Vodden's HA Poject-From Start to Finish

Community Playground General Discussions
1

I’ve been following S-F closely on his build and sharing in his triumph’s and folly’s, and really like the concept of the personal built threads.

I have started my own for a few reasons:

  1. I am essentially right at the start of my build. I have only got one Z-wave device configured, and I have bench tested my DSC alarm panel, so that’s all I have. Virtually square one.

  2. I want to follow other members on their build, a bit of a vicarious adventure, and be able to help them or learn from their situation specifically.

  3. Hope to create a ‘Personal Build’ category in the forums, especially if enough follow suit and create their own thread. I think this would be a great addition.

Thus it begins. Where I started, where I am, and where I am going.

2

The Beginning

I looked into home automation years ago when I couldn’t really afford it, and wasn’t really impressed with or convinced that the HA solutions readily available on the market were sufficient. I let it die for 7 or 8 years and didn’t really think much about it until a few months ago, when I purchased a Kwikset 912 lockset for my front door without the z-wave chip. As I was looking thru the instructions, I saw the ‘Home Connect ready’ shield and Google’d it. That’s how I discovered z-wave.

After wasting the better part of a few days researching Z-wave and what products/controllers etc. were available, it became clear to me that Vera stood out, not because it was a rock solid platform with no problems, but because there were so many ppl here in forums that were contributing to the best self-directed HA experience possible thru tips, experience, apps, etc…

I have extensive renovations planned for the house later this year, and convinced the missus that we should make this part of the reno’s. It took a little pursuading, but I managed to get her on board. Totally unintentionally, I came up with a cost for the system, presented it, got her to agree, then continued to research and realized that with a few tweaks to my build, I could drastically reduce the cost with different components, or look at it like I did, and add components for the same cost!

I quickly discovered that research=$ saved. I would confidently say that the time spent looking thru these forums increased the scope of my project drastically thru the money saved researching the aspects I had planned. Thanks everyone!

3

The Build

I had a few things in mind for what I wanted to achieve with my build.

  1. Enhanced Security:

If my missus was reading this she would laugh because we live out in the sticks and have been here for 12 years. In those 12 years I just began locking my house and vehicle, only because she has asked me to. It’s a pretty safe place to be. We both work a reasonable distance from home, and if someone decided to rob us, we would have been a very easy target. It was her idea to get the new lock, so really this is all her fault. :wink:

The scope of the enhanced security was to make it effortless, auto locking and unlocking, notifications, etc… When you aren’t used to locking up when you leave, chances are once and a while you forget. I wanted to be able to eliminate that possibility thru ‘engineering controls’ as we would call it at work. Easily achievable.

This grew a bit after researching driveway sensors, and quickly realized that a security system would be able to achieve the driveway sensor, along with motion, smoke, CO, and door sensors, much more cost effectively than if we decided to do it via z-wave, or with other standalone technologies that would require some sort of z-wave/security system interface to work with the system.

This grew into auto locking our vehicles, which I will be able to achieve thru the arduino project, another aspect I know absolutely nothing about but have high hopes for :slight_smile:

The current scope does not include video surveillance, but it is a planned feature. I am installing everything required during the reno’s so when we decide to pull the trigger on this, it will be easy to do. I plan on going the IP route as another aspect of the renovations will be running cat6 to every possible corner of the house.

  1. Energy Savings

I am the worst person on earth for leaving lights on and I am reminded of it daily. I’m sure that per annum I add hundreds to the power bill due to my flakiness. The goal was to reduce this to as low as possible. I also have a 5 year old at home who is the same way I am, so coming up with a way to minimize empty rooms with all the lights on was a strong focus.

I decided that coupling z-wave lighting controls with alarm panel motions and door sensors would be the most effective way of achieving this, and was also a contributing factor to purchasing the alarm.

Dimmers for lights are also a component, but I have an abundance of 12V DC lights which are not dimmable. Or so I thought. Thanks to this forum, and arduino, this is now possible and controllable via Vera. Thanks @rosskinard

HVAC control is also part of the scope, but I have not yet decided on a thermostat to do all the dirty work.

  1. Comfort and Convenience

This is the fun stuff. Scenes that understand your behavior. TRUE AUTOMATION. This is where the logic end of the build is critical, and the computer programming and program logic types really shine and use the system to the fullest potential. I have very limited experience in this field, but know that there is tons of support here to make that all happen. I have not yet installed PLEG, trying to convince myself that I can tackle luup on my own, but I think I may be kidding myself.

I have began itemizing what scenes I would like to create for my system, and quickly realized that I am going to have my work cut out for me. Over 2 hours in one evening I identified over 30 scenes, and was nowhere near being complete.

  1. A/V Control

I don’t spend a lot of time in front of the TV, but the missus does, as does my son. I had to include this into the mix as well, and thus far is the aspect of the build I have done the least research on. I do have the Sharp plug-in working to turn the TV on and off, but that is as far as I have gotten. I need to control the satellite TV and the home stereo and know there are a few viable options, but I have not yet chosen one.

There has been some discussion about installing Sonos in the house as well, and this will affect the choices I make with controls. Keep you posted.

  1. Central dashboard

Somewhere accessible to control everything. Settled on a Droid 7" Tablet mounted between the kitchen and the main entrance running Authomation HD. Cheap and effective.

  1. Voice control

A nice Star Trek inspired touch. I like this idea but my missus thinks its corny ;D

So there you have it. The general scope of the project. Next post…The Components

4

Look Down

5

Date of Last Edit: January 6, 2015
-added Ethernet network components
-added Vera and Control Tablet apps
-added/changed doorbell modules

Date of Last Edit: November 17, 2014
-added electrical components
-added HVAC control devices
-added A/V device

June 4, 2014
-changed driveway sensor

The Components

This is the post that is most likely to get edited. One thing I have discovered is that HA is a bit of a moving target. I have revised my build sheet quite a few times, and it doesn’t look much like it did when I started. I will itemize everything I currently have, have on order, or plan to have in this post. I will also put “Date of Last Edit” at the top so everyone can follow what I have changed, strike off what I removed, and italicize what I have added.

  1. Controllers

-Vera 3 running firmware 1.5.622

For those of you getting in to this today, you will be ‘forced’ to install UI6 UI7, which is not fully supported. My advice is to download and install UI5 until all the apps work correctly, and you will have full forum support, which, frankly, is much better than Vera support from what I have heard.

This is how to do it: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,23161.msg162836.html#msg162836

-Arduino USB Gateway

This is the gateway for all my Arduino controlled devices, which are mostly 12V dimmers. This is a very cost effective way of approaching HA, but you need to be handy. I recently purchased enough boards and components for at least 10 sensors, for under $100. I will most certainly spend DAYS building these components and making them functional.

@rosskinard designed and manufactured PCB’s specifically for this application and they are available here:

http://oshpark.com/shared_projects/qPdmZWG3

They are surprisingly affordable, and it sounds like he will be adding more designs soon, after more testing is complete. I was lucky enough to get a prototype gateway board that worked right of the get go.

Any info you require for any aspect of this device (building, connecting, programming, purchasing parts, etc.) can be found at www.mysensors.org.

@hek, a member and moderator of the Arduino forum, built that website and if you do decide to go that route, purchase thru the website to support his efforts. @blacey is also associated with that website and an excellent Arduino resource.

  1. Door locks

I have one installed Kwikset 912 with a purchased ‘aftermarket’ z-wave card. I also have 2 Kwikset 910 deadbolts with the factory cards that I have not yet installed.

I plan to use Arduino transmitters/receivers to support HA vehicle door locking and unlocking. This may be a challenge…

  1. Security System

-Panel

DSC 1864 64-zone main board with the following expansion modules:
1 - RFK5500 v1.3 Keypad
1 - EVL-3 Ethernet communications module
3 - DC5108 zone expanders
2 - PRM-4W polarity reversal modules for interlocked smoke and CO detectors
1 - PC5104 supervised power module
2 - Elk relays for CO and smoke interlock activation
4 - 8 terminal expansion bus for clean wiring
3 - 7.5Ah emergency back up batteries

I installed these in a Channel Vision structured wiring enclosure so all the modules, power supplies, and battery back-up can fit in one enclosure. DSC enclosures are very small and I would have required 3 enclosures for all these modules.

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,23772.msg170742.html#msg170698

-Sensors

10 - Flair VIP94-2TN recessed door sensors
12 - DSC LC-100-PI motion sensors
3 - DSC FSA-410AST 4-wire smoke detectors (in the US these would be FSA-410BST)
3 - GE 260-CO 4-wire CO detectors
2 - off the shelf doorbells wired to 2 Dakota Alert UT-2500 so they could wire into the driveway sensor chime and use the relay outputs to notify the alarm panel
1 - Resolution Dakota Alert DCPT-2500 wireless driveway sensor

All zones are wired with the exception of the driveway sensor.
I switched out the Resolution driveway sensor in the original design mainly due to range issues. I couldn’t get a firm answer on how far I could place the device from the house, but I did find in some DSC literature that the wireless sensors have an approximate range of 400ft line of sight. I required much more than that, and the Dakota Alert advertises a 1/2 mile range. I have this in place 650ft from the house and there are no communication issues. The receiver (DCR-2500) has relay outputs that will hard-wire to a DSC zone when the device is activated.

There is plenty of support for the DSC plug in here on the forums

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/board,44.0.html

For general install issues, this URL is also very helpful

  1. Lighting Control

I decided to go with Linear for all of my in-wall 120V lighting controls. I don’t have a final tally on how many of each device I will have but I am using the following:

WT00Z-1 accessory switch. This is for n-way applications but is also a scene controller that supports direct associations.
WD500Z-1 dimmer.
WS15Z-1 switch.

I am also using Aeon Labs Start Energy G2 micro-switch (3) and micro-dimmers (8 ) for a few many applications. These will be controlled directly with the WT00Z-1

I needed to order one Cooper Aspire RF9500 battery powered wall switch for one application

@haworld was very helpful helping determine the specific capabilities of these devices, and took a lot of his personal time to test this hardware in configurations I was planning just to help me out. He just happens to have an online store that sells the Linear and Aeon labs line.

For 12V dimming applications, I chose to go the arduino route, as I have not found any other method of doing so. It is worth noting that this is specifically for dimming LED’s, so I have replaced all my halogen MR16 lights with LEDs to support this, and to realize the drastic cost savings from switching from a 40W to 6W bulb. There is a thread here that guides you thru that process as well, and again, @rosskinard has built custom PSB’s for this application. They are actually for a RGBW configuration, but will also work for single color applications. They have not yet been shared as I believe he is still working out a few bugs. @blacey has also posted prototypes of his PCB’s but have not yet been released to the wild.

LED dimming thread:

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,23342.0.html

I don’t want to use multi-scene/zone in wall controllers because that lends to the notion that I am trying to achieve home ‘remote control’, not home automation. Besides, they are damn expensive! In addition to that, all scenes and zones will be accessible via the control center, if necessary.

I also have ceiling fans that are currently remote controlled and initially planned on rewiring them to a Leviton fan control switch. I may be able to use arduino to radio control them but they use a weird frequency and I am having issues finding the right transmitter and receiver. This will be a much less expensive route.

  1. HVAC Control

Radio Thermostat CT-30

  1. Voice control

I forgot to include this in The Build but I have edited it to include this.

This is also a lower priority item, but again, the house will be wired for mic’s during renovations in strategic locations to support it. This is the hardware I will need to support it, along with my PC running VoxCommando

8 - Bayerdynamic Boundary mic’s
1- Polycom Vortex EF2280 8 channel Matrix Mic Mixer

  1. A/V Control

This is a big grey area as we are still deciding how we are going to approach whole home audio, Sonos, etc. This will become more clear as the build progresses, and currently only includes the Sharp TV IP control.

This is beginning to take shape. In addition to the Sharp TV control, I have purchased an Android MX III box for the bedroom. This will be running XBMC, Netflix, Airplay, AuthomationHD, etc.

  1. Control Center

7" POE Powered Android 4.0 Wall mount tablet

  1. Apps

This list is going to grow, as I really don’t know what I will require in the future

iPhone
Home Wave iPhone app (had it right from the start, just forgot to include it)

Tablet
Authomation HD
DSC Keypad
IP Webcam
Sonos

Vera
DSC Alarm Plug-in
iPhone locator
Sharp TV IP Control
PLEG, PLC, PLTS
MySensors
Multi-switch
Day or Night
WakeUp Ramp
XBMC State

  1. Ethernet Network

Linksys SGE2000P 24 Port Gigabit POE Switch
Tripp Lite SmartRack Wall mount Rack Enclosure Server Cabinet - 9U
Monoprice 24-Port Cat6 Patch Panel

As I mentioned earlier, this post will evolve to include EVERYTHING I am using for my build, so keep an eye on it!

6

@S-F

Agreed

Just for you, I have included a picture of the one z-wave device I actually have installed, and the pile of parts on my basement floor that I mention in my signature bar.

My dog is not z-wave controlled.

7

Current Status

I currently have only one z-wave device installed, namely the Kwikset 912. I do have the 2 Kwikset 910’s in my possession, but I need to change out one door before one of them gets installed, so I am going to wait until I can install them both at the same time.

I have the iPhone locator installed and working properly, but because I don’t have much else to control with it, I have it muted.

I also have the Sharp TV IP Control app installed, and it works. This will be used as part of a scene in the future.

I have bench tested my DSC alarm with my Vera via the EVL-3, set up all the sensors on the dashboard, and checked to be sure that everything is playing nice together. The biggest challenge was programming the panel, making it talk with Vera was relatively easy. I have most of the sensors, but a few have yet to be ordered. I have at least one of everything, allowing me to bench test completely.

I currently have en-route a whole lot of stuff:

9-Linear Relays/Dimmers/Accessory switches from HA World, most of which will be installed as soon as they arrive.

A 3 page list of Arduino parts, from soup to nuts. Boards, LED’s, Resistors, MOSFETs, Radios of various frequencies, project boxes, PCB’s… All from China, so they will take a while to get here. Ordered thru mysensors.org

The remainder of the DSC parts. Managed to get a great deal on the motions from China, so those will be a while too.

I included a screen capture of my devices page showing the iPhone locator and the TV control. All of the DSC sensors are present so I could be sure my panel programming was correct and communicating correctly with the Vera.

8

You may also want to have a look at the iViri iPhone app.

For a small price includes geofencing and voice control.

9

[quote=“Brientim, post:8, topic:180819”]You may also want to have a look at the iViri iPhone app.

For a small price includes geofencing and voice control.[/quote]

I have heard good things but not yet checked into it thoroughly. It’s definitely on my to-do list

Thanks @Brientim

10

[quote=“Vodden, post:9, topic:180819”][quote=“Brientim, post:8, topic:180819”]You may also want to have a look at the iViri iPhone app.

For a small price includes geofencing and voice control.[/quote]

I have heard good things but not yet checked into it thoroughly. It’s definitely on my to-do list

Thanks @Brientim[/quote]

Well, I did some research on this app, and there is a very good possibility that it will not work for me. Due to my remote location, topography, etc., most of my ‘stomping grounds’ are only visible from 2 towers, and in some cases (the facility where I work, for instance), we are only serviced and visible by 1 tower, rendering triangular location services useless. My previous cell phone did not have GPS but did support tower triangulation, and while at home it was sometimes only accurate to 6000m! According to my old phone, I spent a lot of time in the river. 6km away. Always in the same spot too. It must have been nice there.

It looks like I am going to have to continue to rely on the iPhone locator and use PLEG and logical arguments to reduce the amount of battery drain I experience. It is unbelievably accurate, within mere meters of my location. As far as the voice control aspect, I don’t really feel that using my phone as a voice controller will be used much, as I plan on only needing voice control to activate the odd scene while at home, like watching a movie, and I will have plenty of mic’s picking up my commands around the house.

11

Yep. Location based automation, much like speech recognition, is a fantastic idea but still in its infancy and riddled with serious problems.

12

I am discovering that there is always some sort of downside to location based services for me specifically. Triangulation does not work for my scenario at all. GPS is unbelievably accurate, but if not configured properly, (and I am far from a programming logic genius) can be a drain on my phone’s battery. In due time, I think I will get the wrinkles ironed out, but it will be a bit of a journey. I am very optimistic that this can be an integral part of my HA setup.

I have seen a few clips of speech recognition with Vox Commando and it seems to work well. It is also very affordable, but as I mentioned, it is one of the last things I will be focusing on. I want to get the foundation of the HA system established first before I get the ‘corny’ bits working.

13

Since I’m waiting on a bunch of parts to show up and things are kind of at a standstill, I decided it would probably be a good idea to research programming my controller. I’m not really concerned with the installation end of things, I’m very comfortable with swapping parts and building stuff, been doing it for years. But, I cheated my way through grade 12 Computer Programming back in the 90’s, so I’m a little concerned that I may fall flat on my face when it comes to the ‘magical’ aspect of HA.

So, I downloaded @RexBeckett’s guides for PLEG and PLTS and did a little reading with the intention of trying to create a scene or 2 on the Vera.

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,21603.0.html
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,21997.0.html

I also took a look at @RexBeckett’s guide to lua and Conditional Scene Execution.

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,18679.0.html

Frankly, it didn’t help much. So, as usual, I spent some money to make myself feel better. :slight_smile: Not a lot, just enough to buy a PLEG license. It’s a bit tough trying to script scenes, even if you have them all written down, when you don’t have all of your devices yet, but I would like to get a start.

Of course, the license is no good without the plug-ins, so I downloaded PLC, PLEG, and PLTS. I also downloaded the Multi-switch and Virtual Switch, as they are mentioned as a necessity in a lot of posts.

Multi-switch thread:

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,14453.0.html

I was going to download a few others, like the Variable Container and the Smart Switch, (a ‘must’ if I plan on putting all the lighting on motion sensor) but I figure there is no point plugging up the memory on my device when I don’t even know how to use half these things. I guess I will do a little more reading and start scripting a few basic scenes and see how it goes.

I’m guessing badly. :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

14

Join the club. :slight_smile: So far you seem to be following a sensible approach: build slowly and experiment to see what works.

15

Makes me feel a little better that a programmer sympathizes with me :slight_smile:

Love your app btw. More important the missus loves it. I set my alarm up in there and tested it during my bench test, and it works great. I got it all set up on my phone and loaded onto hers via Dropbox. Easy peasy. Unlocking the front door with my phone is also a big hit with my 5 yr old son.

Guess I need to add it to the apps list, forgot all about it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

16

I got a little bit of good news today. After exhaustively combing the internet for 303.875 MHz transmitters and receivers, I only managed to come up with one source, a Taiwanese manufacturer that doesn’t seem to have any distributors anywhere except Brazil and Argentina. I checked with the websites from those countries and they are not in any way web-based stores, and I don’t speak Spanish so figured trying to contact them was pointless. I decided I would email the manufacturer and see if I could buy a few individual units, but suspected that I would only be able to buy wholesale quantities. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they will sell to end users and there is no minimum quantity. :slight_smile: They cost me $10.

This is a bit of an obscure frequency, but Hampton Bay (and everyone else too it seems) uses it for their remote control ceiling fan units. Since I was taking the Arduino route with other sensors and modules, I figured I would try to control fans via Arduino instead of using a Leviton fan controller. There are a few downsides to the Leviton, namely the fact that it can ‘barely’ handle the load from 2 fans, and my living room will soon have 2 fans I would like on the same circuit. It also won’t match the other switches it will be in the same bank with, making things look weird. I’m not a big fan of the Leviton line, so I’m more than happy using a simple on/off z-wave switch that costs half as much. It will also require me to remove the remote control device and re-wire my fans, which I am fully capable of, but if I don’t have to do it, I don’t want to.

Now, there is no guarantee that the Arduino approach is going to work, but I’m willing to roll the dice. If it doesn’t, I’m out $10. There are a few tutorials online I have watched demonstrating how to do this and include links to the Arduino sketches that were used, albeit with a different frequency of transmitter and receiver, but again, I will take my chances. It will require me to ‘sniff’ the controller commands with a receiver and program the Ardiuno to mimic those commands. How hard can that be?

For those of you that don’t know, any RF device sold in the US requires FCC approval and carries an FCC ID. If you want to know which frequency that device operates on, go to FCC ID Search | Federal Communications Commission or simply Google FCC ID. There you can enter the FCC ID and it will tell you which frequency it uses. I found that Ford uses 315 MHz for those of you that want to use Arduino to start your Focus, and Hampton Bay uses 303.875 MHz. 433 MHz is also widely used for tons of different things from blind controls to weather stations. Most wireless security panel sensors use this frequency as well.

17

@Vodden - Do you have information on the protocol that the fans use? A transmitter on the right frequency is a start, but it definitely won’t make your fan work by itself. Do you have the capability to decode the fan’s RF protocol or perhaps an Arduino library that supports the fan?

What can make your fan work is to take the fan’s hand held remote control apart and connect its button contacts to relays that you can control via Vera. Arduino and a multi-relay board will be relatively cost effective for this, versus Z-Wave relays.

18

What a great read, thank you for going to all of the effort to document your progress. I am also waiting for a ton of stuff from china. Funny how some of it arrives quickly and the one thing that you really need to get started is still in transit. The high water mark for me so far has been to integrate pleg into my programming. I struggle with the logic, but as you also mention if I browse the forums enough there are enough examples to get me where I need to be.

I don’t have much to offer you yet because you really seem to be on a good track and have the mechanical capability to deploy the hardware. I will be watching from now on and share any opinions that might come up. Thank you for the links, I will be checking them next.

19

[quote=“Z-Waver, post:17, topic:180819”]@Vodden - Do you have information on the protocol that the fans use? A transmitter on the right frequency is a start, but it definitely won’t make your fan work by itself. Do you have the capability to decode the fan’s RF protocol or perhaps an Arduino library that supports the fan?

What can make your fan work is to take the fan’s hand held remote control apart and connect its button contacts to relays that you can control via Vera. Arduino and a multi-relay board will be relatively cost effective for this, versus Z-Wave relays.[/quote]

Plus, if you are able to actually lift the codes, these fans don’t send acknowledgements back to the rf transmitter. So, you will likely suffer from vera being out of sync with the fan. Not a big problem but a bugaboo you’ll have to deal with.

For example, if vera turned it off and then someone manually set it to low. But you automate it to go high when the temp inside gets above 75F. Vera will only see its last sent state and the fan will go to high.

I like the arduino approach ZWaver pointed you too also, but it means carving up your controller, or buying another.

Have you not been able to get the RF codes from the internet or from the manufacturer?

20

I Googled ‘Hampton Bay RF codes’ and came up with this:

EDIT: Also found this, which may be more helpful than the above link:

http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/hampton_bay/UC7078T

If that doesn’t work the search pulled up a bunch more links, but I have also found a few interesting ways of ‘sniffing’ it out. I don’t understand enough about this topic to know if either method is going to work, but it is a start and I think it would be an interesting work-through as both take vastly different approaches.

One method is a link posted on www.mysesnors.org for RF controlled blinds, and the other one I discovered while searching in YouTube and was used to decode an automobile key fob. My YouTube search brought up other examples, but the one listed below included a sketch which I have no experience writing, so it put me that much further ahead. Both are for 433MHz devices, but I would venture to guess that the process is the same with 303.875MHz. Both links use different processes and different sketches.

The blinds:

PDF:

Sketch for Vera Integration:
http://forum.mysensors.org/uploads/upload-17ce92e3-5586-4d27-bf1b-436e4cd63909.ino

The keyfob:

The sketch:

I also creeped around the Arduino forum and I don’t believe there is a library that supports the fans, but I’m thinking that once I get all the components, the blind sketch above could be modified to make it work. I would definitely need assistance with that :-\

I should be able to address this issue by using an Aeon Labs smart switch. (I think) The smart switch should be able to tell me if power is being consumed on the fan circuit, thus telling me if the fans are on. It may also tell me if only one fan or the other is on, or if they are out of sync by ‘scaling’ the readings for every combination of settings but I really don’t think I would have to take it that far. The remote has a different button for every command (low, med, high, off), so one could double click each command to ensure they respond. I think I can manage this issue one way or another. :slight_smile:

I feel your pain. I’m getting it, slowly. :stuck_out_tongue: