Home automation - AR15.COM

Posted: 1/16/2015 10:26:26 PM EDT

Have any of you guys taken the home automation leap? I'm looking at Insteon, I primarily would like motion sense for automatically turn on/off lights in the house. Eventually i'd like to get the window/door alarms integrated for alerts, thermostat, etc.

Posted: 1/16/2015 10:30:56 PM EDT

[#1]

In for info I guess.

I bet you could home brew a pretty sweet system with a few raspberry pi's or arduinos. Throw in a bunch of usb controlled relays, or better- PoE relays.

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:20:08 PM EDT

[#2]

I have been looking at the Smartthing seems to be a good pretty good platform, and compatible with a lot of Zwave sensors.

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:23:39 PM EDT

[#3]

Waiting for HomeKit products to hit the shelves

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:35:34 PM EDT

[#4]

My company does commercial HVAC and building automation.

For home use someone needs to make a kit that's easy to use out of the box. They are working on it and it's getting close.

I mainly just want to control my HVAC from my smart phone. I might get selected to try our new product line and give real world feedback.

I found this commercial pretty funny for a smart thermostat.

A Very Hot Afternoon

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:39:53 PM EDT

[#5]

In for info as well. Are these occupancy sensors smart enough to detect your presence in the room even if you haven't moved? Like sitting on your couch watching TV with a laptop on your lap much like many of us right now?

As for just using a thermostat I was looking into the Honeywell wifi thermostat
http://yourhome.honeywell.com/home/Products/Thermostats/7-Day-Programmable/Wi-Fi+Smart+Thermostat.htm

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:43:14 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
In for info as well. Are these occupancy sensors smart enough to detect your presence in the room even if you haven't moved? Like sitting on your couch watching TV with a laptop on your lap much like many of us right now?

As for just using a thermostat I was looking into the Honeywell wifi thermostat
http://yourhome.honeywell.com/home/Products/Thermostats/7-Day-Programmable/Wi-Fi+Smart+Thermostat.htm

View Quote

Occupancy sensors send out beams and the space between the beams spreads out the further you get away from them. So, if your sitting area is between the beams it won't detect your movement. However, just rotate the sensor till you're in the beam. Kinda hard to explain without graphics. You can also get dual technology sensors that detect sound.

Look into Ecobee thermostats as well.

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:44:39 PM EDT

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:

Occupancy sensors send out beams and the space between the beams spreads out the further you get away from them. So, if your sitting area is between the beams it won't detect your movement. However, just rotate the sensor still you're in the beam. Kinda hard to explain without graphics.

Look into Ecobee thermostats as well.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
In for info as well. Are these occupancy sensors smart enough to detect your presence in the room even if you haven't moved? Like sitting on your couch watching TV with a laptop on your lap much like many of us right now?

As for just using a thermostat I was looking into the Honeywell wifi thermostat
http://yourhome.honeywell.com/home/Products/Thermostats/7-Day-Programmable/Wi-Fi+Smart+Thermostat.htm

Occupancy sensors send out beams and the space between the beams spreads out the further you get away from them. So, if your sitting area is between the beams it won't detect your movement. However, just rotate the sensor still you're in the beam. Kinda hard to explain without graphics.

Look into Ecobee thermostats as well.

I think I understand what you mean. Thanks.

eta

That ecobee3 seems awesome. I'm gonna do some more research on it.

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:50:37 PM EDT

[#8]

I have the best thermostat and smoke detector and some Phillips hue lights. That's as far as I've gone.

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:55:27 PM EDT

[#9]

The Schneider Electric Wiser Energy Management system is pretty robust as well.

With this system you can actually take control of breakers in your breaker panel if you get their communicating breakers. So, if your smart wiring the lighting in your house it would be really easy to turn them on/off from there. Won't work too well if the lights are on the same circuit as the plugs. Something to keep in mind if you're planning on building a house.

Schneider Electric Wiser Home Management

Posted: 1/16/2015 11:59:09 PM EDT

[#10]

It would be nice to see some standardization from the "off the shelf" products. Its really obnoxious if you need different apps for your thermostat, porch light, oven, etc. True centralized control is a long way off, I think. Or you'll just be stuck with one vendor.

Posted: 1/17/2015 12:05:17 AM EDT

[#11]

My only problem is I don't really trust any of the companies doing it.

So for me it would either be home brewed or nothing. Currently I just have cameras.

Posted: 1/17/2015 12:05:28 AM EDT

[#12]

Sensors for lighting have come a long way. Turining off lights is the best way to save money (not so much with LED lighting.)

Posted: 1/17/2015 12:45:54 AM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
The Schneider Electric Wiser Energy Management system is pretty robust as well.

With this system you can actually take control of breakers in your breaker panel if you get their communicating breakers. So, if your smart wiring the lighting in your house it would be really easy to turn them on/off from there. Won't work too well if the lights are on the same circuit as the plugs. Something to keep in mind if you're planning on building a house.

Schneider Electric Wiser Home Management

View Quote

Do you work for Schneider? I work for a competitor...

I don't know anything about home automations though.

Posted: 1/17/2015 12:49:50 AM EDT

[#14]

Home automation is a solution looking for a problem.

Posted: 1/17/2015 12:53:52 AM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
Home automation is a solution looking for a problem.

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I think integrating scheduling, fire monitoring, lighting and security is a no brainer. I don't think that the stuff that I've seen so far is as robust and comprehensive as the stuff large buildings use.

BAS' for small and mid size buildings is the future. I have no doubt of that.

Posted: 1/17/2015 12:57:22 AM EDT

[#16]

I am slowly cobbling together a Crestron system for my house.

Thermostat, couple of light switches, gate control, house audio and AV control.

And I am going to try to do something really stupid. Program the thing myself.

Don't try this at home.

Posted: 1/17/2015 1:13:18 AM EDT

[#17]

Getvera.com

Posted: 1/17/2015 1:15:56 AM EDT

[#18]

If your interested in a self monitored system, which you can add products to as you go. Check out the Nexia line of home automation products.
www.nexiahome.com

Posted: 1/17/2015 1:18:14 AM EDT

[#19]

I had a full HAI system in my house. Sucked moving out and leaving it all behind.

Posted: 1/17/2015 1:19:06 AM EDT

[#20]

more shit to break. not for me.

Posted: 1/17/2015 2:22:53 AM EDT

[#21]

Quote History

Quoted:

Do you work for Schneider? I work for a competitor...

I don't know anything about home automations though.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
The Schneider Electric Wiser Energy Management system is pretty robust as well.

With this system you can actually take control of breakers in your breaker panel if you get their communicating breakers. So, if your smart wiring the lighting in your house it would be really easy to turn them on/off from there. Won't work too well if the lights are on the same circuit as the plugs. Something to keep in mind if you're planning on building a house.

Schneider Electric Wiser Home Management

Do you work for Schneider? I work for a competitor...

I don't know anything about home automations though.

I do work for Schneider in one of their building automation divisions. Home automation wise you can do anything you want to. The hardest part is the programming for the hard core home user. I have one of our controllers on my desk right now and with enough relays and sensors can do some pretty cool stuff with. However, I'm not a programmer.

For home automation to take off it needs to get standardized and the user interface and setup needs to be really easy for your average person.

Posted: 1/17/2015 12:55:42 PM EDT

[#22]

bumpy

Posted: 1/17/2015 1:20:30 PM EDT

[#23]

I have a zwave system. Turns lights on at dusk, off when I want. I only do lights right now, but you can add many things to it.

http://homeseer.com/

Posted: 1/17/2015 1:24:26 PM EDT

[#24]

I have a z-wave thermostat, alarm sensors and some light controllers that I can control remotely via my iPhone.

I also have multiple security cameras which I can view on my iPhone using Blue Iris.

Posted: 1/17/2015 1:39:31 PM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
In for info I guess.

I bet you could home brew a pretty sweet system with a few raspberry pi's or arduinos. Throw in a bunch of usb controlled relays, or better- PoE relays.

View Quote

This.

Cheap. Easy. Use the X10 protocol and access all sorts of readily available modules to accomplish whatever you want.

Posted: 1/18/2015 12:31:56 AM EDT

[#26]

aqua-bumping

Posted: 1/18/2015 5:08:33 PM EDT

[#27]

another bump

Posted: 1/20/2015 11:51:10 PM EDT

[#28]

someone did a thread on this a few months ago. several professional installers chimed in with good info.

my search-fu is weak

Posted: 1/20/2015 11:54:13 PM EDT

[#29]

I have a few occupancy sensors in my house, just because I always forget to turn lights on and off. I also have the outside lights on a timer. Have yet to dabble in whole-home automation though.

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