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Home automation system. design ideas.

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PeterG:
G'day All,
      i am in the process of buying a home and have started to think about what i will build into it. So far i will have external weather monitoring feeding back to our home server. Outside will have normal garden lights fitted with RGB LEDS so the color can be dialled up from a controller inside the house or maybe even from a webpage on the server.
      These are just ideas i am thinking about. I have decided to design as much as possible from the ground up, without buying items off the shelf where possible. The controllers will be PIC Micros. As for comminication, i was thinking of going wireless but i do recall seeing a 'One Wire to Serial' device that would be good to use, that way i could get away with cheeper 4 core cable.
      Anyone got any ideas of this? Input from others is always good.

Regards
Peter

DJPhil:
If you have a long driveway you could install vehicle sensing, optical or buried loop BFO.

I always wanted to set up a webcam or cheap digital camera to take a picture of the front door when the doorbell rings and feed it to an aux input on the living room tv and/or computer monitor.

I'd also intended to use CHDK with a cheap camera to make a motion sensitive camera for a bird feeder.

Just some weird ideas. :)

PeterG:
The driveway idea sounds like fun. It could be set up to announce the vehicle and also take a timestamped pic. The house would need to be wired for sound for it to announce, but it is doable.

      I have sold the temp monitoring and garden lights idea to the Wife, now just have to bring her around to the new ideas...LOL

david77:
Oh, that sounds like fun!

I have often thought about what I would do if I ever buy my own house...
My house would have to have an "engine room", somewhere where all the electrics, server, network,
telephone stuff could be installed.

1. central light control. All lights have to be switchable from a central control, thus enabling automated
switching of lights while away to deter burglars.
All lights could be switched off together by a single switch when leaving the house.

2. central power shut-off. Same as lights with all other appliances. You would never have to worry about
stand-by appliances. Everything's off when you leave the house. Could be controlled by the door lock,
when door gets locked the house assumes that nobody's in it and switches itself off.
Refrigeration and heating devices would have to be excluded, of course :D.

3. automated garden watering. Either timer controlled or by sensing humidity of the soil.
Could include a pump and rain water cistern to save water and money.

4. burglar alarm. Either with reed contacts on doors and windows or IR sensors in the rooms.
Can also be tied into a central server/communications system that calls your mobile and/or police.

Now it gets really ambitious:
- electric sheep: A robot device that mows the lawn
- electric house maid: A robot device that vacuums the house while I'm out. I'm thinking about a
real vacuum on wheels here, not those rubbish little Roomba thingies.

One problem you have to think about: If you ever have to sell your house this stuff could potentialy
be troublesome. I wouldn't buy a house where some madman has installed a self designed home automation
system...

PeterG:
Well, we have just got ourselves a 4 bedroom house that we got for a great price( due to the area) one room has already been claimed by myself as my play room, with just the two of us, that leaves one room for the kids when they come to visit and one room for my Wife to do her hobby or whatever.

Look out Wilmot..LOL

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