HA Newbie:CQC, Homeseer or other?

[IVB]

One of the biggest disappointments in my past 4 years of home automation has been Homeseer. In itself, it's an OK product, however .NET and Windows are not up to the task of 99.99% uptime. Very brittle, and you will end up pulling your hair out at some point.

My recommendation is to push as much logic and hardware control into the embedded stack of an ELK or HAI system as you can, or go with Control4, or something bred from the hardware layer up to be an automation system. I don't know how many times my wife has had to "reboot" the lighting control system (homeseer).

Ideally, someone needs to build an out of the box solution on top of Linux. CQC, Homeseer, Cinemar...someone..anyone.

I can't speak to other systems, but that's not an issue with CQC. It doesn't use .Net that much (i think). My Windows server doesn't have issues, as I don't install much of anything on it other than CQC.

My system doesn't need reboots, it just runs & runs & runs. I used to have it on it's own server, but after months upon months of rock-solid stability I took the ultimate (for me) step of putting it on the same box as my SageTV server. I don't reboot it unless I need to screw with something.

 

[electron]

Cortexa does offer some nice features, but if you really do like tinkering, I would take the approach most of us have taken.

Did you invent this title, or did you see it somewhere? This is very strange! It's like deja vu all over again.

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=11296

I'll take the responsibility for that. I was in a hurry, and I really wanted to give Allen his own thread, so both of you would get better responses. I can change it anytime once he has a moment to come up with a better title.

 

[123]

... I don't know how many times my wife has had to "reboot" the lighting control system ...

Do I detect the need for a new topic comparing the reliability of available Windows-based HA apps?

 

[DavidL]

... I don't know how many times my wife has had to "reboot" the lighting control system ...

Do I detect the need for a new topic comparing the reliability of available Windows-based HA apps?

The issue is that the reality is that the major reason why these three systems may be "unreliable" is due to local installation, configuration, maintenenance, and understanding of the difference between an automation controller running Windows, and a desktop all purpose PC.

It is not typically the HA software that causes these unreliability reports.

As there are thousands of permutations / combinations of OS / HA app / settings issues, there will never be an accurate comparison of these HA software products with regards to reliability.

I noticed on CQC's website, that Dean has posted some nice Windows setup suggestions that would apply to most any Windows based HA software application.

 

[upstatemike]

... I don't know how many times my wife has had to "reboot" the lighting control system ...

Do I detect the need for a new topic comparing the reliability of available Windows-based HA apps?

If you want to talk reliability then you need to include Omnipotence ECS in the conversation.

 

[123]

... may be "unreliable" is due to local installation ...
... thousands of permutations / combinations of OS / HA app / settings issues, there will never be an accurate comparison of these HA software products with regards to reliability....

I agree it won't be scientifically accurate but that doesn't mean we can't learn from sharing our experiences.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

Allen,

Welcome to the board.

Yes, I agree with the comments posted about starting with a hardware automation controller with security. Which one you pick really depends on what you are planning to do in your house. Both the HAI and Elk are great panels and will work with a wide variety on other systems.

You asked about the Cortexa. It too is a nice system - again, it depends on what you are planning for your house.

Please feel free to call us to help you through some of the questions. In our labs here we have 4 HAIs running, 2 Elks and a couple of other security panels running. In addition, we have 4 Cortexas running and also, HomeSeer, HAL, MainLobby, and CQC. We also have a full complement of lighting control systems, distributed audio, etc.

As with anything in life there are pros and cons with each system. What works best for you will depend on you and your needs. That's why on a board such as this you will find people that are strongly opinionated on one solution over another. Usually, it's not because someone is wrong or someone is right. Sometimes is might be because they are not familiar with all solutions or it could just be that one particular solution is what works best in their case.

Guess that was a long winded way of me saying to listen to everyone's input (great people and great minds on this board), but make up your own mind based on your requirements.

 

[allen363]

Cortexa does offer some nice features, but if you really do like tinkering, I would take the approach most of us have taken.

Did you invent this title, or did you see it somewhere? This is very strange! It's like deja vu all over again.

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=11296

I'll take the responsibility for that. I was in a hurry, and I really wanted to give Allen his own thread, so both of you would get better responses. I can change it anytime once he has a moment to come up with a better title.

Thank you very much Dan! As you can tell your judgement was spot on as everybody has been very helpful. Since this thread is filled with excellent suggestions from the members perhaps it should be a sticky for all Newbies? The title could be anything such as Newbie requesting assistance.

Thank you to everybody for all of the fantastic information.

Allen

 

[allen363]

Based upon the feedback I have received here I learned about CQC and it looks like the proper solution to HA. I am not a programmer and with three young ones and a handicapped child I don't have a lot of time to spend learning to program a system. Is CQC pretty easy to set up?

I'm perfectly capable of dragging and dropping controls onto a screen and then doing a right click, or whatever, to add stepped sequences from a structured script or dropdown but trying to get me to write an if, then, else statement spells doom.

Thanks for any input that can be provided.

Best regards,
Allen

 

[Steve]

Honestly Allen CQC is a bit more complicated than that. The actual creation of the interface is not hard but you do need to understand what you are doing especially when it comes to triggers, events, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love CQC I just don't want you to have the impression you just click around a few things and it all works. You will need to invest in some time up front to understand it all but then it works really well. You may want to seriously consider attending the next tutorial/overview session that IVB does.

 

[IVB]

In my personal opinion, I think it's all based on the particular individual and the desired goals. It took me hours to "get" girder, I never could get some of the other packages working, but the way CQC works just "made sense" to me and it just clicked. As Steve says, the creation of the interface is just not that hard.

Note that the first 3 revisions of my HA setup were done without the use of triggers & events. I probably used CQC for 12 months before I delved into that. There is a heck of a lot that can be done without back-end automation, heck there's entire packages out there that claim to do HA that are little more than front-ends.

Now that i'm doing it fullbore, my setup is a seriously advanced with 85+ triggers, and a dozen scheduled events, but I still explained the whole schebang it about 2 hours at the last Interface Editor/Automated Events webinar including how to build them. And with that spoonfeeding, the folks attending picked right up and were running at a pretty good clip right afterwards.

You could start with watching the pre-recorded webinars, then attend one; you'll be amazed at how simple it all really is if someone explains it to you.

 

[123]

... I think it's all based on the particular individual and the desired goals. ... I never could get some of the other packages working ... you'll be amazed at how simple it all really is if someone explains it to you.

IVB hit the nail on the head. Pick what you're comfortable with and run with it.

Most HA programs offer a trial period; spend a few hours with several and one will stand out as the best fit for you. Alternately, watch the video-tutorials provided by many HA apps. Pick the one that appeals to you. I evaluated several programs, and used one for a year, before I finally settled on the one I currently use.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

The best advice (as was stated in the above posts) is to try each software brand and see how you take to it. I believe most have a thirty day free fully functional trial. If a piece of software doesn't have a trial, eliminate it from your consideration.

I'm partial to HomeSeer, but again, this is what I started with and what I'm used to. I do like the fact that HomeSeer has some point and click easy setup dialog screens that can get a new user up and running farily easily. It also has the power for custom scripting for advanced users as well.

It's well worth your time to try out a few choices before making your final selection. Also, compare feature lists. For instance, HomeSeer doesn't have a SageTV interface, but CQC does in case you want to integrate that with your HA setup.

 

[allen363]

I just watched IVB's first video and the system appears very easy to program. I think I can handle that part. My next question is in regards to installation of the system (I am speaking of the Elk primarily at this point). I am not the best DIYer and wonder if I should have this done professionally. I can follow instructions just fine but would be afraid to screw something up if I didn't do it properly.

I think the advice to make all contacts hardwired where possible is a good one and will make sure that is done. Since I have an unfinished basement, and I assume I will want to install the ELK system board and cabinet in a secure place, I will install it there.

Can I get an opinion from my friends here? Pro install or DIY?

Thank you again for all of your great advice.

Best wishes,
Allen

 

[IVB]

How easy is it to run wiring in your house? How much time are you willing to take to learn?

I was similarly concerned a few years back, but in retrospect it was a lot easier than I thought. I just had to learn a ton of stuff, which has proved immensely valuable in many areas (ie, understanding about volts or how to run wiring is generally a good thing to know).