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    What is the Single Coolest Thing You Do with HomeSeer?

    We're just really curious... If you had to choose, what would be the single coolest thing you do with your HomeSeer system?

    For example, one of our staff installed an RFID tag under his garbage can lid. If that tag is within range of the receiver on trash pickup day, it issues a reminder to get the garbage out to the curb. That's pretty cool!

    Alternately, if you don't do anything that seems all that "cool", what is the one thing you do with HomeSeer that you'd have a hard time living without?
    ---------------------
    **update** 9/20/2012
    I've gone through the thread and plucked a few tidbits to add to this first post... for those that don't want to sift through the entire thread:
    • Disable security system from lock keypad
    • Email alerts when devices change status
    • RFID tags on cars alert HomeSeer when parents (or inlaws) arrive
    • Arm/disarm security system based on timed triggers
    • Control thermostat schedule based on database of irregular work schedule
    • Inflate or deflate blow-up Santa based on current wind speed
    • System double-dings (old gas station hose sound) when cars arrive and single-dings when they leave
    • When visitors ring doorbell, HomeSeer emails picture of visitor and driveway to see if this is a delivery
    • Monitor ultrasonic distance sensors to track status of dog food dish and water softener salt reservoir
    • Reed switch on mailbox alerts when mail has been delivered
    • Check security status of home (with CCTV feeds) from 1 screen
    • Watche dog and activate servo on gumball machine filled with dog treats http://board.homeseer.com/showpost.p...2&postcount=12
    • Wake user gently by increasing bedroom light from 0% to 100% over 30 minutes
    • Monitor water usage
    • Use a lighting scene controller with HomeSeer to change status of audio/video equipment
    • Extend or retract awnings based on sunnyness, temperature, wind speed and rain conditions
    • Monitor for water leaks and emails alerts
    • Monitor the status of the garage door at specific times and close it automatically if open
    • Send text messages when washer or dryer cycles are completed
    • Control AC unit via infrared commands and 1-wire sensor
    • Create custom iPod screens for kids to control their bedroom lighting
    • Use multiple motion sensor and spoken messages to alert for location of motion sensed
    • Shut down the entire house using a bedroom remote
    • Spoken announcements when someone (or some thing) has entered the back yard, driveway, garage, back porch or front porch
    • Wake user and report weather, appointments and give a countdown of when to leave the house for work or school
    • Halloween visitors can select between "scarey" or "kid friendly" theme when visiting
    • Control fan and cooling misters based on sunniness and temperature
    • Use voice to control any device or launch any automation event
    • Monitor mouse traps for activation
    • RFID tag on garbage can lid alerts if garbage hasn't been moved to the street on pickup day
    • Sensor alerts if medicine cabinet door hasn't been opend by certain time of morning.
    • Block incoming calls based on caller ID
    • Bedside buttons allow wife to control thermostat of indicate sexiness??
    • Monitors power usage and issues alerts when power usages is too high for too long.
    • Integration with Google Latitude to activate Samsung Navibot to vacuum the house.
    • From a volunteer firefighter: Integration with my local fire brigade through a pager scanner, so that when i receive a fire call, HomeSeer extracts the street directory reference and downloads a street map of the location of the call, type of call, does a TTS, emails me via prowl, as well as through email and turns the lights on. The whole process takes less than 30 seconds from receipt of message, lights on, TTS, map being downloaded, and being received on my mobile, by which stage i normally need to be dressed and out the door (even if i just woke up)
    • Reminds my wife is main door is left unlocked for 5 minutes
    • Monitor sump pump remotely
    • Issues alerts, announcements, reminders for multiple languages based on occupancy detection
    💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

    #2
    I really like the disabling of the alarm via the schalge link keypad. makes life a bit easier.

    i also love HSTouch on the touch screen in the kitchen.
    HS3 Pro on Windows 8 64bit
    53 Z-wave nodes(46 devices, 7 remotes), 15 DS10a's, 10 ms16a's, 9 Oregon Sensors, W800, RFXCOMtrx433, Way2Call, 3 HSTouch Clients, 2xRussound CAS44, Global Cache GC100-12,10 Rollertrol blinds(+ zwave) ,3 Squeezebox Radios and 1 Squeezebox Boom,DMX Arduino via ethernet,Rain8Net,3x Echo Dot's


    Check out my electronics blog here:
    https://www.facebook.com/RaptorsIrrationalInventions

    Comment


      #3
      HSTouch has been the 'coolest' hit in my house - I'm up to 4 tablets now: weather forecast, TV channel changing, basic lighting control, etc.

      Before HSTouch, motion detection coupled with lighting control was big.
      HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
      54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
      Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

      HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

      Comment


        #4
        not cool.. but email on alarm settings and sump pump stats
        HW - i5 4570T @2.9ghz runs @11w | 8gb ram | 128gb ssd OS - Win10 x64

        HS - HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.435

        Plugins - BLRF 2.0.94.0 | Concord 4 3.1.13.10 | HSBuddy 3.9.605.5 | HSTouch Server 3.0.0.68 | RFXCOM 30.0.0.36 | X10 3.0.0.36 | Z-Wave 3.0.1.190

        Hardware - EdgePort/4 DB9 Serial | RFXCOM 433MHz USB Transceiver | Superbus 2000 for Concord 4 | TI103 X-10 Interface | WGL Designs W800 RF | Z-Net Z-Wave Interface

        Comment


          #5
          Most of what I do is behind the scenes so to speak and goes un-noticed, unless of course bad things have happened to HomeSeer. There are two things I've done though that have been immensely popular.

          I've installed RFID tags in our cars as well as in my parents and the in-laws. For us it controls the way the house performs depending on which car is here or missing, such as not having to manually control the security system unless we're out for a walk. For parents and in laws it means we get a warning when they're stopping by, unannounced, and they get a nice greeting instead of the shocked looks and surprised glares.

          The other real family and guest pleaser is TTS. I've coupled all my announcements with the BLRandom plug-in. What this does is instead of HomeSeer TTS announcements being the same all the time it always says something different. It may mean the same but it's said differently. This does a couple of things, first, it gets people to pay attention since it's not the same old tired announcement and second it all but gives HomeSeer a bit of a personality (mine ). I get more comments on TTS, about how the system seems almost human, than I ever would have imagined.
          Marty
          ------
          XPpro SP3 /w HS Standard 2.5.0.80, HSTouch Server - 1.0.0.70, HSTouch Client 1.0.0.73 HSTouch Android - 1.0.0.2, HSTouch iPhone - 1.0.0.2
          Playing with HS3 a bit but it's just play at this point.

          Comment


            #6
            Not really "cool", but I arm and disarm my elk alarm with it based on the time and if we have to get up for work or school. Another one that is big is the caller ID announcements.

            Comment


              #7
              I work a bizarre shift pattern at work so any traditional seven day period for a heating schedule is not compatible. I copied my shift pattern into a database and using an SQL query work out the following days time I am meant to be in work. From here I then set my heating setpoint so as to save heating an empty house, with the heating coming on an hour before I am due to finish. No conventional heating programmer would keep up with this so this I could not live without.

              Simple stuff like my doorbell sending me a text message to my phone other people (non HA/non techies) consider to be truly amazing technology when in reality in the scheme of most HA things it was not really that difficuly to actually implement.

              Comment


                #8
                I have a blowup Santa I put out at Christmas. At dusk I check the current wind speed and if under 8 MPH announce "Turning on outside blowup" then turn it on. Then I check every 10 mins. between dusk and when turned off, and if the wind gets over 8 MPH announce "Turning off outside blowup, wind speed is ??" then turn off. If the wind lays I turn it back on.
                I had one torn up by the wind so created this script to solve the problem.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Sorry, cant keep it to one The three things I get the most comments on being cool are:

                  1. The system double dings (the old time gas station double ding sound) when a car pulls in, and single dings when a car leaves along with a strobe flash in the work out room. High WAF (teenage kids coming and going without telling us there intentions) and visitors always comment on how nice it is to know someone has come or gone.

                  2. When someone comes to the door and rings the doorbell, HS emails me a picture of the door and driveway so I can see if it's a delivery or not along with how the dog is greeting them. Everyone at works gets a kick out of it when I have a package delivered and the dog is peeing on the delivery truck tire.

                  3. I have level sensors (ultrasonic distance sensors) on the dog food bin and soft water salt reservoir. So HSTouch shows a green, yellow, orange, and red level for what state they are at. I can't let the dog to hungry or he might eat my deliveries.

                  Ken J.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    My coolest HS application is a rheed-relay in my mail box. I usually wake up very early in the morning and I can check with HS whether the morning newspaper has arrived or not. I can pick up the newspaper only after it has arrived. This is extremely useful application for me (it would be very annoying to check the mail box and find it empty when it's raining or when it's very cold outside during winter time).

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I'd have to say, my favorite thing has to be just looking at one screen and seeing "Home is secured." with all the CCTV feeds and the last ran events and alerts, and being able to interact entirely with my home thinking that just a year ago, my home was just a normal home with no advanced technology in it.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        The coolest thing..... I haven't decided yet but my wife loves to show everyone our dog's gumball "treat" machine. I took an old gumball machine and put a servo inside to spin the dispenser and filled it with dog treats, added a camera on top and now we can give them treats and watch from anywhere in the world. My HSTouch projects all have a treats page with a live camera feed, light control, and a treat button. Simple but cool!

                        John
                        Attached Files

                        Comment


                          #13
                          It's been said many times: It's hard to pick just one.

                          My most favourite thing is that HomeSeer wakes me up just a little at a time, with the bed room light going from 0% to 100% over 30 minutes. Sometimes accompanied by bird song that is also fading in.

                          It makes the mornings less brutal.
                          HSPro 3.0.0.458, Z-NET with Z-wave plugin 3.0.1.190, RFXCOM + 2x RFXtrx433E, HSTouch, Squeezebox plugin, iTach IP/WF2IR & GC-100-6 with UltraGCIR, BLDenon, NetcamStudio, Jon00s Webpage builder, Harmony Hub plugin, SCSIP (with FreePBX), Arduino plugin, IFTTT, Pushalot plugin, Device History plugin.
                          Running on Windows 10 (64) virtualized
                          on ESXi (Fujitsu Primergy TX150 S8).
                          WinSeer (for Win10) - TextSeer - FitbitSeer - HSPI_MoskusSample

                          Are you Norwegian (or Scandinavian) and getting started with HomeSeer? Read the "HomeSeer School"!

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Water usage monitoring.

                            Regards
                            Michael
                            Attached Files
                            Last edited by mmn; June 7, 2012, 09:45 AM.
                            Regards,
                            Michael

                            HS3, W10 Home, HSTouch, W800, Z-Stick+

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Moskus View Post
                              It's been said many times: It's hard to pick just one.

                              My most favourite thing is that HomeSeer wakes me up just a little at a time, with the bed room light going from 0% to 100% over 30 minutes. Sometimes accompanied by bird song that is also fading in.

                              It makes the mornings less brutal.
                              That's funny... I do the same thing! Really does make the whole waking up "experience" more friendly!

                              Aside from that, I've always liked the idea of having control of my heat/AC from work - though, not such a big deal now as there are T-stats that do this without HS. I've been doing it since 2005.

                              All in all, I like the idea of the control I have with my house from anywhere. I can turn on the pool heater before I leave work if the monitored water temp is low etc.... it just goes on and on...

                              Rob
                              HS3PRO 3.0.0.500 as a Fire Daemon service, Windows 2016 Server Std Intel Core i5 PC HTPC Slim SFF 4GB, 120GB SSD drive, WLG800, RFXCom, TI103,NetCam, UltraNetcam3, BLBackup, CurrentCost 3P Rain8Net, MCsSprinker, HSTouch, Ademco Security plugin/AD2USB, JowiHue, various Oregon Scientific temp/humidity sensors, Z-Net, Zsmoke, Aeron Labs micro switches, Amazon Echo Dots, WS+, WD+ ... on and on.

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