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Most unique use of HomeSeer (Take 2?)

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    Most unique use of HomeSeer (Take 2?)

    Over 13 years ago, Rupp posted this: https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...se-of-homeseer

    Originally posted by Rupp View Post
    We can all control out lights and our air/heating, etc. but what are some of the more unique uses of HomeSeer that you are accomplishing?
    I have to think that 13 years later there are some REALLY unique uses out there. What are you accomplishing now?
    .

    #2
    This is probably trivial, but it's using HS to do an IT task rather than home automation.

    I have an Aeotec smart switch between the wall outlet and my Internet router. I keep an eye on Google's DNS - if contact is lost for 10 minutes the Aeotec smart switch is switched off, waits 10 seconds, and switches back on.

    Only happens once every few months (either because of a glitch in the Matrix or planned maintenance), but means I don't have the wife calling me to say the Internet has stopped working and I have to guide her through "turning the router off and on again"... it is automatically power cycled without anyone even knowing the Internet went down.

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      #3
      I had a mcsSprinklers user do a biology lab study using the scheduling mechanism contained within mcsSprinklers.

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        #4
        I used HS to remind my first wife to make me coffee in the morning. I am still using HomeSeer but had to upgrade to a different wife. I disabled the coffee reminder event.

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          #5
          i have a few that make people chuckle when they first see them...

          When I sit down in my Lazy Boy and kick out the foot rest, the den lights dim, the ceiling fan turns on, the Sony TV turns on and DirecTV tunes to Fox News channel. (I use a garage door tilt sensor mounted under the chair foot rest to start the scene.)

          If either my wife or I go to bed, the blackout shades lower, the horizontal blinds close, the lights dim slowly over 3 minutes, the Ecobee thermostat lowers room temperature to 65F, the TV turns on and DirecTV tunes to A&E channel. (I use a lawn mower seat switch and a Zigbee water sensor to monitor bed occupancy.)

          If the master bath shower is turned on, the shower lights turn on, the exhaust vent is turned on and the horizontal blinds are closed. (I use a Fortrezz Water Flow Meter on the shower supply line to monitor for water flow.)

          If the Predators score and the Den DirecTV is tuned to channel 646-2 (Preds channel), all lights in the lower portion of the house alternate flashing gold and navy blue for 10 seconds. Coming soon: A truck air horn that will also blow while the lights flash. (I scrape NHL scoreboard to monitor live scoring.)

          If a Tornado Warning is issued and we are home, all lights flash red for 5 minutes, an outdoor tornado/air raid siren is activated and text alerts are sent to our phones. If hail is detected or a wind gust above 60mph is recorded by one of our weather stations (Ambient and Weatherflow), additional alerts are sent by text. (I use Big5 plugin to scrape the weather service warnings page and NWS twitter feed for warnings.)

          In the Man Cave, I have several metal "trinkets" on the walls "wired" to detect a human touch, including a commercial "Pull Down In Case Of Fire" panic alarm. I also have a 10" LARGE fire bell (95db) mounted on the wall and an air raid siren behind the wall in the attic space. If a human touch is detected by one of the wired elements, the fire bell and air raid siren are activated for 10 seconds. It is hilarious to watch people jump out of their skin when they touch one of the booby-traps. (I use a on/off lamp touch switch wired to a MimoLite to monitor for human touch.)

          I have a few others, but those are my favorites.

          --Barry



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            #6
            logman Those are great, I particularly like the various tricks you've used for sensing touch/pressure/interaction.

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              #7
              Originally posted by logman View Post
              I use a lawn mower seat switch and a Zigbee water sensor to monitor bed occupancy
              I like it. Fortunately though my personal incontinence issues haven't yet reached a level that I can rely on a water sensor to monitor bed occupancy

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                #8
                These are great ideas! I hope folks post more!

                Originally posted by logman View Post
                ....
                (I use a garage door tilt sensor mounted under the chair foot rest to start the scene.)
                --Barry
                Fantastic idea! I could use it to dim the lights, turn off the phone ringer and doorbell, lock the doors and and and....


                .

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                  #9
                  I have a code phrase I can yell at Alexa for an emergency mode (or push a button on my Touch tablets). It will turn my Hue lights red, turn on all the rest of the lights, start the porch light blinking (to help guide emergency responders), and unlock my front door. Manually relocking the front door will stop all that stuff.

                  I have another phrase for an intruder. It will shut off any lights on upstairs, and turn on all lights downstairs, plus the porch blinking light (but will not unlock the front door). If that does not scare the intruder away...

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by aa6vh View Post
                    I have a code phrase I can yell at Alexa for an emergency mode (or push a button on my Touch tablets). It will turn my Hue lights red, turn on all the rest of the lights, start the porch light blinking (to help guide emergency responders), and unlock my front door. Manually relocking the front door will stop all that stuff.

                    I have another phrase for an intruder. It will shut off any lights on upstairs, and turn on all lights downstairs, plus the porch blinking light (but will not unlock the front door). If that does not scare the intruder away...
                    I like that idea. We use a Duress code on our locks. If someone was forcing me to unlock the door, I'd use the duress code, when HS sees the door being unlocked by that user, modes are activated. Cameras, text messages, alarms.
                    Blair

                    HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
                    | Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
                    Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
                    BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4

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                      #11
                      HomeSeer feeds my two dogs. I'm using Big5 plug-in to drive 4 (four) HTTP driven relays (based on ESP8266 microcontroller). First comes the mini siren (off the shelf 12V DC siren) to announce the good news "feeeding time". Dogs run like crazy to the feeding station. The relays than drive DC motors for certain time. The motors in turn drive augers that push food out of the container. The serving size is controlled by the time relays/motors are active, which is fully controllable by HS3 .

                      HomeSeer opens two skylights at the top of my foyer's ceiling. Same setup as above less the siren

                      HomeSeer measures my pool laps time, stores all stats and announces the results. Li battery powered .keypad based on ESP32 communicates with HS3 over TCP protocol using Big5 plug-in. Using HS3 native timers as well.

                      My wife irrigates the garden (multiple zones) (from anywhere in the world) using her iPhone that runs HSTouch interface to HS3. Two sliders are available to select zone and to select time. Confirmation green light as well. I hacked my Hunter irrigation system to open it to the Internet. Communication with HS3 is over TCP protocol using Big5 plug-in. Before that she was carrying around a bulky ugly RF control by Hunter that had 100 ft. reach.

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                        #12
                        I love these threads. They open up my imagination to so many possibilities.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by risquare View Post
                          I hacked my Hunter irrigation system to open it to the Internet. Communication with HS3 is over TCP protocol using Big5 plug-in. Before that she was carrying around a bulky ugly RF control by Hunter that had 100 ft. reach.
                          I have a Hunter irrigation system, and their "bulky ugly RF control." I have been mulling integration with HS3, partly to coordinate mowing schedule with weather status and watering history. Can you give me a little more detail of your hack?

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                            #14
                            My hack was based largely to Scott’s post below. However instead of his proprietary Esquillo I used ESP8266


                            https://www.hackster.io/sshumate/hun...control-4ea918

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                              #15
                              From the perspective of off-normal automation I have a few things that have worked very well for many years.
                              1. I have a wood fireplace with a blower fan that turns on and off when the heat exchanger temperature reaches trippoints. The fan creates noise in the family room so when the fan turns on I send two volume-up commands to my AV Receiver and then when off I do the volume-down commands. This keeps the effective volume from the TV at the same level when the fireplace fan is off or on.

                              My mailbox is about 600 ft from the house. I have power run to about 50 ft from the mailbox. In the mailbox I have a photosensor via Radio Shack mailbox alert with the receiving station at a weather-protected point connected to the power line. I use UPB IO module to send the mailbox open signal to the house so the event of mail delivery can be announced.

                              Two recent additions using ESP8266 have been a doorway between house and garage with two light beams that can detect if going into and out of garage. The garage light turns on/off based upon the motion. The light beams are turned on/off based upon sunrise/sunset offsets so the automated light control only works when the garage is dark.

                              Similar technology used for mouse trap in the garage. If the light beam is broken inside the mousetrap then I know a mouse has entered and the trap needs service. Before this it was usually the case that the decay of the mouse was what told me to do something with the mouse trap.

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