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    Home Automation help

    I am trying to set up a home automation system and I have looked all over for home automation systems and I think I am going to use this one but I need some more convincing so I am 100% sure that I want to use this program. I am also going to be using a weather Plug in. Can anyone help?


    Thanks

    Matthew Conklin

    #2
    There are probably tons of people that can help, but you will need to be a little more specific with your needs. There are several ways to use weather with HS.

    Comment


      #3
      One thing that I want to do is to run the pump on a pool, turn on some lights outside at dusk, control lights inside the house during the day, set the temperature on a thermostat for when we wake and when we get home in the evening, and if it rains not to turn on the sprinkler and turn on a heater in the pool if it is cool out and take pictures from a camera that is all set up already. And more things on that line of events. I plan on using the VWS Plug in as well.

      Comment


        #4
        All of that is entirely doable with HomeSeer. In some cases you may need different hardware. For example if the thermostat(s) you currently have are not supported by HS (a lot are) then you would be out of luck unless you got a new stat. But everything you mention is being done by lots of people today. For example in the winter my "make it toasty" event runs for my upstairs stat w bit before I typically get up so that the house is just a touch warmer than normal when I hop out of bed.

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          #5
          What would I need to get for equipment and software for 3 story house for inside and outside elements.

          List of proposed automation system

          1. control living room light and fan Combo
          2. control pool pump
          3. control pool heater depending on weather
          4. control coffee pot
          5. control 2 thermostats
          6. control ropelight outside
          7. control security lights outside
          8. capture camera image (Camera provided)
          9. Control Sprinklers depending on weather
          10. Later on Door locks and windows (If Applicable)

          Thanks for the help

          Comment


            #6
            For items 1,2,3,4 and 6 you will first want to decide if you want X-10, Z-Wave, Insteon, UPB or something else. These are all various "protocols" if you will on how to control devices. Each has it pros and cons. X-10 is *generally* the least expensive, but the slowest and least reliable. Don't read that as even remotely unusable, most of my stuff is still X-10 but I am slowy migrating away. I'd suggest reading a bit on the board about the various types of control before you decide anything.

            For your stats, same thing. Read on the board. There are generally posts in the stat section about "what would you recommend."

            For sprinklers, take a look at mcssprinklers and see if that would meet your needs.

            For security look at the Camera Plugins forum and see what you can there. You CAN do things without those plugins, but genreally plugins make it easier. My cameras are not supported by the plugin so I use ActiveWebCam which has command line options so HS is still taking the shots using the command-line options.

            I don't think there is a lot on door/window locks yet, but I know there is some discussion about an upcoming zwave door lock.

            Comment


              #7
              Welcome to the journey! Before I got HomeSeer spent about 6 months researching different software on the market - HS2 has some really strong points - first being the ability to tie numerous technologies together and being able to run your home. The software has been around for over 10 years now and they are always making improvements - a number of the technologies on the market today aren't that old.

              As stated before take some time reading the board - there is a wealth of information here.

              Does your house have neutrals in the box or is it 2 wire?

              I use alot of Z-Wave in my place and am doing everything I saw listed so far except the sprinkler's - can't water any way due to the water restrictions down here.

              Comment


                #8
                How much is this going to put me back? Also one other thing with the proposal to have a Touch put in as well


                Thanks

                Comment


                  #9
                  Pricing depends - you can have a Yugo or you have a Rolls-Royce or anything in between - That's up to you.

                  As far as Touch goes I picked up a Asus EeeTop about 3 weeks ago and I think it was one of the best investments I have made this year - 15.6 inch touchscreen and wall-mount capable for less than $600 dollars - have been setting up the house ever since.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Keep in mind Rome wasn't built in a day. This house is my 3rd automated house in 8 years. I have been in this house for 3.5 years and I am still finding things to automate. Price depends on what you want to do. It all started because I wanted to have the lights in my TV room automatically dim when I started a movie. as suggested this forum and several others have a wealth of information and experiences, read, ask questions and read some more
                    Over The Hill
                    What Hill?
                    Where?
                    When?
                    I Don't Remember Any Hill

                    Virtualized Server 2k3 Ent X86 Guest on VMWare ESXi 4.1 with 3 SunRay thin clients as access points - HSPro 2.4.0.48 - ZTroller - ACRF2 (3 WGL 800's) - iAutomate RFID - Ledam - MLHSPlugin - Ultra1wire - RainRelay8 - TI103 - Ultramon - WAF-AB8SS - jvESS (11 zones) - Bitwise Controls BC4 - with 745 Total Devices - 550 Events - 104 scripts - 78 ZWave devices - 42 X10 devices - 76 DS10a's 3 RFXSenors and 32 Motion Sensors

                    Comment


                      #11
                      To start what would you recommend me to get to get started with?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by southturnerweather View Post
                        To start what would you recommend me to get to get started with?
                        I would probably start with Z-wave. Moderately, as switches go, priced, numerous manufacturers. My biggest gripe with z-wave is that there is no one switch, for me, that has it all. I really like the look and feel of Insteon, but Insteon has had it shares of issues. However those seem to be a bit more in the past (read some threads) and may be a good option.

                        Do you have neutrals in your boxes? That will matter. If you have neutrals you can use just about any switch. If you do not you will specifically want switches with no neutral required.

                        This can all set you back as much as or little as you like. I started years ago with w CP-290 and one switch.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          ok would it be better to go with one of the kits that home seer sells or go with piece by piece?

                          Comment


                            #14
                            This is what I want to do as of right now and more to come later but this would probably be the minimum that I would want to start with

                            1. control living room light and fan Combo
                            2. control pool pump
                            3. control pool heater depending on weather
                            4. control ropelight outside
                            5. control security lights outside

                            Comment


                              #15
                              That is a tough question. As stated previously there are several protocols (technologies) All the technologies can communicate to Homeseer. Not all protocols work in all environments. like was pointed out, do you have neutrals in your switch boxes? what is the compostion of your house. The 4 common protocols are X10, Insteon, UPB and Zwave. Each protocol communicates differently. X10, Insteon and UPB use the powerline to send the communication between devices, Zwave uses RF. Depending on who you talk to will yield different opinions. X10 is the oldest of the protocols, is slow compared to the rest (each communication requires .7 seconds) but the least expensive. Insteon works for a lot of people, I personally had a bad experience with it in its very early days. I have never tried UPB. Originally my install was all X10, but today is 2/3 Zwave and 1/3 X10. Another deciding factor is cost. Check out some pricing, the Homeseer store, www.automatedoutlet.com, www.smarthome.com and others will give you an idea what each switch or device will cost. Some protocols require a neutral wire in each switch box, if you don't have them you either have to have them installed or go with a protocol that doesn't require them. Different protocols offer different type of device offerings (function, looks etc) this is why it is important to search thru the forum here, each protocol has its own section, read about others experience and try to see if there are posts from users who may have similar situations to you, in other words try to learn from others experiences. Some people have severe noise on their powerlines which causes problems or requires additional components for the powerline based protocols, others have situations that make using rf based protocols nearly imposssible. So to make a recommedation is difficult at best. All of the protocols theorectically work, all of the protocols have good points and bad, and once you make a decision on a protocol, not all devices are created equally.

                              But the beauty of Homeseer is you are not limited to one protocol, meaning you can have a mixture of all of the protocols (you have to have the interface for each protocol you have installed), but homeseer allows them to all work together
                              Over The Hill
                              What Hill?
                              Where?
                              When?
                              I Don't Remember Any Hill

                              Virtualized Server 2k3 Ent X86 Guest on VMWare ESXi 4.1 with 3 SunRay thin clients as access points - HSPro 2.4.0.48 - ZTroller - ACRF2 (3 WGL 800's) - iAutomate RFID - Ledam - MLHSPlugin - Ultra1wire - RainRelay8 - TI103 - Ultramon - WAF-AB8SS - jvESS (11 zones) - Bitwise Controls BC4 - with 745 Total Devices - 550 Events - 104 scripts - 78 ZWave devices - 42 X10 devices - 76 DS10a's 3 RFXSenors and 32 Motion Sensors

                              Comment

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