Am a total newb from the UK to Home Automation, but have taken a keen interest in the z-wave protocol and the associated products.
I am keen to begin this slippery slope of investing in the technology, but wanted to ask a few questions to make sure i am doing things in the most cost effective and economical way.
I own a typical 4 bedroom british semi detatched house. It is wired in all rooms for cat 5e network and this all originates from the “office” room on the 1st floor. i have a wireless N router connected to a 100MB cable supplied broadband connection.
Ideally from my setup i want to be able to control the Lights in the following rooms:
Living Room
Reception Room
Kitchen
Dining Room
Hallway
1st floor landing
Bedroom 1
Bedroom 2
Bedroom 3
Bedroom 4
Office
Sauna room
I also want to be able to contol the appliance sockets in each of those areas (say 3 double sockets in each room)
Also am looking to extend to PIR’s, Door lock for main doors, External IP camera, 2x internal IP camera
given my network, would i be better off getting VeraLite or with the potential number of items dictate that i should go for a Vera 3.
I have an existing traditional alarm panel, how hard would it be to integrate this (ie at a minimum i’d like a sensor that detects when triggered (maybe wired into the bell/siren lines) that notifies me)
This is all i can think of, and i’m hoping the experts amongst you can help with some decisions…i’m keen on staring to order some of the stuff (i will work / order 1 room at a time as budget and time allows!!)
Can’t speak for what sockets are available in the UK, but as far as the amount of items you want to add, you should get away fine with a Vera lite.
For the alarm system, any idea on the type it is? If its not one of the supported ones, then you could consider replacing it with one of the ones that is supported; you can then re-use a lot of your sensors and use them for automation purposes.
[quote=“strangely, post:2, topic:171788”]Can’t speak for what sockets are available in the UK, but as far as the amount of items you want to add, you should get away fine with a Vera lite.
For the alarm system, any idea on the type it is? If its not one of the supported ones, then you could consider replacing it with one of the ones that is supported; you can then re-use a lot of your sensors and use them for automation purposes.[/quote]
The only thing I might add to @strangely is that is sounds like you have multiple floors… I found that I had better reliability when I went to 2 Vera Lites and bridged them via the network. You can (and should) try it with just one, but if you find that you are having zwave reliability issues, you can add the second Vera and move devices to it later.
Thanks both for the comments…good call on the additional Vera.
In fact the house has just been bought and the alarm in the house leaves a lot to be desired (ie rip that out and put a new one in)
from being on the forums (All day) it looks as if a DSC unit is the way to go. Unfortunately whilst not readily accessible from these shores, i have found a supplier who can supply a DSC 1832, Battery, Bell Box, 6 Pirs, 4 door sensors etc etc for £350 (yes its expensive…they can charge what they like as they are the only company i know of that can get these!!)
I have decided for the time being to:
Order the above items (am still looking around for a cheaper supplier)
Wire these items up in the house
Fully Cat5e/6e the property running a minimum of one network point into each of the rooms
Order a Veralite and 3 or 4 dimmer and switch modules for 1 or 2 rooms and see how far that gets me.
The Alarm is a necessity, so i don’t feel that its a false investment. The Vera and the sensors…well, i have convinced myself that they are what the inital cost of my new hobby are going to be.
I guess as long as can get all of the hardwiring out of the way and get the house redecorated, then i can add the other z-wave modules at my leisure / as finances permit.
would this be a sensible route…have i forgotten any key aspects of the build?
Sounds right… Good luck! ;D I do think adding the Alarm in early to equation is good because you can think through how you might leverage those sensors (i.e. motion) to trigger scenes that will manage your lights and power use. I thermostat is a good idea to start with as well since you can save the most money by aggressively managing that through the combination of scheduled scenes and sensors.