Home (shop) automation

[F357]

I live a ways from my shop. It seems like there are a million things I need to turn off or on every time I get to/leave the shop, and I'm tired of it. Lights, heaters, fans, A/C, other lights, more lights...

My goal is to build a web page for my shop, on this web page will be video from my cameras, thermostat controls, on/off controls for nearly everything in the shop, security system, and maybe even door lock controls. Then I can remote control my shop from my cell phone.

I tried setting up a system with X10 components, but I am very disappointed. Everything X10 seems highly outdated and unsupported. I got some relays setup for lights and they only worked sometimes, can't figure out why. Getting it to work with my computer and Windows 8 is damn near impossible. It does seem to be very cheap per "module". Apparently the official X10 forums are no longer active and the company filed for bankruptcy last year. (though new modules are still being manufactured)

Does anybody recommend something besides X10? I know there are a few other competing systems, but are they any better? I've been looking at these WIFI relays on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281205997347
Seems like a good alternative, but I'd rather have individual modules like the X10 system uses. I can't find anybody selling a single channel WIFI relay. Also, a system like that will allow me to turn things on/off via computer, but what about local controls? How would I turn the lights on without a computer?

Anybody else have a home automation setup running?

 

[SLYDIT]

you could set up a sub panel with Relays/contactors that can switch on/off the circuits required. could be controlled by an I/O board on a pc or maybe even a raspberry Pi.
that way you could interupt all your lighting circuits, compressor power outlets at the source.It would require a bit of rewiring from your fuseboard but i guess you cant make an omlett without breaking eggs.the sytem you linked to has pretty low current rated realys so youd have to add some better relays anyway... there are some decent PC programmes that can control the X10 gear, just wondering what issues you had? if the main transmitter unit isnt placed correctly or is a long way from the x10 receivers , they can be a bit flakey.

 

[F357]

there are some decent PC programmes that can control the X10 gear, just wondering what issues you had?

It seems much of it does not like to work with Windows 8. I didn't spend a long time playing with it, the bigger problem is that my modules were only responding some of the time. I tried using two transceivers, with one plugged in directly under my panel. Some of the relays would respond, others would not. The next day it would work fine and I changed nothing. Maybe I had some bad modules or something, I'm not sure. My shop is big and has a lot of wiring, maybe it's just confusing the powerline signals.

Overall it just seems like a complicated/unofficial system. The advantage of course is there is very little wiring to do, modules go where ever you need them, and they are dirt cheap.

It's not hard for me to change the wiring in my shop, but we all know how much copper cost.

 

[SLYDIT]

if you can interupt your power as it comes out your main board and then just run some jumper cabling into the relay/contactor sub panel that may solve many of the things without running all new cabling out to all the stuff? looks like you may need to look into Linux operating system?

 

[rsanter]

How much are you willing to spend?
You can go,with PLCs, specifically opto22
They have a modual that will connect with the internet and your smart phone that can allow you to turn on and off whatever you want

Bob

 

[JohnX14]

I se in the op "lights, heat, AC, more lights. Why not just keep it simple? Use Occupancy Sensors for indoor lights, motion sensors for outdoor lights, and some new thermostats that can be controlled by your smart phone?

 

[KenB]

Insteon is the new goodness in home automation and has a partnership with Microsoft. Huge online support community, too. See smarthome.com.


Ken

 

[bczygan]

Rats..... I thought it was going to be about this!

 

[jdm5]

+1 on Insteon - been slowly automating my home. Not cheap but works very reliably

 

[Speedy Petey]

Now I have had mixed results with Insteon. I went from the 2412 interface to the Hub because of their hype on it, but the first one I got was bad. The replacement does work but certain things still **** out, like the schedule I had for flood lights, which seems to only work sporadically. Also the fact that the Houselinc PC app does not interface with the iOS app like the old app did with the 2412.
I have used some of their switches and modules for creating 3-ways and switches where wiring was not possible, but at this point there is NO WAY in hell I'd recommend Insteon to any of my customers for home automation. The online reviews seem to support this. When I see just as many negative reviews as positive I have to think twice about it.

 

[Beemer533]

I se in the op "lights, heat, AC, more lights. Why not just keep it simple? Use Occupancy Sensors for indoor lights, motion sensors for outdoor lights, and some new thermostats that can be controlled by your smart phone?

Without knowing budget or how much time and DIY you want to put into it, this is certainly the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to do it..

But if you want to start adding things on, like a security system, you may want to consider something like an Elk kit. This particular one even has an Insteon module for further integration.

Add a relay kit to it and you can control 12 high current (up to 10A@120VAC) devices directly. Off course you could also use these to control an even heavier duty relays to control things like 240V compressors.

If you want to go full DIY, you could set up a Web server with a Raspberry Pi and control an Arduino that can control a whole slew of relays and pretty much whatever you want..

 

[F357]

How much are you willing to spend?

Probably up to around $500. Better if I can set it up a little bit at a time like X10, but it seems like everything else comes in banks of 8 or 10. I'm already about $100 into the X10 stuff for 3 lights, hoping I can put it back up on ebay.

I se in the op "lights, heat, AC, more lights. Why not just keep it simple? Use Occupancy Sensors for indoor lights, motion sensors for outdoor lights, and some new thermostats that can be controlled by your smart phone?

A lot of the lights are metal halide, so they can't be turned on and off all the time. That was another issue with X10, it doesn't really do thermostats. The WIFI thermostats I've seen are really expensive. I also want to just have the temperature reported to me so that I can turn on an exhaust fan manually sometimes.

A lot of the time I get all the way home and I forgot something is on at the shop. I need to be able to turn it off without driving back.

It's looking more and more like I will have a dedicated server with various types of relays attached, but that still begs the question, how do I have local control? I don't want to have to go find a computer just to turn the lights on.

I found this thing last night:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281143587236
Seems like it might make a good cheap thermostat.

 

[Speedy Petey]

If you do happen to consider Insteon, it is X-10 compatible, so you can use the modules you have.

 

[bargainhuntingking]

http://ninjablocks.com/products/ninja-blocks-kit

 

[sands35]

Mbed, arduino and raspberry pie are all capable of home automation. If you are handy with that sort of thing.

Belkin's wemo stuff is also plug and play.

 

[paranoid56]

you can try using zwave stuff. i have that in my house and its very user friendly, you just replace switches with them, or plug in relay setups and i can controll it all with my phone.

 

[grifter679]

i used to be a programmer/hardware engineer/project engineer for Schneider Electric doing Building Automation for hospitals, central plants, schools, etc. i am fortunate to have lots of spare parts and access to software that makes implementing a full web ui and automated system at home financially feasible. however for the average joe the cost is a huge deterrant. when it comes to a it a network controller with web ui runs about $6-7k plus controllers and components.

you can aways go with WEBRelays, they are cheap and very simplisitc, you can throw them on a public ip and configure them so that you send an email with a string command and it will open or close the outputs. the same is with alarm systems, you can use the web relay to send you a text or email when an input or output has a change of state.
http://www.controlbyweb.com/webrelay/

 

[Beemer533]

i used to be a programmer/hardware engineer/project engineer for Schneider Electric doing Building Automation for hospitals, central plants, schools, etc. i am fortunate to have lots of spare parts and access to software that makes implementing a full web ui and automated system at home financially feasible. however for the average joe the cost is a huge deterrant. when it comes to a it a network controller with web ui runs about $6-7k plus controllers and components.

What are you referring to as a network controller for $6k?

you can aways go with WEBRelays, they are cheap and very simplisitc, you can throw them on a public ip and configure them so that you send an email with a string command and it will open or close the outputs. the same is with alarm systems, you can use the web relay to send you a text or email when an input or output has a change of state.
http://www.controlbyweb.com/webrelay/

These are pretty neat, but not cheap. Definitely geared towards commercial applications.

 

[grifter679]

a network controller bridges the hardware I/O (input /output) controllers to a graphical web user interface. instead of a typical PLC having all of your input output boards all one rail and possibly having remote I/O in the field. the network controller can be used soley to support remote i/o. on top of that multiple controllers can be interfaced together and can share information between devices. for a residential application a single network cntroller would be used to tie a ligting control panel, security alarm system, power metering devices. etc. all to a web browser interface. plus almost infinite data logging capabilities are possible if data is exported to a pc with a large harddrive, on some of my sites we have trending of thousands of values at 15 min intervals that go back to 2003.

as far as price for the web relay, i would say they are worth the cost.
i have used them in man applications and they are rock solid units.

 

[W-Cummins]

Ah just the guy to help me out with my powerlink g3 stuff! !
William......

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[SLYDIT]

i would go with an arduino hooked up to a relay board and contactors for the high current stuff. you can prgramme up stuff like wait times for metal halide/mercury vapour lighting etc etc very capable unit.......if you know your way around a computer

 

[shopnut]

I'm in a similar situation - wanting to make sure all things are shut down when I leave. I have a box full of X10 components that I intended to use. I even had the modem controller so I could switch something off from a distance (okay, I bought it some time ago). I had big dreams of some type of remote operation. It's all in the box yet.

After about the third time driving back to the place because I was pretty sure I left something on, I decided to do something about it. But I decided against the X10 stuff.

Here's some of the things I'm done:

1. I'm a "list" guy, so just having a checklist for the things you need to do before you leave really helps.
2. Installed 7-day timers on the water heater and air compressor. I do not set an "ON" time however (I do that manually when I arrive or when needed), but there are several "OFF" set times following the usually days I am there. If I stay an extra day, I click it on one more time to buy another day. It will always turn off the next day after I leave.
3. Installed 12-hour spring-wound timers on many things that that I may use for a given day. For instance, chargers for cordless tools and smartphones and my exhaust fan. The timers control switched outlets. I wind them up in the morning for the desired duration of time and things are powered up throughout the day in the shop. They switch off automatically about the time I stop working in the evening. When I'm gone, I don't have to worry about something overheating and starting a fire or just simply wasting energy when not being used.
4. I built a control panel that uses colored indicator lights for various things in the shop to signify if a light or fan was left on, or a window or door was left open (the power windows were really easy to forget about because they are about 15' high!). With any red lights showing on a quick glance over to the panel, it tells me I'm not ready to leave yet. Green indicator lights means "good to go". Here's the panel:

Someday, full automation might be in my future (and I'm sure I would enjoy playing with it) but so far these methods are working quite well. You can check out my Asylum build thread where more information was given on the things mentioned above.

Good luck.

 

[Beemer533]

That panel idea is great and it looks really well put together!

I'll have to check out the original thread.

 

[Stuart in MN]

There's an article in today's Minneapolis newspaper about Honeywell, they are introducing a new smart thermostat. It looks similar to the Nest, but senses when you're in the room by monitoring your smart phone's position.

http://www.startribune.com/business/262553351.html

These days, smartphones allow people to deposit their paychecks, map their destinations and, of course, order pizza. Now Honeywell offers a new twist: a thermostat that tracks your smartphone and automatically resets temperatures whenever you’re out of the house.

Honeywell introduced the device, called Lyric, on Tuesday as the smarter, hipper version of the iconic “Round” thermostat that Honeywell first offered to American homeowners in 1945. Today’s version uses Wi-Fi, “the cloud” and encrypted data, and it promises to be very green.

“The Lyric thermostat knows when you are coming and going based on smartphone location and so can deliver comfort when you’re home and savings when you’re away,” said Beth Wozniak, president of Honeywell’s Environmental and Combustion Controls division. “Using the location of your smartphone, the geofence feature automatically turns the Lyric thermostat into energy-saving mode when a home is empty and then senses when you are coming home and heats or cools the house to your preferred temperature.”

Honeywell’s device will retail for about $279 and can be installed professionally or by the homeowner. It will be available in Lowes stores in August and in Home Depot and other retail stores around October, said Tony Uttley, vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s Home Comfort and Energy Systems.

Lyric comes a year after Honeywell introduced a voice-activated thermostat and a pilot system that, using Wi-Fi, can connect appliances, lights, heating and entertainment equipment to an e-reader that dispenses energy-saving tips. The idea is to make energy savings and comfort effortless, while staying cutting edge for consumers who expect more wireless conveniences for the home.

It took 18 months, millions of dollars and a team of about 50 engineers, programmers, designers and marketers to bring Lyric to market. Uttley said the market for all Wi-Fi-connected home appliance and energy systems is estimated to be $5 billion and Honeywell intends to increase its market share.

Lyric’s geofence feature is set by the homeowners to detect when their cellphone passes a preset perimeter that is either 500 feet or 7 miles from the house. Officials insisted that the device won’t track a person’s location but only senses when the cellphone passes the designated virtual “fence.”

At that point, the Lyric app will calibrate and reset a house thermostat to the best energy efficient setting possible — usually between about 62 and 85 degrees. Midwest homeowners should expect to save $133 to $173 a year with the automated resetting, Honeywell said. Customers in other parts of the country could save more or less.

Kevin Weirich, Honeywell senior product marketing manager, said the Lyric thermostat is the first in a family of Lyric products that will roll out over the next few months. The idea is to offer wireless technology that maximizes “home connectivity.”

Future Lyric products will link smartphones with multiple systems that let homeowners remotely turn on security systems, lock doors, turn off lights and shut garage doors from any location, Uttley said.

Right now Lyric is a sleek round thermostat that is embedded in a wall just like its “Round” predecessor. But the new device glows red when the heat turns on, blue when the air conditioner comes on and green when the system is in the energy-efficiency mode. With the tap of a button, it also displays weather and humidity information and can be programmed to send automatic alerts when the furnace filter needs maintenance.

But some consumer watchdog groups say homeowners should ask questions before embracing countless phone apps and home technologies that use Wi-Fi systems to track every little detail.

“When you look at apps like this, the real questions are ‘how long will they keep the data? Is it personally identifiable? Who has access to the data?’ Often these are hard questions to get. If they are, that should be a concern,” said Rebecca Jeschke, media relations director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Some tracking technologies, such as toll readers on cars and cellphone data, have found their way into court cases involving divorces, custody battles and police demands for data, she said. But beyond privacy issues, there could be security issues.

Honeywell officials said they anticipated such questions. “The way we do data encryption [and testing] is state of the art,” Uttley said. “Because of our aerospace and defense work, we have to take data privacy extremely seriously and cybersecurity extremely seriously. So this Lyric platform was built with that in mind.”

 

[shopnut]

That panel idea is great and it looks really well put together!

I'll have to check out the original thread.

Hey thanks Beemer. This link should make it easier to find the starting point in my somewhat lengthy build thread: Link

 

[NaturallyAspirated]

You could implement a PLC and some relays for not a lot of money. OPC systems has some cool looking HMI software to interface with the PLC and generate web based control. My new build will have a PLC home automation system when completed. I already purchased a Direct Logic PLC frame. Granted it isn't the absolute cheapest or easy solution...

 

[Beemer533]

Thanks for the link! Looks like I have some reading material... Damn that is a long thread!

 

[69gp]

This is what I have. My son gave me 1 switch and receptacle from WEMO for Christmas and it works great. You can look at your phone to see what is on and if you want to turn something on you can do it via a phone or i pad.

http://www.belkin.com/us/Products/h...;jsessionid=D2A0F5E4E6521523E5557EF7E85D859F/

 

[Blk88GT]

I've got a bunch of the Wemo light switches, they work great.

 

[mrgm]

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Iris_239939199_
http://getvera.com/

look them up on the youtube also

 

[600SL]

So far no luck with getting the Insteon keypad switches to shut down the garage with one button. As soon as I set the off button on both switches to turn off everything than the On button start turning lights off in the opposite room?