Elk M1 or Homeseer

msayewich

New Member
Hey guys!
 
Got a new house I'm ripping down to the studs. Any tips on ensuring I prep the home to make sure it'll be accommodating for home automation? 
 
Also more on the topic title. I was planning on using the Elk M1 as the security system and the home automation system. But now I found this Homeseer product. I liked how the homeseer will integrate with the Nest thermostats and other smart products whereas the Elk doesn't. But the elk seemed like it had a really good security platform. Im just torn if i should do the Homeseer with the DSC alarm or Elk M1. 
 
Any tips helps! Im a complete noobie here!
 
msayewich said:
Hey guys!
 
Got a new house I'm ripping down to the studs. Any tips on ensuring I prep the home to make sure it'll be accommodating for home automation? 
 
Also more on the topic title. I was planning on using the Elk M1 as the security system and the home automation system. But now I found this Homeseer product. I liked how the homeseer will integrate with the Nest thermostats and other smart products whereas the Elk doesn't. But the elk seemed like it had a really good security platform. Im just torn if i should do the Homeseer with the DSC alarm or Elk M1. 
 
Any tips helps! Im a complete noobie here!
I'm very happy with my Elk M1. I use an ISY for home automation which works with the Elk M1. You may want to check out this forum: 
 
http://forum.universal-devices.com
 
My two cents....
 
ElkM1 for alarm and base automation controller is hard to beat (agree with the post above...Elk plus ISY is nice!) . 
 
Homeseer or some other PC based software controller (CQC, PowerHome, many others) will prvide higher level functionality to augment the "ladder logic" type built-proof base alarm/controller of the Elk..
 
I use Elk M1 AND Homeseer AND ISY... I don't see how I could get by eliminating any of them. Even my Stargate covers functions that cannot easily be moved to any of the other three platforms. There is no single platform that covers everything.
 
A Nest and a bunch of IoTs doodads really isn't a replacement for something like an Elk or Omni. Something like our CQC platform layered over an Elk provides a best of scenario. It can also support the 'smart' doodads as well, but they can be on the periphery, not in the critical path.
 
Here started with Homeseer 1.X in the late 1990's such that I am a bit biased relating to Homeseer.
 
Homeseer 3 Zee was the first Windows automation software to be ported over to the original Raspberry Pi and Linux.
 
Today you can run Homeseer 3 on Windows and Linux.  Personally here switched to running it on Ubuntu Linux.
 
 
 
The Homeseer Elk plugin was written by an early adopter (Homeseer 1.X days / Homeseer forum name UltraJones in the early 2000's.
 
The original Homeseer HAI plugin was written by author "Tink" who originally worked for HAI then went to Homeseer in the 2000's.
 
Current HAI - now Homeseer Omni plugin was written by an early Homeseer user Rob (2000's). 
 
The just released after beta testing Homeseer Omni Plugin will be featured by Leviton.
 
Leviton also has written about the integration of the Amazon Echo and Homeseer Omni plugin.
 
There is no substitute today for the Elk and Leviton Omni Panels.
 
The Elk panel and HAI panels were the first combo security / automation panels introduced in the late 1990's- early 2000's that provided fully featured automation with security.  Both panels were built to last forever.  Leviton purchased HAI in 2012.
 
Just a quickie mention that I have utilized Homeseer now since the beginning and a happy camper.
 
Personally I would just take Homeseer for a test drive.
 
......and also check out Dean's CQC (Charmed Quark Systems)....mentioned above this post.....
 
msayewich said:
Hey guys!
 
Got a new house I'm ripping down to the studs. Any tips on ensuring I prep the home to make sure it'll be accommodating for home automation? 
 
Also more on the topic title. I was planning on using the Elk M1 as the security system and the home automation system. But now I found this Homeseer product. I liked how the homeseer will integrate with the Nest thermostats and other smart products whereas the Elk doesn't. But the elk seemed like it had a really good security platform. Im just torn if i should do the Homeseer with the DSC alarm or Elk M1. 
 
Any tips helps! Im a complete noobie here!
The Elk panel is primarily for security and it integrates nicely with HomeSeer via Randy Jones' "UltraM1G3" plug-in. So... use the Elk for security and use HomeSeer for all the automation. Lots of folks do that.
 
wow! you guys are stellar!
 
Thanks for all the positive help!
 
I was going to run 22/4 pretty much to all areas that i could imagine home automation i might add in the future, area for blinds etc. Anything else you guys recommend?
 
Obviously this isn't including anything that I'm already doing for security like contacts and motion, but just to make life easier in the future. With my security infrastructure I'm sticking to wired devices only for reliability.
 
Here utilize the OmniPro panel wired sensors for triggers in Homeseer relating to Microsoft SAPI voices.
 
Historically also utilized the sensors to enable or disable touchscreens when entering a room.
 
You can personalize a greeting to whomever is shutting off the alarm if you want.
 
Same stuff with the Elk panel.
 
Homeseer will run on a Raspberry Pi off a microSD card and utilized very little energy.  You can also put the RPi inside of your Elk M1 panel.
 
Generally a hardware controller (Elk or Hai) plus a software controller (Homeseer, CQS and similar) will give you the most functionality. Choosing one vs the other will leave out some features you may wish to have. Just make sure that the software controller you choose can be fully integrated with the hardware controller. Unfortunately many software based controllers claim compatibility with 3d party hardware but do not really provide full integration, just the basic (because it is not trivial to fully implement a 3d party driver).
 
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