Re: Good Home Automation Guide for New Constructions?

[mcbill20@xxxxxxxxx]

Hello Mildog. I have been doing amateur home automation for about ten
years now. There are many in this forum with much more experience than
me but I will give you my two cents worth. My house has a lot of "home-
grown" automation and I've done some home automation work for a few
friends. The equipment in my house controls the HVAC, sprinkler
system, garage door, some of the lights. I have web pages where I can
check the temperature in any room, all incoming and outgoing phone
calls, HVAC status, garage door, etc. I am currently working on
occupancy sensors, security, etc.

> - Whether I should wire for home automation (specifically surveillance
> and security), or use wireless products
>

In my opinion, when building a new house, you should definitely add
some wiring. Most of my work on friend's houses was done after the
house was built and I can tell you from experience it's A LOT more
difficult after the walls are finished. Also, it's a lot more
expensive if you have someone else do the work. At a minimum, I would
run two RG6 coax and two CAT-5e (or CAT-6) cables to each room in the
house. These are not necessarily considered "home automation" but the
lines are kind of blurred. That is, although these are technically
computer network, telephone and video entertainment, they can also be
used for video security and other communications.

While the price of wiring a whole house can seem expensive, look at it
compared to the cost of the house and also to what it will cost if you
wait. Once the wires are in the walls, the hard part is done. If you
decide you want to add home automation, it will be fairly simple. If
not, at least it will be available in the future. And when you sell it
can be an asset. That brings me to my last point as far as whether or
not to automate. When I decide how much automation to add to a house,
first I consider how long I plan to live there. If I don't think I'll
stay for more than a few years then I don't add much. The reason is
that at present, home automation is not all that common and most
buyers won't be familiar with it. In my current home, I did put in
quite a bit of wiring but I haven't added a lot of expensive equipment
and I am only using PLC for lighting. The reason for this is that it's
a modest home and most people in the market for this kind of home
would not be interested in home automation. In fact, it would probably
be a negative for most buyers as they would not understand it and
would just look at it as something complex and expensive to break
down. When I sell, I will probably pull out all the equipment and
leave only the wiring. People buying a $250k house don't want to worry
about replacing relay controllers for lights, etc.

I don't know what your situation is as far has house size, etc. If you
are building a mansion then I would probably lean more towards putting
a lot of automation, or at least a lot of wiring. Otherwise, maybe
just put in wiring for entertainment and maybe a few extras.

One other consideration is how much do you want to be involved? Are
you a DIYer or are you looking to have someone else come in and
install and set everything up?

> - What wired/wireless products are "good".  I'm not looking to spend a
> fortune, but I'd like to be able to expand and replace as time goes
> on.
>

> -Is there one "good" brand for thermostat, lighting, security,
> surveillance, etc.  Every website I've found is trying to sell x10 or
> insteon, but it's hard to tell if they are any good, or if a wired
> solution would be better.
>

This is a difficult question. There are many options out there and
many opinions. One website to check out is http://www.home-
automation.org/. I also sometimes look at http://www.smarthome.com.
They have a good variety but their prices tend to be on the high side,
in my opinion.

As I mentioned, my experience is limited so I'll just tell you about
what I've worked with. I've had very good luck with Worthington
Distribution (www.worthdist.com). They sell quite a few different
brands. I chose HAI and have been very happy with the equipment. All
of my lighting control is currently X10. The reason for this is again
the type of market my house is in. My _opinion_ of X10 is that it's OK
but I would never connect anything that I needed to rely on. If a
light doesn't go on or off when it's supposed to, it's no big deal but
I would not trust my sump pump, furnace or garage door to X10 control.
Again, that's just my opinion.

> I'm really not trying to get the people in this group to do my legwork
> for me.  I'd just like some general nudging to a good site that isn't
> trying to push me toward their products.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mildog

I hope this is helpful. Take a look at these websites and browse the
older posts in this group.

Bill