Home Automation Projects

Has anyone done any home automation projects? I'm thinking of getting this book Amazon.com: Programming Your Home: Automate with Arduino, Android, and Your Computer (9781934356906): Mike Riley: Books and I'm wondering what sort of things could be done with Kinect for Windows and some cheap tablets or something similar...

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veritas_libertas

The closest I'm getting to playing with home automation this year is buying a new programmable thermostat. I would love to play around with something like that, but I just don't have the time.

RobertKaucher

Me either but work is looking at getting into Android and other mobile development and I think that it might be good for me to learn Android and Kinect development just in case... and I need something functional or I'll never actually learn.

veritas_libertas

Now that is interesting. What field does your employer play in?

Everyone

Something I've been interested in for a long time, but probably won't do until I build my dream house. I just think it would work better planning to have it from the start, than trying to add it to an existing home as an after thought.

tpatt100

I bought an iRobot Roomba last weekend, I think that is about as far as I am going for now.

RobertKaucher

Everyone wrote: »

Something I've been interested in for a long time, but probably won't do until I build my dream house. I just think it would work better planning to have it from the start, than trying to add it to an existing home as an after thought.

With WiFi, I don't know if that is really true any more...

dustinmurphy

I've thought about it before... but it's just too expensive for my blood. I looked into LinuxMCE (it's a MediaCenter distro, but it has a LOT of home automation built-in).

My boss has it in his house... he has wireless panels all throughout the house. It's pretty cool... but VERY expensive... and he has his own programmer that configures everything. My friend has a WiFi thermostat that he can control from his iPhone app.

Everyone

RobertKaucher wrote: »

With WiFi, I don't know if that is really true any more...

Yeah 'cause I want someone to be able to sit out in the street and screw with my house...

The other thing is, I don't think WiFi add-on automation looks anywhere near as clean. I like the built-in can't tell it's there look. The WiFi stuff that I've seen requires big bulky power adapters hanging off all your outlets. I don't like the stuff that works through your power lines for that same reason.

I do plan on getting a fancier thermostat though. The one I have sucks, and my house is even that old (built in 2007). It's a 2 story, and they didn't even bother to zone the HVAC. It should have at least 2 zones, one for the main floor, and one for the 2nd floor... but nooo... I get horribly uneven heating and cooling because there's a single crappy thermostat sitting in my living room. It gets even worse if I turn on the fireplace, which is also in the living room.

RobertKaucher

Everyone wrote: »

Yeah 'cause I want someone to be able to sit out in the street and screw with my house...

I would expect you would know how to configure it so that they could not!

onesaint

I wired up our apartment on X10 about a decade ago. It worked fairly well with minor hiccups. I actually purchased a controller so the wife and kids could have easy access to the controls.

What I found with home automation and media centers is that simplicity for other users needs to be taking into consideration in a big way. Even now, my stereo receiver has an IOS/Android controller app, that I use to adjust volume and inputs often. My wife and kids still end up using the physical remote.

tpatt100

onesaint wrote: »

I wired up our apartment on X10 about a decade ago. It worked fairly well with minor hiccups. I actually purchased a controller so the wife and kids could have easy access to the controls.

What I found with home automation and media centers is that simplicity for other users needs to be taking into consideration in a big way. Even now, my stereo receiver has an IOS/Android controller app, that I use to adjust volume and inputs often. My wife and kids still end up using the physical remote.

Yeah that was my issue with building my own media center with DVR capabilities. A fellow techie was singing the wonders of his but I asked him "does it pass the wife test". I am not stereotyping women or non techies but when I asked him this he showed me pictures of his set up and when I saw he had a wireless mouse and keyboard I said "nope not for me".

dustinmurphy

tpatt100 wrote: »

Yeah that was my issue with building my own media center with DVR capabilities. A fellow techie was singing the wonders of his but I asked him "does it pass the wife test". I am not stereotyping women or non techies but when I asked him this he showed me pictures of his set up and when I saw he had a wireless mouse and keyboard I said "nope not for me".

Yeah... that's one of the biggest problems with having cool gadgets like home automation... or a nice media center... the wife has to approve. We've had our media center setup the same way for 8 or so years... 3 years with the current receiver... and she still doesn't know what input to have the stereo on to get the different devices. I wish I would have bought the receiver with the programmable input labels... but it was $100 more... and I didn't want to spend the money. LOL

I have a HTPC... and one of my "needs" was to have a working remote... so that the wife could understand how to use it. LOL

That usually keeps me from doing the REALLY cool stuff...

I put programmable, touch screen thermostats in our house (non-wifi)... and she still doesn't know how to change the temperature (it's REALLY easy...) LOL

veritas_libertas

Okay, this is just too neat not to share:

RADIO THERMOSTAT » Welcome

tpatt100

dustinmurphy wrote: »

Yeah... that's one of the biggest problems with having cool gadgets like home automation... or a nice media center... the wife has to approve. We've had our media center setup the same way for 8 or so years... 3 years with the current receiver... and she still doesn't know what input to have the stereo on to get the different devices. I wish I would have bought the receiver with the programmable input labels... but it was $100 more... and I didn't want to spend the money. LOL

I have a HTPC... and one of my "needs" was to have a working remote... so that the wife could understand how to use it. LOL

That usually keeps me from doing the REALLY cool stuff...

I put programmable, touch screen thermostats in our house (non-wifi)... and she still doesn't know how to change the temperature (it's REALLY easy...) LOL

Yeah I have a Wii, PS3, Tivo, XBox hooked up to my receiver and the receiver to my plasma. I got a Logitech Harmony remote and that made starting stuff super easy with one click, and my wife knows when it doesnt shut down or start up properly she can just click "help" on the remote and it runs the last sequence again.

onesaint

tpatt100 wrote: »

... and my wife knows when it doesnt shut down or start up properly she can just click "help" on the remote and it runs the last sequence again.

I may just be able to convince the boss that we need to drop $100+ on a remote for that reason!

tpatt100

There is one thing I am interested in setting up was wifi security cameras for the front and back of my house and have it stream to a server for recording.

dustinmurphy

tpatt100 wrote: »

Yeah I have a Wii, PS3, Tivo, XBox hooked up to my receiver and the receiver to my plasma. I got a Logitech Harmony remote and that made starting stuff super easy with one click, and my wife knows when it doesnt shut down or start up properly she can just click "help" on the remote and it runs the last sequence again.

Yeah, I thought about a Harmony remote...

We have an Xbox360, Wii, DirecTV DVR, and a HTPC hooked up to ours...