Home Automation ideas

[jwilson56]

Well I started a thread back on the Homeseer forums that asked people what type of home automation ideas they were either currently doing or would like to see. Some great ideas came out of that. So I will start with some of my current functions and you guys can add to it. Some of the ones I will list will be old news to most of you but might spark interest in using G5 for some new guys.

Caller ID Voice Announced
Caller ID info sent to all PC's in the house via YAC
Caller ID log displayed on all NR clients
Pause all playing JRMC Zones when phone rings
Un-Pause all zones when phone is hug up (almost have this one complete)
Clothes Dryer is done Voice announcement
Washing Machine is done Voice announcement (working on this)
Turn on/off all my wife's flicker lights (little flickering lights for her various knick-knacks)
Temperature in rooms using Dallas 1-wire
Turn off lights at the end of day that might have been left on by family
Turn off certain lights when motion is not detected (stairs and family room)
Turn on work/laundry room lights when entering and off after a period of no motion
Voice announce trash night
Voice announce if garage door is left open after sunset

And of coarse my 5 zone whole house audio system controlled with Now Playing skin

Ok.. thats mine for now.. please add any ideas to this list...

John

[quixote]

I'm setting up linear actuators with some relays to open and close my front door and latch a security bar. Once I have it set up the way I've designed, the only way anyone is going to break through that door is the SWAT team if they blow the hinges with explosives. I just have to figure out how to make a killswitch in case the door closes on someone with 200lbs of force. :O


I know, I know... but overkill's my middle name. ;)

[mhwlng]

* all lights in my house are controlled by motion detectors (using special logic that the lights won't turn off, if I'm sitting still in front of the tv for half an hour. also outside light conditions are taken into account (if it's sunny outside, then the lights don't go on))
if I leave a room, the lights are turned off after two minutes (also tv/stereo etc.)...

* front door opener (controlled via one-wire, door opens if bluetooth phone in range + hidden touch button pressed or webcam detects motion) http://www.promixis.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17314

* central heating control without a thermostat
(one-wire temperature, X10 relay to control heater, optimus mini as control panel)
the heating is not controlled by clock, only by motion detectors (i.e. if only motion is in my bedroom for > 15 minutes or I'm not home (bluetooth phone out of range or motion detectors indicate that nobody's home) then heating turns off.)

* 'intelligent' alarm clock. (lights brighten slowly over 20-30 minutes, then alarm goes off every few minutes, until motion is detected outside the bedroom (so no snooze/off button is needed).
Alarm doesn't go off, if I'm already up or not at home)...
to turn the bedroom lights off at night,from my bed, I use a Visonic MCT-201WP :
http://www.visonic.com/VisonicHomePage.nsf/sysProductActiveByName/A1F33A42C7DDD446C2256C17003587E8?OpenDocument

* controlling RGB leds using DMX (wireless, via zigbee)
http://www.promixis.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17812
light colour is dynamic. i.e. if there are unread emails, one lamp will turn red, if there are new voicemails, the lamp will turn green.

* capturing lots of analog data (house/pc temperatures, humidity, power usage, gas usage, adsl traffic etc. etc.) and storing this in a database for trending purposes (currently >20 different values) I don't keep a history of 'digital' events (motion detected, lights turned on etc.)

* controlling speed of kettler treadmill, based on heartrate (and trending various data)

* streaming live TV into the bedroom, via VLC streaming server (although that's more of a netremote thing, girder only controls infrared signals to digital tv box)

Marcel

[jwilson56]

Good ideas so far... come on lets hear from others. Lets see I know there is a good Ocelot plugin... so who here is using it and for what? Also any Elk users out there?

John

[MR]

Good stuff. I only have one thing working (and quite nicely IMHO.) In the movie/family room, lights that are on smooth dim when a movie is played on the HTPC and smooth brighten on paused or stopped.

Looking forward to getting some of the other stuff in this thread going as well.

-MR

[quixote]

This may not belong in this topic, but it is related.
I want to use one of these: http://www.cc-concepts.com/products/ilock/
for my front door entry system. There are 7 outputs that can be configured to pulse (1 sec) repeatedly, depending on what "key" is used. Does anyone know how I could interface very cheaply with Girder? Can I just wire it up to a USB or serial port somehow?

Thanks for any info.

[jwilson56]

This may not belong in this topic, but it is related.
I want to use one of these: http://www.cc-concepts.com/products/ilock/
for my front door entry system. There are 7 outputs that can be configured to pulse (1 sec) repeatedly, depending on what "key" is used. Does anyone know how I could interface very cheaply with Girder? Can I just wire it up to a USB or serial port somehow?

Thanks for any info.

I will hopefully have some time next week and will look into that. Last week or so I was working with harleydude to design a Tach circuit that will allow the Ocelot to read the RPM of a 12v 120MM fan. I also built a new game pc since my old one had a motherboard failure. My new E6750 system is OC'd to 3.2GHZ and super cool with the Zalman 9700 cooler. It runs COD4 at max with room to spare with the Evga 8800Gt Superclocked. Also built my wife a new system as hers was getting old and starting to show signs of failure. So I have been busy.

I want to start working on my Elk system and test out a new Elk plugin that is being written. Lots of cool stuff down the road.

So lets keep this thread going. Again post not only what you have done but also what you want to do!!! Lots of times there are other people that might not think of that idea but would be interested in doing it. The how to can be worked on together.

John

[quixote]

One project that I'd like to get around to is building a big coffee table that has glass bricks for the sides and uses the LED light ribbons that mhwlng introduced me to. The lights will be housed above and below the glass bricks and controlled by Girder. Hopefully they will provide enough illumination to light up the whole table. I'll be able to use a combination of Insteon scenes and different light colours of the table to create many different ambiances.
Also, I'll be building in a touchscreen in the middle of the table that will use NetRemote. The touchscreen will also be able to tilt up so that it's easier to see while lying on the couch, and I'm toying with the idea of setting up a touch sensor (for activation) and linear actuator to move the screen.

This project is a pretty lofty aspiration, but it's been on my mind for quite some time and I have a tendency to blow money on stuff like that when a little extra comes my way.

[harleydude]

I am doing a lot of things already mentioned, but wanted to also describe some of the other things that Girder 5 is providing for me.

Email Manager – The outbound portion is a rewrite of the plug-in Danward put together a while back for Girder 4, plus some additional things. This component sends emails when the security system is armed/disarmed and when my backups are done they are emailed to on offsite email address. When I go out of town, I have the system email me every 4hrs to give me a status. The inbound part is still being developed, but can connect to my email provider, download and parse emails. I can send commands from my cell phone or another email account and Girder will execute the commands.

Girder Backup – I use this to backup the luascript, GML and plug-ins folders in Girder. Once the backup is complete I then email it to an offsite email address for storage. Having the backups run every night has sure saved me a couple of times. I am also using this to backup my NetRemote files as well.

TTS Randomizer – This component allows me to add some variety to the announcements I use. It allows me to setup categories of phrases, such as Caller ID. When a call comes in I have a script that runs, which grabs a phrase from the Caller ID category, inserts the name and speaks the phrase.

Event Counter – This is something that I put together while learning LUA and how to develop components for Girder 5. It will watch for certain events to happen and keep track of the number of times they happen in a day/week/month/year.

xAP Speedfan - All computers in my house are running Speedfan to keep track of temperatures and fan speeds. Now that Speedfan supports xAP the information from each computer is sent to my server. I can view the data from my NetRemote screens. I would also like to be able to be alerted when one of the machines has trouble, hopefully I will have time to add that soon.

Also, as John mentioned, I have a couple of 120mm fans running in my closet to provide additional ventilation. Right now the fans run 24/7. I recently bought an Ocelot and the Secu16I module. What I want to do it use the Ocelot to monitor the temperature in the room. When temperature gets high, turn on the fans until the room cools. I thought it would also be neat to be able to monitor the speed that each fan is running and log this information in Girder.

[jwilson56]

Well we can list Security system integration to the list now that I have my Elk M1EZ8 system installed. The Girder handles all the voice and text and email messaging and Netremote is used for the GUI for the touch screen interface.

Now Playing 2008 is almost finished... just looking for any other ideas to add to this skin.

[Ron]

Awesome news!! Can't wait to test the Elk stuff you guys have done.

[jwilson56]

Hey.... this thread needs some new ideas....

One thing I added recently was a simple way to have power status for six of my receivers. I used a small wall-wart I found at allelectronics.com cheap to drive opto isolators into my Ocelot SECU-16 module. So now I know for sure what receiver is powered up in Girder as well as on the NR screen.

Looking for some new ideas to work on this winter.

[MR]

I don't know if this is old-hat to advanced Girder users, but thanks to MikeC's new Insteon plugin (thanks Mike!), I now have device manager control of my garage door and sprinkler system. With my Blackberry I can check out my device manager web page and see if I left the garage door open or not and close it remotely. At some point I plan to give a visual reminder (like flash the bedroom lights) if the garage door is left open at night. I can also do "advanced" irrigation control that not only detects if the rain gauge switch was tripped but can hold off on watering the lawn if the forecast calls for rain. Not to mention I can remotely turn on and off the 8zone system with the Blackberry which has turned out to be surprisingly useful. Fun stuff!

Thanks,
MR

[danward79]

One thing that interests me is redundancy. i.e. If I build a device, say a fish tank light controller it knows if it is connected to a master controller, if it is not connected to a master it then enters fall-back mode automatically. Such devices allow for situations where a master controller is off or rebooting etc. i.e on holiday.

[Mike C]

I don't know if this is old-hat to advanced Girder users, but thanks to MikeC's new Insteon plugin (thanks Mike!), I now have device manager control of my garage door and sprinkler system. With my Blackberry I can check out my device manager web page and see if I left the garage door open or not and close it remotely. At some point I plan to give a visual reminder (like flash the bedroom lights) if the garage door is left open at night. I can also do "advanced" irrigation control that not only detects if the rain gauge switch was tripped but can hold off on watering the lawn if the forecast calls for rain. Not to mention I can remotely turn on and off the 8zone system with the Blackberry which has turned out to be surprisingly useful. Fun stuff!

Thanks,
MR

Glad its working...

One reason I have been holding off using the EZFlora and replacing my existing controller is for service - ie when they are cleaning out the lines at the end of the year. I want them to be able to do it without me and they need to control the zones manually.

I wonder if you can connect this with the existing controller... I think if should work

[NeoMorph]

Volume automatically controlled by source or time of day - I've found that switching to music from watching a video and the darn volume is WAY too high. My XBOX 360 also has too high a volume too so when I switch sources it sets the appropriate volume. I also live in a flat so I try not to annoy neighbours by having to high a volume so when it gets to 8pm it switches to a lower volume depending on what source I have on.
Entertainment Option Touchscreen - Next to my normal sitting position I have a small touchscreen which turns on when I sit down. It offers me options such as TV, DVD, XBOX 360, Reading and Music and turns off 30 seconds after I choose. Turns back on when I tap the screen. When I choose an option it also works out the time of day, light levels and selects the right lighting levels. For instance if it's a bright day and I want to read it does nothing but if it gets dark it turns on the over-the-shoulder reading light.
I'm still working on the small touchscreen routines and have them nearly working how I want them. I just need that mastercoder Rob to finish the Surround Mode Selection for his DenonAVR plugin and I can complete it (hint hint wink wink heh).

[Kjsanders]

HarleyDude,

Did you get Girder control over SpeedFan? I also want to monitor the 8 pc's in my house and slow them down at night. Ideas?

Thanks,