I saw a bunch of Home Automation products built around PlugComputers at the Marvell PlugIN a year or so ago... http://www.amahi.org/ was one of them... I think you need a halfway decent wireless system in your house for this class of products...
On Dec 7, 2011, at 2:21 PM, Tom Metro wrote: > Jerry Feldman wrote: >> Tom Metro wrote: >>> I recommend starting small and simple. If you go Z-Wave start with one >>> of these: >>> http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-HA07C-Settings-Wireless-Control/dp/B000BRGU2E/ >> >> ...it is a pain to change the setting on the time change as well as >> adjust for sundown. > > The above timer actually supports a sunrise and sunset timer setting, > which theoretically further eliminates the need to make timer > adjustments. I found the feature a bit unpredictable, and limiting > because it didn't support setting an offset. (Maybe you want it to turn > on later, because the sun sets later at your lat/lon. Or maybe you want > it to turn on a bit earlier because it is an indoor light on a shaded > side of your house that gets darker before sunset.) > > So I ended up just programming in fixed times, which I adjust a few > times a year. > > Ultimately I want it to be driven by light sensors, so when you have a > dark rainy day like today, the lights come on earlier. > > >> What I would like to do more long term is to control the thermostat. >> My current thermostat is good, but very few compensate for holidays. >> Additionally, if I am away from home and I forget to set it for >> vacation, with home automation I would be able to. > > Check out this thermostat: > http://www.nest.com/ > > It costs $250 (currently sold out). Has an iPhone inspired UI (and 320 x > 320 pixel color display). It learns your usage patterns so you don't > have to manually program a setback schedule. > > The site says it has an "activity sensor" to tell when people are > around, but they don't specify the technology. There's no visible PIR > sensor on the face. (Specs say it has proximity, near-field, and > far-field sensors, plus ambient light sensor.) > > It is WiFi connected and will use weather data to adjust its settings. > As you'd expect it also lets you remotely control the thermostat via an > account on the manufacturer's web site (and via mobile apps.). (And that > likely means the feature will become useless if the manufacturer goes > out of business. I understand why companies favor this approach, but I > hate it. No mention of an API or hacker community, but they may exist.) > > Specs say it supports Zigbee wireless networking in addition to WiFi. > (Zigbee is structurally similar to Zwave, and is sometimes used for home > automation, but it is a general purpose communication protocol, and > lacks a home automation specification, so random devices from different > manufacturers don't work together. They probably use it for > inter-thermostat communication so that functionality would work > independent of the availability of WiFi.) > > While it may be the most stylish thermostat you can find, and even comes > with its own stylish screwdriver, $250 is pretty pricey. And it > supposedly works best when you link multiple of them together (up to > 10). I imagine you'd need to spread a few around your house in order for > the automatic away detection to work well, unless you happen to walk by > your thermostat a lot when you are home. > > > On the more practical side of things, you can get a GE Zwave thermostat > for $60: > http://www.safemart.com/GE-Security-Wireless/GE-Z-Wave-Wireless-Thermostat-IS-ZW-TSTAT-100.htm > > 2Gig (an alarm panel mfgr) Z-STAT Z-Wave Programmable Thermostat for $88 > http://www.amazon.com/2Gig-Z-STAT-Z-Wave-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B004MM4800/ > > Trane for $126: > http://www.amazon.com/TZEMT400BB3-Remote-Energy-Management-Thermostat/dp/B0052MHPP4/ > > Honeywell for $159: > http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-TH8320ZW1007-Enabled-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B005EJ7YO2/ > > > When I last looked into Zwave thermostats a few years ago, the > Wayne-Dalton model was the most popular choice (due to selling for under > $100), but got complaints about a cheap plastic enclosure that broke > easily. Looks like it has since been discontinued. > > The Trane was the next option, but that the time sold for over $200. > They've come out with a new model and dropped the price (reviews seem > positive). > > The others are newer to the market. The GE one is made to work with > their alarm panels and I don't see any reviews indicating whether it is > generally compatible with other Zwave controllers. (I happen to own some > GE alarm equipment, but don't use the Zwave functionality as they > stupidly made it dependent on you subscribing to a 3rd party alarm > monitoring service.) > > The 2Gig is also meant to work with an alarm panel, but the manufacturer > explicitly says it is compatible with other controllers, such as the > (Linux running) MiCasaVerde Vera controller. The reviews on it sound > promising. > > > Looks like there are a bunch of WiFi thermostats on the market now too, > like: > http://www.amazon.com/Homewerks-Thermostat-CT-30-H-K2-Wireless-Module/dp/B004YZFU1Q/ > > Probably a good bet if you just want to be able to remotely control a > single thermostat and not integrate it with a home automation setup. I > imagine each one has its own proprietary interface, and requires use of > a manufacturer's web site to communicate with it. > > > If you are an industrious hacker you can pair one of these Zwave > thermostats with several Zwave temperature sensors, or temp/light/motion > sensors: > http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=HomeSeer+HSM100&tbm=shop&cid=6168500570220552410&os=sellers > > and create the equivalent of the multi-thermostat Nest thermostat setup. > > > For me, the most interesting aspect of a home automation connected > thermostats would be heating efficiency tracking. The thermostat can > report the amount of time your furnace was running (my old programmable > thermostat does this, but not convenient to record that info > daily/weekly), from which you can calculate fuel consumption (unless you > have the latest variable-burn rate technology). Correlate that with the > "degree days" statistics for the period, and you can see how efficiently > your heating system is working. Then when you make adjustments to your > insulation, you can pretty quickly see if that is reflected in improved > efficiency. > > -Tom > _______________________________________________ > Hardwarehacking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
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