Best control unit for a DIY Home automation system

[landonfausett]

Im hoping that someone can help me out here. Ive never posted on a forum or anything but here is my dilemma...
 
Is there any brain or control unit on the market like control4 mixed with a homeseer but more of a diy?
 
There are some things such as security that I have all hardwired to every door and window and home run back to where i want to put my control unit. Also there are other things that i have home ran such as cat5e and rg6q to potential tv stations, and then cat5 to the sprinkler unit and garage. (I don't neccesarily need help running wire or anything, I've read plenty and have local friends to help)
 
My house still does not have the sheet rock up and i was just planning on having a control4 dealer come in and install the brain but i don't want to have to deal with paying them thousands when/if anything happens down the road.
 
Bottom line is I want a main control unit for everything to plug into (security and automation). Something that i could possibly add z-wave door locks to and potentially light switches that i can set timers and control with a smart phone. Does something like this exist?!?!
 

 

[drvnbysound]

Welcome to the forum!

Sounds to me like you are in the market for a HAI/Leviton OPII or Elk M1G panel.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Elk M1G+XEP security panel and ISY994ProZW. Gets you a high reliable security panel with Insteon and ZWave lighting control. Been using that combo for ~10 years.

 

[mikefamig]

Every time this topic comes up I like to mention that Elk is very DIY friendly and was a big help to me when I was installing my M1G. I'll let HAI owners speak for Leviton. When I was in your position and researching different brands I was surprised to find that there are a few good security panels out there but Elk and HAI are in a league of their own when it comes to integrating automation with security in one panel.
 
Mike.

 

[pete_c]

Welcome to the Cocoontech forum landonfausett!
 
Started to play with X10 here in the 1970's and did remote control a home a few thousand miles away.
 
Fast forward today and it's been mentioned a few times here in the DIY sections documentation and on the forum.
 
Create a substrate / infrastructure for your automation in your new home that can provide you with everthing today and tomorrow. 
 
Here original combo board (security  / automation) was installed in the 1980's.  It was a very small company and the board provided the basics relating to security plus it had about 32-48 zones.  Simple board with text to speech (you had to build the words) and X10 at the time.
 
It was called Excalibur and designed by a retired tinkerer and advertised in Popular Electronics.  It was under $1000.00 USD. 
 
I wish I kept the board / manual to the device.  The text to speech parts really were digital copies of the retired tinkerer's wife (only helper) at the time.
 
It was programmable via push buttons (with LEDs) on the panel (very much a PITA) and keyboard only.
 
Used the combo board in the old house from around late 1980's to early 2000's.  Concurrently purchased Homeseer around late 1990's.  Between the 80's and 90's did tinker with automation software written for the Commodore 64 / Amiga computers (and Tandy, Sinclair, Apple, et al)  and first generation '86 computers (Microsoft GUI  /  and IBM OS2)
 
In the early 2000's purchased my first HAI OmniPro 2.  In the middle 2000's purchased second OP2 and replaced first one with 2nd gen and repurposed first generation OP2 in an another home.  I have left the old one in place and never expanded it as it continues to run fine.  Second one has been expanded.  I have used my home more as a sandbox for the newer OP2 trying this and that.
 
None the less there is NO equivalent today for either the Elk M1 or the HAI OmniPro 2 that I can think of. 
 
Personally both boards are DIY friendly.   
 
DIY friendly though today is totally different than what I see relating to easy button combo security and automation

 

[dementeddigital]

If you want a DIY version of Homeseer, you could consider openHAB.  It's open source, and it runs on anything from a Raspberry Pi on up.  You'd still need additional hardware to bring in your door contacts, etc.  I'm sure that it's not nearly as friendly or has as many features as Homeseer.
 
As others have mentioned above, the Elk M1G and the HAI (Leviton) Onmi Pro II have good followings.  I've put Omni Pros in two houses so far, and they have been rock solid.  HAI continually updates the firmware, and their customer support is very good.  Despite the design era of the hardware, it's amazingly versatile.  (I'm sure the Elk is too, but I have no experience with it.)
 
Of course, you could buy an alarm (as opposed to an alarm/automation controller), and just interface to the alarm with openHAB.  I think that you would lose some flexibility that way, though.  (You might not be able to get some data.)  And there would be more things to maintain.  And possibly more points of failure.
 
I would make sure that, whatever security / fire monitoring system I installed at least was UL for that application.  (There are installation requirements for UL, too.)  You don't want to give your insurance company reasons to deny a claim.  Plus, your insurance company might give you a discount for a monitored system.  DEL_installations probably has a lot of knowledge about this (more than me, for sure), and he can tell you if I'm all wet or if there are other considerations.

 

[pete_c]

As mentioned above there is no match today for the DIY of Elk M1 / HAI combo automation and security panels.
 
Here over the years have added UPB, Zigbee and Z-Wave controllers to the original base of an X10 controller on the HAI OP2.  X10 has been updated to a dual phased XTB TW-523 emulator.  Audio if via a Russound serial connection and CCTV is a mixture of old an new HAI stuff.
 
Adding software automation with a connection to the above mentioned panels is icing on the cake.
 
My automation software posts about Homeseer are a bit biased as I have used it now since 1998.
 
I am currently using two Leviton HAI OP2 combo panels and automation software called Homeseer as an addendum to the HAI combo panel.  Both do a bunch of stuff autonomously and interactively.
 
Two newest HS3 boxes are running on Ubuntu Linux.  I have recently migrated HS3 lite from the RPi2 to an Xi3 / Xi5A mini computer and testing it on the PIne64/2Gb arm based computer (both now running Ubuntu 16.04).  2nd box is running Ubuntu 14.04 on an Intel based iSeries PC (mITX small footprint case).
 
There are Homeseer, CQC Elk and HAI panel plugins available today. 
 
Relating to automation software Cocoontech CQC (charmedquark dot com) is mentioned much and the author Dean of said software is always reading and posting here.   I would suggest giving it a spin.
 
Personally been impressed with OpenHab (openhab dot org) over the years.  My first playing with it was on an Ubuntu XX desktop set up.  It'll run fine these days on an RPi3. It is free.  There is a plugin for the OmniPro panel available.
 
Here is a quickie overview picture of Openhab.
 

 
Another automation piece of software that I am impressed with is called HomeGenie.  (homegenie dot it).
 
It will run on Wintel, iOS or Linux using Mono (copied Homeseer Mono stuff).  It is free and a bit easier to learn and use than OpenHAB.  There are no plugins available for the Elk or Omni Pro 2 devices.
 
Designed on a multi-standard basis, HomeGenie can interface to various devices such as X10, Insteon, Z-Wave, Philips Hue, UPnP/DLNA, RFXCom, KNX, communicate with external web services and integrate all of this into a common automation enviroment. So even if based on different standards, inside HomeGenie, all "modules" can be controlled and automated to work all together.

With a modern built-in web user interace, HomeGenie can be enjoyed from any PC, smartphone or tablet.
 

 

[landonfausett]

Sorry it has been awhile since i was last able to get on here. I really do appreciate all of your quick responses and detailed explanations! After looking at a lot of your responses and doing some research I have decided to go with the Omni Pro ll. It seems simple, but complex enough that it can cover everything and anything through the different add ons. Obviously I am still new to this and I will be continuing to develop and upgrade the home automation side of things thru the different controllers later on down the road, but at least for now i can have a peace of mind knowing that the OPll is a solid and dependable panel. 
 
Thanks again everybody!