On Wednesday I had my first hardware failure, the Wayne Dalton Z-Wave thermostat died, 4 days after I installed it. The guys at SmartHomeUSA were great, I had bought the thermostat a couple of months ago but hadn’t had time to install it, they replaced it with no drama, fitted the new one and so far so good. Will update later if that changes.
So, now not only can we control the temperature locally, we can automate it via HomeSeer, and remotely using our iPhone with HS Touch.
I am currently testing the HS Touch Server and PI-IPHONE-IPAD plugin, along with the iPhone/iPod Touch application. The combination of these three pieces of software allow me to remotely control the HomeSeer system.
HS Touch, this is an interface module that runs as part of HomeSeer and a windows application that allows you to create fully customized screens for controlling the HomeSeer system from touch screen devices.
I chose HomeSeer for one reason, it supports connection to my Napco alarm system. While there seems to be a thriving community of HomeSeer users, the development of the Napco plugin has stagnated. However I hope to remedy that in the near future.
As mentioned previously I went with Z-Wave technology and have purchased a number of dimmers to take control of the lighting. Last year when I went searching I found Leviton had nice looking and reasonably priced dimmers at Lashen Electronics.
The dimmers come in a variety of colors and current ratings. The biggest issue I had was the desire to control CFLs which I’m afraid to say are not easily controlled. So it was back to incandescent or halogen fixtures, but as they are dimmed and controlled by the HomeSeer system I am not too concerned about energy usage.
These are of course Z-Wave and scene capable, allowing me to control a number of them with a single command from either the home control software or from my hand-held remote control.
I intend to get a number of these switches in the near future, when I first bought the dimmers these switches were not available, I need these to control the coach lights around the house.
At the heart of the network is a D-Link 24 port Gigabit switch, this ties together all the computers, satellite components, Apple TV, home control system and various other ethernet equipped hardware.
I mentioned in a previous e-mail that I was not a fan of coax, nor of telephone wires. So when designing the wiring for the house I decided on a different approach.
From Wikipedia: Z-Wave is a proprietary wireless communications protocol designed for home automation, specifically to remote control applications in residential and light commercial environments. The technology uses a low-power RF radio embedded or retrofitted into home electronics devices and systems, such as lighting, home access control, entertainment systems and household appliances.
About the house, a local builder was developing new houses as phase 2 of an existing estate. Our house was to be the first in a block of three, and as it turns out the only ranch style on the block. The builder had plans available, from which we picked the style we liked and set about changing it.
The basic price was for a house built to the plans, with builders selection of fixtures, fittings and finish. We decided to customize many aspects of the house, we changes the layout of the kitchen / dining / great room. Made it much more open plan. Upgraded the master-bath, kitchen and arrangement of stairs to the bonus room above the garage.
Lastly and most importantly for this part of the blog, I had the builder create a media closet in the garage to house the media components, distribution system and home control system.
Instead of COAX cables and telephone cables to each room, we had 3 runs of CAT6 network cable installed. Two service the media distribution system, the other for either computer or IP-Phones.
The home automation category of this site is to detail and record information relating to the wiring and home automation of my new house. Projects I have completed that control aspects of every day living, trials and tribulations along the way and thoughts and feelings about the hardware and software choices I made.
Primarily for my own benefit, but maybe of help to others.
