Home Automation

[bruceb58]

Anyone here use home automation? I am going to be adding some touchscreen locks to my vacation home along with some z-wave sensors and switches to control lights. Trying to figure out what the best hub is to but. Thinking about Smarthings or Vera.

Anyone use either of these?

 

[Darrenmb]

I have neither, but i looked into using z wave products when i found out my harmony remote can control them. Not sure that a hub was even needed. Anyways... i work for a custom home builder so i approached our low voltage guys for advice, i was told to steer away from zwave as it had quite a few teething problems, and communication errors, mind you, this was about.8 years ago now and he was.installing a now defunked colorado v-net system in a show home! (Cant even get parts for.it anymore)
People seem to to be using crestron now, and its capable of whole.house.lighting, sound, security, and climate, but that stuffs not cheap.. i will be watching this thread in hopes of maybe looking into doing my.house.again, maybe zwave has improved!!

 

[Scott Danforth]

I have an uncle that builds home automation systems. Lately he does more high-end buildings, etc. i myself prefer a dumb house.

will PM you a contact.

 

[tpenfield]

I got one of those "Alexa" thingys . . . now the Admiral gets flowers every time the TV commercial comes on

 

[Scott Danforth]

I got one of those "Alexa" thingys . . . now the Admiral gets flowers every time the TV commercial comes on

did you see the news story where the 6 year old ordered cookies and a doll house with Alexa....mom and dad had a $160 credit card bill.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/6-year-...dollhouse-cookies-with-amazon-echo-dot-alexa/

Then again, did you see the movie "I.T." with Pierce Brosnan and his smart house that gets hacked.

 

[SeaDooSam]

i myself prefer a dumb house.
.

Haha!

 

[bruceb58]

People seem to to be using crestron now, and its capable of whole.house.lighting, sound, security, and climate, but that stuffs not cheap.. i will be watching this thread in hopes of maybe looking into doing my.house.again, maybe zwave has improved!!

Yeah...no way in hell am I using Creston. Way expensive and it doesn't do anymore than what a hub from Vera or Smartthings does. It does have a nice display if you are into that for thousands of dollars. My understanding is that Creston also uses z-wave devices.

The main thing for me is for my vacation house. I can update the lock codes for when I have renters and no longer have to FedEx keys. I can give each renter a unique code that only works for a certain time. Right now I also have a lockbox for contractors to use. With a smart lock, I can give a contractor a code that only works for the time he needs to get in. I might do some other simple things like dim down some of my garage and front porch lighting and have a motion sensor that brightens them back up when a renter arrives late.

Not going to go crazy, Just want to know what the UI is between the hubs.

 

[jkust]

Reading your plans kills me as we don't have internet at our lake house but I would like to have some options to monitor things and control some stuff as well. The neighbors have a DSL line but it is so slow, it is nearly useless so technically available just expensive for what you get.

 

[bruceb58]

The neighbors have a DSL line but it is so slow, it is nearly useless so technically available just expensive for what you get.

Define slow. For something like this, you could use dial up speeds.

 

[jkust]

Define slow. For something like this, you could use dial up speeds.

So slow that only one PC can be connected at a time and a page takes forever to load...and I think they are paying north of $30/month for it.

 

[bruceb58]

So slow that only one PC can be connected at a time and a page takes forever to load...and I think they are paying north of $30/month for it.

That would likely be fine for this as long as you weren't planning on using a camera.

 

[tallcanadian]

I know Weiser locks have their own free app to lock and unlock doors. Most Z wave products have their own apps now. No more monthly fees. Alarm companies will charge you a lot.

 

[bruceb58]

I know Weiser locks have their own free app to lock and unlock doors. Most Z wave products have their own apps now. No more monthly fees. Alarm companies will charge you a lot.

I ended up going with Vera. Samsung Smarthings has a more robust product but they don't have built in functions to change the entry code in a Yale lock remotely. With Smartthings you either have to write your own or download procedures off the web that other people wrote. I would prefer to have built in functions. Neither system had monthly fees in case you were wondering.

Now I am experimenting with a motion detector setting a light back up to full brightness after I have it turned lower at midnight. Interesting system and fun to play with.

 

[Tim Frank]

Looking to add remote heat adjusting capability at my cabin; all-electric heat.....240 V two-pole stats. Not having a lot of luck finding good options that don't require a lot of system mods..

 

[Darrenmb]

My old harmony 890 remote but the bullet over the weekend, ordered the new harmony elite and hub, supposed to arrive today, apparently it can do all that stuff, change t stats, lock doors, etc will be fiddling tonight..... alao has an app for phone so i can unlock doors etc remotely, i was reading that you set scenes, like "good night" hit that button, and it can be programmed to lock all doors, turn off all lights, leave bathroom.light on at 10 percent as a nightlight, etc. Looming forward to this evening, already downloaded the app to my phone, but cant go any further until hub is set up...

 

[Sprig]

I have a security system that allows me to remotely from anywhere to adjust temp., turn on/off heat and a/c. I can also turn on/off certain lights. It also has 4 security cameras that I can view anytime, anywhere from my phone, iPad or what ever divide I am using.