The UBL-MMR from Mk1 Studio is a 19 inch rackMount Shelf for your Mac mini server. Automated Home reader Ben McCormack reviews the hardware and shows us more photos of his home automation rack project...
We just spotted this video taken late last year on the Home Depot Smart Home, a live-in research laboratory operated by Duke's Pratt School of Engineering.
There's been lots of interest in the e-Home Automation smart house we featured from from last weeks Gadget Show. We asked e-Home to give us some details of the systems employed in the project and they've kindly submitted a case study of their install. Read on for all the behind the scenes info and photos on this £25,000 system...
Brilliant Living is one of the UKs premier Integrators and we've featured them before on Automated Home (from the SmartHome Shows of 2007 and 2008). Run by husband and wife team - Iain and Melanie Shaw - Brilliant Living has just been featured in Business Link Yorkshire and because of that we get a chance to see around the high end headquarters of their custom installation business, complete with AMX touchscreen setup...
Here's one Automated Home readers account of how he powers various systems around his home from special UPS supplied sockets. This allows him to keep not only his PCs up during power outages, but also his Home Cinema System, TVs, Phones etc...
Here's a set of three videos from Custom Controls showing recent integration projects for smart home lighting and security systems as well as the Spotify streaming music service. Watch the other two videos after the jump...
Using a Crestron touchpanel to select mood lighting scenes as part of a Crestron Greenlight system. Also shows how easy it is to create custom mood lighting scenes and instantly recall at the touch of a button.
Automated Home reader Kevin Warner has been building a comprehensive home automation system based on a HomeSeer backend controlled from touch screens using Cinemars MainLobby system. Check out the photos of his beautiful installation along with his opinions on what works best and his thoughts on future additions...
Earlier this month we had a request from a reader to setup a new forums facility for users to write up their home automation projects so others can benefit from their experience. So the "Projects" forum was born. To start us off there are now projects there from user jaffaon - Temperature Capture plus a two-part post on ripping / storing your DVD collection and then streaming the movies around your home. Join in and post your projects in the new forum...
After our piece on virtual home servers, here's another alternative to saving power, money and the planet whilst still serving your media around the house. The Tranquil BBS2 Barebones Home Media Server is a low power, 5 SATA bay, barebones box. Just choose your OS and apply...
We've noticed through interweb chatter that Clipsal have launched an new Home Controller called "Wiser". As usual we've received no press release or annoucement from Clipsal / Schneider and there appears to be no information available to the UK distributors either, but here's what we've found so far...
The world of HiDef is fab but as someone who has just had the builders in to open the ceiling to run an HDMI cable up to our projector, it can be frustrating too. If you're in a similar position and want a more convenient solution then Marmitek may have the answer with their new GigaVideo800. It sends an uncompressed HD signal wirelessly from up to four connected HD devices to your HDTV or projector...
Need to to know when a vehicle enters your property? Want a solution thats easily retro fitted in your home? Then the $99 Dakota Alert Wireless Rubber Hose Driveway Sensor may be for you...
Homepath Products, designer and producer of the patent pending eXapath in-wall cable conduit system have released a new video demonstrating their system. eXapath allows home owners to keep up with changes in technology buy enabling them to change the cabling inside their walls as well as add new outlets easily...
The Aviosys IP Power 9212 is an inexpensive way to add 8 inputs and 8 outputs to your home automation system that are network addressable either from your LAN or from anywhere in the world via the Internet. Read on for the mini-review...
Here's a great little device that promises a 10 minute plug & play DIY installation to your existing access control system. You can authorise up to 2,000 users and restrict them by day, date and time. The system also holds a log of access details and you can use your own SIM card or buy a low cost plan with the unit. Use it to replace your existing keyfobs or even as a backup to them, it's available now for £195+vat...
With the new 17th Edition Wiring Regulations being implemented, Schneider Electric has unveiled a new section of its website, devoted to explaining the new Regulations and all of the ramifications for electrical contractors, FMs and building engineers...
Fancy automating your curtains / drapes? What about having them close at dusk each day, or perhaps having them open automatically at a certain time each morning. Having the ability to open and close your curtains can be a serious deterrant against break-ins whilst you're away from your property too. Along with a slightly randomised replay of your normal daily lighting routine it gives a house a very convincing lived in look...
We've just added three new readers racks to our Node Zero Gallery. Some nice work here with a combination of AV components (wired for whole house distribution) as well as data and home automation duties. Check out the details after the jump...
Many years ago I discovered the Automated Home site, and within it was the Node Zero gallery. The projects in that gallery inspired me to build my own. The opportunity came up when moving into my current home - an old semi-detached house needing a little work. There was a period of several weeks between owning the house and moving in that meant that I could go crazy with installing cables without anything getting in the way...
Here's a useful little device if you need a phone socket but can't run a cable. It's especially interesting as it's data friendly so you can use it for you PC, the modem in your Sky box, fax machine etc (approx 50m range). The units use an upgrade of the DECT standard which increases its data rate from 9 Kbit/s to 56 Kbit/s to fully support V90 modems. The transmitter receiver pair is £50 and additional receivers are available at £25...
London based company, En-Twyn recently showed this prototype at the CeBit show. Kind of a HomePlug Ethernet unit, built into a regular power outlet faceplate, it's an interesting idea that would particularly appeal to anyone wanting to retro-fit lots of Ethernet in their home...
We’ve had our Sonos setup for nearly three years now and it continues to be a joy to own and use. Our original setup of 2 x ZP100s (the zone players with built in amplifiers) was recently added to with a third un-amp’d ZP80. The new ZonePlayer was swapped for the ZP100 in the AV room where amplification was not required as it was already plugged into our home cinema system. So the plan was to utilise the now spare ZP100 as a zone in the en-suite bathroom off our main bedroom...
Why automate your lights? Well, to be honest, most of my house is automated, so it seemed the obvious thing to do. There are lots of benefits in automating parts of your house, lighting in particular just makes life easier, lights coming on when you walk into a room is better than switching them on yourself! ....and because they turn themselves on, they turn themselves off too, so you can't forget...
This morning I was primed to settle down to a normal day's work when Chaos on the UK Home Automation IRC Channel mentioned something about "B&Qs HomeEasy automation stuff", and that pretty much put paid to the rest of the morning. We turfed up the website but there was precious little information on there besides the usual marketing guff. So, time for an in-depth review for Automated Home. Is this the successor to X10 I've been looking for? Read on to find out and check out the rest of the photos and the video...
Schneider Electric has announced its 2008 training dates for Clipsal C Bus. Courses will be held in Glasgow, Leeds, Telford, Chippenham and Coventry with a new location of Potters Bar added to the list for 2008 Two new courses are also now available designed for Installers and designers wishing to further their knowledge of the Clipsal C Bus offering...
I love the idea of Sonos but for me the price is prohibitive. Being almost entirely a Mac household I've used an airport express for a few months now and with the release of the Ipod touch and the discovery of Remote Buddy seeds of a solution were planted. Read on to find out how I put these items together to create my own budget priced whole house audio solution...
Here's a $19 USB dongle with a difference. This USB device is a therometer which lets you measure the temperature and record the data on your PC (windows Vista & XP)...
We reported back in August on the new home automation range of products launching in B&Q stores. Now the website for these products has just gone live. The large range of RF modules is split into four catagories, On/Off, Timmer & Dimmer, Outdoor and Ultimate...
We reported on the AlertMe home monitoring system last month and although its not due for release until 2008 we've just spotted Michael Dales's blog entry with his unboxing and installation of an early unit. Check out the photos after the jump...
Martyn Henderson has just published his review of the new Domia Bye Bye Standby Online unit. This little £50 box connects your home to the Internet, allowing you to control your lights and devices from anywere with web access...
Sometimes you have a CAT5 cable in place but no power connector nearby. Perhaps you want to move your wireless access point into the loft for example. With these inexpensive passive Power over Ethernet (PoE) connectors it's a easy job, check out the video after the jump...
We reported back in July that RFXCOM were working on a new Ethernet device. This morning we can report it has been released, along with a new "Pulse" module which can be used to monitor utility usage by interfacing to Electricity and Gas meters for example...
An article in the New Scientist offers an innovative alternative to an on-going problem for home automations systems - occupancy detection.Reliably sensing if a room is occupied, or trying to locate which room a particular person is in, is invaluable information for a Smart Home system. While this new approach is interesting, we don't think it’s quite accurate enough to be the answer...
Today Simplehomenet announced the availability of the EZLQD, wireless liquid detector. This marks Simplehomenet’s second product release in under 30 days. The availability of the EZLQD further drives the EZSnsRF, a long range wireless receiver...
Is this the next generation of Sky multichannel recorder / server? A post on our mailing list this morning suggest just that, and if true, its going to be an extremely juicy box! Here's the rumor from our mailing list...
"I've just been talking to a Sky subby and he said that next year (possible January) Sky will be launching a HD server. 4 LNB inputs, (with) 4 cat5 outputs, 1Tb storage and the facility to record up to 8 channels at once. Server will distribute TV round the house to cat5/HDMI boxes"...
Wow, if ever you wanted to tease yourself with some smart home porn, then check out Electronic House magazine's 2007 Best Homes of the Year! Make sure you see all the photos by hitting the View Slideshow button for each property..
We're huge fans of xBox Media Center here at Automated Home, and with 2nd hand boxes available for around £40 theses days it really is the media player bargain of the century. One little problem is the lack of an IR controlled On/Off facility for the system, but now UK Home Automation mailing list old timer, and serial moder Quinten Uijldert has blogged his installation of the XIR Easy Kit which fixes this issue...
I've often joked with friends about motorised gun turrets in my Home Automation setup, but Vaughn Rupp has actually done it! A combination of a CCTV PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) mount, a miniature CCTV camera to look along the barrel, all married to a Web interface allows Vaughn to connect to his home remotely and "discourage" unwanted visitors. This seems to be the Mk1 version with the promise of "bigger guns" to come in the next one. Watch the video...
Here's an interesting product if you are considering installing a CCTV system in your home. The new Vi1204VPD from Vigitron allows the video signal, Pan Tilt Zoom data and power all to be sent along a single CAT5 cable...
"Vi1204VPD is a passive transeceiver device that combines video, PTZ data, and camera power over a single 4-pair UTP cable to simplify CCTV instalations in a structured wiring environment. It supports up to 4 cameras for up to 750 feet and is designed to be installed in the control room...
In this age of minimalism and clutter free living, it's very much the fashion to have all your AV gear hidden out of sight in your media room, or even removed complete to your Node Zero. Electronic House have a nice article on controlling your system remotely using Niles IR / RF equipment...
Carlton Bale has an interesting blog post on his investigations into choosing an Advanced Thermostat for his home. Well worth a read of you are considering automating your heating/ventilation system...
"Let's face it, the thermostat that is installed by default in most dwellings is pretty basic. If you have a digital display that's the "upgraded" version; and all it does is replicate the functionality of the old rudimentary mercury switch / rotary knob designs. An advanced thermostat with scheduling features can save quite a bit on your energy bill, but can also be an interesting gadget to occupy your time. Since my energy company is offering a rebate for anyone who upgrades to a scheduling thermostat, I decided to pull the trigger...
"EnOcean is a revolutionary wireless & batteryless sensing system that is establishing itself as the standard for wireless automation in commercial buildings. But the technology is equally suitable for residential use. In fact EnOcean products are already in use in UK homes where manufactures such Aqualisa use it to activate its Digital showering system from up to 30m away...
After his Mrs left, Tony Alleyne started work on turning his appartment into this Star Trek homage. 24th Century Smart Home technology in the present day? Make it so number one...
"Nearly three years ago, Alleyne began work on the "Star Trek: Voyager" re-fit of the apartment. "I decided that I would apply a harder luxury interior," he says. "I have always considered that of all the Starfleet ships, Voyager is, in terms of interior, the luxury liner of the galaxy." Alleyne then added shades of grey and incorporated aluminum inlays as featured in and around the Voyager ship. "I also added some pretty cool LCARS [Library Computer Access and Retrieval System] and some new lighting effects"...
Here's a neat little £30 starter package that's a good introductory taster of home automation...
"Simple to use, easy to install and totally affordable, Domia Lite is a completely wireless remote home control system which for many people represents the first step towards a smart home. The new range of Domia Lite products has been designed to give convenient control of lighting and other electrical appliances within the home by simply the touch of a button. This RF based wire-free system passes through walls and windows, giving you control of lights and appliances from as far as 30 metres away...
Following requests from customers currently using the original Bathroom Switch, Sensorbility has developed the Bathroom Dimmer Switch controller. The variations of the new controller include ramp-up dimming, ramp-down switch-off, time delay switch-off and a unique nursery switch-off...
Domia is releasing a new range of energy saving products. Designed to help reduce carbon emissions by switching off appliances that used electricity even when in stand-by mode, the "Bye bye Standby" range will be available from the end of next month (February 2007)...
"Bye Bye Standby is a brand new energy saving solution designed to reduce daily energy consumption of electrical devices. Bye Bye Standby works by completely cutting power to the devices plugged into it when they're not in use, thus saving the power that devices would otherwise have consumed in Standby Mode. Bye Bye Standby is a new way to save energy, carbon emissions and money...
Smart home company UK Automation have announced their intentions to support and market energy saving products with their release of the OneClick intelligent power supply range. Automated Home readers can receive 10% off the IntelliPlug(tm) and Intelligent Mains Panel by using the coupon code AUTHOME2 at CHECKOUT time...
Submission By: Marcus Warrington - Like almost all the currently available UK X10 modules, the LD11 does NOT support status response. This coupled with the fact that X10 commands can sometimes "go astray" and seemingly disappear into the electrical ether before reaching the chosen device, means that the tracking of the current status of a device is very error prone...
Another new interesting little Home Automation video recently posted to YouTube. This one covers Zigbee Wireless, Control 4 and some interesting bed sheets with built in controls for your MP3 player...
