Home automation DIY project

Hi,
 
I'd like to automate my new house that we are building right now... The only problem is that I'm new to all this and I don't know a single thing about electricity and other stuff like that. 
 
Things I know :
 
The whole house has wired LEDs. I'd like to be able to control them ( on/off, dimmer, scenes, etc...) over smartphones, tablets, in-wall touch screens and avoid ( if possible) the wall switches ( we don't want to have 8 side by side switches...). After long hours of reading, I think I know we have to pass wires from all the leds to a (lots) module in a control panel ( structured media enclosure leviton style...) but I don't know what kind of module, how many, etc... We would also like to be able to use motion detector to close/open lights in different areas of the house.
 
The ventilation system has 4 zones and there is also a radiant floor system with 5 zones. We would like to control them over the same devices...
 
The audio system will be a 3 zones using Sonos devices with 2 hardwired speaker zones and an wifi zone ( we bought all the hardware already with the 3 sonos connect amp, 6 wired speakers, the bar, etc...) again we want the control over the same devices as always.
 
For the security, we will have central based system that we would also be able to activate or shutdown remotely. Plus, we would like to be able to control all the doors including the garage door. 
 
In a near future, we would like to add sensors ( water leak, energy consumption, etc...) so we would like to build something that can evolve with our needs and knowledge.
 
We are not looking for a company based system ( crestron, control4, etc.) Not that they are not good, but we are looking for something cheaper that can do more or less the same thing.
 
I'm usually good with new technologies and geek stuff so I'm ready to learn/read/try but I just don't know from where to start.
 
Thank you very much
 
Jonathan

A good place to start is to list what you want to control, what you want to automate (what control behavior under which criteria), and then to determine your budget for the project.
 
Since it sounds like you want to do a lot, break it into smaller chunks so that it is a manageable problem.  (Keep breaking things down until you get to a level you can deal with, and then plan from there - you can't eat an elephant in one bite!)  First, look at security, then lighting, then HVAC, audio, and so on.
 
From this exercise, you'll get a list of outputs (or controlled items) and inputs (monitored items).  Then you just need to figure out the best way to get those inputs and outputs into some kind of control.  This will depend on several factors, including your budget and how accessible they will be (distance, height, wire access, etc.) 
 
After that, consider various controls.  There are some which are standalone, embedded controllers (Leviton/HAI, Elk, etc.) and there are others which run on PC hardware (Homeseer, OpenHAB, etc.)  There are pros and cons to each.
 
Your lights can likely be controlled via some powerline communication (like UPB).  If you do that, then you don't need to pull extra wire - you just replace the switch(es) which control the lights with "smart" ones.

Thanks for your answer.
 
The problem with the switches is that we want to get rid of them (as long as possible). Starting from there, how can I control hardwired leds over the "air/cloud/internet/network"? Homeseer looks interesting, but I don't get how to connect all the "non-smart" devices to, let's say a Hometroller S6 PRO.
 
Samething here with the hvac. How to link my thermostats to the HA setup? And so on with the audio and all the other devices.

I'm not a Homeseer expert, but I'm sure that you can get all of the information into Homeseer without doing that.  You can use wireless sensors and devices and a wireless interface to the Homeseer controller.
 
My goals might be different from yours, but I would probably install an embedded controller (like an Omni Pro) to handle security and much of the low-level control, and then augment that with control of higher-level stuff using something like Homeseer at some point later.  You certainly don't have to do it that way, though.  It all depends on your comfort level with the various controllers and wireless vs. wired devices.  My comfort level is higher with embedded devices and having things hard-wired.  My body is telling me that the next house will be entirely wireless unless we have one built, though.
 
I think that there are some advantages to each path, so hopefully someone with some good Homeseer experience will chime in with more information.

jobrunelle said:

Thanks for your answer.
 
The problem with the switches is that we want to get rid of them (as long as possible). Starting from there, how can I control hardwired leds over the "air/cloud/internet/network"? Homeseer looks interesting, but I don't get how to connect all the "non-smart" devices to, let's say a Hometroller S6 PRO.
 
Samething here with the hvac. How to link my thermostats to the HA setup? And so on with the audio and all the other devices.

Click to expand...

 
I don't think that I'd get rid of the switches altogether.  It's easier to switch on a light in the middle of the night than to find your phone or a keypad and do it that way.
 
Control over the internet is pretty easy.  The Omni Pro has a utility and an app - plus the ability to dial in and use a phone keypad in the same way as the keypad in the house. 
 
I'm not sure about Homeseer, but I expect that you would use a dynamic DNS service at the house and then it just serves up a web page.

But how would you connect 30+ leds to the Omni Pro?
 
We won't get totally rid of the switches, but for a specific area where there are the kitchen, dinning room, living room, hall, all open area, we don't want to have a wall full of switches, thermostat, etc...

you need to integrate your various systems.
 
in my world, lighting is separate from security, which is separate from audio, and video, and HVAC, and so on.  get the best tool for that particular job, and then find a software package that can link them all together.
 
personal example: my lighting is Hue, security will be Elk M1, audio is Sonos, video via Harmony Hub, HVAC is Nest.  then use CQC to bind them all together to create rules, actions, and events, to build interfaces to display on touchpanels around the house, and to build interfaces to display on your mobile phones.
 
what are the LEDs?  are they smart (zigbee) or do they require a controller of some sort? 

jobrunelle said:

But how would you connect 30+ leds to the Omni Pro?
 
We won't get totally rid of the switches, but for a specific area where there are the kitchen, dinning room, living room, hall, all open area, we don't want to have a wall full of switches, thermostat, etc...

Click to expand...

 
The wires to control the light switches don't get connected to the Omni Pro with most control technologies (e.g. z-wave, UPB).  The OP2 would use  an interface module that allows it to send commands to the lighting controllers (e.g. a Leviton 36A00-1 for UPB).
 
You will still need to put a switch or dimmer somewhere to control each lighting circuit. This could be a typical paddle type switch (like a Leviton 35A00-1CFL), or a wired-in module, like a Simply Automated wired-in module.  You could then place a couple of multi-button keypad controllers on the wall of the room to control the lights locally.
 
Similar components are available for Z-wave.

jobrunelle said:

But how would you connect 30+ leds to the Omni Pro?
 
We won't get totally rid of the switches, but for a specific area where there are the kitchen, dinning room, living room, hall, all open area, we don't want to have a wall full of switches, thermostat, etc...

Click to expand...

 
Presumably the LED lights are run from standard AC power and switched with a typical light switch.  If that is the case, then you'd just replace the light switch with a UPB light switch (or something like it).  It can then receive commands via the home's AC power wiring to turn on, off, dim, etc.  The controller would then have a UPB interface which plugs into an electrical outlet to communicate with them.
 
If they are LED lights with a separate power supply, I'd need more information to give my opinion on how to control them.  For example, some LED power supplies can accept an analog voltage to vary the current to the LED lights.

Also before removing all the switches from your house, I'd recommend that you talk with a building inspector to see what is required where you live.  I also can tell you that many people don't want home automation, and if you ever plan to sell your house, you need to consider that.  At least at this time, automated houses are not cherished by most buyers, so you might want to speak to a real estate agent before you make major changes to how your lights are controlled and where switches are located.  Adding automated switches is a compromise because they look conventional but they still can be controlled.  The Omni Pro II can control many types of lights, but I would recommend UPB without any hesitation.

Ditto ano's suggestion of UPB with the Leviton OmniPro II.  I have the same setup and it is rock solid.  Great thing with UPB switches is that scenes are programmed and activated at the switches meaning that the OPII doesn't have to coordinate the scenes.  OPII gives you real-time status tracking and multiple phone/tablet apps to control devices.

Here also have an OmniPro2 (x2) and UPB lighting (in wall switches,appliance modules and lamp modules for years now with no issues.
 
I also utilize Z-Wave, Zigbee and X10.  All my in wall switches are UPB.  Utilize Leviton OmniStat for my thermostats which integrate in to the OmniPro 2 (and Russound zoned audio).

Ok. But let's say we have an open area with 20+ leds splitted in 5 zones ( 5 different switches to control the 5 light zones). The dinning room which is in the same open space has its own light There are also the outside lights splitted in two zones we want to control so another two switches. We also have the staircase and the lights in the stairs every two-stairs ( two more switches). The entrance leds and the leds leading to the entrance are on two different switches. So a total of 12 switches are needed to control everything. We want to have the control of them all in the same place. So i thought of a in wall touch screen to do it because we don't want a 12 switches panel on the wall.... Plus there will be the thermostat for the radiant floor plus another one for the forced air ( I think Nest can do both at the same time so we could have only one instead of one over the other...) The leds aren't smart one. Regular hardwired leds. So what I'd like to do is to wire all those leds to a module/console/piece of hardware back in the control room and then the touch screen would act as the switch to send requests to the module/console/whateverthename so this thing could control every different zones as asked ( on/off, dim...)

jobrunelle said:

Ok. But let's say we have an open area with 20+ leds splitted in 5 zones ( 5 different switches to control the 5 light zones). The dinning room which is in the same open space has its own light There are also the outside lights splitted in two zones we want to control so another two switches. We also have the staircase and the lights in the stairs every two-stairs ( two more switches). The entrance leds and the leds leading to the entrance are on two different switches. So a total of 12 switches are needed to control everything. We want to have the control of them all in the same place. So i thought of a in wall touch screen to do it because we don't want a 12 switches panel on the wall.... Plus there will be the thermostat for the radiant floor plus another one for the forced air ( I think Nest can do both at the same time so we could have only one instead of one over the other...) The leds aren't smart one. Regular hardwired leds. So what I'd like to do is to wire all those leds to a module/console/piece of hardware back in the control room and then the touch screen would act as the switch to send requests to the module/console/whateverthename so this thing could control every different zones as asked ( on/off, dim...)

Click to expand...

 
Some things to ask yourself:
 
Do you need to automate all of them? 
Can you gang some of these light fixtures together to reduce the switch count?
 
 
To reduce the number of switches, you can have your electrician install multi-switches (three rocker combo switch) like the one pictured below, and then get hard-wired UPB modules to put inside or near your fixtures for control.  Just leave the switches on.
 
Hard-wired UPB modules: http://www.simply-automated.com/products/items/UFD-30_dimming_module.php
 
Decora combo switch:

To answer your question, no we can't reduce the count or gang some lights together.

The modules like the UPB you mentionned can't be directly connected to the leds somewhere in a control panel?