My (first) little girl is scheduled to arrive in 4 weeks.
The home setup is a HTPC drives all the TV’s in my house via a HDMI splitter (1x8) and Russound Whole Home Audio. Currently, the TV’s/Audio turns on (along with lights, depending ) when you walk into a room so the TV/Music always “follows” you.
Baby Tech Pieces
Baby Breathing Monitor Alarm (under mattress) that will be broadcast via Baby Monitor
“Baby Monitor” Foscam POE Camera with Microphone (connected to iSpy running on HTPC)
Baby Vera Functionality:
When Nursery Door Closed, Enable Baby Monitor Audio on HTPC/WHA (uses HTTP trigger to ISpy server, just like I trigger camera recording for outdoor cameras via vera motion sensors)
When Nursery Door Open, Disable Baby Monitor Audio on HTPC/WHA
Baby iSpy Functionality
When audio detected (crying) for more than 120 seconds:
** show the baby crib camera (same way I do for outdoor motion/cameras) on HTPC (TV video minimized to left-bottom PIP corner and then returns 15 seconds later) using VMCController
** enable audio in all key areas of house (just in case we we’re taking a nap and the we didn’t notice the LR or MBR lights/TV turned off) via http request to Vera
So, I know this isn’t going to go exactly according to plan, but wondering if there was anything else you would recommend from a baby tech perspective (vera or non-vera related)?
Are you comfortable with a DIY baby monitor with ‘a lot of tech’ between parent and nursery station’? In other words: how is this important channel supervised? Or is this supplementing a ‘real’ baby monitor. For that reason, we have a dedicated monitor, and when the green link light is on, I trust all is well. It will turn red and beep when the link with the nursery station is lost. We do have overhead Foscams in the kids’ rooms, but that’s supplementary only.
Any climate checks (temperature/humidity)? (This is built into our dedicated monitor; it will beep when the values are out-of-range; and there’s an ST814 in the nursery to get the same data available in Vera.)
We happen to have the nursery’s air purifier on a Z-Wave switch, controllable from a zone controller. Turn it on, and Vera will switch it off after an hour.
Are you comfortable with a DIY baby monitor with ‘a lot of tech’ between parent and nursery station’? In other words: how is this important channel supervised? Or is this supplementing a ‘real’ baby monitor. For that reason, we have a dedicated monitor, and when the green link light is on, I trust all is well. It will turn red and beep when the link with the nursery station is lost. We do have overhead Foscams in the kids’ rooms, but that’s supplementary only.
Any climate checks (temperature/humidity)? (This is built into our dedicated monitor; it will beep when the values are out-of-range; and there’s an ST814 in the nursery to get the same data available in Vera.)
We happen to have the nursery’s air purifier on a Z-Wave switch, controllable from a zone controller. Turn it on, and Vera will switch it off after an hour[/quote]
Thanks for the ideas and potential issues. What do you think of these as potential solutions:
First, we have a small 1500 sq ft 3 bdr house here in San Diego. Unless we’re outside, I’m confident we’ll hear the baby so I’m not as concerned about it failing as folks with larger homes.
I have wired Z-Wave motion/temp sensors in each room that I’ve tried to calibrate them. I also have Z-Wave air vents. HVAC control with PLEG and Air Vents was going to be my HA maternity project. Since you mentioned it, I’m going to start with a temp variance alarm for the baby’s room before I work on the air vent controls.
Ispy can run some commands if the camera gets’ disconnected (call web url on Vera, run app, play sound).
I have two Rabbit Air air filters that I love in my office and in the main stairs. The wife didn’t seem to thrilled with me moving the air filter from my office to the nursery. Now I’m searching for some info on the pros/cons
Hek's right! And you may want to rethink that 120 second timer for when the baby cries
I actually changed the iSpy logic to keep any sound from the monitor muted, unless it crosses a noise threshold (with adjustable sensitivity) for 10 seconds. Once that happens, an audio alert and TV message box fires on Vera ans the Baby Monitor feed umutes...and also pauses the currently playing HTPC program. Gonna skip the camera pop for now since it will be pretty frequent occurrence.
You won't have time for any HA the next 6-12 months
Congrats… I would also recommend a dedicated monitor. 120 second is way too long. You want to know straight away as this is there only form of communication with you. Also, monitor that monitor heart and movement work a treat.
There was another thread a little while back too. We have three under five and the first was cameras etc but for the next two we didn’t as we knew that we’d be in there confirming every time anyway.
Great post. I have my first coming in a few weeks and it has me thinking. i have already planned on the foscam camera. but didn’t know about the breathing monitor. what are you planning on using for the breathing monitor in the crib?
I ended up getting this one. I was a little worried about getting a foreign product but it seemed to be the best equipment. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004D060GG
