If money doesn't matter

[me2]

We are building our dream home. It is the last home we will ever live in. I want it all, security, sound, voice automation, home entertainment, automatic drapes, lighting, everything that we do daily that can be controlled by a automated system, done by a system. I have bought and read lots of books. Lurked on alot of forums for over a year. I have pages and pages of notes and drawings. Now it is time to start spending money. I am going to do it myself during the new construction. Have a 40+ year back ground in electronics and design (goes back to tubes).

I would value your idea's. Cost isn't a concideration. What systems would you use?

Thanks in advance.

 

[toymaster458]

Man you are opening a can of worms here!! :lol:
There are a lot of bases to cover with what you are asking and will take a lot of time to put it together. The first of many questions I have, since you have already done alot of research and lurking you must have a route that you are leaning towards. I would start with doing a eval on the many types of systems and build from there.

Also I would recommend creating a check list of everything you want right down to each sensor in each window.

 

[Steve]

My main thing is I would have a hardwired lighting system and forget all the PLC and wireless protocols. My other comment is it will be tough to 'do it all' and still minimize the amount of hardware and software that nneds to play in the sandbox together. What I mean is lets just say for arguments sake you had an Elk M1 and CQC. But you want VR? Well, then HAL is the best at that or maybe even Homeseer. But those 2 packages may not be the best for everything else like theater automation. My point is I think you need to prioritze things in importance from most to least to help decide what systems you will ultimately need.

 

[IVB]

How would you answer these questions? I'm intentionally not giving much guidance, I want to see how you'd respond. I don't mean anything real specific (ie i prefer systems that use xapl) but higher level.

"I would define a successful implemention as one that...."

"I prefer systems that ......"

"I dislike systems that ....."

"<....> is important to me"

"<...> is unimportant to me"

 

[upstatemike]

I agree with Steve. The first step would be to make a list of everything you want to do. Second, prioritize it so you can distinguish critical design requirements from "nice to have features". (This is important to help choose the core components of your system).

Next, share that here and you will get all kinds of advice on the best way to go about it.

Some areas to think about might be:

Lighting
Security
Voice announcements
Whole House Music and paging
Voice Command (by open air microphone and/or by telephone handset)
Telephone/Intercom system
Video Distribution
Home Theater/Media control (Infrared and/or serial)
Weather station integration
Touch screen controls
Video cameras
Motion detectors
Heating and Air Conditioning
Remote control over the Internet
Remote control by phone
Energy monitoring/logging
Lawn Irrigation
Whole house generator
Fire alarm and gas detectors
Solar/alternative energy integration
Telepathic control
etc.

Also consider what percentage of your time you will want to spend:
Tweaking or changing your automation programming
Tweaking or changing your automation hardware and wiring
Showing off your cool system to your friends

This is also imortant so we know if you are looking for a hobby system or a turnkey system.

 

[Rupp]

If money isn't an issue then hire a professional and let them sweat the details.

 

[DavidL]

Money does really matter. Just a bit more like Sq ft and total expense budget and whether major features like theater room, pool, secondary buildings, will put us more on track on directionally where to send you.

for the "best", easily a few hundred thousand will be the area of answer. If you are not in that neighborhood, hone us in a bit.

 

[jeffx]

If money isn't an issue then hire a professional and let them sweat the details.

ditto

 

[elcano]

Creston and/or AMX, known to be the highest end automation systems will not sell their equipment to a DIY, so you will not be able to buy them to install yourself - unless you get to an arrangement with an autorized dealer.

However, even if your get your hands on it, and money does not matter, how much time do you have to learn, design and tweak, not only the technical equipment, but also your house walls?

Scope, time and money - you cant talk about any of them without talking about the other two.

 

[me2]

IVB UPSTATEMIKE

Your list is pretty close to my notes.

"I prefer systems that ......"

Systems the allow for change as my requirements change over time.

"I dislike systems that ....."

Systems that are proprietary, not open. That do not talk to others readily.

"<....> is important to me"

Lighting
Security
Voice announcements
Whole House Music and paging
Voice Command (by open air microphone and/or by telephone handset)
Telephone/Intercom system
Video Distribution
Weather station integration
Touch screen controls
Video cameras
Motion detectors
Heating and Air Conditioning
Whole house generator
Fire alarm and gas detectors

"<...> is unimportant to me"

Home Theater/Media control (Infrared and/or serial)
Remote control over the Internet
Remote control by phone



RUPP DAVIDL ELCANO

If money isn't an issue then hire a professional and let them sweat the details.

I could do that but I want to do it myself, as a hobby. Money and time to Tweak Programming/hardware doesn’t mater. We are building a modest house of aprox. 3500 sq ft. locate in a rural/remote waterfront area. New construction underway. Do not want to be changing wiring. I am running gobs of cat6, fiber and rg6. A lot for future things I sure I have not thought of yet.

 

[toymaster458]

Creston and/or AMX, known to be the highest end automation systems will not sell their equipment to a DIY, so you will not be able to buy them to install yourself - unless you get to an arrangement with an autorized dealer.

However, even if your get your hands on it, and money does not matter, how much time do you have to learn, design and tweak, not only the technical equipment, but also your house walls?

Scope, time and money - you cant talk about any of them without talking about the other two.

You can also go with a Company that is DIY Friendly. I mostly deal with products that can be maintained by the homeowner if they choose too. There are more and more companies like mine getting out there. So you maybe able to find one that will work with you localy