Newbie need some advice on home automation pls

[Yellobie]

Hi all I'm new to home automation, and hope to get some advice from people here. Here goes...

After doing some readup on home automation, I have decided to adopt X10 products as it should be cheaper for me (although it isn't that cheap in my country Singapore hehe).
From what I see, I need to have about 35 X10 receivers to control all the lightings and fans in my house. As I also intend to setup the "cheap" PA system using the telephone line, I will also need about 10 X10 appliance modules to control the speakers on/off. 10 motion sensors communicating using RF will be used to detect human presence. As for the main controller, I intend to use Homeseer for controlling all the stuffs (PC), and Ocelot for infrared transmission and sensor inputs. 4 X10 floodlight devices will also be used for security purposes.
I'm worry about the X10 reliability to control like 55 X10 modules. Any advise for me on my setup is greatly appreciated Please forgive me if I happen to miss out information available from the previous posts.

[Kyham]

Well for starters, X10 is NOT 100% performance. Fine if you don't use it for any critical functions. Lights, fans, it does the job very well.

I have almost 200 X10 devices and they work great about 95% of the time. Sometimes I have a problem that the device does not respond but if I try again 1-2 times it usually works.

Appliance modules control a 120v power outlet so unless you are using a line voltage relay or (recommended) a 120-> 12v transformer to control a relay it should work. Personally I never liked combining line voltage to audio. It may work but I am not comfortable with it.

If you are planning to use RF motion sensors and palm pad remotes, I would suggest the WGL receiver connected to the HS system and plugin. MUCH better than a bunch of single house code receivers.

Since you plan on having an Ocelot, I would also suggest getting the ADI third party plugin.

You can take a little tour of my place to see some of the things that I have done. I currently have visitor ID & PW set up to actually control the lights/fans and view the outside security camra captures and videos.

Have fun with your HA project.

[Yellobie]

Thanks for your advice kyham

The WGL receiver sounds real cool. Will get one for myself.

Another thing I miss out... I do hope to use the NetRemote software as I will be getting 2 Dell Axim to control my house. Is the process of setting up the NetRemote complicated?

Thanks again

[Rupp]

Yellobie,
The FREE Touchpad interface available via the updater has a skin that is made for pocket PC's. It's a snap to setup and use. It may not be as flashy as NetRemote but the time you save can be used for other automation projects. Also, I'm not sure they are available for your particular setup by Z-wave is definitely worth a look. It's much more stable and dependable than X10.


See this thread for an out-of-the-box view:

http://ubb.homeseer.com/eve/ubb.x?a=...4&m=3996061785

[Yellobie]

Thanks Rupp

Can the Touchpad interface of Homeseer be used to stream music? The reason I choose NetRemote is because I wish to broadcast music from the PC to the rooms. If there are other similar software to NetRemote which I can use, please let me know.

As for Z-wave, I don't think it is possible for me as there isn't any dealers of Z-wave products in Singapore.

[jwilson56]

Have you checked out my screen shots for my Netremote project (in the Netremote section)? The PPC version works fantastic and the demo CCF for Media Center works great pretty much as is for music.

Nothing like static screens with crisp graphics.

John

[Yellobie]

Hi jwilson56

Those were real cool interfaces you have made

Is there anyway where I can get my hands on them?? Hehe. Will try my best to get NetRemote to work for sure after seeing the tasks that it can do.

Nice

[jwilson56]

Stay tuned... it will be released shortly.

John

[Yellobie]

Happily waiting Hehe