We are living in our house first (1 month in so far) to see what "bells & whistles" we will need.

So far, we secured the premises with a smartphone capable monitored security system.

Drawback with it is - we usually leave the house without arming it - knowing full well we have remote arming capabilities - vs. the old days where you arm as you leave. So this flexibility also causes potential issues.

So IMO, "smarthomes" doesn't equate to smart owners.
Choose your smartness carefully.

Next up for us is automatic lights vs. remote lighting....

THE quote of the thread. LOL!

"So IMO, "smarthomes" doesn't equate to smart owners."

We are installing a Nest. I have friends that have used them and love them. There is much more positive reviews out there then negative.

We are also putting in garage door openers that can be controlled remotely (same system can also do lights but we aren't planning on that). Sure this can be hacked....but it is much easier to just break the little window on the side of the garage anyway.

Sprinkler system - Looking at a cyberrain system....the phone/tablet plugin isn't to control it remotely but just from home. Easier to setup and control plus it gives water usage reports and savings reports based of forecasted weather and actual rain.

Also putting in a Sonos system for whole home audio.

Had looked into the eMonitor from http://www.powerhousedynamics.com/ but from what I've worked out it seems return on investment would be insanely long.

Mainly putting in a ton of wiring to make adding sensors/cameras/audio easier in the midterm. We could go wireless on a lot of stuff - but need to put in wires for video camera power and might as well add a wired network. Wired speakers for audio since that is pretty cheap now, sired security, mainly wireless Home Automation stuff.

The wireless control/security systems are dropping in price and this will be a cost efficient option for refit, but is easier to add wires during construction.

There are still some issues with home automation dimmers and LED lights. Since we are in a heavily cooling climate, need to use LEDs to reduce heat load as well as directly reduce electricity usage.

We are not doing any fancy smart home features, but we are installing a hard wired security system... A requirement for me in the country. Instead of motion lights for the creatures to activate, we out a switch by the master bed to turn all flood lights around the house on at once if we hear something worrisome. We are doing whole house audio as well and surround sound in living room and game room. The systems will all be hard wired. We do have a programmable thermostat. Oh, we are also doing cameras for CCTV at both entrances. We will not be monitoring those online now but can in the future. My mom's cameras have been invaluable a few times when there were unsavory characters at the door. She never had to go anywhere near the door to know she should call for help and arm herself.

Some great ideas here! And while I agree, everything gets outdated at some point, you can say the same for your choice in kitchen cabinets, appliances and bathroom tile!

If you want ease of use Control4 or other similar out of the box systems are great, but you can also get a lot of "smart home" features through some relatively affordable options. Also, as must of these features run off of a smart phone, there isn't an old cumbersone intercom like system to become obsolite and forever remain in your hallway. Apps for many of these systems will be developed for whatever the next big thing happens to be.

swensoca - Thanks for the mentioning cyber rain, I have not heard of that system before and it looks like a great solution!

We will also have videocams that can be accessed remotely, we already one in our current house as a baby cam and find it quite useful! I look forward to having one at the front gates to our house.

What is the best way to have a house intercom, without owning an iphone? Is anyone considering adding this feature?

Carol

What is the best way to have a house intercom, without owning an iphone?

A multi-handset phone system. Each handset is a separate intercom.

This post was edited by dekeoboe on Fri, May 24, 13 at 19:57

This might be long winded...

You didn't mention how much you are willing to spend. Adding intelligence to your home can get pricey quickly, but it can be done smartly to get good bang for the buck.

If you are not familiar with lighting control systems, you should definitely take a look at Lutron, Vantage Controls, savant, crestron, and control4. They all offer centralized lighting systems where lighting loads are run back to a central location. This eliminates wall clutter as control is now achieved through keypads. You will have the ability of triggering groups of lights (a scene) with each lighting load at a preset dimming level by pressing a single button on the keypad. Lights throughout the home will come on and turn off at set times or relative to sunrise/sunset.

These lighting systems are really amazing. It's hard to really appreciate what they are capable of until you see one in action. I have seen a few installed in some homes and am now looking forward to installing a value engineered Vantage system in my new home.

IMO, lighting control gives the best bang for the buck as it used everyday and allows you to trigger many scenes that will allow you to appreciate the interior architecture of your home in the evening.
Good lighting design/control is one of the most overlooked items in making a house "smart", but is really one of the most practical/useful.

Some other items:

Run 2 cat6 to each wall mounted LCD TV with TV sources centralized to avoid wires hanging below TV.

Cat6 to a few closets for wireless access points.

Cat5e to thermostat locations for automation integration.
BTW, stay away from NEST. It does not have open software architecture so you cannot integrate it with any automation systems. I am using and would recommend the April aire 8800 tstat as it plays nicely with all automation systems.

Audio distribution in some areas and buried speaker cable in other future audio zones. Also, bury some cat5 in the walls for touchscreens/audio keypad controls. Ipad/smartphone control is nice, but it is also nice to be able to just walk up to a hardwired control and quickly adjust the music.

Prewiring several windows for motorized shades.

Prewire for some camera locations.

It's much easier and cheaper to run wires during construction so don't skimp on prewiring. Cat5e/Cat6 is very versatile and will keep many options available for the future.

I wouldn't say that the nest is bad because it doesn't integrate in with something else. It operates very well on its own and its own applications are very good. Not everything has to be integrated into a central control. You have issues with the central control then it affects everything. The nest has features that none(at least that I've seen) with its capabilities to learn your habits and program itself. To me that is what a smart thermostat should be. Just being able to control remotely isn't really that smart per say.

A smart home has many subsystems integrated into a single simple interface affording the homeowner quick access to all the home's functions.

By integrating into a centralized system, you now can introduce a high level of conditional logic that manipulates the various subsystems to your lifestyle by gathering information from sensors and from the status of the other subsystems.

Swensoca, you should do some more reading about these systems so that you are not so easily swayed by a slick advertising campaign about a thermostat that can "program itself"...
One could say that you have "issues" with jumping to conclusions without an understanding of the subject matter.

Hi Vatofl,

I am the first to admit that I don't have an understanding of the subject matter. However, it seems you have some good background knowledge. Can you answer a stupid question for me? You mentioned in your post yesterday that you would recommend Cat6 to a few closets for wireless access. We can easily access our internet wirelessly with the wireless cards in the laptops and the modem at the desktop computer. Can you please elaborate on how we might use the wireless access from the closets now or in the future? I am anything but smart on the subject of smart homes.

TIA

Carol

As a building automation specialist, I've thought over and over again of the things I would or would not do to automate my house. It's come back to actually 'automating' very little. In fact, I wouldn't automate any more than I already have in my current house, which has a smart thermostat that takes outside air temp into account for starting your heat/A/C system on a schedule...and that's about it. I don't like the thought of electronic locks, and lights can be on occupancy sensors or switches, they don't need to be connected to some sort of smart controller. You're getting pretty lazy when you don't want to flip a switch anymore...

Now, the nerd in me is definitely going to have to install some sort of in-house infotainment system, but it won't actually control anything other than the monitors and speakers throughout the house. I'm hoping we'll have some pretty good speech recognition at that point where I would be able to say 'House, play Pandora' and Pandora would start in the room I'm in, and follow me as I go places. 'House, what's the weather going to be tomorrow?' for a forecast, etc etc.

The only caveat to this is my greenhouse. Greenhouses need automation, so I have a ventilation fan control based on temp and humidity, automatic irrigation and I am thinking of adding soil moisture sensors, and a roof vent on an electronic actuator to open on nice, warm days when the greenhouse effect isn't needed. These things pretty much be done using standard deadband controllers, though; a smart controller isn't necessary.

You will have the ability of triggering groups of lights (a scene) with each lighting load at a preset dimming level by pressing a single button on the keypad. Lights throughout the home will come on and turn off at set times or relative to sunrise/sunset.

To me, that seems like a waste. I prefer to only have on the lights I need, rather than waste energy by having on extra lights. If I want them on, I can just flip a switch, which is really easy to do.

Bottom line, I don't see the need for many of these systems.

You will have the ability of triggering groups of lights (a scene) with each lighting load at a preset dimming level by pressing a single button on the keypad. Lights throughout the home will come on and turn off at set times or relative to sunrise/sunset.

To me, that seems like a waste. I prefer to only have on the lights I need, rather than waste energy by having on extra lights. If I want them on, I can just flip a switch, which is really easy to do.

Bottom line, I don't see the need for many of these systems.

Ontario,

If you already have good wifi access everywhere you need it throughout your home then you are good to go.

In my case, I have 4 levels so a single router on one floor is not enough to send a strong wifi signal everywhere throughout the home. Access points remedy these range issues without compromising bandwidth like in the case of a basic repeater.

So, if you just prewire for access points you will be covered in case you need a stronger wifi signal in some areas.

"Nest remembers the temperatures you like and builds a schedule for you. It’s so simple that 99% of Nests have schedules."

$249.99 !!!!!

I bought a thermostat for my mom in the 1980s that not only learned your schedule, but it was smart enough to try to sneak the temps up or down a degree or two to save even more money. All you had to do was turn it up or down at a certain time of day for a couple of days in a row and it would have the temp there fore you on the third day (a 1-day override did nothing)

It cost me under $50, and took me about 15 minutes to install.

Vatofl - yes I'm so easily swayed by advertising, since we don't have a TV in our house, we don't listen to radio, our only shows or movies is through our computer using netflix which has no advertising, can't say in my life I've seen any advertising for the nest outside of the display at lowes which I have never even gone up to. I've used the product and can speak from knowledge and experience that what it does, it does well. Is it the answer to everything, certainly not. I'm guessing you have never used the product but dismiss it with authority.

To be a smart home does not require a central brain.

There is different requirements and needs to every home and their owners....the nest does what it does very well in that aspect and fits in very well with what a lot of people want out of a smart thermostat.

Vatofl,

Well according to my 13 year old son we do have wifi issues in the recently shelled in addition. Now that the house is larger and has another level on it, according to my son there are wireless issues in the new parts of the house. I almost always use the desktop so had not realized. When you say to build access points, are you saying to buy a few more modems for these access points and if not what is needed?

I appreciate your help.

Carol

No, not a modem. You want a wireless access point.

I'm not going to buy a nest because it doesn't do what I want it to do - period.

& when the posters over @ the HVAC Talk forum confirms this, I know they aren't to be ignored.

one thing about people running wires, cutting holes
in walls & ceilings..is that they don't air seal once they
put their stuff in.

when I blower door test houses I find leakage around
speakers & penetrations that burgler alarm, cable
etc installs have caused.

when you make holes into attic and don't seal them
then you bring attic temps, insulation particles &
misc voc's into the living space.

sheetrock is a great air sealer, but when it is full
of holes...not so much.

sealing holes as they are made is something that
doesn't usually happen.
so...if you are installing something that requires drilling
or sawing holes...make sure that they air seal.
caulk is a great thing...much better than great stuff foam.
the air sealing will save you on utilities & keep attic
stuff in the attic.

best of luck.

I just want audio zones, Kitchen, bar, living room, back deck, maybe master bath?

Anyone have system suggestions?

Thanks!

loribug26 - Hard to give a recommendation without knowing more about your needs/wants.

What do you want your sources to be?

Are you looking to have single receiver that connects to all the zones?

Do you want to be able to stream music from your computer/phone/tablet?

How about services like Pandora etc?

Also do you want to be able to play different audio in different zones at the same time?

Thanks for all the great ideas. Soon, I will try to compile all of them together in a single post for ready reference. Pulled into some other things for now.

We recently built a vacation home which was pre-wired for the internet. We installed a Bayweb TS which can be programmed remotely via the computer or a smartphone. It also contains a couple of wired inputs that enables you to wire a motion detector or door contacts.it sends an email or text when someone enters the house. While not ideal from a security standpoint, it does give some piece of mind . Very reasonable at @ $200 and fairly simple to use and install.

Jeez,the OP asked about what ideas people were planning on incorporating, not a bunch of judgments about why none of it was "needed." (I read the kitchen forum a lot right now, and I don't see people getting challenged about their "need" for 48" ranges or 100 cubic feet of built-in fridge and freezer space...)

We are building in a place where people still don't lock their doors, so I skip over the info on security systems that many seem to find indispensable. But I wont tell you that you don't need one!

What I would like is a relatively simple way to turn the heat back up from vacation mode to a habitable temperature before we get there (hydronic floors, so not a quick response) and maybe even a way to find out what the temperature is when we are far away. I don't mind controlling lights manually, but I saw a demo of the Lutron system that was very impressive-- until I found out the cost. But I can see why it would be worth it to some.

Hi,
I am building a 4K sqft home and have done all the automation in my last house (by myself). During that time I worked for a company that owned a division that sold home and industrial automation and I could get anything for 50% below cost.

Having said that we just broke ground on our second home and I am doing all the design install and automation for this home and here is what I am putting in from what I have learned in the past.

#1 - Lighting System. It was my favorite thing in the last house (a Leviton system). This time I am using Insteon for many reasons but it can be programed by a small box you instruct - plug into an outlet and let it do it's thing. Custom printed buttons, complex scenes - timers whatever. It is the most flexible system out there and goes from standard configuration to super complex and everything in between. It is also cost effective.

#2. You can get Insteon Thermostats that do a lot of goofy stuff - but I am going with 2 Nest units for each zone. Easy Simple.

#3. A Cat6 Camera system from Samsung (16 cameras - only putting in 8 to start). I really like the fact that I can see the house and the sump pump etc. when I am out of state.

#4. An ELK alarm system. This is the "brain" of the house and it talks to the lighting system and Insteon thermostats. You can hit the "Vacation" button and it will set the HVAC and even turn on and off random lights at night if you want.

#5. I am wiring for Somfy drapes and shades. Simply putting in the 16/2 DC wires in locations for now. The bedroom will be all blackout shades. Roll over and hit a switch and you are in a 1000 a night hotel.

I am not putting in any music systems. Never used them. I had a fancy Russsound AV distribution system as well and won't be doing that either. Simply doing Cat 6 everywhere, DirecTv, and will use wireless Apple products for music at patries.

You will NEVER use a computer to control these devices. You will never get up and use a wall touch screen. That being said this is a hobby and should be treated as such. You won't get your money out of it. Your friends won't understand it. Friends at parties won't understand it. But if it is something you like then go for it. It takes 10,000 times more effort, time, frustration, and money to do these things with an automation system than it is to get up and hit the light switch or pull the drape cord. But to me it is something I can't seem to live without.

Wife hates it - can't seem to understand how it all works - or the need for any of it. Even with custom labeled buttons that say "party" or "clean up" on the lights she still uses the switch instead of the scene button. It is nice to turn off every light in the house from your bedside - and then to have the alarm to arm automatically at 11:00 at night with no need to do anything. To have the lights come on and light the house when it detects motion etc.

That being said it is a very slippery slope. Don't listen to the salesmen - they want to sell you what they want to sell. Best advice is to do as much as you can and bring in a pro for the things you don't understand (alarm for me)...

Good luck!

Our "security system" is going to consist of some of those realistic looking security signs that we'll get from Amazon. Also our neighborhood watch program.

An automated heat/hvac wouldn't work for us since we primarily heat with wood heat - no way to automate that other than to always have a fire burning or ready to start. Summers here tend to be cool, so coming home to a hot house shouldn't happen that often.

I'm less worried about having outdated looking appliances - that would be easy to replace - than a new cell phone that will no longer "talk" to my smart house.

We live a simple life; a smart home might be nice in some ways, but for us it isn't a necessity.

This post was edited by gladys1924 on Wed, Jul 3, 13 at 14:23

bdslack,

Thanks for your suggestions. Would you be wiling to link the lighting system you are choosing? Our electrician has not installed one before -- not that common perhaps in Canada yet. However, I would prefer theose scene switches to a long bank of light switches depending on price of course.

Carol

bdslack - which elk system are you using?

Elk Gold - 20% off at smarthome.
Can't wait to get started with it.

Carol - I am using an Insteon system.
Smarthome website has a lot of the items.

They wire just like regular switches.

Easier in fact because you don't really need to wire for three way switched. As long as you get power to a switch you can control anything on the network.

Installing it and programing it are really two different things. Once installed you really need to live in the house for a while before you can think up things for it to do. Once you do you simply program it and you are done. They sell plug in boxes that control lamps, christmas lights etc.

Good luck with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Insteon Information

Thanks bdslack for the ordering info. At present, we have several spots in the house that have been electrically roughed in with 4 gang switches. I hope we can put in one of these light scene systems to replaced the long line of switches in a few key spots in the house. Would the electrician have needed to do something special at the rough in stage to accommodate these scene switches?

Carol

Hi Carol,

These switches are simply just switches. Then there is a "scene" box with buttons on it so that you can select a scene. So you would simply wire them just like you normally would and add one extra switch box for the scene controller. They do sell switches with four scene buttons on them as well.

In our old kitchen we had no less than ten circuits with up to six lights each. It was overwhelming and this system helped a lot.

They say to not get over three switches together because you will never remember what switch does what (and they are right - we had some up to 5 long and I NEVER could remember what did what).

I would suggest starting small in one room and moving up from there if you really like how it works. I like a LOT of lights in a room and a lot of accent lights and this is what these systems are designed for.

Some other options are "graphic eye" for a simple one room setup. If you want to add a lamp you just plug it into a small box that connects to the system.

If you don't want to add another switch box for the controller you can use the link below and use the switch / scene controller below:

Here is a link that might be useful: switch keypad

Hi , I'm gonna buy a smart plug wifi which is controlled by smart phone any ware around the world my electronic applience, sounds amazing! anybody has suggestions for me?

Smarthome is rather popular, like smart switch outlet, one of the main function is saving energy. even if you forget to turn off the power, you can still do it anywhere with your smart phone through WIFI . Sounds amazing !

just remember that smart switches use energy all the time to run the electronics in the switch itself.

So, it may or may not save energy, particularly if you already have energy efficient lights.

Smart home and home automation become a heat topic more recently all around the world even in developing countries like China, as a solution for energy saving and easy-controlling by connecting with smart phone, young people also regard it as kind of fashion.

Wifi power socket realize remote control of home electronic appliance, it’s also a kind of fashion among young people. Wherever they are, they switch on/off their air conditioner, curtain, TV with smart phone to show they are fashion keeping.

Energy saving is a hot topic among all people, smart outlet switch has not only this function but also brings more conveniences to modern life, that’s why young people became crazy about this great invention.

Hi everyone!

I am interested if there are any forum users who currently have and use any type of smart appliances. This could be any appliance that you can operate using smartphones or internet.

I am currently completing research on the idea of Smart Homes and would love feedback from actual users and how the appliances have helped or hindered daily routines. If at all possible, please take a look at the google doc link below. The questionnaire will take less than 5 minutes.

Thanks for your help! The research is in association with Technische Universitaet Ilmenau.

Here is a link that might be useful: Smart Appliances Questionnaire

Any of you who posted on SmartHome/Home automation features want to let us know how you like them now?

@Bdslack (if you are still on the forum)....

Our build is the slowest on the planet. Just doing low voltage wiring now (not yet drywalled). If we get that Insteon scene switch you linked in your last post on this thread, can we reduce the wall clutter of the banks of switches? In many rooms we have 3 or 4 circuits (also 3 or 4 way due to open concept). I would love to replace some or all of those switches with a scene button, but still unsure if that can be done.

Carol

Ontariomom,

Just found this new forum. Our vantage lighting control system (Link) is hands down one of the best purchases we made for this home. We have around 100 lighting loads on the system and very limited wall space. So each room has one or two keypads like that seen below to control various scenes. Half the loads are "home run" back to a central panel and the other half are wired to the keypads (1 load per "scene point" keypad).

It's really nice having various scenes like "kitchen" and "kitchen evening" that can manage all the lighting loads and create the same scene as programmed each time at the press of a button without having to mess with many dimmers.

It's worth investigating if you still have your walls open, especially for the high use common areas and master bedroom.

FYI, If you value engineer as I described above you can have an out the door price around $250 per lighting load.

Thanks Vatofl for the lead on the Vantage lighting control system. Yes, our walls are still open (well we do have some temporary insulation in the rooms we are living in so we don't freeze people and pipes). We are still undecided about the scene controls. We are struggling to understand the best plan of attack to incorporate the scene controls.

So in your home, you say you have one or two of the keypads in each room. Do you also have to have regular switches, or do these scene keypads replace the need for switches.

Can you explain more what you mean by "half the loads are home run back to the central panel and the other half are wired to the keypads". Or, if possible, do you have a wiring plan you can post.

Ontario,

There are two types of keypads for vantage. One type of keypad (a regular keypad) communicates with the central processor and does not have a lighting load wired directly to it. The other keypad is called a "scene point" and has a single lighting load connected to it, and also communicates to the central processor so it can control any lighting load that is on the system.

We did this so we could the save the cost on adding another central processor as each processor can have 48 loads connected to it. I think we actually have 90 loads on the system so we would have had to buy two processors and a big bulk of the cost is in the processor.

The only regular switches we have are basic lutron motion switches for closets, and then regular lutron maestro dimmers in a couple of guest bedrooms. These regular lutron switches/dimmers are completely separate from the vantage system.

Wiring diagram for main floor:

If you are doing 48loads are less then you do not have to worry about using "scene points" as I described above. You can just use a single central processor and then the normal keypads in each room. If however, you are doing more than 48 loads but less than 96loads then the method I described above will save you many thousands of dollars.

Hope this helps!

This info definitely helps, vatofl. Thanks! I will get some glasses on or something to magnify the plan to decipher it more. What else, besides the Vantage processor do you have in your AV closet? Is the Vantage lighting control system a wired or FR wireless product? What made you select wired over wireless (or wireless over wired)?

Carol

No problem.

Try this link for a clearer image of the lighting layout: Lighting layout

All the keypads are wired back directly to the processor. I am not sure if Vantage has wireless keypads or not, but the wired solution is rock solid.

The av closet houses the security system panels, structured wiring panel (housing router and a PoE switch for IP cameras and access points), HVAC distribution panel to interface with home automation, ceiling mounted wireless access point, and a floor mounted AV rack (containing video distribution matrix, FiOs boxes, distributed audio amps and sources, and an RTI automation processor). The RTI system (RTI) integrates everything (shades, hurricane shutters, lighting, HVAC, music, TVs) into an iPad interface. So we have 4 iPads mounted on the wall and on table stands throughout the house to control everything (iPad mount)

Vantage can do all the integration I described above, but RTI allows more customization of the user interface.

If you want to pursue this, I highly suggest you call Vantage and see what dealer they recommend in your area as you want to make sure that you get a competent installer/programmer that knows what he is doing.

Vatofl,

Sounds like you will have a lot of convenience built into your house. Thanks for letting me learn through your project. Thanks also for the bigger link to your lighting layout -- much easier to read.

Carol

Definitely adding a smart watering controller like Blossom http://myblossom.com/technology/. No more running back and forth to adjust, there's an app.