It seems that my time as a yuppie, at least the “urban” part, is coming to an end. I’m moving to a suburban split-level Deck House next week. Here are some things that I’d like to be able to do…
- turn on most of the lights on the main level when arriving home
- turn on most of the lights on the lower level when walking downstairs
- turn off all of the lights when leaving the house or going to sleep (the feminine component of our household seems to be incapable of accomplishing this with traditional light switches)
- have the bedroom and kitchen thermostats turned up automatically at 6:00 am (oil heat and 1968 construction = painful bills)
- connect to the house from a Web browser and/or mobile phone and turn the heat on or off
- lock and unlock doors, perhaps via electric striker plates and keypads on the exterior
- connect to the house from a remote Web browser and see some video images
- run an alarm system using the same software/hardware (optional)
In the 1970s this would have been accomplished with X10. What’s a more modern system that is likely to be around for 20 or 30 years? Ideally each light switch or thermostat would be IP-addressable and connect via powerline network or 802.11. Some of the lighting control systems that I’ve seen for sale cost $100 per switch, which would be enough to put in an 802.11 chip.
[A separate but related question might be “With energy so expensive and computers so cheap, how come these things aren’t standard in every new house?” One would think that every new American house would have a button by the front door marked “I am the last person to leave” and it would turn off all the lights and quiet down the HVAC system.]
Don’t kid yourself, the Y in yuppie no longer applies either…
As for home automation, if you still have some proceeds from Ars Digita left, have a look at the Savant system, otherwise Insteon is the way to go, and offers backward compatibility with X10. I don’t understand either why IP-based home automation hasn’t taken over by now, possibly IPv6 based, but it just hasn’t.
There are people working on integrating inexpensive Arduino microcontrollers with Ethernet but it is very early work. Most of the Ethernet-based controllers come from the industrial process automation world and cost more like $400 a piece.
One interesting perspective is the work ar Rensselaer to make a 10Mbps network using high-frequency modulation of LED lighting fixtures. This would be a good yet cheap control channel for home automation purposes.
I will be intrigued to see what you find.
What I have found, as an architect, is that the locking is foolish to pursue. It’s just too difficult to install. I have one house in Vegas that is 7,500 square feet with numerous doors out to a courtyard and a few to the exterior yard. That locks and unlocks like a car: all doors bolted at once, or all doors unlocked at once. It was a tremendous amount of work to convince the subcontractors and contractor that we were doing something worthwhile.
A decade later building a house twice the size the solutions are either rinky-dink (check any gadget blog) or hugely expensive (aimed at institutions). The electro-magnetic locks fall into this category. I really like them except they are “unlocked” with no power and they are too expensive (still).
Crestron appears to have a stranglehold on the automation market for residential construction. Programming the stuff is really expensive (you could make more as a Crestron programmer than you can as the Captain on regional jets). It is all proprietary. I think it is worth starting a page on your website as you gather information.
I went lo-tech and have nightlights in most of my house (multipacks from Costco). They generate enough light to see and use very little electricity. Lights are then operated digitally (ie with a finger) as needed 🙂
Wireless (as in 802.11) cameras are $100 now although the cheap ones won’t work well in low light. You can get free software such as zoneminder to monitor them. No doubt you could enhance zoneminder to turn lights on or off according to motion detection and time of day.
Insteon’s probably the easiest way to go. It’s basically X10 redone with ’90’s technology instead of ’70’s; it has a larger address space, it’s 2-way, every device is a repeater, it has better coding on the wire for better noise resistance, etc. It’s still not perfect–it’s sort of slow (a couple hundred ms delay), and it’s still vulnerable to interference in some cases.
Basically, you just replace your switches with Insteon switches and then have a PC or Mac somewhere acting as a controller. I’ve used Indigo on the Mac; it’s pretty trivial. It supports Insteon switches, thermostats, sprinkler controllers, and a bunch of wireless stuff as well. You should be able to do everything but the remote door locks with it without too much trouble; I assume Windows software is similar.
Supposedly z-wave hardware is a bit more reliable, at about 2x the cost; I haven’t looked into it as there doesn’t appear to be any Mac software support available.
Check out Centralight which makes intelligent lighting systems:
http://www.centralite.com/
It is a company started by Jim Busby, the guy that started QMS Printers. Very nifty switches and software. I’ve seen some of these systems and they are very cool and customizable. And they are constantly moving into new areas (thermostats, etc)
We have houses in NY & VT, both use Insteon for some basic lighting control,
Axis web cams for status monitoring, and the VT house has a web controlled
thermostat. I’ve had trouble with Insteon modems in much the same way
old X10 would cough up puzzles: phases, unexplainable loss of command
codes, occasional flaky operation. Takes some debugging to make it work.
Then of particular annoyance was finding an appropriate Internet gateway
for the Insteon – the solution I’m using is fairly awful IMO (the ISY-26). So
much so that I wrote a small perl script to control the modems directly
from a Linux machine. This was easy enough to do, the challenge being
finding public documentation on the Insteon protocol. Summary: it will
take some geek work, not something grandma can setup for you.
I read Home Hacks from O’Reilly recently. It recommended X10 because running control wires will be expensive or unsightly, and local wireless at each switch is not much better. Unlike a plan from the 70’s, it covered integration with a computer, 802.11, reading weather info from online, allowing control from internet, integration with iCal, and a lot of other more recent technologies.
We just redid our kitchen. I looked at lighting control panels just for that room alone. Standard systems ran in the $800 range. Seemed kind of like a stupid price for such simple functionality. We passed on that and just went with electronic dimmers instead.
Hi Philip
Interesting to see this after reading your blog for months. My businesses operate in this field, and although I’m in the UK I have many US friends that operate in your area.
After 20 years, despite us selling $2,000,000 AMX and Crestron systems to our fiscal nomad clientele. my advice is to keep it really simple. Lutron have very robust lighting control equipment (some of it “wireless”) with a straightforward, reliable processor that can be easily made to operate, using basic conditional logic, other systems such as HVAC or audio. We’ve just produced an iPhone/iTouch interface for it. Sonos does a great job of good-quality audio distribution and you can use lossless compressing and high-quality amplification and speakers to do the rest. We make some speakers freespeakers.eu that work with this and Apple Airport Express.
I trained as an architect and I’d echo the thoughts above. We install remote locking systems when pressured to do them, but they are very silly and you should avoid if possible. Suited locks or prox-card operation will give you what you need I suspect.
You can see what my companies do at the url above. Similar structured wiring solutions to our DigitalPlumbers system are available from On-Q in the US.
Feel free to e-mail me directly. Maybe you can cure my irrational fear of flying in exchange.
I’m doing everything except for the remote locking using a combination of Insteon (light switches), X10 (outdoor motion lights), and Zwave (thermostats) hardware, a Napco Gemini security system, and Homeseer (http://www.homeseer.com/) software to tie it all together. It was all fairly cheap and easy to install. SSH tunneling for when I want to access the web interface remotely.
The Homeseer software isn’t great, but I haven’t found anything better out there.
I’m definitely interested in some kind of a locking mechanism tho … my two-year-old enjoys unlocking deadbolts!
… just to add 2 things:
X10’s lack of reliable feedback and general build quality has never made it a popular choice, save for get-out-of-jail applications, amongst professional system integrators
You should check out this beautiful, inexpensive and very simple product if you are interested in easily monitoring energy consumption before you make decisions about what is worth “actively” controlling etc.
http://www.diykyoto.com/
bye
Personally, I’d prefer motion detector triggered lights like we have at work to a complex controller system. The lights go an when you walk in, they go off after 20 minutes of no motion.
Take a look at MaxHome.
http://maxhome.com/
Linux MCE + zwave seems promising but is sensitive to what hardware you use. The link below is a video of setting up and using linux MCE which really blew me away the first time I saw it. Unfortunately most of the hardware he uses in the video is now obsolete.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2176025602905109829&ei=PDHySNKTJ5mSrAK4mek7&q=linux+mce
Some others that might work:
Home Vision (dedicated stand alone controllers )
http://csi3.com/homevis2.htm
Mister house
http://misterhouse.sourceforge.net/
Linux MCE home
http://linuxmce.com/
HomeSeer Pro 100 controller
Please let us know what you decide to do.
Phil, something we can agree on. I highly recommend putting a system like this in. I installed one in my summer house which is 100 miles from my year round residence. The system is a home automation controller that incorporates alarm functions, fire alarm controls plus home automation. It is accessible via a phone line (good when you are in your car away from a computer) and the internet through a nifty client app. I use the system to control the outside lights, a few indoor lights (mainly ones guests tend to leave on after they leave), ice dam heat tapes, a dock bubbler and heat/AC. The system can also be used to control just about anything you can imagine, from sprinkler systems to pool pumps. The controller has its own script based language that is easy to learn and very powerful. It is used to control lighting scenes, heat schedules and such. I use it to turn on a dock bubbler when outside temperatures drop below 32 after January. You can also, via alarm system sensors, have lights turn on and off as you walk around your house. I have had the system installed for three years and it, combined with an internet video monitoring system has saved me many 200 mile round trips. The base system is about $900, which includes a thermostat, a communication interface and a couple switches. The light switches run about $60 each and are easy to install and program.
Welcome to Suburbia- Don’t worry, it’s only half as painful as you think it will be. I currently know of 2 systems, an x10 and an Insteon running in my suburban hell. Both operated by bright, carbon based care professionals but reasonably Techie. The guy with the Insteon ripped it out. The guy with the X10 complains bitterly at the annual halloween party in my neighborhood. I would be leery of thermostat controls. If a power blip blanks your master computer heat may not resume for the house which could be a disaster in MA weather if you are not there to keep an eye on it (Think frozen pipes/rupture on new hardwood floors). My house uses cheap Lutron programmable thermostats and I couldn’t be happier.
Lighting- Outside motion sensors great until you get PTSD from all the nighttime scares from the lights flipping on whenever a deer, raccoon, possum ambles by. I have considered indoor motion sensors as my 2 indoor monkeys often leave lights on. Problem is when they shut off while the kids are quietly playing without much movement. I tackled my problem with the previously mentioned CFLs. Little heat, low power use. 3 different color warmths to choose from.
I agree with Colin regarding powered locks. Sweet for Mission Impossible challenges but fail safe with power failures would have to be unlocked so people could get out of the house in an emergency. Even with the keypads outside my house I was thankful for my old school hidden house key under a rock with our 1 week power outage from Hurricane Ike in Ohio!
remote video- multiple options exist and simple to start up. Email me if you are stumped.
alarms- Haven’t turned mine on in over 4 years. Alarms would not deter me from entering a house. Simple to defeat. Dogs far better due to unpredictable nature. Buy an alarm sign to put near end of driveway. Forget alarm. People deterred by “ACME” alarms will move on. Smarter crooks don’t care. Some protection gained by a crooks need to escape. A long driveway frightens evil. No where to run if someone comes down the driveway!
Lutron hands down. A relatively inexpensive system by a well established system. The RadioRA system is great for easy retrofits and can be tied into wired systemss, your computer, and more…
My cheap version of this was to install motion-sensitive lightswitches in the kitchen and bathroom. Cost was less than $20 each at Home Depot.
Walk in the room and the lights come on. Leave the room and they turn off a few minutes later. All of the porch lights and outside security lights are likewise motion-activated.
For HVAC I use a simple programmable thermostat.
I’ve played around with this from time to time, and I honestly think that home automation is a solution looking for a problem. The people I know who have been successful with it have a) spent a lot of time (or, alternatively, money) creating and updating the programming and b) trained themselves to act in ways so that the automation works correctly.
So, if you’re looking for a new hobby, it can be quite diverting.
An automatic setback thermostat is 1980s tech – there are tons of choices there, and they’re cheap and easy to operate. Think long and hard about whether you would really use any remote capability, because I think that in most cases you just won’t use it. Exceptions are if you are in the house sporadically (ie it’s a vacation place, or your travel schedule is variable). I have a telephone thermostat on my vacation house, and it’s very nice to turn the heat up before we arrive or turn it down if we forgot. And we can also tell that the power is on and the heat is working remotely. For that I paid around $250, and the web ones I’ve found are $400+.
I think electronic keypad locks are silly – they aren’t much easier than regular keys. The only advantage I see is being able to give out temporary codes for temporary access.
Note that making anything accessible from outside your house often requires special configuration of your router – you may need to open ports or put those devices in the DMZ.
Head over to smarthome.com, and see what they have.
i spent a good deal of time tuning x10 at my old apartment. got a new condo and wiring it up is on the todo list. insteon is new since my last rig and i’m looking forward to giving it a whirl. found this on smarthome and i’m very hopeful it’ll be a viable interface from which to script things from my server:
http://www.smarthome.com/31279/EZSrve-INSTEON-X10-Home-Automation-Gateway/p.aspx
in the past i’ve tried a usb interface and there were never good drivers for linux. web based should do the trick.
i’ve also found using putting powerstrips with most of my transformers/wall-warts behind a radioshack filter, in addition to installing a whole-house filter at the service panel, went a long way to improving reliability in my system (although being in an apartment building i think i was particularly susceptible to noise).
Just ran across this and remembered your post: http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/17/vera-home-automation-system-wants-to-be-the-greenest-of-them-all/
Obviously I have no first hand experience, but it seems to pretty closely fit the bill.
philg states:
A separate but related question might be “With energy so expensive and computers so cheap, how come these things aren’t standard in every new house?” One would think that every new American house would have a button by the front door marked “I am the last person to leave” and it would turn off all the lights and quiet down the HVAC system.
It really boils down to economics and ease of use. A good programmable thermostadt as only $50.00 gives you a good level of control over your HVAC. If you have multiple heat/cool zones, you can put in a programmable thermostadt for each zone. It makes very little economic sense to go beyond this from a control standpoint for residential, even for a mcMansion. Computerized sensors and software will always be much more expensive, and most likely won’t provide much extra energy savings.
For lighting, the motion sensing switches are very economical, and for many residential lights (not all) this could be a good solution. These switches can be annoying because they can turn off lights in situations where they should remain on, but they don’t require networks, gadgets, or programming. Good placement of the motion sencing switch can reduce the annoyance.
The place where computer/internet controls make sense today is automated lawn/garden/landscape irrigation, because the irrigation is seasonal and weather dependent – a complex control environment. A single low cost sensor and a timer does an ok job, though you will most likely overwater or underwater. Internet systems are available now at a low cost that can give you better control and most likely help you save on your water bill (search: lawncheck) (That is if you irrigate, some people don’t).
cheers,