software enhancements
Posted by DeLicious, Jan 23 2009, 04:05 PM
I think I'm done with hardware for a little while... I simply don't have the free time to do much, and any project I do undertake takes several weeks to get near completion, and it's frustrating. So I've decided to do some software stuff.
Since my HA system is HomeSeer, I've primarily been messing around with that. I downloaded UltraMon for trial purposes. I have it monitoring the connectivity status of my router, computers, and IP cams, but so far, it seems a bit unreliable. That is, it doesn't appear to be able to monitor my ZoneMinder computer. It's a Linux box that does respond to ping commands from Windows, but apparently the pings that UltraMon sends it are not acknowledged. Furthermore, it has gotten the status wrong on a couple of my IP cameras several times. Since it requires 3 missed signals to mark something as disconnected, I'm wondering why it is marking my living room camera as disconnected when I can plainly view it from my phone. If anybody has any other network monitoring tools that might be more reliable than UltraMon, I'm open to suggestions.
In addition to that, I downloaded one of jon00's new scripts for graphing virtual devices, and so far, put it to the test with temperatures, both from my thermostats and weather_xml. See my gallery in Galleries for a picture... I don't know how to embed it here (suggestions, Dan?).
It's mildly useful right now when monitoring temperatures, but might be especially useful when monitoring energy usage if I ever get a whole house energy monitor.
jon00 also has a new script that essentially counts (and graphs) how long things are on and off, which could be useful for things like the home theater, the PS3 (to see if it's sucking up juice). I don't know HOW useful, but more information is more information.
In the rest of my copious free time (irony alert!), I've had a few minutes to help beta test the IntelliRemote's beta for support for Global Cache (see the forum http://forum.melloware.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6734). This is basically IR control via the iPhone for me (using Intelliphone: http://melloware.com/products/intelliphone/). While the iPhone app is free from the App Store, the server that must be installed is technicall shareware and you have to pay ($24, i think?) to keep it. But, it let's me use my iPhone as a HT remote via the Global Cache, so it seems nice so far. It does NOT have a configurable interface, but it does have a multitude of pre-defined buttons to which I can assign any IR code I want (via the server), so as long as I remember what buttons do which things, it should be functional. And it supports different profiles, so you can change what each button does. Not a terrible stopgap for $24. Certainly less money than I would spend on something like ML or HSTouch (should it ever come out with an iPhone interface), and less time than I might spend designing an interface using a free tool like jon00's touchscreen app or webpage designer (too many ini's!!! too little time!!!).
whew... garage
Posted by DeLicious, Jan 20 2009, 03:41 PM
First things first... I really must thank twilo. In his comments to my last post, he made me aware that the Wayne-Dalton solution was not true z-wave control over my garage door. It instead the ability to control z-wave using a garage door opener, or one of the WD keyfobs. He saved me time, money, and anger.
With that in mind, I went back to look for other ways to control the garage door, and stumbled upon the Elk solution. I had never used Elk outputs before, as I never really understood what they were for. After all, I had come this far without using them. But what I ended up doing was hooking up Elk's output 3 (on the main board) to the garage door opener's interface for the keypad. While I was doing it, I shorted the wires as a test, which opened the garage door, much to my wife's surprise. She came running out of the kitchen yelling "Something's wrong with the garage door!". Once I told her it was me that did it, she did her usual sigh, and went back to what she was doing.
So, now that I have control over my garage door through my Elk, what do I do with it? I set up our keyfobs (but not going to reveal which combination of buttons to you!) to be able to activate a task that momentarily turns on the output, however, after only two days of having it, my wife hates it. There are definitely some usability issues with having to press multiple buttons on the keyfob to first turn the power on to the garage door opener, and then another combination to open the garage door. I didn't want it to be easy as a single button press so someone else wouldn't be able to use it, but the wife hates the way I made it. I'm not sure what else I can do. Maybe I can do a non-alarm motion detector in the cars that turns on the garage door automatically when we drive near enough for the wireless receiver to detect it, but I would still require a button press or combination of button presses on the keyfob to open the door itself. I guess my primary goal here is to remove the obvious sign that you can open garage door with the thing hanging from the sun visor. Without it, nobody really knows that we even have a garage door opener, and if they did and did have the keyfob, I don't want it to be obvious how to work it. I'm certainly open to ideas on this if anyone actually reads this thing (still dubious about that).
In other news, I downloaded jon00's graphing utility for HomeSeer, which is pretty cool. I only have it set up right now to graph the temperature inside, but I'd like to at least get the outside temperature on there too. This will be an extremely useful tool once I get an energy monitoring solution in place. Hopefully, that Brultech module will get a HS plug-in or interface at some point. I also want to look into jon00's webpage builder to build a web interface that is iPhone friendly. There is at least one example of that on the HS forums (ironically, in the HSTouch forum regarding iPhone compatability).
Unfortunately, I have to work late most of this week to meet a deadline, so I don't think I'll have a lot of time to deal with software issues.
little progress
Posted by DeLicious, Jan 6 2009, 11:42 PM
I know I promised to write more, and my adoring public (hi mom!) demands further tales of adventure and valour in home automation, but frankly, not a lot has happened. I didn't get any of the Wayne Dalton stuff on my amazon wishlist for Christmas... so no control of the garage is imminent like I had hoped. I did get the chance to drop by Automated Outlet over the holiday and pick up a garage door monitor and wire that into a close input expander on the Elk, so at least I know the status of the garage door (more reliably than the old DS10A that I had), even if I can't do anything about it.
Also, I ran some wire into the living room from what is quickly becoming the wiring closet so I could have an ethernet drop in the living room and avoid using a wireless camera there. However, the switch I ordered off amazon a week ago hasn't even shipped, so until that comes, I'm fresh out of open ports on my router, and wireless still rules the day. The plan is to run another wire down into the kitchen using the fiberglass rods I also picked up at AO and eliminate the wireless connection there as well. That at least I can say is in the near future.
In the more distant future is getting some true outdoor cameras, even if they are IP cameras (16 port switch!!! when it arrives!) and probably upgrade the computer running zoneminder so it can handle all those connections.
I wish I didn't have to pay for all the stuff... I thought that's what Christmas was for.
What I DID get for Christmas is an iPhone 3G. I had been avoiding getting one of these because it doesn't run ElkRM, but Jayson off CocoonTech has been developing and Elk application for the iPhone, so I have been growing less resistant. However, it turns out the iPhone has a pretty good VNC client for free, and I am able to VNC into my home PC which IS running ElkRM, so I even have camera access via the iPhone, something Jayson hasn't yet put into his Elk client. Also, iPhoneHS, the HomeSeer interface made for the iPhone, looks a whole lot better on the iPhone than it did on my 8525... even my wife can use it! (zing!)
So, I guess all's well that ends well... I still have to buy that Wayne Dalton stuff myself.
Two years worth of retrospective
Posted by DeLicious, Dec 11 2008, 03:16 PM
so, I thought I would get things going again with another retrospective, now with added experience! It's been just over two years since I started this home automation thing, and I thought it might be worthwhile to other people just getting into HA what my opinions would be of my first automation list back when I was new... yes, this is my second retrospective, but get over it, especially since I've changed lighting platforms.
1. Turn on/off the lights in the bedroom without getting up.
This is still taken care of my a rocker in the bedroom and two lamp modules as before, but obviously now they are ZWave instead of UPB. And rather than tabletop controllers on our nightstands, we both have ZWave remotes that control the three lights independently. I removed the voice commands that were previously available through the bedside tablet PC since I never used them... it always takes more time to say the alert word for voice recognition and the actual command than it does to press a single button on a remote.
2. Automatically turn on the lights in my living room when someone walks in.
This continues to work and is a primary function of the system... also, it's the first thing people notice when they walk in the house for the first time. And my daughter loves it too. Really, though, nothing has changed since I installed it other than the protocol.
3. Automatically turn on the lights in my kitchen/breakfast room when someone walks in.
Again, nothing here has changed either, except the batteries in the motion detector and the lighting protocol.
4. Set up a computer with smart home software.
Still using HomeSeer. It has been stable and solid, and I have few if any complaints (although if I did have them, it would be about HSTouch, not about the core product).
5. Install in-wall terminals around the house, both controllers as well as jacks.
With the switch-over to ZWave, I have zero in-wall controllers now. And I don't really miss them, because I never really used them all that much in the first place. They were primarily in high traffic areas where a variety of lights could be controlled, but those are exactly the places where the lights are activated automatically, so the controllers never really seemed necessary. Furthermore, ZWave has wireless remotes, so even if I do need to use a controller of some sort, it's sitting on the table in front of me rather than stuck in the wall. In-wall receptacles never came to fruition. Plug-in modules are just as functional and more flexible for when I reconfigure a room.
6. Control things with my Harmony remote control
This isn't really a priority, or even a want at this point... What I really want is a touchscreen remote of some sort which can control everything. Whether this comes from a UMPC or a Nokia N800 or iPhone is still up in the air, but the Harmony (now an 890 after I replaced the stolen one) is still too limited. That being said, I use the Harmony for my IR needs now, so it's still functional... I just want something better and more customized to everything I have.
7. Install webcams for remote monitoring
From what I thought would be the last thing done is now one of the most important things I have in my whole system. With a variety of cameras around the house, pointing both inside and outside, and all being recorded on a Linux box running ZoneMinder, nothing provides me with more piece of mind both while I'm away from the house and at home than being able to pull up my cameras from any PC or my phone.
8. Automatically turn on porch lights when a visitor walks up
I did try something similar to this with a motion detector and a voice announcement. It was triggered a ton by cats, so the voice announcement was a bad idea. The lights might still be a good idea, but I don't have the porch light automated, so right now, it's a no-go.
9. Set up a state machine
In my last retrospective, I said I had a state machine set up, but no behavior was really triggered off it. That continued to be the case until I removed UPB from my walls, and the state machine effectively disappeared. It was never that useful. I know a lot of people keep track of who is home and who is not for voice announcements and whatnot, email, voice mail, reminders, blah blah, but I don't have any of that. All I need to know is if somebody/anybody is home or not, and the Elk alarm state is sufficient for that purpose.
10. Set up a sensor on my garage and back door, so I know if they are left open
On my back door, I know have a real security sensor connected to the Elk... thanks to the criminals for letting me know. A simple note would have sufficed. I also have a DS-10A in the garage, but it stopped working a long time ago due to the ground shifting (Texas soil!). So, I think I mentioned in my last post, I am going to get a garage-specific sensor that has a stronger magnet. This will come in useful with the Wayne Dalton garage controller so that I can automate the opening and closing of the door as well.
11. Install thermostats
In my last retrospective, I had done nothing in this area... between now and then, I have replaced all 3 manual thermostats with RCS thermostats controlled by the Elk based on alarm status... these are WONDERFUL. Primarily, they save me money by changing the temperature limits automatically when leaving the house and arriving, so that the heater or air conditioner is not working hard when nobody is home. And when I do want to make it warmer or cooler while at home, the changes can be made at a PC rather than having to get up and change it manually.
12. Program garage controllers in our cars
As mentioned before, this will likely be accomplished with Wayne Dalton garage interface and some keychain remotes. Hope to get some parts for Christmas.
13. Setup computer to email me events
I had HS email me things for a while, especially before I had the Elk. In fact, this was the first reason I knew my house was violated, because although the thieves cut the phone cord, they did not cut the internet line, and HS sent me a ton of emails with zone violations. Since the Elk install, however, I do not get any emails from HS. Instead, I get emails from the monitoring company based on Elk events. This serves the dual purpose of letting me know what is going on in the house (arms, disarms, zone violations) as well as constantly confirming Elk communication with the monitoring company.
Overall, I think I am pretty comfortable with where my system is at the moment. There are some minor additions to the garage automation and IR/Lighting control from a front end that I have mentioned, but I've got it to a state where the wife doesn't complain, and that's an accomplishment in my book. There were also some items on my list which are no longer priorities as I gained more experience and a better understanding of where I actually wanted to go with the project.
However, and I have mentioned this before, security should always be the top priority. If you haven't done that yet, do it before you automate... and getting the Elk will be a nice step towards doing both. Have a good day.
Back up and blogging
Posted by DeLicious, Dec 11 2008, 12:18 AM
Hopefully, CT2 will keep me on my toes and get me back to blogging on a regular basis. I believe most of my trials and tribulations are documented on the forums, but let's see if I can summarize my current setup.
Lighting
Over the past 6 months, I have switched from UPB to ZWave. The problems I was having with UPB were seemingly unique to me, but intractable to the point where the WAF was seriously low. It seemed to stem from a noise source outside the house, intermittent and unpredictable, but totally overwhelming the UPB network to where every switch and module in the house would become unresponsive for hours at a time. This was particularly bad for the garage (the opener power was controlled as well) in that we couldn't put the cars in the garage because we couldn't turn on the garage door opener (via keychain remote). Furthermore, the lighting was being controlled both through the Elk and through HomeSeer, a redundancy that now seems unnecessary, although it was originally done before the HS computer was on a UPS, so the Elk could control lighting even after a power outage and the computer had not yet been rebooted (again, for the garage case).
My current setup has replaced all the UPB modules with ZWave modules (more than 20), all of the Leviton ViziaRF variety for instant feedback purposes. Actually, for the holidays, I have a couple of Intermatic outdoor modules on the Christmas lights, but those are temporary. To date, I have had no failures on my ZWave modules, and that is something the wife is very happy with. Furthermore, all lighting is controlled by HomeSeer now that the computer is on a UPS and can have triggers based on alarm status and other Elk stuff (i.e. outputs).
My very first projects are still the ones that are utilized the most, and those are the automatic lighting through motion detectors in the kitchen and living room.
Security
After the incident in 2007, security became the primary concern. However, it should have been the primary concern all along. I wish someone would have made this clearer. For anyone reading this blog and getting into automation, WORRY ABOUT SECURITY FIRST. As referenced above, I have an Elk installed. Furthermore, I have it communicating with the monitoring company (not hard to figure out who I use if you read forums) via cellular monitoring. The first thing the thieves did was cut the telephone wires, and that is something I never want to be the primary point of failure again.
Cameras
I do have several cameras placed around the house, pointing both inside and outside. I access them primarily through ElkRM, both via laptop and via cell phone. Also, the cameras are monitored via ZoneMinder on an old computer running Linux. It's pretty much to the point where if I add any more cameras, I'll need a faster computer for this purpose (keeping an eye out on Woot!).
IR Control
This seems like it is continually in progress. I have had a Global Cache set up on the main entertainment system for quite a while, but continue to use my Harmony remote to control everything because I haven't yet found or designed a good interface to the Global Cache. My hope was that HSTouch will fill this hole, but to date, I have been unimpressed as I have yet to be able to get it running consistently. I do want to try it out on the UMPC instead of on my cell phone and see if that proves more stable, but just haven't had the time yet. Furthermore, there are rumors that HSTouch will be ported to the Nokia N800 at some point, and then I would definitely go for it. I have also investigate jon00's excellent touchscreen interface, but the holdup here is the design time. With no design front end, all configuration files must be written by hand, and that too requires a significant time investment that I just don't have.
Miscellaneous
Let me see if I can group everything else here... I still have a tablet pc at my bedside which is the primary bedroom interface. It acts as an alarm clock which i can set either via ElkRM (a function button that automatically sets the time I usually get up on weekdays) or via voice interface for custom time. The only other voice event I use is getting weather data while getting dressed. I no longer have my computers send me emails about events at the house. Instead, I get emails from the security monitoring company when certain events happen. This keeps me informed of things at the house and also insures that security monitoring continues to function.
To Do
Well, I want better garage monitoring and control. To date, I have been using a DS-10A for garage monitoring, but it hasn't been working well due to the shifting soils in Texas often taking it slightly out of alignment. I hope to get a special monitor at some point specially designed with a stronger magnet for garage monitoring. Furthermore, I want to invest in the Wayne Dalton line of garage control stuff, so that from a single keychain I can turn on and off the garage door opener as well as open the garage door itself. The wife would really enjoy this over the current setup which requires a keychain remote to turn on the opener, then must wait a few seconds before the opener will recognize codes from the in-car remotes. Other than that, the search continues for a good interface to the Global Cache. And I have a second Global Cache for the upstairs television which needs setup so I can control the kid's watching habits from my interface (whatever that may be).
As always, for anyone who actually reads this crap, first of all, thanks, and second of all, feel free to make comments, suggestions, and call me an idiot. But then, keep in mind the blog was started for self-documentation purposes rather than entertainment or reference purposes. I hope to do a better job of keeping it up to date with what I'm thinking... I sure could have used that kind of information about what I was thinking 6 months ago. Happy automating.
Intro and purpose
Posted by DeLicious, Dec 10 2008, 07:39 PMCongrats to Dan on getting Cocoontech 2.0 phase 2 out the door. I am going to utilize the new blog system to bring my old blog entries from homeautomationstarter.blogspot.com to CocoonTech and hopefully do a better job keeping up with this and adding new entries.
First step with cameras... and further planning to be done
Posted by DeLicious, Apr 17 2007, 10:14 AM
After my incident last week, I immediately went up to Automated Outlet and ended up buying two of their Panasonic IP cameras (a huge thanks to Martin). The cameras themselves were pretty easy to set up (one in the kitchen, one in the living room to check up on motion sensor alerts), and they come with their own http servers so they can be accessed over the internet. However, since my HomeSeer site is already using port 80, I set up the cameras to use ports 52 and 54 (quite randomly, I assure you). Unfortunatley, these ports are blocked by my firewall at work, so I can't even view the cameras at work. I'm working with a security guy at work to set up VNC over SSH so I can view the cameras appropriately, but that will probably take a couple of days. In the meantime, my wife can view the cameras from her office, and I can access them with my cell phone since they have special built-in access for phones as well.
I must say, although the camera setup was fairly easy, the installation took some creative planning, due to the lack of wiring in my house. The camera in the living room (across the house from the office where the server is) is hooked up to a Netgear wireless print server which happened to have 4 ethernet ports as well. The camera in the kitchen is using ethernet over the powerlines. So far, the one in the kitchen has a faster refresh rate, and the ethernet over the powerlines doesn't seem to be interfering with UPB communications at all.
Also, this weekend is another meeting of the North Texas Home Automation Users Group, and I'll be taking plans of the house up there to see what we can do about wiring the home for security purposes. This has been just a terrible week (capped off by my 2-year-old daughter hitting me in the nuts last night), and I'd like to get it behind me as quickly as possible.
It happened to me...
Posted by DeLicious, Apr 17 2007, 10:11 AM
I'm tired of talking about it... I'm tired of writing about it... All I will say is that it happened last Wednesday, April 11 and point you at my post on cocoontech
Next Step: Cameras!
Posted by DeLicious, Apr 3 2007, 10:28 PM
Well, I was at work yesterday when my phone got an email from HomeSeer saying there was unauthorized motion in the kitchen (i.e., nobody home, but motion anyways). I called my wife to see if she was home, but she was also at work. I then logged onto my remote access website to see if there was anything else wrong. It only showed motion in the kitchen, but not in any adjacent rooms, so I thought it was just probably shadows or something. But this gave me an idea of what to do next (and my wife had the same thought!): cameras.
I need to find some way to figure out what is going on at my house should this type of alert happen. They don't really need to be hooked up to a DVR yet (although that would be nice in the future), but just something where I can log on the internet and make sure everything is okay. A new project begins...
Electrical problems
Posted by DeLicious, Mar 4 2007, 11:27 PM
So, ever since I installed the switch in the bathroom, it has been having problems. It made noises and couldn't keep the lights on, often rebooting itself. So this weekend, I was starting to replace it, and looking at the instructions, and saw that the switch only supports 600V, which I knew, but didn't even think about when installing the switch. Well, I decided to look at what kind of bulbs were in the fixtures, and sure enough, the bulbs left over from the previous owner were all 120V bulbs... so, it seems there was somewhere between 800V and 900V coursing through this switch rated at 600V.
I replaced all the 120V with 100V-equivalent (actually 26V) CFL's and tried the switch again. Sure enough, it worked.... except for a single fixture, which was making buzzing noises. I turned off the breaker again and pulled down the fixture from the ceiling. The wiring sheath had been burned off the wires, and the wires were exposed. Turns out those wires were only rated for 60V or 80V, and the previous owners were more than happy to put 120V bulbs (2 in each fixture!), thereby ruining the wiring.
So I called my electrician out for a minor emergency Saturday call, and he came and replaced the burned out wiring. I turned the breaker back on and turned on the lights... wa la! The lights worked great. Then I tried to test the communications of the switch... . Turns out the overload of the voltage seems to have burned out the communications of the switch, so I essentially have a $38 light switch (sans UPB capabilities). So, I had to replace the switch anyways.
On the software side, I set up HomeSeer with an email address, so it can email me under certain situations (e.g., nobody is home, but the front door opens).
on whew... garage