Welcome!  This section will cover all the new and fun projects that I encounter while Automating my new house with X-10 and On-Q products!  On-Q uses a lot of HAI's brains when it comes to their controllers so this section may also be for those of you who are using HAI products.

Please check back soon for more details as I fill these structured wiring panels below full of cool toys!

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System Update: 01-11-06

While I know it’s not much progress since the last update, here is where I am at today.

It has been slow going on getting my light switches switched over to the On-Q ALC switches but I do have them all mapped out in an Excel file and have been trying to add at least 5 switches a day.  I have to tone out every run of CAT-5 because some are labeled wrong so I am making sure I know exactly which wire is going where which takes a little longer.  I’m also testing out every run while I wait for more On-Q products to arrive. 

I had a 2 week delay because my ALC control board went bad and it took a little time to get a new one in.  This allowed me some time to play with Homeseer and that is what I have been doing the last 2 weeks.  I finally got a good install of it with the On-Q plugin and it is working great as of now.  I also have been playing with several of the plug-ins available such as Ultramon which monitors my computers, switch, firewall and more.  It’s amazing all the possibilities out there right now and my wheels are really spinning but I’m taking it one day at a time and making sure the stuff I did the previous day works for a few before I continue on.  Plus, I’m still trying to move in and work two jobs so my time is limited…  It’s hard to install light switches in the dark too!!!

As of right now, I have my Homeseer server up and running on a Dell Poweredge 850 Server with a 3.0 gig P4 processor and 1 gig of Ram.  This computer has an 80 gig SATA hard drive and it really has two tasks.  One is to run the Homeseer software and the other is to act as the host to the Airpanel in the kitchen.  Needless to say, it slacks off most of the day.

As far as the Homeseer install goes, it’s been a bit fun for me since I’m still working with a “growing” system when it comes to the On-Q stuff.  If I would have known now that the new Z-wave and UPB devices would be available, I may have rethought using ALC but I’m stuck with it for now, although I do think I will be happy I did since it’s all hard wired.  I find that the On-Q (HAI) plugin really limits Homeseer over what it could do with X-10 or some other products though and am a little disappointed in this.  The main problem has to do with using plugin devices as true Homeseer devices.  I may be wrong because I’m still new to it but in order to get it to be able to do some cool stuff, it will require a lot of extra, pretty advanced, coding, which I can do but really didn’t expect to have to.

So, what is automated as of today?  Not much!  About all that is happening right now is that the outside lights turn off at 11:00pm and on at 10 minutes after sunset.  I can login to my web based Homeseer interface (which has been reworked to look a little nicer) and control the house from any computer.  I can see the status of the alarm, what lights are on, off or the last time they were on or off.  I can see if the alarm is armed or disarmed, which doors are opened or closed and when they were as well.  I can check the temperature throughout the house at 4 thermostats or two temp sensors, one which is outside.  On Monday and Thursday at 8:00pm, all of my alarm panels beep 5 times and alert me that the trash is due to be picked up in the morning.

What about X-10 you ask???  Well, I do see some X-10 in the future, maybe Z-wave or something else because I’m not going to do what I want via On-Q and ALC alone so I’m going to need to look into another solution.  I will be sure to post what I end up doing to keep everyone who is interested informed.  I think a lot of the reason I may have to look into other avenues is due to not enough copper being pulled through the house although there is over 12 miles of low voltage wire in it (3800sq. ft.).

Please check back later to read more…

System Update: 12-07-2005

Well, I’ve been learning a lot about things and getting my game plan in order.  I punched down my network and phones a while back and get my firewall and router all configured as well as my On-Q Wireless Access Point.  The Firewall I use is a Fortinet Fortigate 50A which has built in 2-way virus scanning with push updates and it also has a nice Spam solution.  It’s not your 50 dollar Linksys router but it’s worth the extra money in my opinion because it’s all hardware based and I have used their firewalls for over 2 years.  I then run to a 24 port switch and distribute the network with it.  I still have lots of punch down to do on them but I do the connections as I need them.  I will complete all networking connections later.  I am using 4 of the On-Q 8 port Interface modules for this and making my own patch cables so they fit nicely.

My phones are punched down using On-Q Telcom modules.  I have 4 of them, the main is the advanced module with security override and the other 3 are expansions.  They are 100% finished!  I have my transformer for the cordless phones mounted in the panels as well so all the cordless phones throughout the house do not have those ugly transformers.  I do not experience any interference with this either!

I have two rooms that have the A-Bus audio systems working and have mapped all the wiring numbers out for them and will be hooking the rest up later.

The main Media Center PC is working well and it has over 800 gigs of storage for DVD movies.  I am ripping all of our DVD’s down to just the main movie and they are easily accessed through the My Movies plug-in for Windows Media Center.  All the DVD’s have a thumbnail image of the cover and all the info about the movie is available on screen.  A Pronto TSU7500 is being programmed and updated daily to control the system as it’s progressing.  As of right now, the directv receivers are still in boxes but they will start being hooked up on the 12th.  My Vision Art Plasma cover thingy arrived today and I will have a crew of installers out on the 12th and 13th to help me get it installed.  As of right now, we are watching a 42” Plasma in the bonus room that has two B&W inwall speakers and a Velodine sub connected to a Yamaha receiver.  It sounds great and I didn’t really want surround sound in that room because it will be a room that grows as our family does.

I have started replacing the light switches with On-Q switches a few days.  The electrical contractors did not want to do install them so I told them to just install regular switches and I would replace them.  I have 6 switches installed right now and will be replacing them daily.  I have the On-Q HMS 1100 Controller talking to them and have a small program in the controller to turn them on and off.

I purchased Homeseer and will get it installed on one of the Dell servers I have for the systems.  I was going to bring the rack home tonight but it was raining so I didn’t.  I will also be installing Girder on this server to allow some cool IR control of the On-Q controller as well as other things.  I purchased the HAI extension for Girder (same thing as On-Q when it comes to the controller) so I will be able to do some easy control of the house through the Pronto.  Things like Temp, Security, Lighting and more can easily be controlled with single IR commands.

I guess that is about it right now.  The system is coming together nicely and it’s really been a fun learning experience.  Check back later for the next update and I will try to get some photos of things too!!!