New home, want security and home automation

It seems the more I read, the more my head spins. Here is my question/situation/what would you do post.

I recently purchased a new house that I want to set up with a security system and some home automation.

The simple part seems to be the security system. It will mainly consist of motion detectors and door/window contacts. Some wired, some wireless. There was an existing alarm system in place when I bought the house. I figure I can re-use as much of that wire as I can and add wireless motions and contacts to the extra places.

I would also like to add 2 cameras to the security system. Both would be outdoor cameras. One for the front of my house and one for the back.

As far as home automation, this is where I am most confused. I know I would like to be able to control the following items in my house: Lights, thermostat, sprinkler system, garage door, and heated floor (I have a nuheat kitchen floor). I would also like to hook up a couple of water/temperature sensors as well as smoke and co detectors. Well, the sprinkler system and heated floor can wait. But the other items I want to do now.

I am leaning towards the ELK M1 Gold system for the security. That seems to be the easy part. But I am really confused regarding the home automation aspect and which technology I should use. I see X10, UPB, Insteon, Z-wave, Lutron RadioRa, etc…

I am looking to install the system myself. I don’t know much about electrical wiring, but my previous profession was a programmer and date warehouse architect. So I consider myself somewhat technical and not afraid to “figure it out”. And worst case scenario my neighbor is an electrician so I can always ask him about things relating to the wiring. He also said he could help me run any wires I need.

As far as a budget, I am looking to keep it around $2,000-$4,000. I would like to control the system from an ipad and android phone while in the house, and my android phone and web while away from the house.

If you wanted the home security system to interface with the Elk M1, and you were starting from scratch today, which technology/setup/approach would you use and why?

Heck, maybe it’s best to just get the security system (Elk M1) and wait on the home automation and camera portion until it matures a little and new(er) stuff comes out. Because honestly, with all the advances we have in technology right now, I was a little surprised to see the home automation industry as a whole so fragmented. I really thought it would be simpler and more “plug n Play” than it is.

Thanks for any help!

Decide on subsystem technology (UPB for lights, HAI for thermostats, Rain8 for irrigation, etc) at the same time as you decide on the controller (Elk M1 vs. HAI), to make sure that everything will work together. Use what you know works well, from reading others' posts.

If you currently have a monitoring contract, you'll usually have to wait until it expires. That's one of the reasons I'm holding off on the security system.

By the way, the Elk and HAI controllers ARE security systems primarily.

So, first step, pick the controller - Elk or HAI. Then, pick out subsystems. THEN buy the controller. You may go back and forth several times between the Elk and HAI controllers, while picking subsystems. The more you research, the more informed your decision will be for the controller. But, in reality, you'll prob be just fine with either.

Elk is a great way to go..

Touchpads - You can use Elkdroid for Android and there is also a really good elk iphone application.

Lights - I run the ELK with simply automated UPB lights. I started out in Zwave but since I only wanted to start with a handful of swtiches I couldnt get a good Zwave mesh network plus at least the Zwave switches I had were difficult to program. The SA UPB swtiches were super easy to set up and work great.

Garage door - I do my garage door with Elk via rules. Most garage doors you can hook up to elk via a simple output/relay. I just have it close the button for the garage door.

Thermostats - There is a elk RS232 module that interfaces with a lot of thermostats. I use a non compatible system by Tekmar but they have module which you can use to set to away/home etc so the heat kicks up/down. I use the elk output module to set the thermostat to away when this happens. But there are certainly a few brands of thermostats which interface directly with the elk.

For Cameras, I use IP cameras hooked up to the free version of milestone xprotect. One of the best peices of software out there. We have a 9 camera version at work which was about $2,000 and worth every penny. I connect to my cameras directly from ipad/android. You just need to make sure your camera publishes video in a format that can be picked up by your touchpad.

Sprinkers - no problem controlling from the elk.

Other thoughts.. I also run CQC - Elk talks to CQC. I have some advanced rules in CQC where I can check the weather and skip watering but you can standard timer programming right from the elk with some overides.

Check out this thread.

http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...c=17647&hl=

A little friendly banter between people with different systems.

Use the automation technologies list stickied in the forum, it helps a lot... Sounds like you'll need automation software to integrate everything as well. The number of projects you'll have is pretty high, take your time and pick things that give you more options.

For what it's worth, I've always been glad I chose my Elk M1. And although some things I initially said "Oh, I won't need that" become a burning desire 6 months later. Home automation is a never ending thing. My list appears in my signature.

Thanks for the replies.

Luckily I don't have any alarm company contract to deal with. I am starting fresh right now.
I have seen a few of the "Elk vs. HAI" discussions. I think I am leaning toward Elk because it does seem more DIY friendly than the HAI installations.
I think my next step is to start to put together some vizio diagrams of my layout and put together the pieces/parts of my system. I am sure by posting that information it will be much easier to pinpoint my needs.
My main goal is to put together a system that is somewhat future proof, flexible, and manageable for someone that has no interest in becoming a security/HA expert Don't get me wrong, I like to play and tinker, but for the most part I just want it to work and not have to mess with it or fix something every week.