Re: NEW HA PROJECT

[Ben McCormack <yahoogroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul

Great mail. We are just in the process of purchasing a new house and I
would like to take HA a little further.

One question. Hometronic, what sort of costs we would be looking at to
have some control of the boiler and radiators with such a system?

Cheers
Ben

On 17 Jan 2008, at 08:50, Paul Gale wrote:

> Hi Aaron,
>
> I guess one of the big questions that anyone here will ask you is
> how much you want (or are willing) to spend once you see what lovely
> kit is available!?
>
> In my situation, I have a CBus lighting system (see latest posts)
> that is very capable and has some very nice control options
> including LCD, glass faced DLT controllers - including blue
> LED's!!!!! - all good gadgets must have at least one blue LED! ;)
>
> Heating is now controlled by a Honeywell Hometronic system and every
> radiator has a wireless TRV so I now have individual zoning and
> unlimited setpoints/time programs per day of the week. I'm also
> nearing completion (at last!) of a largish (and very complex) loft
> conversion which has UFH and an inverter air con system. These are
> both linked into Hometronic too and work intelligently with each
> other. I also have 4 x Integra electric Velux windows that will also
> be brought into the system to allow automatic and manual remote
> operation. I have the control interfaces for these but not yet
> decided exactly which system they will get linked to. Oh, and all
> the blinds are electric and will be remotely manually and/or
> automatically controllable. The loft also has a number of zones of
> floor RGB LED lights - all controllable to whatever colour is
> needed. These will be controlled via one of the systems detailed
> below.
>
> TV/DVD/Sat/Music/HD etc etc is also distributed around the house via
> several systems - the AV stuff is switched via a couple of matrix AV
> switchers. Composite for most SD TV's via an Extron MAV128 and HD
> via a KeyDigital HD switcher. The outputs of these (in Node 0) are
> sent through the whole house Cat5e system via Keith Doxey's Kat5 AV
> boxes (allows sending of video/audio/digital audio long distances
> over Cat5 with no loss or interference etc). Various music sources
> (mainly satellite radio and huge MP3 collection via a music server)
> are played into 12 zones in the house via ceiling speakers and
> distributed/amplified via 2 x Russound CAV6.6 whole house amps.
> These can also do composite video switching and routing.
>
> Alarm is dealt with via a Comfort alarm panel with second slave
> panel to deal with all the zones (I put at least one PIR in each
> room to allow some form of occupancy detection). This also allows
> remote interrogation via telephone and will dial out on various
> configurable occurrences.
>
> I have a couple of HA controllers - the main hardware HA controller
> is the excellent HomeVision Pro unit that does all mission critical
> hardware HA control. I also have HomeSeer software controller
> running on a dedicated HA PC in a 19" rack case (also have 3
other
> rack unit PC's running other tasks). The Comfort alarm is directly
> linked to the HomeVision controller so I have full control and
> reporting of all alarm features. This means I can "do stuff"
when
> the alarm is armed to away mode, the alarm goes off, garage door is
> opened (also electric and controlled by Comfort) etc etc - very
> flexible. These hardware systems are also directly linked to
> HomeSeer so basically everything is controllable by everything else!
>
> I also recently bought on of Kevin's SUPERBLY EXCELLENT (is that
> enough for another marketing payment Kevin ? ;) ) CBus/HomeVision/
> xAP hardware gateway units. This allows even more control over the
> lighting and integration with many many other HA systems. For
> example, this allows me to intelligently control bathroom and toilet
> fans rather than just have a timer option - e.g. the main bathroom
> fan only comes on if the light has been on for 2 minutes or more and
> also takes into account the time of day and what mode the alarm is
> in etc etc.
>
> I have a whole load of other software apps and various other HW HA
> gadgets - some of the more notable are James' xAP switchboard. This
> allows incoming calls via my 3 telephone lines (home and business
> lines) to be announced over the whole house audio system via one of
> the great TTS voices. Even better, the system can also link to an
> Outlook contact list, so if you use that, your contact names are
> spoken rather than a telephone number.
>
> I don't yet have touchscreens mounted although I do have a number of
> 17" panels and a desktop unit waiting to be commissioned. I run
the
> touchscreen HA software, MainLobby and would use this on these once
> they're in. Up until now, I've been running MainLobby on desktop
> PC's as a method of controlling and monitoring most of my HA systems
> - including CCTV. There are other options although a lot of us on
> list are still waiting for a truly affordable touchscreen option
> that neatly fits into a wall.
>
> Oh, and I also have a CCTV system run by the very capable and
> flexible Geovision hardware/software product. This runs on a
> separate CCTV server PC.
>
> I hope this rambling makes some sense and gives you a few pointers -
> there are just so many ways to achieve a result - some cheap and
> others VERY expensive - so it all depends how much you want to spend
> and also how much time you want to devote. My systems have been
> built up over the last 6-7 years and are still very much an on-going
> project (especially with my conversion still being built).
>
> HTH?
>
> Paul.
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On
>> Behalf
>> Of c8les
>> Sent: 17 January 2008 05:52
>> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
>> Subject: [ukha_d] NEW HA PROJECT
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am looking to install some Home Automation.
>>
>> I have currently re-wired upstairs in a star configuration with
>> Cat5e and twin and earth for all power circuits. I've bragged
about
>> this stuff so much to my wife and its still not working. Although
>> most of the lights are 'temporarily' wired, and can be switched
>> on/off quite safely, with rubber gloves!!(Hope no one from IET is
>> here!)
>>
>> Initially, I would like to install the following, but am looking
for
>> a good quality base system, so that additions can be done when I
>> start downstairs;
>>
>> Touch Screen in each room (4 off ) and one on landing area to
>> control the following.
>>
>> Control of lights, on-off and dim.
>> Control of Electric under-floor heating.
>> Control of Electric Window Blinds.
>> Able to call up existing CCTV system.
>>
>> I would like to install/program all items myself. What I would
like
>> to know, is what would you experianced people recomend, and where
>> can I get the necessary equipment?
>>
>> The problem I'm finding is that many manufacturers want
>> an 'installer' to do the work - One, I cant afford it, and Two,
>> Thats money I could be spending on more Home Automation Toys.
>> Maybe I'm just not speaking to the correct person(s)?????
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Aaron Coles
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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