HA software under $200

[68sting]

I would like to jump into the SW end of things but not spend to much money. I really don't know what I want to do just yet but heres a few thoughts.

Don't seem to interested in these:

Touch screens
whole house audio
home theater

Heres why:
Touch screens seem to expensive for what I want to do.
Just don't listen to music around the house.
I have a dedicated home theater but wouldn't invest in a non-HD dvd collection and theres not enough hd software or hardware out yet.


Here's some things I would like:
control my zwave swithes
add some motion detectors
set an appointment and have a light flash or somthing to remind me
caller id over a speaker
view my security cameras over the internet and record them
turn on my furnace fan to circulate air regularly
open garage door notice
I have a GE concord express and don't know if there's any integration of that?
We Tivo everything in HD. Is there a way to capture that better than with the Tivo?


Let me know what your think would work for these items and stay under the $200 mark. I don't want to invest hours in to a program at this time. To many other projects to knock out over the next couple of years. Just looking to get my feet wet for now.

Thanks
68sting

 

[Steve]

I think in the 'inexpensive' category, without alot of touchscreen centric stuff, Powerhome is a very good and well supported product. TonyNo or Dwayne can tell you better if it supports all of your desires. Of course you can get into Homeseer also < $200 but plugins will probably then put you over that.

 

[Rupp]

HomeSeer would fit that bill well and many of the plugins you need are free. The whole house audio could be done on the cheap if you have a few PC's because HomeSeer has a speaker app that runs on any PC and the HomeSeer server can send speech to these clients. I even have my Home Automation announcements sent to a speaker client on my work PC. Kinda neat. There a free touchscreen app that comes with HomeSeer as well if you decide to use it. HomeSeer does Z- Wave as well as UPB, Insteon, X10 and others as well. There may even be a free plugin that will work with that security system but I need to check on that.

 

[IVB]

Girder & NetRemote have also gotten much better as of late. Dunno about details, but I'd certainly research that.

 

[TonyNo]

PowerHome does not support zwave yet.

Check:
motion detectors
set an appointment and have a light flash or something to remind me
caller id over a speaker

Check (with hardware):
view my security cameras over the internet and record them
turn on my furnace fan to circulate air regularly
open garage door notice

Dunno:
I have a GE concord express and don't know if there's any integration of that?

Don't think so:
We Tivo everything in HD. Is there a way to capture that better than with the Tivo?

 

[ericvic]

Check out HouseBot. I think it supports all of what you want to do.

Eric

 

[electron]

Definitely take a look at HouseBot and Girder/Netremote, both solutions offer a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[68sting]

Thanks for the help. I have downloaded trial versions of these programs and have played around a little bit with them. To somebody new to automation and these type of programs I'm lost with all of them. Homseer seemed the easiest so far mainly because of the tuturials they have on there web site. It doesn't seem like an average person could go out and buy software, hardware and set up a small simple system yet. In Homeseer I want to set up an event in this situation.

When Motion detector (a) senses motion turn on switch ( for 5 min. and notify me with a voice command.

Would that be a condition, device status change, or a devise value change? I'm sure this stuff is simple once you figure it out.


Which of these programs do you think has the best support in helping a newbie?

Can you download a trial version of ThinkEssential and would it work for my requests?

Thanks
68sting

 

[Rupp]

Thanks for the help. I have downloaded trial versions of these programs and have played around a little bit with them. To somebody new to automation and these type of programs I'm lost with all of them. Homseer seemed the easiest so far mainly because of the tuturials they have on there web site. It doesn't seem like an average person could go out and buy software, hardware and set up a small simple system yet. In Homeseer I want to set up an event in this situation.

When Motion detector (a) senses motion turn on switch ( for 5 min. and notify me with a voice command.

Would that be a condition, device status change, or a devise value change? I'm sure this stuff is simple once you figure it out.


Which of these programs do you think has the best support in helping a newbie?

Can you download a trial version of ThinkEssential and would it work for my requests?

Thanks
68sting

68 Sting,
If it's an X10 motion sensor I would set up an event that's Trigger is "Received X10" and select the House and Unit code of the motion sensor. Then select the ACTION tab and select ADD ACTION and select DEVICE ACTION and then select the device you want to turn ON in the dropt down list. Then add a second DEVICE ACTION and select the same device and set the command to off and DELAY it 5 minutes. Lastly add a DEVICE ACTION of Speak and key in what you want HomeSeer to speak.

 

[68sting]

I was thinking of getting a zwave motion detector. How would that change things?

 

[Dean Roddey]

I would like to jump into the SW end of things but not spend to much money. I really don't know what I want to do just yet but heres a few thoughts.

There's a full CQC 2.0 license being given away as part of the Cocoontech Xmas Giveway. Take a shot and maybe you'll win it.

 

[Rupp]

I was thinking of getting a zwave motion detector. How would that change things?

Only the trigger would change to ZWave motion turns to on.

 

[68sting]

thanks Rupp I think I got if figured out. This could be addicting.

How would I get a camstat to run the fan for 15min per hour?

 

[Rupp]

thanks Rupp I think I got if figured out. This could be addicting.

How would I get a camstat to run the fan for 15min per hour?

I don't use the camStat but you should be able to set up a recurring event that starts every 15 minutes and you can reference it to the hour if you want. Then in the Action there should be a control Camstat fan on. I'm not sure how long you want to run it but that can be added to the on event.