davejones4
New Member
Really glad I have come across this site there seems some really well informed people.
My wife and I are building a new house in the UK and I am really keen to include some home automation technology including:
Security/ baby monitoring cameras
Car location sensors (not driveway, we have on street parking)
Light and mood setting automation
Appliance automation if possible (washing machine, cooker, I've seen some people with automated fridges?!)
Thermostat/ central heating.
A centralised store of media that can be accessed from various screens e.g. music, tv, films, games console, netflix and photos.
Outside socket, speaker and water feature.
I hope to use some ipod touches and our iphones as the remote control (not sure about voice recognition I think that maybe a little 2001 a space odyssey 'just what do you think your doing dave')
I have read the 101, 102 and 103 guides and I feel like Homer Simpson in the episode where he picks up a book 'advanced business and economics' and a series of cut scenes later; books on 'business and economics for beginners', 'business and economics for dummies' have all found there way into the bin and he is left scratching his head and reading a dictionary.
My understanding is that I will need
A remote in my case iphone/ ipod (this will send a wifi signal to the controller)
A controller e.g. mcontrol, homeseer or control4 and others (any recommendations welcomed) (can these operate hard wired devices as well?)
Then comes the parts i'm less sure about
z wave, zigbee, insteon and others (again recommendations welcomed) my understanding is that the companies offer smart devices that can pick up wifi, or rf from the controller. (what about hard wired ones?)
Should I be considering hard wired systems as its a new build and being timber framed there will be battening behind the plasterboard making cabling more straight forward.
I don't understand anything about how to achieve a centralised media centre. I have so many questions on this I don't know where to start. I can understand how you could turn devices on and off as the controller would convert the wifi into an rf signal but thats where my understanding ends.
Where do you store all the media? I don't currently have tvs that accept data cabling or wifi will I need to upgrade these? How would i link in ceiling speakers and how what you set up a system so that allows different music to be played in different rooms. I have seen automation systems where people scroll through content on their phone and then send it to the screen of the room that they're in and other people are doing the same in a different room.
What about the other appliances such as washing machine, cooker and fridge? Do you have to have special ones that have have wifi, an rf signal or a data cable? And where do you find these products?
Again I can see how if you have a data cabled, rf or wifi thermostat could work but again what about the central heating system does this need to be wifi, rf or data cable enabled? And again where do you find these products?
Also about cable general consensus seems to be 5e for data cable, 18 to 14 gauge for speakers, RG6QS (is this for cable tv?) I think UK tv comes down normal coax. We do not get cable in our area sky satellite tv is more popular.
Anyone who can help me work out what I need to know and has any recommendations they will be greatly received. Also if you know any good home automation installers in the UK that would be good.
Many thanks
Dave
My wife and I are building a new house in the UK and I am really keen to include some home automation technology including:
Security/ baby monitoring cameras
Car location sensors (not driveway, we have on street parking)
Light and mood setting automation
Appliance automation if possible (washing machine, cooker, I've seen some people with automated fridges?!)
Thermostat/ central heating.
A centralised store of media that can be accessed from various screens e.g. music, tv, films, games console, netflix and photos.
Outside socket, speaker and water feature.
I hope to use some ipod touches and our iphones as the remote control (not sure about voice recognition I think that maybe a little 2001 a space odyssey 'just what do you think your doing dave')
I have read the 101, 102 and 103 guides and I feel like Homer Simpson in the episode where he picks up a book 'advanced business and economics' and a series of cut scenes later; books on 'business and economics for beginners', 'business and economics for dummies' have all found there way into the bin and he is left scratching his head and reading a dictionary.
My understanding is that I will need
A remote in my case iphone/ ipod (this will send a wifi signal to the controller)
A controller e.g. mcontrol, homeseer or control4 and others (any recommendations welcomed) (can these operate hard wired devices as well?)
Then comes the parts i'm less sure about
z wave, zigbee, insteon and others (again recommendations welcomed) my understanding is that the companies offer smart devices that can pick up wifi, or rf from the controller. (what about hard wired ones?)
Should I be considering hard wired systems as its a new build and being timber framed there will be battening behind the plasterboard making cabling more straight forward.
I don't understand anything about how to achieve a centralised media centre. I have so many questions on this I don't know where to start. I can understand how you could turn devices on and off as the controller would convert the wifi into an rf signal but thats where my understanding ends.
Where do you store all the media? I don't currently have tvs that accept data cabling or wifi will I need to upgrade these? How would i link in ceiling speakers and how what you set up a system so that allows different music to be played in different rooms. I have seen automation systems where people scroll through content on their phone and then send it to the screen of the room that they're in and other people are doing the same in a different room.
What about the other appliances such as washing machine, cooker and fridge? Do you have to have special ones that have have wifi, an rf signal or a data cable? And where do you find these products?
Again I can see how if you have a data cabled, rf or wifi thermostat could work but again what about the central heating system does this need to be wifi, rf or data cable enabled? And again where do you find these products?
Also about cable general consensus seems to be 5e for data cable, 18 to 14 gauge for speakers, RG6QS (is this for cable tv?) I think UK tv comes down normal coax. We do not get cable in our area sky satellite tv is more popular.
Anyone who can help me work out what I need to know and has any recommendations they will be greatly received. Also if you know any good home automation installers in the UK that would be good.
Many thanks
Dave