Time to Make a Decision

[Steve]

Understood. But fwiw, I had my sister purchase a copy of CQC at the previous price because I knew at some point down the road she will use touch screens, etc. and I wanted to lock in the price. So it really comes down to do you know its the right product, because if it is, sitting on it for a little while is no big deal.

 

[upstatemike]

Understood. But fwiw, I had my sister purchase a copy of CQC at the previous price because I knew at some point down the road she will use touch screens, etc. and I wanted to lock in the price. So it really comes down to do you know its the right product, because if it is, sitting on it for a little while is no big deal.

Getting to the point of "knowing it is the right product" is what I am struggling with. The stakes are high... once I buy CQC then I am committed to buying and installing a couple thousand dollars worth of Elk stuff before I can use it. If I can't do that right away then I am out a lot of money AND would have made no headway on enabling Insteon control. It would be a BIG risk!

 

[IVB]

If I can't do that right away then I am out a lot of money AND would have made no headway on enabling Insteon control. It would be a BIG risk!

I might be misunderstanding, but isn't there's $$ risk both ways?

If you stick with the SG:
If you buy CQC now, your $$ risk is that you've wasted $500 on CQC. Of course, you could run it just to get that cooler Slimserver GUI and add the new stuff on slowly as you bring it online. I.E., potentially even the weather stations, so i'm not sure it would really be a total loss or "sit on the shelf" situation.

If you don't buy CQC now: Your $$ risk is that you'll need to do that incremental software costs to support, as mentioned above.

You could hedge against your lack of Elk by using your $500 CQC investment to do as many of the incremental bits as possible, hence reducing the need to the extra software bits. Over time and as drivers that interest you become available, you could add those on. For example, I know that i'm personally looking to commission work on VR and RFID in the "no less than 3 months, no more than 12 months" timeframe. One of the guys may have a line on some decent RFID hardware so that's probably first, although Paul's VR demos certainly are slick and there's a few rooms that I could really use it in.

If you stick with the Elk:
Well, you already know that bit.

Anyhow, good luck to you in whichever path you choose to go down. I'm sure you'll make the right call since you'll probably end up adapting your needs to it's strengths.

If you want a webex of how CQC works, i'm happy to find some time to do that. Understanding it's approach to helping you build out your HA could be the deciding factor in whether you love it's approach or hate it, which would be the "special sauce" in making you successful.

 

[lpott6]

Understood. But fwiw, I had my sister purchase a copy of CQC at the previous price because I knew at some point down the road she will use touch screens, etc. and I wanted to lock in the price. So it really comes down to do you know its the right product, because if it is, sitting on it for a little while is no big deal.

Getting to the point of "knowing it is the right product" is what I am struggling with. The stakes are high... once I buy CQC then I am committed to buying and installing a couple thousand dollars worth of Elk stuff before I can use it. If I can't do that right away then I am out a lot of money AND would have made no headway on enabling Insteon control. It would be a BIG risk!

Out of curiosity, what would be on your Elk shopping list?

The base package with Insteon is ~ $650 plus you need the M1XEP for $215. What else is required to get you to a functional system?

 

[upstatemike]

Understood. But fwiw, I had my sister purchase a copy of CQC at the previous price because I knew at some point down the road she will use touch screens, etc. and I wanted to lock in the price. So it really comes down to do you know its the right product, because if it is, sitting on it for a little while is no big deal.

Getting to the point of "knowing it is the right product" is what I am struggling with. The stakes are high... once I buy CQC then I am committed to buying and installing a couple thousand dollars worth of Elk stuff before I can use it. If I can't do that right away then I am out a lot of money AND would have made no headway on enabling Insteon control. It would be a BIG risk!

Out of curiosity, what would be on your Elk shopping list?

The base package with Insteon is ~ $650 plus you need the M1XEP for $215. What else is required to get you to a functional system?

I need to duplicate what I have in Stagate/Caddx now...

I would need:

M1
5 ot 6 16 port expanders
1 or 2 relay expanders
4 keypads
Internet module
Tstat module
Lighting module
2 active hubs
outside temp sensor
Some kind of Wiegand security keypad that can be mounted 25 feet from the nearest Elk keypad.

This will let me move core functionality from stargate to Elk. (minus the phone functions)

Still don't know how I would duplicate stargate 7-LED annunciator keypads.

 

[upstatemike]

... Whereas Elk seems to be cranking out new stuff all the time. Even a next gen panel (M2?) is in the works.

I almost missed this! So there is no way I should be investing in an M1 with M2 just around the corner?!!

 

[Steve]

... Whereas Elk seems to be cranking out new stuff all the time. Even a next gen panel (M2?) is in the works.

I almost missed this! So there is no way I should be investing in an M1 with M2 just around the corner?!!

It's not exactly around the corner. Probably at least a year or two out. My point was its a forward thinking company that is always improving their products and working on new stuff.

And as another option, couldn't you just go with CQC and get a Stargate driver written? That would give you some of the missing pieces without investing in the M1 right now?

 

[lpott6]

I need to duplicate what I have in Stagate/Caddx now...

I would need:

M1
5 ot 6 16 port expanders
1 or 2 relay expanders
4 keypads
Internet module
Tstat module
Lighting module
2 active hubs
outside temp sensor
Some kind of Wiegand security keypad that can be mounted 25 feet from the nearest Elk keypad.

This will let me move core functionality from stargate to Elk. (minus the phone functions)

Still don't know how I would duplicate stargate 7-LED annunciator keypads.

Yep! Adds up fast.

I like Steve's idea about getting a driver for the Stargate. That would open up CQC to even more potential users.

 

[upstatemike]

And as another option, couldn't you just go with CQC and get a Stargate driver written? That would give you some of the missing pieces without investing in the M1 right now?

I don't think this is a trivial thing. Homeseer had a working 1.x plugin to work from and it took them months to get a HS 2.0 version functioning. I think the Elk would end up being cheaper than funding this effort.

 

[Steve]

I guess that depends. Does the Stargate have a published protocol (you probably pointed to it once already)? Maybe you could ask Dean official how much it would cost or post it on the CQC forum and see if anyone is interested in doing it.

 

[upstatemike]

As much as I love Elk, I wanted to make sure you are aware of the limitation of IP cameras on the TS07. You can have 2 sizes - full screen or mini. The mini streams well and the video is smooth. But if you bring up the video full screen it is too intense for the TS07 and the video is choppy, something like 5 fps I think. Don't get me wrong, it all works very nicely, but if you are expecting very smooth 20-30fps video in the full 7" you will be disappointed.

So how does CQC handle IP cameras? Can you control the PTZ functions of a Panasonic camera from a touchscreen? If I use a Samsung Q1 for my touch screen interface, will I have the same issues with choppy streaming?

 

[upstatemike]

I guess that depends. Does the Stargate have a published protocol (you probably pointed to it once already)? Maybe you could ask Dean official how much it would cost or post it on the CQC forum and see if anyone is interested in doing it.

They have one but I understand it is neither accurate nor complete. A lot depends on having a sytem available to figure out what is being passed from the serial port.

 

[upstatemike]

can you post a sample file? I don't know anything about this stuff, but I can see if anyone else does.

This is the file Virtual Weather Station updates once per second. (I have a list someplace that tells what each field is... temp, humidity, wind gust, etc.)

 

[mdesmarais]

I nominate upstatemike for Most Courted Potential Customer of the Year!

;-)

 

[Dean Roddey]

If the protocol is both complex and under-documented, that doesn't sound terribly optimal