Does not feel like an automated house.

[AnthonyZ]

It came that way (integrated IR receiver in the unit itself) and only has local buttons on it as an additional way to control. I viewed the it as a handicap when I purchased it (IR only is too flaky) and knew damn well that I wanted it on the HA system. Eventually. For two (or is it three?) years, I have just "controlled" it via button presses on a touch screen that commanded the Global Cache to spit out the appropriate code (low fan, low fan w/ pump, high fan, high fan w/ pump and power toggle). Boring. Now, I have the system make all the decisions on it's own (truly automated) and retain a manual over ride for rare occasions when we want to take over. The addition of the current switch makes all the difference in the power off command.

 

[damage]

- rather than announcing emails throughout the house, a short sound is played for each of our accounts and the sender & subject is displayed on all the slimp3s & squeezeboxes distributed around the house. since our other house's network is bridged, the displays also show up over there

What squeezebox plugin are you using?

xPL. if you don't use xPL, the squeezeserver API is very easy to use. you can just write some scripts to telnet to the server and issue commands to it.

 

[potts.mike]

It came that way (integrated IR receiver in the unit itself) and only has local buttons on it as an additional way to control. I viewed the it as a handicap when I purchased it (IR only is too flaky) and knew damn well that I wanted it on the HA system. Eventually. For two (or is it three?) years, I have just "controlled" it via button presses on a touch screen that commanded the Global Cache to spit out the appropriate code (low fan, low fan w/ pump, high fan, high fan w/ pump and power toggle). Boring. Now, I have the system make all the decisions on it's own (truly automated) and retain a manual over ride for rare occasions when we want to take over. The addition of the current switch makes all the difference in the power off command.

I just have the old school six position switch and was hoping that you had found and IR replacement.....

 

[AnthonyZ]

Relays, buddy, relays...

 

[veshman]

Some really great ideas guys. Thanks.

I will be implementing some of them.

I guess I really need to just go for the touch screen. That seems like it would be the device that ties it all together. Probably a wall mounted iPad that could be removed.

Although, I'd also like the idea of one thats on and ready all the time.

I just spent most of the day today wiring in IR from homeseer to all my devices. Thought it was great until someone turned off the sony tv in the living room and the sony tv in the family went off as well.

One step forward, two back!

Yep, this is the draw back to having the same brand of electronic in 2 locations. When you have 2 of the same brand you need zoned IR.

- My favorite automated item is my thermostats. When the kids turn the upstairs air down too low HomeSeer automatically resets it to 76 so they've given up on trying to crank the air conditioning way down. When the house becomes unoccupied the stats automatically set up or down depending on the season.
- Mute all TV's in the house as well as the whole house music when the phone rings.
- Show front porch camera on touch screens when door bell rings. This event also sends camera shot to my work email as well.
- My wife love the fact that the bathroom light comes on at 10% dim when entering the bathroom from 11PM to sunrise.
- All phone messages are emailed to me and the wife using HomeSeer Phone.
- Whole house audio system announces wheather the doors are locked or not when we run the good night event.
- Various announcments:
- when auto's arrive home
- when new email arrives
- alert the kids to gather the garbage
- when snail mail arrives
- to load and unload the diswasher
- when the washer/dryer are complete
- when motion is detected in the back of the house
- when the garage door has been left open
- etc

I've always wanted notification of the washer and dryer being complete... How do you do that? Dishwasher too.... Thanks!

Bhavesh

 

[veshman]

- if the deadbolt is unlocked and the alarm is still armed in at home mode, a zoned TTS message is played reminding us to disarm the alarm
- the back & side yard flood lights are turned off when the back & side doors are deadbolted
- if the alarm is armed at certain times and the dog door is closed, a TTS message is played to remind us to open it
- if we're not home, there's been recent motion in the backyard near the gate & doghouse and the sound threshold has exceeded a certain level there, sound clips are played through the doghouse speakers in an effort to distract our dog who is barking
- depending on if we're at home, work, our other home or just out, our google voice is updated automatically to forward to the phones where we are
- rather than announcing emails throughout the house, a short sound is played for each of our accounts and the sender & subject is displayed on all the slimp3s & squeezeboxes distributed around the house. since our other house's network is bridged, the displays also show up over there
- automatic cycling of the cable modem at our other house when the link goes down
- on school nights, zoned TTS sent to each of the kid's networked MP3 players to tell them it's bedtime
- automatically limiting the volume of the kids' networked MP3 players so they are unable to attempt to drown each other's out, etc
- via power monitoring, if the kitchen zone hasn't dropped to below 10 watts in over 12 hours, then the fridge never cycled off, there may be something wrong with it. (this JUST happened and it turned out the adaptive defrost control board died)
- if the stock market moves by a certain large percentage, like what happened on flash crash day, i am texted, IMd, emailed and TTS is play throughout the house, again depending on where I am/online/etc

Hi damage, could you explain how you interface home automation with Squeezebox devices? I just started using HomeSeer Pro, and have been using squeezebox for a while. Thanks!

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

For monitoring the washer and dryer do a search in the How To's and Guides section. Lot's of ways to do this including replacing the buzzer with a relay (to obtain contact closure), current sense, monitor a light on the 'dashboard', and mount a magnet on the 'dial'.

 

[veshman]

For monitoring the washer and dryer do a search in the How To's and Guides section. Lot's of ways to do this including replacing the buzzer with a relay (to obtain contact closure), current sense, monitor a light on the 'dashboard', and mount a magnet on the 'dial'.

Thanks! Obviously, I'm brand new to the forum, but this is definitely one of the best threads I've read on all the different boards I've been reading over the last several weeks.

Bhavesh

 

[damage]

Hi damage, could you explain how you interface home automation with Squeezebox devices? I just started using HomeSeer Pro, and have been using squeezebox for a while. Thanks!

i use the xPL plugin. i believe there is a homeseer plugin that will communicate w/ the squeezebox server.

 

[sic0048]

- on school nights, zoned TTS sent to each of the kid's networked MP3 players to tell them it's bedtime
- automatically limiting the volume of the kids' networked MP3 players so they are unable to attempt to drown each other's out, etc

What hardware/equipment are you using to do this? That would be a nice feature to add to my system. I didn't know there were networked MP3 players that you could send a command or sound clip to and play automatically.

 

[damage]

- on school nights, zoned TTS sent to each of the kid's networked MP3 players to tell them it's bedtime
- automatically limiting the volume of the kids' networked MP3 players so they are unable to attempt to drown each other's out, etc

What hardware/equipment are you using to do this? That would be a nice feature to add to my system. I didn't know there were networked MP3 players that you could send a command or sound clip to and play automatically.

i'm using ancient rio receivers in the kids' rooms. they work with medianet ( http://www.myhap.org.uk/medianet.htm ), an alternative server, which has xPL built in and that's how you control it. medianet also generates xPL messages on events, like the song changing, powering on, receiving IR, volume changing, etc. it works with rios, slimp3s, exstreamers and mediamvps. development has stopped on it for a while but the source code was released.