I have been hearing about Square D working on bringing over the (popular in Australia) Clipsal home automation hardware for a while now, but I think this is the first time I have heard of a major US product supporting this new platform.  Home Automation, Inc. just announced that their latest Omnipro II and Lumina Pro will support the Clipsal product line.  Has anyone in the US played with this hardware yet?  See the press release below for more details.

HAI will demonstrate the new Clipsal integration in Booth 126 at the CEDIA EXPO Australia in Sydney, Australia, July 15-17, 2009.

Home Automation, Inc. (HAI), leading manufacturer of integrated security and home automation products since 1985, announced the development of Version 3.2 controller firmware for its Omni and Lumina home control systems, which adds the Square D® Clipsal® integration.  Square D Clipsal is the number one brand of electrical accessories in Australia and Asia, and provides advanced lighting control for the 220/240V 50Hz market. 

Integrating any lighting control system, including HAI Lighting Control, enhances the enjoyment and value of the home, adds security for peace of mind, and contributes to savings on energy bills.  Additionally, integrating with an HAI home control system provides the ability to change light settings by time of day, a set schedule, triggering of events (including motion or alarm), telephone call, Touchscreen, web-enabled cell phone, or a computer connected to the Internet.

One of the main pet peeves of ZigBee is that home automation devices from different manufacturers are not compatible with each other (i.e., Control4 ZigBee light switches are not compatible with the CentraLite JetStream ZigBee light switches).  In this case, ZigBee is being used as a 'transport' mechanism, with manufacturers putting a propriatary layer/protocol on top of it.  ZigBee Pro is supposed to be changing this, making everything compatible, with multiple manufacturers (such as Control4) announcing that they will support ZigBee Pro in the very near future.

It looks like AMX will be one of the first companies to release hardware which will be ZigBee Pro compatible.  They are working hard on an Ethernet-to-ZigBee Pro gateway (NXR-ZGW-PRO) and a few other ZigBee Pro devices.  It would be great if the Ethernet based protocol is in an open format, allowing other hardware and software manufacturers to support this gateway.

While the ZigBee Pro profile isn't real news (it has been around for several years), it looks like this might be the year where ZigBee Pro is finally gaining traction.  Several chip manufacturers have created new ZigBee Pro chips, and now that companies such as AMX and Control4 are working on ZigBee Pro support, one can only hope that it will trickle down to the DIY home automation world.

Protocols such as UPB and Z-Wave are great, but the more competition, the better.  ZigBee Pro looks good on paper, let's just hope that there won't be any major implementation issues (or quality problems, such as the Centralite JetStream paddle issue).

The X10 DS10A wireless door and window sensor is a great little product which doesn't get enough credit.  Eventho it is made by X10, it uses a wireless signal, instead of relying on your electrical wiring, to transmit the signal to a controller.  The DS10A is not a typical wireless X10 product.  It doesn't send a house/unit code, instead, it sends a 'security code' which gets changed everytime you replace the batteries.  Not many wireless receivers know how to handle these, but the W800RF32 is one of the few (if not the most popular one) which can successfully understand these transmissions.

The goal of this tutorial is to show you how you can monitor these sensors, using an Elk M1, and a W800RF32 attached to an Elk M1 XSP (serial port expander).  I strongly advise against using these devices for real security, but due to the low cost (when they are on sale, you can usually buy 4 or 5 of them for $20 from x10.com), they are extremely useful to monitor non-critical stuff, for home automation purposes.

Some examples:

• Monitor the status of your shed door
• Monitor the status of your walk-in closets, so you can turn the lights on whenever the door opens
• Monitor who is at home (more info)
• Monitor your mailbox, get notified when new mail arrives

As you can tell, there is a lot of potential.  Many people are already relying on DS10A's, but using a PC based system.  However, did you know it's possible to take the PC out of the loop here, by connecting your W800RF32 to your Elk M1 using a serial port expander module (M1XSP)?  Keep reading for the instructions (with pictures and video) on how to configure your Elk M1.

Cinemar has announced a major update to their MusicLobby software.  See the feature list below to see what the product offers.  The press release is attached to the end of this post.

• Fully customizable user interface
• Full MultiZone music selection and control. Control up to 16 zones of audio from one media PC. Independent display of all zones on each client
• View Current, Last, Next song metadata and coverart. Build custom scenes in MainLobby 3 with Playing Now information. All data is kept as variables within MLServer for reuse. Data is available for all licensed audio zones.
• On screen keyboard for Search - usable via a touchscreen.
• View Album Cover Art
• Browse by Thumbnail Cover Art - add entire album or specific track
• Supports and displays ID tags
• Control multiple zones of audio with multiple sound cards
• Filter by Artist, Album, Genre or File Location
• Add individual songs, entire albums or every song by the Artist to the playlist with one click
• Automatically resizes cover art