Re: More Newbie questions....

[Nigel Orr <nigel@xxxxxxx>]

At 11:58 06/10/00 +0100, you wrote:
>I intend as mentioned to start with 'Comfort' and build the system from
>there.. perhaps going to home vision, I need some advice to make the
>system hardwired and designed to make this 'upgrade?' as painless as
>possible, or will I ever need to go down this route?

'Go Krone'!  If you run all your cables to some sort of patching system
(I've used Krone terminals), then you can easily replace equipment or
reallocate cables.  The bulk of my wiring is now complete, and uses 20 rows
of Krone terminals, each one has 10 'pairs' of connections.  It's been
_very_ easy to make changes (like adding relay switching of video signals,
connecting Comfort to the house audio etc), and if I was to replace Comfort
(I can't currently see any reason why I might, but it's always possible!),
it would be a matter of pulling the Comfort-patch panel cables and
replacing them with cables to the new system.

I initially planned for a mix of fixed wiring and various patching
arrangements, this is far far better!

I've split my wiring up as
1 Box for control, burglar alarm etc- basically digital stuff and switches
1 Box for audio, video, telephones etc.

The two boxes are mounted beside each other, and there are removable side
panels so it's easy to have patch cables running between them.

It does require some discipline to keep a note of connections, but probably
any system does...

>a PC.  My downside is programming - haven't got a clue beyond some VB I
>did a number of years ago.  I need some friendly advice.

I can't _really_ comment, as I program various things (DSP,
microcontrollers, PCs) regularly, but I would say that Comfort's
programming is straightforward- there are 200 or so commands, well
documented in one of the manuals, and they all do what they say they
do.  Again, you do need to plan what you want it to do before you start if
it's to work well, but it's no harder than visual basic.

>I want to have as much X10 automation of lights, and a few appliances,
and
>us comfort as a fully fledged security system, with the web interface
etc.
>and use a few cameras to see who's at the front door.

Apart from the web interface, that's basically what I have.  If someone
approaches the door, a PIR switches the door camera through to the TV and
PC.  The PC runs movement detection software, I could add an extra signal
to switch the TV automatically to the appropriate input when the camera
switches (with the SCART function switching input) but don't currently.

>   I'm also interested in the use of comfort to interface with the
heating
> control system - I believe there's some work going on the development
of
> this at the moment?

Comfort has control over my CH, in parallel with the existing timer.  The
timer wins for 'user interface', as it's easy to see the programmed times,
Comfort is used to switch the heating or hot water on if I want it at
unusual times (like on my way back from a long day's walking!)

It would be possible for it to monitor different zones and do more
intelligent control, but I don't need that.  It would probably save some
money if the house was heated more efficiently, but it's low down on my
personal list of priorities.

Hope that helps,

Nigel
nigel@xxxxxxx


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