kenn10
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wardmundy I have standardized on Z-wave devices but still have X10 devices dating back to the early 80's. I'm not so concerned about turning things on and off from a tablet or smart phone, but that is a handy feature when I want to warm up the mountain house before I travel to it. The "Smart" of a smart house is to use occupancy data, location data, and other inputs to make intelligent decisions about what to do within a predetermined framework you specify. Here are some things I use:
1) Our smart phones report our geographic location to the HA system and it is able to adjust thermostats, control lights, etc., based on who is where. If no one is home and the alarm is set, it cuts back the interior temperature and reduces lighting to a minimum. If no one is home for an hour and the alarm is not set, it does it for us and sends a text reminder that the alarm has been set.
2) When I leave my mountain house, the system knows by my location and occupancy and so turns off the hot water tank, reduces thermostats to 55 degrees, and monitors the interior temperature of my well house to determine if it needs to cut on a heater.
3) As I approach a stairway indoors and no other lights are on, a motion sensor (which is actually connected to the alarm system) reacts and turns on stairway lights.
4) If I forget to close the garage door and a certain time of day is reached, the system speaks to me to remind me. If I take no action, it will close the garage door after another 30 minutes.
5) If the telephone rings (I have SIP extensions connected to the HA system that are part of my incoming ring group), rather than the phone ringing, I have the HA system announce the caller ID in the room where I am and can respond by speaking "Send it to Lenny" or "Send to Voice Mail". The call is then answered and dealt with without me ever touching the telephone.
6) When the weather service issues a tornado warning for my zip-code, the system turns on lights and alerts by voice and warning tone.
7) The system monitors my emergency generator to provide intelligent feedback on whether it is running a test, running when the grid is down, and gives me an alert if it is running and the grid is up. Too many of my neighbors have had their LP gas tanks emptied by stuck generator relays. I can send a command to manually shut down the generator if I need to.
The whole idea of Home Automation is to make the house smart, not just remotely control things or run things on a timer. It allows you to monitor energy consumption, reduce energy usage by utilizing occupancy intelligence, route music and/or video to different areas of the house by remote or voice command, intelligently control your lawn sprinklers, view cameras in your premise remotely without buying into some outrageously expensive alarm system, etc.
Many people don't need, want or care about Home Automation and I understand that. I just think that knowledge of what a smart home can do is what opens your mind to the possibilities.
LinuxMCE is a project that combines both Asterisk and Home Automation but does neither very well when compared to HomeSeer and IncrediblePBX.
I would encourage nay-sayers to have the same open mind towards HA that they do towards VOIP and consider the possibilities.
1) Our smart phones report our geographic location to the HA system and it is able to adjust thermostats, control lights, etc., based on who is where. If no one is home and the alarm is set, it cuts back the interior temperature and reduces lighting to a minimum. If no one is home for an hour and the alarm is not set, it does it for us and sends a text reminder that the alarm has been set.
2) When I leave my mountain house, the system knows by my location and occupancy and so turns off the hot water tank, reduces thermostats to 55 degrees, and monitors the interior temperature of my well house to determine if it needs to cut on a heater.
3) As I approach a stairway indoors and no other lights are on, a motion sensor (which is actually connected to the alarm system) reacts and turns on stairway lights.
4) If I forget to close the garage door and a certain time of day is reached, the system speaks to me to remind me. If I take no action, it will close the garage door after another 30 minutes.
5) If the telephone rings (I have SIP extensions connected to the HA system that are part of my incoming ring group), rather than the phone ringing, I have the HA system announce the caller ID in the room where I am and can respond by speaking "Send it to Lenny" or "Send to Voice Mail". The call is then answered and dealt with without me ever touching the telephone.
6) When the weather service issues a tornado warning for my zip-code, the system turns on lights and alerts by voice and warning tone.
7) The system monitors my emergency generator to provide intelligent feedback on whether it is running a test, running when the grid is down, and gives me an alert if it is running and the grid is up. Too many of my neighbors have had their LP gas tanks emptied by stuck generator relays. I can send a command to manually shut down the generator if I need to.
The whole idea of Home Automation is to make the house smart, not just remotely control things or run things on a timer. It allows you to monitor energy consumption, reduce energy usage by utilizing occupancy intelligence, route music and/or video to different areas of the house by remote or voice command, intelligently control your lawn sprinklers, view cameras in your premise remotely without buying into some outrageously expensive alarm system, etc.
Many people don't need, want or care about Home Automation and I understand that. I just think that knowledge of what a smart home can do is what opens your mind to the possibilities.
LinuxMCE is a project that combines both Asterisk and Home Automation but does neither very well when compared to HomeSeer and IncrediblePBX.
I would encourage nay-sayers to have the same open mind towards HA that they do towards VOIP and consider the possibilities.