chedemefedeme
Member
Thanks to you guys (and before, to the people at the elk forums) for keeping me informed and excited about home automation. I've got the bug bad. I really enjoy making little (and not so little) tweaks, modifications, and improvements to my home to enhance convenience, comfort, and quality of living.
That said, my home already does a lot..but I'm interested in ideas for more. I'm wanting to poll the brains of this community. Here's what I've got. I'm hoping you can tell me what I'm missing out on that enhances your life. It can be new hardware or simply a script/scene/mode I'm missing that can be done with my existing stuff.
My home currently has the following major systems and hardware:
- Fairly comprehensive security driven by Elk
- Control of 80% of lighting and fans via Insteon
- Elk connected thermostat
- Integration with garage door and doorbell
- Detection of human and vehicle traffic approaching the house
- Basic presence detection via a custom script that pings our iphones
- Some integration with my zoneminder security camera system via custom scripts (example: texts me an image of whos at the front door when doorbell rings)
- Windows Media Center 7, HD ATSC tuner, Polk audio 5.1 surround sound system
- Somfy shades controlled by the elk on most windows
Examples of software functionality I have:
- Modes for away, home, sleeping, and even bathing that set up lights, fans, shades, and HVAC for the situation
- Alerts sent to iphones only when applicable thanks to presence detection
- System knows when TV is turned on thanks to a pinging script
- the iPhone app for elk is freaking awesome (ekeypad) and i use it all the time
- Programmed buttons on my harmony remote to tell my media center PC to turn on and off lights and fans relevant to comfort during TV watching
I don't list all of this to brag one bit. I have a lot of this because of the help of the community and will gladly answer questions anyone has about how to implement anything I have. Rather I list this so you know what I already have...and hopefully spot what I'm missing.
What do you have in your home that would enhance my daily life? I don't have unlimited funds but I do enjoy doing this as a hobby and don't mind investing in ideas that will improve my home.
Tell me about your favorite parts of your system that I don't have on mine. Tell me software rules and scripting tricks I may not have thought of, no matter how little or big.
Tell me, cocooners...what should I do next?
That said, my home already does a lot..but I'm interested in ideas for more. I'm wanting to poll the brains of this community. Here's what I've got. I'm hoping you can tell me what I'm missing out on that enhances your life. It can be new hardware or simply a script/scene/mode I'm missing that can be done with my existing stuff.
My home currently has the following major systems and hardware:
- Fairly comprehensive security driven by Elk
- Control of 80% of lighting and fans via Insteon
- Elk connected thermostat
- Integration with garage door and doorbell
- Detection of human and vehicle traffic approaching the house
- Basic presence detection via a custom script that pings our iphones
- Some integration with my zoneminder security camera system via custom scripts (example: texts me an image of whos at the front door when doorbell rings)
- Windows Media Center 7, HD ATSC tuner, Polk audio 5.1 surround sound system
- Somfy shades controlled by the elk on most windows
Examples of software functionality I have:
- Modes for away, home, sleeping, and even bathing that set up lights, fans, shades, and HVAC for the situation
- Alerts sent to iphones only when applicable thanks to presence detection
- System knows when TV is turned on thanks to a pinging script
- the iPhone app for elk is freaking awesome (ekeypad) and i use it all the time
- Programmed buttons on my harmony remote to tell my media center PC to turn on and off lights and fans relevant to comfort during TV watching
I don't list all of this to brag one bit. I have a lot of this because of the help of the community and will gladly answer questions anyone has about how to implement anything I have. Rather I list this so you know what I already have...and hopefully spot what I'm missing.
What do you have in your home that would enhance my daily life? I don't have unlimited funds but I do enjoy doing this as a hobby and don't mind investing in ideas that will improve my home.
Tell me about your favorite parts of your system that I don't have on mine. Tell me software rules and scripting tricks I may not have thought of, no matter how little or big.
Tell me, cocooners...what should I do next?