SmartHomeUSA.com Home Automation

[aameradam]

I recently moved into a new home and for the past couple of months, home automation has really sparked my interest. However, with so many technologies and choices available, I'm confused and am hoping this community of home automation enthusiasts can help me.

First off, here are my goals and questions with my Home Automation project. Let me know if I'm expecting too much. Based on these goals, I'm looking for advice on what to buy, I do not want to spend a ton of money only to find out that stuff is not compatible.

Software- The two choices that I see out there are HAL2000 and Homeseer? Which is better? It seems with Homeseer, you have to pay for different plugins on top of the cost of the base software. With HAL2000, you don't? Can someone offer their insight as to which is the better and more cost-effective solution?

Technology
I know I have four choices here; X10, Insteon, Z-Wave and UPB. I know X10 is a problematic technology with signal jamming problems etc (correct?) so which of the others is a good choice? What technology is compatible with that software? (HAL or Homeseer)

- Lighting control - I want this to be motion sensor based i.e motion senser fires an event to my software, and I use the software to turn on/off/dim the lights. I would like to have on/off as well as dimming control via whatever software solution I choose to go with. I have six rooms where I want to do this. What do I need for this?

- IR Control
I want to control my home theater devices via the software as well. I do not want to run wires all over the house to transmit the IR signals. Can I do this wirelessly? What would I need to buy?

- RF Control
I have some devices which are controlled by RF remotes (garage door opener, projector screen etc). Is is possible to automate these with the software as well? How?

- Control by phone / Speech recognition
I know both HAL2000 and Homeseer support this. How accruate is the speech recognition over the phone?

- Wireless speakers?
I know both HAL2000 and Homeseer use TTS to speak. Are there wireless speakers available in the market which I can use to transmit this sound from my computer to all over the house?

I know that's a lot of questions, but I will appreciate any help/guidance from the community.

Thanks.


Any help/guidance is appreciated.

[Ralph]

It's difficult to answer this type of question in a flat format like a text based forum, but I will do my best. The first thing I tell anyone asking these questions is that most of the answers you are looking for are based on personal preferences over actual technical differences. With that said, let's jump on some of your questions.

Software:
I would say Homeseer, with the vast amount of products they support, and their domination in the field it would be tough to even name a competitor who measures up. They are completely unmatched in their ability to expand their system to meet new and changing product lines in the home automation field.

Technology:
All of the technologies have their individual merits and faults, and each one fits into different personal choices. My personal choice is UPB. The signal strength is much higher then X10 (6v vs 60v) and the available addresses are much larger (256 vs 64,000) which means less interference from external users or noise (by less I mean astronomically low percentages). X10 is less expensive but does have noise limitations. Z-Wave is a harder to program technology and lacks the huge flexibility of UPB. Insteon is a proprietary technology manufactured by only one company, if anything goes wrong with that product manufacturer, there is no chance of finding replacements devices. The other three technologies are all part of an alliance of manufacturers licensing a technology

Lighting Control:
The description you are giving seems to indicate a crossover with a security system, I would recommend at this point looking at the ELK system as opposed to a software based solution. ELK is a top notch home security panel with an easy to code home automation interface built in. Your security devices now directly interface with your HVAC and Lighting as well as anything else you would like to connect to the panel. Relays are available to open and close garage doors, Internet Access will send email alerts as well as allow remote access and programming of your panel over a password protected connection.

IR Control:
Wireless IR Control is definitely possible. Using the Spitfire and the PEX01 wireless IR distribution you can add output devices at each location that IR is needed. I do highly recommend a wired solution which can be run as part of a structured wiring panel and use quickport connectors to clean up the outputs in the rooms needing IR.

RF Control:
Your garage doors can be controlled if the devices spit out an ASCII string or have a contact closure.

Control by Phone/Speech:
Both Hal and Homeseer have speech recognition, the phone style interface is actually better in my mind since microphones are not required (which can be costly and difficult to run).

Wireless Speakers:
None that I would consider worth using.