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    New Home Build Suggestions / Compatibility Questions

    Hi everyone,

    We're currently constructing a new home and would like to implement some home automation and by the recommendation of a good friend have decided to run with Homeseer.

    I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of the possibilities so please bear with me if these questions seem dumb.

    ---

    Things that I would like to automate and/or have scene controls over:

    Lighting
    - Whole house is LED / EnergyStar lighting
    - Exterior lighting as well

    For lighting...there are certain areas in our great room where pot light layout ties in to two different zones on the ceiling (from an aesthetic standpoint). I would really like to be able to make them work in unison. ie. If I turn on my dining room lights, the lights around the table would turn on, as well as the 3 pots on the outside perimeter which would be on separate switches...since the dining room pours out into common area/hallways. Might be tough to visualize right now so I will post some pictures if needed. From my programming days in my head it seems like it would be an and/if scenario.

    Heating
    - 18 zones of Radiant Heating (controlling without traditional thermostats would be ideal)
    - Central A/C
    - 2 HRV units

    I'm thinking of using the Aeotec Multisensor 6 for every radiant heated zone. I'm assuming I will be able to use something like the Heatit Z-Water control module...and use Homeseer to take the temperature readings from the Multisensor to send a signal to the Z-Water controller to activate the appropriate zone valve on the manifolds. Also would like to tie in the A/C as well but that would ideally run off the average of all the sensors since it's one large unit.

    Blinds
    - Prewiring most windows for blinds, unsure what to do for controls.

    This seems pretty straightforward and something that I can deal with after we've completed the house but it would be nice to go in with a plan before we start wiring.

    Security
    - Camera system
    - Door/window sensors
    - Motion detection

    [I]Again not a high priority item at this stage in construction. I plan on running Cat6 to all the points where I'd like cameras...would appreciate suggestions on what might get me ahead of the curve while we're still looking at walls with no drywall.

    ---

    I guess my question is...am I on the right track here or do you guys see some flaws in what I'm trying to accomplish? I feel like this is going to consume a vast amount of my time...but I really dislike the closed-door nature of the Control4/Crestron systems that are generally available from installers in our area. I do enjoy tinkering though so I'm kind of looking forward to learning everything needed to accomplish what I want.

    If there's any Homeseer guru's in Vancouver, BC...I'd appreciate the contact referral.

    Thank you for making it this far in this essay.

    #2
    Originally posted by nin10do View Post
    Hi everyone,

    We're currently constructing a new home and would like to implement some home automation and by the recommendation of a good friend have decided to run with Homeseer.

    I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of the possibilities so please bear with me if these questions seem dumb.

    ---

    Things that I would like to automate and/or have scene controls over:

    Lighting
    - Whole house is LED / EnergyStar lighting
    - Exterior lighting as well

    For lighting...there are certain areas in our great room where pot light layout ties in to two different zones on the ceiling (from an aesthetic standpoint). I would really like to be able to make them work in unison. ie. If I turn on my dining room lights, the lights around the table would turn on, as well as the 3 pots on the outside perimeter which would be on separate switches...since the dining room pours out into common area/hallways. Might be tough to visualize right now so I will post some pictures if needed. From my programming days in my head it seems like it would be an and/if scenario.

    Heating
    - 18 zones of Radiant Heating (controlling without traditional thermostats would be ideal)
    - Central A/C
    - 2 HRV units

    I'm thinking of using the Aeotec Multisensor 6 for every radiant heated zone. I'm assuming I will be able to use something like the Heatit Z-Water control module...and use Homeseer to take the temperature readings from the Multisensor to send a signal to the Z-Water controller to activate the appropriate zone valve on the manifolds. Also would like to tie in the A/C as well but that would ideally run off the average of all the sensors since it's one large unit.

    Blinds
    - Prewiring most windows for blinds, unsure what to do for controls.

    This seems pretty straightforward and something that I can deal with after we've completed the house but it would be nice to go in with a plan before we start wiring.

    Security
    - Camera system
    - Door/window sensors
    - Motion detection

    [I]Again not a high priority item at this stage in construction. I plan on running Cat6 to all the points where I'd like cameras...would appreciate suggestions on what might get me ahead of the curve while we're still looking at walls with no drywall.

    ---

    I guess my question is...am I on the right track here or do you guys see some flaws in what I'm trying to accomplish? I feel like this is going to consume a vast amount of my time...but I really dislike the closed-door nature of the Control4/Crestron systems that are generally available from installers in our area. I do enjoy tinkering though so I'm kind of looking forward to learning everything needed to accomplish what I want.

    If there's any Homeseer guru's in Vancouver, BC...I'd appreciate the contact referral.

    Thank you for making it this far in this essay.

    You explained all that you wanted to do but the System/Server for that matter.

    In short go here : https://www.aartech.ca/homeseer-technologies

    compare and contrast what you want to do if found on that site. Do you want the work done for you? Am sure they will be willing to help as a first stop.



    Eman.
    TinkerLand : Life's Choices,"No One Size Fits All"

    Comment


      #3
      18 zones of heating sounds excessive to me unless you're building one REALLY large house. Do you spend many hours in a single room/zone? If you're planning to zone each room with radiant heat, I'd think you'd have very uneven heating. Especially moving from room to room, you'd leave a warm room and enter a cold one that would take quite a while to heat up. Probably more efficient to heat the whole house or at least keep it to a few zones.
      HS Pro 3.0 | Linux Ubuntu 16.04 x64 virtualized under Proxmox (KVM)
      Hardware: Z-NET - W800 Serial - Digi PortServer TS/8 and TS/16 serial to Ethernet - Insteon PLM - RFXCOM - X10 Wireless
      Plugins: HSTouch iOS and Android, RFXCOM, BlueIris, BLLock, BLDSC, BLRF, Insteon PLM (MNSandler), Device History, Ecobee, BLRing, Kodi, UltraWeatherWU3
      Second home: Zee S2 with Z-Wave, CT101 Z-Wave Thermostat, Aeotec Z-Wave microswitches, HSM200 occupancy sensor, Ecolink Z-Wave door sensors, STI Driveway Monitor interfaced to Zee S2 GPIO pins.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Eman View Post
        You explained all that you wanted to do but the System/Server for that matter.

        In short go here : https://www.aartech.ca/homeseer-technologies

        compare and contrast what you want to do if found on that site. Do you want the work done for you? Am sure they will be willing to help as a first stop.



        Eman.
        Hi Eman,

        I was planning on using Aartech for all the parts I'll need.

        I should've mentioned I would be using the Hometroller Pro S6 so it should cover all bases.

        I'll give them a ring to see if they have recommended installers.

        Thanks

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by reidfo View Post
          18 zones of heating sounds excessive to me unless you're building one REALLY large house. Do you spend many hours in a single room/zone? If you're planning to zone each room with radiant heat, I'd think you'd have very uneven heating. Especially moving from room to room, you'd leave a warm room and enter a cold one that would take quite a while to heat up. Probably more efficient to heat the whole house or at least keep it to a few zones.
          The house is fairly big at about 7200sqft including the garage. It's 3 stories as well so although I agree that 18 is a lot of zones we've laid it out so it makes sense.

          There's also 5 ensuited bedrooms, the master bedroom having two zones (one for the bedroom/hallway/walkin and another for the ensuite heated flooring) as well as another standalone bedroom that has the "spa" as its own bath across the hall. That alone is 8 zones.

          18 might be a bit much, but not by a lot in the opinion of the heat loss evaluators. Seems to be somewhat standard for a modern house of this size in our climate.

          Air conditioning would be nice to run off of an average temp from all the readings on the main floor and second level...I'm hoping that's accomplishable via Homeseer as well.

          Comment


            #6
            For such a large project like that if allowed in the US and Canada you may also deploy a PLC type system like :
            https://www.unipi.technology/products/evok-47 for remote devices like sprinklers and outside lighting where it requires on/off control.Where distant zwave and the like would be hard to manage. And of course to cut down on costs. One Unipi Neuron can have a multitude of input/output connections and to control them in HomeSeer you would need the Jeedom plugin to do the magic! The rest is straight forward. Once you have the HomeSeer server you can even start small and watch your system grow. Dedicate a small utility room where you can map all your systems run from .


            Eman.
            Last edited by Eman; February 20, 2018, 03:47 AM.
            TinkerLand : Life's Choices,"No One Size Fits All"

            Comment

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