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    Introduction


    #2
    Welcome, and good luck! I'm experienced with HomeSeer, but by now means as expert as some of the folks on this board.

    Some thoughts:

    (1) Start with a discrete task you want to do, instead of doing it all at once.

    (2) I have the SEL-PRO (actually 2 -- one in each house), and I like it. But, beware that I *think* there are issues with the Linux flavor of HS communicating with serial ports. I don't know the details, but do some poking around this forum.

    (3).Easiest way to start with HS is really light control via Z-Wave.

    (4) Realize that these forums are essentially user driven. Don't expect the HomeSeer folks to read anything you post. They do sometimes. If there's a bug you find (and there are bugs), it can be hit or miss getting their attention.

    My own thoughts on HomeSeer is that it's a very solid system once you get it down. For those willing to script (above my pay grade) it can do more. In terms of HA systems out there, I believe it's the best, although it is far from perfect.

    From what I can tell on this forum, it can be addictive, where people keep pushing and pushing the limits of what HS3 can do. I've found, by comparison, that I had a list of things of what I set out to do, the system has done them, and now I don't really have to involve myself at all with the system. It Just Works. A recipe for problems, by comparison, is to keep messing with the system. Once you have it "down," there's no need to upgrade to the latest beta of the software, the Z-Wave plug-in, etc., unless it's offering functionality that you need.

    My two cents. Others may disagree, but welcome!!

    Comment


      #3
      If you are comfortable with Windows, I would stick to it over Linux for greater compatibility (at least right now). Not all plugins play nicely with Linux.

      With prior programming experience you will probably end up writing scripts. When you get there, look here.

      tenholde
      tenholde

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks to you both.

        I'm actually FAR more comfortable with Linux than Windows. I haven't had Windows in my home since Win98 and even that I only kept around for games. I'm stuck ( IMO ) using a Win laptop for work but even there I basically log on, launch my Citrix connections to a Linux server back on the east coast and really only return to Windows for my work email.

        I know there are some plugins not available for the Linux versions and that the SEL at least doesn't come with a serial port, but I have not yet run into anything that makes either of those look like show stoppers. So I will stick to the platform I'm comfortable with unless something major comes up between now and the fall. Support for the various voice packages are, tbh, the only thing I think I'm going to miss.

        Thanks for the pointer to tenScripting. I have seen a lot of posts about python scripting as well and when the time comes I'll probably pursue the options there first. Again, it's a familiar platform and I just wouldn't have other areas of interest in the VB scripts. I may have to go that route though if it's the only solution for certain challenges of course.

        -L

        Comment


          #5
          The Systems Control Room!

          Welcom To HomeSeer!

          I'm not a good blogger or writer like you are but here is my take on this. Start here: 10 Gigabit Home Network on You Tube. Please check out that guy's videos (I think has about 4 or 5). What he did is exactly what you on about.

          And because you said you love linux =====> This: http://cloudcorerouter.com/ should be on top of the list!


          The BitScope Blade Rack (Raspberry Pi x 4)



          Now this is because you poked me! I wanted to do this but I will let you go first!

          Ok, because you mentioned rack and green here is a cool rack solution which will have you dancing on stilts ====>BitScope Blade Rack (Raspberry Pi x 4) can sing your tune! NOTE: That rack blade can power all 4 PIs on one power supply!
          Armed with the HS3-Pro licence you wil be ready to do amazings things. You ask yourself why the Raspberry PI ? (And I mean the model 3 ) Don't get wrong yet. I do run a Windows server 2012 R2 with the HomeSeer HS3 Pro. And it does a good job of it plus more of what it was designed for.
          But for the green credentials those little boards caught my eye and have not taken my hands off them since!

          In the above posts they already mentioned what you get with your licence, the build is yours but with alot of help if you require any as you go along.
          Before you find spare change for a Windows Server Licence, lets get on with the PIs .Remember you have space for 4 but you can get one 1 first to prove me wright!

          PI #1 Here:https://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=162813 is where the Linux install instructions plus alot of help.
          ====> Did someone say you can't use a hard drive with Raspberry PI? They lied! Take a look at this:http://wdlabs.wd.com/category/wd-pidrive/

          PI #2 There are plugins which will make you go WOW! Take a look at my side project here: https://forums.homeseer.com/showpost...0&postcount=17 I did that before I saw that Rack box. ====> If you had everything in that Rack box then you don't need all that space and you know what!

          PI #3 Remember I said there will be plugins which will make you go WOW! ====> Take an look at my little project of mine here:https://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=185697

          PI #4 If I said that there no more ideas for the fourth PI then I wasn't truthful You sure can make a redundancy system out of that should you require to perfom surgery on the main system and /or build RaZberry z-wave server out it (This needs some work to get it work with HomeSeer)

          To sum it all up====> What will all that cost ? ====> 1 Love 2 Time 3 Some cash 4 And spending so much time on computers so please ask for permission
          Start with one and add another as you dive deeper in or join the CLAN


          NOTE: And get one of these babies please! http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/c...=detview1&rb=1



          Eman.
          Last edited by Eman; January 8, 2017, 03:46 PM.
          TinkerLand : Life's Choices,"No One Size Fits All"

          Comment


            #6
            Welcome to Homeseer Lawrence.

            Here switched over to Homeseer in Linux when first available purchasing the Homeseer Zee a few years back.

            In the mix today is a Leviton Omni Pro 2 security/automation panel, Homeseer 3 Pro and Homeseer Zee-2.

            With the above said I use multiple controllers today; IE: UPB, X10, Z-Wave and Zigbee.

            I am tinkering today with a Smarthings hub / Amazon Echo (I am not cloud oriented) integration to my OmniPro 2 panel.

            HS3 Pro is running on Ubuntu 16.04/64 bit. I like the Microsoft SAPI voice fonts such that I am running Wintel server / W7 using Oracle VB's on the same box.

            One of the benefits of Homeseer today is that you can run Homeseer plugins remotely to the mothership doing a sort of hub and spoke automation setup.

            Today my Homeseer Z-Wave is running from an RPi2 / Jessie POE connected device in the attic with a decent Z-Wave footprint in the home.

            I do not proxy MS SAPI TTS/VR here and mix it with the Amazon Echo stuff a couple of ways. One is using the Amazon Echo and the other way is using an Amazon Echo Alexa plugin to Homeseer.

            I would suggest building your home to be automation friendly starting with the electric, switch boxes, outlet boxes, et al. (inside and outside).

            Have a read on Cocoontech relating to a new home and wiring 101.
            - Pete

            Auto mator
            Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
            Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
            HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

            HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
            HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

            X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Pete View Post
              I am tinkering today with a Smarthings hub / Amazon Echo (I am not cloud oriented) integration to my OmniPro 2 panel.
              I have seen a lot of people reference using Echo for their voice control and voice updates from HS, but since I have no intention of hooking my home directly up to the cloud I didn't think an Echo was even possible. Are you able to use the Echo in a "local only" mode?

              Originally posted by Pete View Post
              I would suggest building your home to be automation friendly starting with the electric, switch boxes, outlet boxes, et al. (inside and outside).

              Have a read on Cocoontech relating to a new home and wiring 101.
              That's exactly my plan and why I'm trying to get my head around requirements early. I appreciate the Cocoontech reference! With all the other major costs associated with a new home build I'm not going to be able to implement much from the starting line but I want to be sure I do the important infrastructure work up front where it's cheaper and more effective. Then expand later using that pre-work.

              -L

              Comment


                #8
                Are you able to use the Echo in a "local only" mode?

                You cannot use the Amazon Echo without connecting to the Internet.

                That said you can utilize Microsoft SAPI TTS / VR locally and the 3rd Party Kinect plugin locally which I do or have done over the years.

                Relating to infrastructure start there first to create a base.

                Relating to my electric added circuits here to get granular with what I had in the house.

                IE:
                1 - the server room - patch panel locations had multiple dedicated circuits.
                2 - Satellite antenna wiring from outside to server room
                3 - family room wired extra circuits for media center and speakers (7.1) et al type of stuff
                4 - used catxx for extending RS-232 and USB connections many years ago.
                5 - if you are going to be checking on your well and septic wire, water pumps, et al LV wire for that too.
                6 - if you are going to utilize solar panels, generator, et al LV wire for that too.
                7 - build chases for adding stuff later on.

                Much more to it that 1,2,3 above.

                I prefer wire over any sort of wireless automation; that is me. Such that I have wired for everything. IE: Zoned audio wiring was 16/4 and 16/2 to boxes with catXX for in wall speakers and local control. Initially started with the Leviton Chopin volume controls then went to a Russound zoned audio system.

                The wiring parts are relatively inexpensive and only labor is involved and easiest to DIY it yourself or lay a wiring diagram over an electrical print and ask your GC for a quote to wire your home.
                - Pete

                Auto mator
                Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Beowulf View Post
                  I have seen a lot of people reference using Echo for their voice control and voice updates from HS, but since I have no intention of hooking my home directly up to the cloud I didn't think an Echo was even possible. Are you able to use the Echo in a "local only" mode?
                  Nope, Echo only works through the internet. It streams your voice commands to Amazon for voice recognition, then Amazon sends text via MyHS account back to the HS controller in your house. Any reason why you don't want to connect to the cloud at all? Note that nearly everything can be run by a HS controller independent of the internet, but it comes in handy to be connected to log into your system while away from home to look at things, for Echo support, and other applications like IFTTT if interested.

                  John

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by jhearty View Post
                    Any reason why you don't want to connect to the cloud at all?
                    The Russians.

                    Seriously though, I already have a lot of involvement in cloud services both personal and professionally. I'm not necessarily tinfoil-hat objectionate but I also don't believe in sharing (or risk sharing) any information to someone when I have no vested interest in giving it. Data mining and agregation are items constantly being discussed in our workshops and I just choose not to participate. My music and video collection is stored locally-only because there is no need for Apple/Amazon/whoever to know what I have and how I like to access it. I typically run my browsers through Tor or similar services and use do-not-track options when available because I have no need in providing any advertisers with my data that I can prevent without much difficulty. I won't personally use a Mac or Windows based computer for anything significantly personal. I have absolutely no trust that Amazon/Google/Apple are not leveraging my data, even if claimed it's annonymously and won't open my home usage up to that.

                    Don't take me as a wacko here though. If something is best or only available online then so be it. I have a Netflix, Hulu and Pandora account. I have Facebook, Twitter, etc., but I actually never use them for sharing any "real" information (basically hobby only). I'm sure that any email I'm sending via my gmail account is being parsed and aggregated for marketing purposes but that's why I also have a dedicated mail account on my own mail server for family-confidential mail and I secure those messages with some recipients if they are important enough.

                    From the start my HomeSeer setup will be local only. In time I will investigate some secure options to pass information in and out of my firewalls (secure MQTT, VPN, etc.) but until I have a high level of confidence in that solution I am in no rush to expose anything important.

                    -L

                    Comment


                      #11
                      'anything Important' is always subjective. Lol.

                      I use my Google Home with Homeseer via IFTTT so much now, I wouldn't be able to do half the things I use my home automation for without 'the cloud'.

                      But I could care less if they get that little bit of info from me; they can have it. It is worth the benefits I'm getting (to me).

                      Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Beowulf View Post
                        The Russians.

                        Seriously though, I already have a lot of involvement in cloud services both personal and professionally. I'm not necessarily tinfoil-hat objectionate but I also don't believe in sharing (or risk sharing) any information to someone when I have no vested interest in giving it. Data mining and agregation are items constantly being discussed in our workshops and I just choose not to participate. My music and video collection is stored locally-only because there is no need for Apple/Amazon/whoever to know what I have and how I like to access it. I typically run my browsers through Tor or similar services and use do-not-track options when available because I have no need in providing any advertisers with my data that I can prevent without much difficulty. I won't personally use a Mac or Windows based computer for anything significantly personal. I have absolutely no trust that Amazon/Google/Apple are not leveraging my data, even if claimed it's annonymously and won't open my home usage up to that.

                        Don't take me as a wacko here though. If something is best or only available online then so be it. I have a Netflix, Hulu and Pandora account. I have Facebook, Twitter, etc., but I actually never use them for sharing any "real" information (basically hobby only). I'm sure that any email I'm sending via my gmail account is being parsed and aggregated for marketing purposes but that's why I also have a dedicated mail account on my own mail server for family-confidential mail and I secure those messages with some recipients if they are important enough.

                        From the start my HomeSeer setup will be local only. In time I will investigate some secure options to pass information in and out of my firewalls (secure MQTT, VPN, etc.) but until I have a high level of confidence in that solution I am in no rush to expose anything important.

                        -L
                        In the case of voice recognition, there is no local solution that comes close to Amazon Echo. That's the tradeoff. I've viewed good voice recognition as the holy grail of home automation, have tried several times in the past, but it has never been ready for prime time. Amazon Echo/Alexa is a solution that actually works. I am now excited about home automation again, and the WAF has zoomed way up.

                        tenholde
                        tenholde

                        Comment


                          #13
                          And I absolutely hate talking to machines, so there's no way I'll use voice recognition.

                          Those horrible phone menu systems that expect you to talk to a computer really get my back up; I just wait 'til they time out so I can talk to a real person, which I would have had to do anyway. I wouldn't have phoned them if I didn't need to talk to someone!

                          I'm with Beowolf, and expose as little as is reasonable to the internet. I don't have any data that's particularly valuable or important but I do value my privacy and don't want to share unknown data with the likes of Google.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Each to their own. I get probably about 98/100 accuracy on voice commands on the Google Home commands I use for my Homeseer. Is truly awesome.

                            Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Hi Beowulf,

                              Here:is another link on intrest: http://store.zwavecenter.com/index.p...tegory&path=59
                              Just bookmark it. You will never know when you need it.
                              They say they are based on Fibaro but I have not tested any yet.



                              Eman.
                              Last edited by Eman; January 10, 2017, 11:53 AM.
                              TinkerLand : Life's Choices,"No One Size Fits All"

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