Re: Insteon or Zwave?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Robert L Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

<stuff snipped>

> I hope to do all of this using the ELK unit.

When I got an Omni I thought I was going to be able to use it to pretty much
run the house.  It's taken a while, but I am far more inclined to now take a
"confederation" approach.  I've decide to use specialized controllers for
each major "area" of HA/HT/AV/CCTV/COM operation that could stand alone and
function alone but that also could report to and take orders from a higher
level device.  A big push in that direction came from situations where a
systems failure in the Omni rippled, unacceptably, into other systems.  So
far, I am working with serial communications although I'd rather be using
ethernet.  But that could change as new products hit the market.

I started to think of the house as a PC running an OS.  Certain operations
were much more critical than others. I needed some way to insure that a
failure in a "nice to have" system doesn't cause any issues in the "must
have" systems.  Running the pool control from the ELK would be a prime
example of what I'd consider to be mixing too many levels of criticality on
one device.  Who could ever troubleshoot something like that other than you,
the programmer/designer?

> > Right now, I've got a PC connected to the M1 via
> > the serial port and will probably replace that with
> > an Ethernet connection (once I find out all the
> > limitations of the $150+ add-on to the M1).

> I have lots of spare PC's around so connecting one to run something like
CQC
> (assuming I ever hear back from them) or HomeSeer (if I don't) is always
an
> option.

Is it really $150 to add ethernet to the ELK?  Those kind of prices chill me
even further to the idea of ELKs for everything when you can get ethernet
for free, along with a CPU on an ITX or Micro-ATX PC.  You can add network
cards or get motherboards with more than one ethernet port if you needed
more.

I think the newer and more fancy $150 Mini-ITX PCs have three ethernet ports
on the motherboard now because they are used as gateways, routers and
servers by so many people.  Think of how much more thoroughly you can test
the reliability of the average PC than you can test the reliability of an
OMNI or ELK CPU.  Hundreds of diagnostics and programs to run.  Huge
installed base.  So, for $150, I get a machine that can run Unix, DOS or
Windows, costs as much as a ethernet bridge for a dedicated controller and
provides much, much more.

The big, fancy, $1000 controllers may be in decline as a result.  Most are
too hard for anyone but a geek to program and their IDEs run from poor to
"this has to be the stupidest way to program ever!"

> I might also run an Asterisk server for my VoIP services.  They use
> a fair chunk of online BW but very little processing power so I might
decide
> to play around with some Unix stuff as well.

Everything you add has the potential to be just another domino in a cascade
failure.  :-)  The same, unfortunately, can be said of the PC v. ELK/OMNI
solution.  Though I may sound like I am professing a solution, I am still
casting about searching for the perfect combination of design elements.

I've also learned that whatever I design, it has to be serviceable when I am
"out of pocket" for a long period of time.  Mostly that means a good
inventory of swap in parts.  With the Mini-ITX route a preconfigured CPU
spare would be about $250 max.  With the ELK/OMNI route, it would be closer
to $1000.  I also like the idea that a PC-based system's CPU "pulls" a lot
more easily than a system board in either the ELK or OMNI.  There's really
no way I can think of, other than wiring the terminal strips to multi-wire
connectors, to swap control units in the OMNI/ELK sorts of setups.

> I plan to add the Ethernet module so I can monitor and control stuff from
> Brazil when I'm there (usually several months each year).
>
> > This gives me the ability to do what I want/can on
> > the M1 and use the PC to handle the heavy lifting.
>
> Sounds about right.
>
> > IT would be awesome to have one box that did it
> > all, but I haven't seen one yet that I could afford.

I'm betting I can get an awful lot of mileage out of $250 for the ITX box
running an old copy of HomeSeer from the early 2000's, before the invasion
of the plug ins.

> Same here though I get the stuff wholesale and anything I use as a
learning
> or demo tool is partly tax deductible.  :^)

Just read about the local prison gangs killing 30+ Brazilian cops.  You
might want to go into the small arms business, too!  :-)

--
Bobby G.