5 ms·

What hardware are you using? I've wanted to try home automation for a while but all I can find is either the lowend stuff (X10) or the really highend stuff that

by yardie 14y ago

What hardware are you using? I've wanted to try home automation for a while but all I can find is either the lowend stuff (X10) or the really highend stuff that requires a dealer to install it for you.

luser001 14y ago
I don't think original parent did away with the hardware components. X10, Insteon etc also sell software to manage their devices. That is not cheap. That s/w is probably what he replaced. I did a small bit of home automation myself. I went with X10 (for low cost). I strongly suggest you do that too. I set up an intrusion alarm system. I have multiple wireless (RF) door open and motion-detection sensors. I use a RF-to-USB X10 device to receive these signals on my Linux desktop. My shell/Tcl scripts interpret this data and send email and (SMS via AT&T's email-to-sms gateway) if the alarm is triggered. They also turn on many lights and play an audio warning message, and turn on a webcam and start streaming the video to a remote server. :) Since my house wiring is ancient, Insteon won't work in my house. For the same reason, ground-level sockets can be controlled by a plugged-in X10 controller, but not wall switches.
davidcuddeback 14y ago
He mentioned Insteon, so I'm assuming http://www.insteon.net/ http://www.insteon.net/. I've been wanting to get into home automation too. My biggest fear is vendor lock-in. I'd like to hear more about how he gave his garage door a REST API, because that's something I could build my own interface for.
- noonespecial 14y ago
  I had an old X10 relay module laying around. I just straight wired it in parallel with the wall button. http://www.thex10shop.com/product/x10-pro-home-automation-pum01-universal-relay-switch-module-um506 http://www.thex10shop.com/product/x10-pro-home-automation-pu... Looks like its been discontinued but I'm sure something like it still exists. I probably payed the $20 retail for it. Thus my judgement that it cost less than a new clicker from Sears. The garage door has a sensor that's part of the security system, which was replaced by a beaglebone. Between the two systems, I can use the main server to program a small app to GET the state of the door and PUT the door into the open and closed state.
noonespecial 14y ago
I have an eclectic blend of old X10 and Insteon devices. I've got an antique serial interface for querying and setting the statuses of the modules. The shipped software was win3.1. The hardware control devices were awful. Hooking the serial device to my home server and writing a restful web app with control screens for various tasks for use with my smartphone and junk tablets scattered about was magic. I also replaced a thermostat and the ridiculous "mainboard" in our home security system with beaglebone boards. I've been working on that stuff for years. The missing part was always a cheap, always on touch screen device to give it a reasonable interface. The day is finally here. I'm really excited about the kindle paperwhite for this purpose.
nitrogen 14y ago
Something that isn't often considered for home use is DMX-512. I use DMX to control lights with the Nitrogen Logic automation controller. It has the lowest per-channel dimming cost of any system I've found (cheaper per light even than X10 and Insteon dimmers), but requires home run wiring. Using my libdmx485[0], you can control a DMX network very easily using a highly affordable FTDI USB-to-RS-485 adapter, or (shameless plug time) you can buy a Nitrogen Logic controller if you don't want to write your own software. [0] http://sourceforge.net/projects/dmx485/files/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/dmx485/files/ (I need to move it to Github)

by yardie 14y ago

luser001 14y ago

I don't think original parent did away with the hardware components. X10, Insteon etc also sell software to manage their devices. That is not cheap. That s/w is probably what he replaced. I did a small bit of home automation myself. I went with X10 (for low cost). I strongly suggest you do that too. I set up an intrusion alarm system. I have multiple wireless (RF) door open and motion-detection sensors. I use a RF-to-USB X10 device to receive these signals on my Linux desktop. My shell/Tcl scripts interpret this data and send email and (SMS via AT&T's email-to-sms gateway) if the alarm is triggered. They also turn on many lights and play an audio warning message, and turn on a webcam and start streaming the video to a remote server. :) Since my house wiring is ancient, Insteon won't work in my house. For the same reason, ground-level sockets can be controlled by a plugged-in X10 controller, but not wall switches.

davidcuddeback 14y ago

He mentioned Insteon, so I'm assuming http://www.insteon.net/ http://www.insteon.net/. I've been wanting to get into home automation too. My biggest fear is vendor lock-in. I'd like to hear more about how he gave his garage door a REST API, because that's something I could build my own interface for.

noonespecial 14y ago
I had an old X10 relay module laying around. I just straight wired it in parallel with the wall button. http://www.thex10shop.com/product/x10-pro-home-automation-pum01-universal-relay-switch-module-um506 http://www.thex10shop.com/product/x10-pro-home-automation-pu... Looks like its been discontinued but I'm sure something like it still exists. I probably payed the $20 retail for it. Thus my judgement that it cost less than a new clicker from Sears. The garage door has a sensor that's part of the security system, which was replaced by a beaglebone. Between the two systems, I can use the main server to program a small app to GET the state of the door and PUT the door into the open and closed state.

noonespecial 14y ago

I have an eclectic blend of old X10 and Insteon devices. I've got an antique serial interface for querying and setting the statuses of the modules. The shipped software was win3.1. The hardware control devices were awful. Hooking the serial device to my home server and writing a restful web app with control screens for various tasks for use with my smartphone and junk tablets scattered about was magic. I also replaced a thermostat and the ridiculous "mainboard" in our home security system with beaglebone boards. I've been working on that stuff for years. The missing part was always a cheap, always on touch screen device to give it a reasonable interface. The day is finally here. I'm really excited about the kindle paperwhite for this purpose.

nitrogen 14y ago

Something that isn't often considered for home use is DMX-512. I use DMX to control lights with the Nitrogen Logic automation controller. It has the lowest per-channel dimming cost of any system I've found (cheaper per light even than X10 and Insteon dimmers), but requires home run wiring. Using my libdmx485[0], you can control a DMX network very easily using a highly affordable FTDI USB-to-RS-485 adapter, or (shameless plug time) you can buy a Nitrogen Logic controller if you don't want to write your own software. [0] http://sourceforge.net/projects/dmx485/files/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/dmx485/files/ (I need to move it to Github)