Advice Home Automation Technology/Control

[Klooney]

I am looking at automating my house. I am leaning toward using Z-Wave and possibly indigo (v6 beta finally supports z-wave), homeseer, or mi casa verde. My concern is from what I've seen online none of the software supports Sonos, Nest Thermostat, and voice control (preferably siri). I also have an ademco alarm system installed but haven't messed with it other than to plug the main board in and I wasn't able to turn off the annoying alarm. It was installed by a local alarm company prior to me purchasing the house. I would like to integrate this alarm...or would it be better to purchase a new system?

Any ideas? Am I missing something?

 

[ano]

Yes, I do think you are missing something. I look at home automation as being built on a hardware core, and then add other smarts on top. In other words, I would start with either and HAI Omni Pro II or Elk M1 panel, replace out the Ademco panel, then build upon that. Most automation is motion sensor or hardware sensor based, so you need that first as your foundation. For switches Z-Wave or UPB are what are used most although Zigbee is starting to be a contender. After that is all in place add Homeseer or CQC or Indigo or something else. You mention Indigo and from that I assume you are a Mac person, like I am, but do consider using a dedicated PC for your home control. Most things are web based today, so ultimately a Mac or PC should be able to control things remotely.

 

[tmbrown97]

And the Nest is meant to be standalone - they tried to build all the automation into it so you wouldn't need an HA system; but it only knows what's going on in the room it's in. And if you haven't already bought it, check reviews first - it seems they've had some reliability issues with pretty heavy consequences (no heat; house freezing; or getting stuck on, etc).

For the Sonos, you'll probably get a much better experience controlling it with their own app, although it'd be nice if it could have some basic interaction with your home security system.

As for Siri, to the best of my knowledge its not available for App integration except with apple's own system apps - though that'll be a cool feature when unlocked. There is a video floating around of someone who hacked Siri for controlling his thermostat but he did so by interrupting Siri's connection to the Apple servers and intercepting the data so he could manipulate it - pretty cool but a bit beyond the standard off-the-shelf offerings.

 

[Dean Roddey]

We don't support the Nest, but as mentioned it's not really intended to be integrated so it's not a good choice for that purpose.

We do hvae strong Sonos integration, and you can go either way since we have two different drivers. One integrates it fully as a passive player and you use CQC to browse and select media. The other is a control and interface driver that assumes you'll use the Sonos interface for media browsing and selection but still want to control it and get feedback on what it's doing.

Not sure abou tthe Ademco alarm and whether it's automatable or not.

 

[Klooney]

Thanks for the all the replies. I'm not bent on keeping the ademco system, I will scrap the entire thing if need be. I am a mac person but have a few PCs in the house as well not tied to either one. I've see a few videos on youtube of folks using siri to control their HA systems but no in depth writeups of how they put it together. From what I've seen Indigo has Nest support but not Sonos and other technologies have Sonos but not Nest. I purchased the Nest more than a year ago and haven't had any issues with it. I may just have to purchase a new thermostat that plays nice or wait for a developer to come up with something. My goal is to have the house "wake-up" when I come home i.e. turn on lights, set the thermostat, turn on the tv, etc. I was looking towards mi casa, homeseer, CQC, etc because of the ease of use and having a nice gui to set up all the automation and tmany of the sytems are compatible with multiple technologies.

 

[Dean Roddey]

It's best to avoid devices that don't have published and supported protocols. It's generally possible to hack the protocol by watching what is being passed back and forth, but since the manufacturer considers it an internal detail they won't hestitate to change it and break everyone until the protocol is re-hacked. It's not worth it. If you want an automated system, reward those folks that support automation and you'll also end up with a more stable and mantainable solution, IMO.

 

[JonW]

If you're replacing the security system, take a look at something like the HAI Omnipro line. You can do your security, lighting, thermostats and audio from their system and don't need to use a PC or Mac based app.

 

[Dean Roddey]

Though, to be fair, 'need' is a relative term. Depends on what you are trying to achieve. Products like CQC offer a lot above and beyond what you can do with just an Elk or Omni.

 

[rsw686]

I was in your position about a month ago looking to get started in HA. I had an existing hardwired Ademco alarm and two Panasonic wireless IP cameras. I wanted a wireless IP thermostat, but the only choice with HA software integration was the Proliphix. I was set on having control of all devices from the alarm keypads and not just a software based solution like CQC or Elve.

After a week or two of reading I choose the HAI OmniPro II, HAI LCD console keypads, HAI Omnistat2 ZigBee thermostats, HAI HLC (UPB) switches, and Haiku iPhone / iPad app. Replacing the Ademco panel with the HAI II was straight forward besides having to replace the 2K EOL resistors for 1K.

I spent most of the time debating between the Elk M1 and the HAI OmniPro II. A couple of reasons I went this way were
- Space was limited and the HAI OmniPro II had everything I needed on one board (5 serial ports, Ethernet port, 16 zones)
- Running a wire for serial control to two thermostats was not going to be an easy task. HAI has a ZigBee module which works with their ZigBee thermostats. The ZigBee module is powered off the board serial port.
- HAI allows switches to be grouped into rooms. From the console keypad or Haiku I can turn on / off rooms with one click
- HAI HLC (UPB) switch status tracking just works and controlling multiple lights as part of a scene is built into the controller.
- Both the HAI 5.7e touchscreens and Haiku support a variety of cameras including the Panasonic.

A few downsides
- Email notifications are not supported directly from the HAI OmniPro II
- Hardware controller programming is limited. It sometimes takes a roundabout way to do something that would be simple in a full featured language. HAI is not alone in this and the Elk M1 has the same limitations.

I mainly use the Haiku iPhone / iPad application to control the system. Since you are a Mac person Haiku Helper would be a good addition and will send notifications to Haiku app. Down the road I am looking at expanding the system with CQC or Elve. Either system would allow me to send email alerts, expand the programming possibilities, and build custom touchscreens.

 

[Klooney]

I will take the advice and pick up either an Elk m1 or HAI Omni Pro II. Which one will better support zwave?