What Software do you use to control your lighting?

[TonyNo]

Thanks for clarifying Terry. I meant when I tried it there was no web support (maybe eight years ago).

 

[Sacedog]

I use CQC for some automation, and for my GUI, however, I do use the rules in the Elk M1 for a lot of other automation. My idea is if it is connection to the ELk, and it can do what I want, I'll use a rule. Any of the complex automation is done with CQC.

 

[hucker]

I have a homevision controller and all of the lighting, security, complex logic, phone interface lives there. I'm using the PC based web server to control things via my blackberry (web and email notifications requires the PC). I have about 8 motion sensors, all the doors and windows are wired (about 40 in all)

I have recently bought cqc in order to tie in Music and present a very stylish interface. Because there is no CQC driver for the homevision system I am writing that now.

 

[jhdale]

Custom software, used to be all X10 (CM11A) and now also Insteon (PLC/PLM).

Function is actually an interactive game, using lights (Insteon), motion sensors (X10 wireless), pressure pads (IO Linc), strobes/flashes (appliance controller), sound effects (software), Nerf (appliance controller), etc. Layout changes from session to session, gradually building up the functionality.

You guys ever consider sharing the apps with the community?

Maybe someday. It works well for my purposes but I would want to refine the UI (and probably streamline linking) before putting it out for general use. For my application, with a constantly changing network, it's easier for everything to go through the computer rather than worry about linking, but I doubt that's the norm. However, I have put up lots of programming notes for anyone who wants to use the Insteon PLM with VB.Net. http://www.madreporite.com/insteon/insteon.html

 

[mustangcoupe]

Currently using Powerhome and Elk for back end. Using J9AE as the front end touchscreen from my PPC

 

[stacyh3]

I use custom software that I wrote. It runs on my Windows Home Server. I use if for lights, irrigation, comfort and convenience features, etc.

Custom software, used to be all X10 (CM11A) and now also Insteon (PLC/PLM).

Function is actually an interactive game, using lights (Insteon), motion sensors (X10 wireless), pressure pads (IO Linc), strobes/flashes (appliance controller), sound effects (software), Nerf (appliance controller), etc. Layout changes from session to session, gradually building up the functionality.

You guys ever consider sharing the apps with the community?

My code is posted here: Home Automation With Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio. I'm working on a new version that will work with the "Express" edition of the Microsoft tools. I'm traveling a lot for work, so it's slow going, but I hope to have some new code with new features in the next month or so.

Also, I'm interviewd about the project here: .NET Rocks! - Stacy Harris Does Home Automation!

Stacy

 

[Aaron]

My code is posted here: Home Automation With Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio. I'm working on a new version that will work with the "Express" edition of the Microsoft tools. I'm traveling a lot for work, so it's slow going, but I hope to have some new code with new features in the next month or so.

Also, I'm interviewed about the project here: .NET Rocks! - Stacy Harris Does Home Automation!

Stacy

Are you going to support Insteon & X10?
- if you do and what someone to test I'd be happy to do so. I use the CM19a & Smarthome 1132U and will be getting an Insteon controller soon. I have about 35 devices... X10 & Insteon Leviton & Smarthome dimmers/relays/appliance modules and a few motion detectors. Using Homeseer 1.7 currently with some "custom" scene tracking - which kinda sux but Homeseer has nothing built in to do it.

Also, why use SQL and not just XML? I know you are the expert, I'm not questioning, just curious.

 

[stacyh3]

My code is posted here: Home Automation With Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio. I'm working on a new version that will work with the "Express" edition of the Microsoft tools. I'm traveling a lot for work, so it's slow going, but I hope to have some new code with new features in the next month or so.

Also, I'm interviewed about the project here: .NET Rocks! - Stacy Harris Does Home Automation!

Stacy

Are you going to support Insteon & X10?
- if you do and what someone to test I'd be happy to do so. I use the CM19a & Smarthome 1132U and will be getting an Insteon controller soon. I have about 35 devices... X10 & Insteon Leviton & Smarthome dimmers/relays/appliance modules and a few motion detectors. Using Homeseer 1.7 currently with some "custom" scene tracking - which kinda sux but Homeseer has nothing built in to do it.

Also, why use SQL and not just XML? I know you are the expert, I'm not questioning, just curious.

I do have some old X-10 modules, so I may add support for those. If someone in the community wants to help out, that would be fine too.

As for SQL, I don't really use it in my setup, but you can use it if needed. The Express editions that I'm refering to are Visual Studio Express and Robotics Studio. I want to make sure that people who don't have access to the pro editions can still build the project. The tricky part is going to be VPL. You can run VPL code, but only the Academic and Pro versions of the tools let you compile VPL to C# and/or binary files.

I've got some very cool stuff up my sleeve. I've learned a lot with my experimentation and by talking to the Robotics Studio team. The goal of the project is to provide a framework for hobbyists and less an off-the-shelf solution. However, it is easy to mix with off-the-shelf and with a little work, especially on a good GUI, you could use this architecture to build a very complete system. The main advantage that it has is that it's really easy to embed the DSS protocol into devices and to create a truly distributed HA system.

But, I digress... I'd be happy to talk about this at length if people are interested.

Stacy

 

[roussell]

But, I digress... I'd be happy to talk about this at length if people are interested.
Stacy

I for one would love to hear more about your project. Perhaps you could start a new thread devoted to your software. Nice articles BTW. I'm also looking forward to your express edition of the app - I tried the current one some time ago but quickly found out that the full version was needed. Sadly that seems to be a re-occurring theme on the coding4fun site, I've tried a few things there that didn't state the pro edition of the IDE was needed only to find out after banging my head against the wall that it was...

Terry

 

[mdavis]

I use custom software based on the xPL protocol with X10 based hardware. I used to use Homeseer but the company was going in a direction that was not compatible with my goals.

 

[ano]

I started with HomeSeer 1 and moved to HomeSeer 2. Great software if only it worked, and that was the problem. It seemed like there was always a host of bugs, and ever version update would fix some bugs but also cause a handfull more. I moved to CQC which is much more reliable, but in return I gave up MANY MANY features which HomeSeer had and CQC doesn't. In addition, CQC has a very steep learning curve and doesn't allow you to use VB Scripts, which HomeSeer did support.