best system to go for given the brief

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  • VenturaCottage
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Nov 2009
    • 2

    best system to go for given the brief

    We support Individuals and small businesses in setting up and running their computers. We have had a few clients as about Home automation and controlling via their PCs (or Macs). Typically the brief is.

    To be controllable via Ipod touch (wifi enabled house)

    to be expandable

    avoid proprietary systems unless good reason not to (x10 is mentioned a lot, also BBSB domia lite Harmony ?)

    as well as on/off dim-able also programmable e.g. socket off at 23.30 > on at 6.30am

    I think the best way forward is for us to buy a small system and just try it out then we can answer with confidence what the pros and cons are

    What would be your suggestion as to the best system to go for given the brief above

    Regards and thanks

    Joe
  • toscal
    Moderator
    • Oct 2005
    • 2061

    #2
    Any system will fit your very brief brief.
    X10 as a system is cheap and offers a good introduction into Home automation. It does have its idiosyncrasies. But a well installed system should be trouble free.
    The home automation system you end up with will quite often be dictated by price first then what it can do for the money. Its no use trying to sell a system that costs 25000 pounds or more when the client can only afford 500 pounds.
    X10 would fit into the 500 pound bracket. But it can also get quite expensive.
    Then there are the build quality issues with some of the modules. This is why we deal mainly with Xanura and the newer X10-2 modules they are much more reliable. In one house after a particularly nasty electrical storm we had to replace all the AD10 modules. None of the Xanura modules needed to be replaced.
    Software is either the bundled Active home and active home pro that comes with either the CM11/12 or the CM15
    Other software is Homeseer this will work with other HA systems to. www.homeseer.com
    An all in one solution is the Homevision system www.csi3.com this is similar in functionality to homeseer but can run without the pc connected. as the PC is only used for programming and if you want to run touchscreens or a web server. So will run via an Ipod touch or iPhone via their browser.

    Other systems are Idratek (I think if I had to do it all over again then this would be the solution I would go for), Cbus, KNX/EIB, Z-Wave and many more.
    IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
    Renovation Spain Blog

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