostat that I'll be installing to use with Spud's plugin.

So what are your ideas for what do to when starting over? Running cable (one of my most hated activities) should be possible, at least in the upper living area.

[Uncle Michael]

Welcome back. I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I trust that your efforts at starting anew will be beneficial to regaining your equilibrium.

As far as what to do, that will depend on what you have in mind / want to accomplish.

In the absence of a concrete plan, I would start by selecting a wiring "closet" location, then home run cat5e/cat6 wire from as many locations as you can think of. In uninsulated walls, drop the wire through the upper plate down to the floor if possible. Label the ends clearly. You can use a toner later to find the end in the wall if you need to use it. Two runs per wall seems like overkill, and most of it will remain unused, but the wire is inexpensive, and it will make future projects much easier. (It's tempting to defer wiring until you have identified the need, but climbing into the attic will only get more difficult as the years go by. Besides, having the wire already there may be the difference between wishing and doing a project some day.)

[Kerat]

Starting over

Very sorry for your loss and I hope you find what you are looking for there. Welcome back to the forums.

I can't say enough good things about HST switches and dimmers. I have decided to run those on all my outlets (save for ceiling fans).

I agree with @Uncle Michael. Pick a place for the equipment:
1. Identify the network closet. Get cabling for your ISP, run network drops for your rooms, wireless AP, whole home audio, alarm, phone, etc.
I moved into my house before I started on the HA addiction. I work in the IT field and ran network drops as needed Now I have 2 of the 4 bedrooms, living room, HTPC room, wireless AP, and my office wired in. I need to run drops for my last two bedrooms. I have a television in our master bedroom and am planning on running a network drop for my Emby HTPC client running on an RPI3
2. Decode on a central location for your Z-Wave transceiver equipment.

I feel like occupancy detection could be tied to many things like automatic lighting control, arming your security system, HVAC cooling set point and the heating set point though don't get much over 4 degrees from where you want it when home.

I would also recommend ceiling fans wherever possible and creating events to synchronize their operation with with your HVAC fan. I just started this last spring and it has made my living areas much cooler on hot days.

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[reidfo]

Thanks Mike and Kerat. Network wiring will be one of the first things I do. I don't enjoy it AT ALL, probably since I used to do it for a living and have crawled around far more attics than I would like.

I'm glad to hear good results with the HST dimmers. I'm looking forward to using the ones I bought in the new house. I'll probably end up leaving all the various switches I have installed in the current house behind.

I use both Z-Wave and Insteon for lighting and fan control (Insteon for fans), though I'm open to switching fan control to Z-Wave if anyone has recommendations for a good fan dimmer. The new house has tons of ceiling fans inside and outside. I'm curious about the suggestion to time ceiling fans with the HVAC fan. Can you elaborate on what you're doing with that?

Other things I'd like to monitor or control are tide levels (either via web or water level monitoring in the canal), water temp in the pool and canal, mosquito misting system (to be installed).

There are also lots of outdoor switches I'd like to control. Being a marine environment I'm looking for corrosion resistant Z-Wave switches, but not having much luck finding any. Anyone else find some?

[Uncle Michael]

There are also lots of outdoor switches I'd like to control. Being a marine environment I'm looking for corrosion resistant Z-Wave switches, but not having much luck finding any. Anyone else find some?

I don't use Z-wave, but it may be possible to add something like this in the circuit, but in a protected location.

[Kerat]

Starting over

I don't know if they make outdoor switches. If I ever need to have a switch outdoors I would likely try an outdoor cover first: Hubbell-Bell MX1050S Weatherproof Single Outlet Cover Outdoor Receptacle Protector, Grey, Vertical Flat https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OBXXEM..._hCPwzbRPKZVZD

Just make sure that you buy one that fits your switch paddle.

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[Kerat]

Starting over

Here, I use Z-wave interfaces exclusively. I use the GE/Jasco ceiling fan switches here. I like them a lot. They function with 4 positions (off, low (33%), medium (66%), high (100%)).

As far as synchronizing function of the ceiling fan with my Furnace fan, I have a GE/Jasco ceiling switch, and a Trane create-524 Z-wave thermostat.
I have a 4 position virtual device (morning, day, evening, sleep, cleaning)
I have my thermostat set to auto, and fan mode set to automatically circulate in between cooling/heating modes.




The above is configured to turn the ceiling fan on when the furnace fan changes states and becomes on or circulate (I don't have a two stage furnace yet but would need another "or if" phrase when I do have one).



The above turns the fan off when the furnace fans turns off.

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