Re: Inexpensive Home Automation in Australia

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

Clipsal C-Bus originated in Australia and is also available in Europe. It
does what you want. It requires CAT5. Inexpensive, it's not.

     http://www.cbus-enabled.com

Rick Measham <maildump@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Looking around the 'net, it seems that it is ridiculously expensive and
>difficult to do home-automation in Australia. As we use 240v/50Hz rather
>than 110v/60Hz, we can't the US stuff .. which is a pity as it is *much*
>cheaper.
>
>That said, does anyone know anything about HA that can help me out
>sourcing equipment at good prices.
>
>Here's what I want:
>Lighting controllers for four groups of dichroic 'halogens'
>    hidden in the ceiling or behind the switch plate is good .. my
>    house is being built at the moment, but I wonder if the halogen
>    groups will be like our office: power outlets in the ceilings
>    into which the transformers are plugged .. if so, I guess an
>    appliance controller might work
>
>Lighting controllers for six incandescent lights <= 100W each
>Lighting controllers for one 500W flood light
>    one again, these would be hidden and I will NOT use inline
>    bayonet controllers in the light fittings.
>
>PIR sensors x 5
>
>Sunlight sensor
>
>I'd like all this to eventually come back to an RS-232 port on my linux
>box from where I can control everything.
>
>Four of the PIRs will be programmed to turn off lights that have been
>left on for a period of no activity and will be wired in series with the
>wall-plate switch (ie, light will only come on when there's movement and
>the switch is in the on position)
>
>The other PIR will be wired in parallel to the switch and in series to
>the sunlight sensor and will turn lights on when people approach the
>front door.
>
>I'd prefer all the decision making for the PIRs to be handled by the
>computer rather than having it hard-wired so telling you the way I'm
>using it is probably irrelevent.
>
>Any help anyone can give me is greatly appreciated. I had thought to go
>X10, but that's because it's the system I'd heard of. Other postings to
>this group suggest that it might be too outdated. I'm not biased, so
>long as it works.
>
>As it's a new house and I'm running lots of CAT6 for ethernet, I'm not
>adverse to running extra CAT6 if I need to. Just tell me quick coz the
>frame is built and as soon as Christmas break is over the electrician is
>moving in :)
>
>Cheers!
>Rick Measham