Documenting Home Automation setups

How many here have documentation organized for their Home Automation gear?
 
I know I don't, and that should be remedied.  

I'm talking about a list of what's installed where, and why.  Along with maintenance schedules like replacing batteries, contact cleaning (leak sensors), water valve exercising and the like.  The last one is relevant to any boat owner, you want to know that your sea water valves are in known-working condition should they suddenly need to be closed!
 
Anyone have tables, charts or forms they use for this?  Might as well avoid reinventing the wheel, when possible.

Here used Microsoft Visio and Excel way long time ago.  Here are a couple of drawings relating to automation and latest project.
 
Geez as of yesterday cannot upload any pictures directly to this link.
 
Getting this when I try to upload:
 

You can upload up to Uploading is not allowed of files (Max. single file size: 40MB)

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Will try something else.
 
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Based on the replies I guess not many of us have taken the time. I did print the rules from my Elk panel but that's it.
 
I think that I'll sit down with a pencil and paper and draw something up. A rough diagram that at least lists all of the components in the system and their connectivity would be a big help down the road.
 
Mike.

Really the only documentation I have created that I actually use is a visio floorplan of my home that has every electrical device with circuit number, zone, insteon address, etc in different layers. I keep a laminated hardcopy by my breaker box and refer to the online one all the time.  Being in visio it also makes it easy to export as a background for my HA software in  whatever format I need.
 
I have done exports and other documentation but over time have not kept it up to date. I just backup my configs on every change with regular backups and/or git.
 
For battery type stuff I mostly rely on the ISY to email me to tell me when batteries are low but with Li-ion that usually happens with in a day or two of the devices losing power.   For non-HA stuff I try to follow a routine/habit.

It occurs to me that all of the information necessary to document my Elk system is already in the Elk panel. It would be nice if Elk had a function that organized that information and created a document that presented it in a nice diagram. It seems like it would be a big help to professional installers or anyone who has to maintain a system.
 
Mike.

Yeah learned about documentation stuff relating to work stuff in the 1990's and relating to operational support.
 
IE: used satellite pics with a focus down to an infrastructure picture or drawing then accompanied it with a logical network in a global enterprise environment.
 
Can't upload pics to post anymore...some change or limits have been done to the forum....maybe running out of space.
 
 

I have a 38 page spreadsheet that tracks what is on every conductor of my 38 M66 punch blocks but I can't imagine that would be of much use to anybody else.

Just saw this thread... so late to the party.

I have been using dokuwiki on my own server for documentation. Once i had my templates created, it is pretty easy to add new items. I have even added digital copies of manuals, uploaded pictures and added sections for any modification/configuration settings.

But the real reason was so that my wife would know what can be disconnected and what would be affected if I was no longer capable of being tech support when something isn’t working(or, I’m no longer around)

For example, on my ISY page, I have a section for disabling and removing if the need ever arises and I’m not around. With this in place, she has peace of mind knowing that the “house” is documented and how items can be removed if needed.

https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki

A wiki has long been on my to-do list.  

I just created a "House Manual" for either a future buyer of the house or if I drop dead and my wife needs to know how stuff works.
She said, "If something happened to you, I wouldn't know how any of this stuff works. She's right.
It includes passwords and softwares, where to download softwares, Serial Numbers for them and a description of most hardware.  
 
I like the wiki idea. Going to check that out.

Visio would probably be a good idea for some things. I've got a photo of the wiring closet with everything labled.
 
After writing this for the possible new owner of the house (I'm not selling it) it occurred to me I use MY email for logins to almost everything. 
If I were to sell the house, I don't want my email attached to the house forever.  So, I'm changing all HA logins to a HOUSE Email addy.  Then I can just give the credentials to a new owner and be done.
 
The manual also helps me keep stuff clear in my head.  Especially stuff that I don't touch very often.
 
--Russ

wkearney99 said:

A wiki has long been on my to-do list.  

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I can see it now....  Every time the wife or kids ask me a question on how to use something in the house, I'll just ask them if they have read the wiki!  That will work great!  lol 

I've used a house online ID for as many thing as possible. Like a gmail account for sending the alerts, or as a place to receive the log to avoid cluttering up personal accounts.
 
But a lot of apps/services can't readily be used by a different ID if it provides personalization.  That and some systems don't allow more than a limited number of 'members' in an account.  I get why, as they're trying to avoid the 'friends, family, neighbors, ex's sharing a netflix account' problem. But this makes it difficult to have 'the house' as a member.  So where it's possible I set it up, when not.. it at least uses it's own unique password (which is a good practice anyway). 
 
This limitation is a typical side-effect of the 'devs without lives creating lifestyle devices' problem.  "Oh, I don't live like that, so I didn't structure my software to allow for that".  Which then often leads to a cascade of fanbois ranting "you should change how you use it because the company knows better" nonsense.  

I also did the 'House Book'.
 
it has annotated photographs for each room, showing what the controls are & do. Not all of these are in every room of course.
 
 HTD audio
 Elk security
 paging system ( legrand something )
 Vantage switches
 
scaled down house plans showing each room from above help with that.
 
the book is more 'scenario based' than anything. "How do I turn up the music?" "why are lights changing in the middle of the night" "I came back and the house lights are on inside why?" "where is the remote control for the TV?" "what is this harmony thing" "is there an apple TV I can use to show photos from my phone" etc.
 
Additionally it has annotated photographs of the server room, showing
* where the 2 uplinks are in case they need a kick.
* where the elk is in case it needs to be turned off
* where the power is for the circulation pump.
 
it has a page of URLs for those systems which have web interfaces and a brief description.
 
wikiwise we use a build of wikimedia / mysql on one of our remote hosted servers, and a jira/confluence build inside.
 
of all this nonsense I've described I suggest the scenario based approach as a central guideline.
 
 
 

mikefamig said:

It occurs to me that all of the information necessary to document my Elk system is already in the Elk panel. It would be nice if Elk had a function that organized that information and created a document that presented it in a nice diagram. It seems like it would be a big help to professional installers or anyone who has to maintain a system.
 
Mike.

Click to expand...

 
Mike, do you know of a query in the API which would pull that stuff? I expect the rules to be tokenized but there are a lot of device strings one could get.
I finally got a handle on pulling via code my Vantage setup, which is amazingly baroque,