Home Automation DIY - share yours

Jakes147 said:
What size is your DB board? My parents in law have a C-BUS system and the DB is huge, every switch in the house has a relay.
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I have four DBs: two for the standard stuff, two for the C-Bus.

The house is quite laid-out, hence one set of DBs for the "north", one set for the "south"
 
Hi... Have been doing some DIY home automation research too...

I'm busy designing and planning a house that I plan to have completed by this time next year (so researching at a comfortable pace and keeping an eye on interesting products that will be 2nd or 3rd Gen by the time I have to install).

I am someone that aims for ease of use and don't like to see cables anywhere.

The key products that I have found are listed below. Some are crowdfunded startup products that have or are about to hit market.

I have just purchased an Amazon Echo which I intend to use as the base for voice control and bind everything together.

Amazon Echo: https://youtu.be/FQn6aFQwBQU
Amazon Echo: https://youtu.be/KkOCeAtKHIc
Amazon Echo: https://youtu.be/G7fARJxXCnc

I can confirm that it seems to have no issue with our South African accents and yes, the speech engine is as good as it sounds on the video clips. Almost scary good.

I am planning to use mainly the Wink Hub and SmartThings Hubs as mentioned above so most of my research has been around products that do or plan to support these "ecosystems".
Wink Connected Hub: https://youtu.be/DrB9Q9QnsQw
SmartThings: https://youtu.be/wR6t2M7vXoM

For a smart doorbell, I'm leaning towards the Ring Smart Doorbell.
https://youtu.be/vl8sZI5AH4g

For the front door lock, I'm leaning towards August Smart Lock. The video doesn't show it, but there is now also a small unit that plugs into the wall (within bluetooth range) that makes it wifi and connected to your network and able to open it from anywhere in the world.
https://youtu.be/cf9DRZLEVTM

For lighting, I think nothing beats Philips Hue. With the Echo voice control you can switch on/off and dim to whatever percentage you want, but not change colours yet. You can group the lights in all sorts of various groups for voice control. Sadly, these lightbulbs are not cheap, but claim to last for 15 to 20 years. Note: There is a GU10 model bulb that is the size and fits in our conventional 240v downlighters fittings.
https://youtu.be/W1OleHgVR6k

Then some honourable mentions and potentials for me (be sure to check out their videos):

http://senic.com/

https://flic.io/

http://www.kwikset.com/kevo/default.aspx#.Vctc4PmqpBe

https://lockitron.com/

https://danalock.com/

https://www.havenlock.com/

https://minut.com/index.html

http://getnotion.com/

https://neeo.com/

http://luceralabs.com/

https://cocoon.life/

http://www.wallyhome.com/

https://youtu.be/0OfEhApLIPI

https://youtu.be/41fG53zMbPA

Finally, most of the items researched do or plan to with with IFTTT (www.ifttt.com).

Obviously the biggest enemy here is the exchange rate, etc. but between all the stuff listed above, one can kit up a house nicely for much less than R100k.

Let me know what you think and if you have any advice.
 
JediJohn said:
Hi... Have been doing some DIY home automation research too...

Let me know what you think and if you have any advice.
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Wow, you have certainly done your homework - im looking at Wink vs Smartthings. Wink is great, but SmartThings is owned by Samsung - that said, there is a SmartThings v2 to be released in September and I believe its vastly upgraded. Im busy building and need a solution rather urgently.
 
Hmm... Samsung is having their Unpacked event today where they are launching the Galaxy Note 5 and such... Maybe they'll mention something about SmartThings v2... So far I'm looking at putting both Wink and SmartThings hubs on my network as neither take much space and both work with Echo and IFTTT, so effectively the same input source, but double the supported items.
 
The annoying thing is that the hubs themselves are cheap, but the devices are bloody expensive!
 
JediJohn said:
Hmm... Samsung is having their Unpacked event today where they are launching the Galaxy Note 5 and such... Maybe they'll mention something about SmartThings v2... So far I'm looking at putting both Wink and SmartThings hubs on my network as neither take much space and both work with Echo and IFTTT, so effectively the same input source, but double the supported items.
Click to expand...

A minor note of caution: check with your electrician and your insurance broker before finalising your plans.

All items that are attached to the electrical supply are supposed to be SABS approved. And when it comes to insurance claims anything not approved by the insurance companies (e.g. Internet-connected door locks :) ) can be, shall we say, problematic.

But sounds truly great !
 
rrh said:
A minor note of caution: check with your electrician and your insurance broker before finalising your plans.

All items that are attached to the electrical supply are supposed to be SABS approved. And when it comes to insurance claims anything not approved by the insurance companies (e.g. Internet-connected door locks :) ) can be, shall we say, problematic.

But sounds truly great !
Click to expand...

Sage advice, very much appreciated.
 
JediJohn said:
Sage advice, very much appreciated.
Click to expand...

My pleasure. It's based on my experiences e.g. my house has more glass than brickwork, so I installed intruder-proof glass throughout plus a security system that includes an electric fence, external passives and internal passives.

The insurance company wanted to know why I didn't have burglar guards ... :(
 
Have anyone found a way around the voltage issue? Most of these are for the US market which runs on 110v. A converter will be fine for the hub, but things like light switches and bulbs might be a problem.
 
Most hubs will run on DC anyway, so just pick a suitable AC/DC convertor locally and use that.

But yes, the AC voltage for things like relays and lightbulbs will be a problem.
 
Industrial design company Quirky today announced that it has filed for bankruptcy after months of rumors. In a blog post, the company confirmed it is actively selling its internet of things-focused subsidiary, Wink.
 
a while back I discovered the esp8266, an awesome little wireless module (R37 on eBay) that combined with Arduino and OpenHab can give some basic home automation for very little money!

openhab.png
 
The ODBC connector (ODBCAD32.EXE) Has a tracing tab with options log the data to file. If you enable it you could read the data from that file. Never tried it before

[EDIT] Wrong Thread! :crylaugh:
 
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