Cortex And Alarm Integration

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  • chris_j_hunter
    Automated Home Legend
    • Dec 2007
    • 1713

    #16
    fully integrated approach ...

    well done - 'could be a good way of making the alarm smarter, too - eg: using intercom features to give spoken warnings, or other sounds, bringing lights on & off as intruders move about (spooking them & encouraging them to leave, hopefully), etc !

    did you think of including smoke detectors & fire alarms flashers / sounders, as well ... it could be a way of getting them to smarten-up - eg: using the overall picture to reduce false alarms (burnt toast, say); eg: checking on response (knowing where people are, say, and being able to tell if they respond, additional actions could be initiated if they do not) ... ??? With a radial layout, fire cable could be used for critical items ... plus perhaps triggering some sort of non-destructive gas for Node-0 cupboard fire-control (?)
    Our self-build - going further with HA...

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    • stachoo
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Nov 2009
      • 32

      #17
      Thanks Chris,
      I have fire/gas/water and other sensors connected to the system, but haven't configured them yet to trigger alarms. In the new Cortex Alarm Pro, there is very nice functionality to configure environmental alarms an I want to use it as soon as I have time to do so.
      Anyway, it is very obvious to me, that in home automation it makes very much sense to integrate systems as much as possible

      Comment

      • chris_j_hunter
        Automated Home Legend
        • Dec 2007
        • 1713

        #18
        thanks, that's good to hear ... we'll be following in your footsteps (just as soon as the builders wend their way) ...
        Our self-build - going further with HA...

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        • Geps
          Automated Home Guru
          • Nov 2010
          • 136

          #19
          See the idea of complete integration to me just doesn't appeal. There are alot of things that can go wrong and the idea of false alarms I think undermines the system's functionality.

          I think it's far better to have a standalone alarm and then supplement this with a write only connection to Cortex that can then enhance the response.

          Comment

          • chris_j_hunter
            Automated Home Legend
            • Dec 2007
            • 1713

            #20
            interesting ... different view-points, etc ...

            funny, though, when we here think of stand-alone alarms, we think of false-alarms, and people who've gone on holiday, or just out to work, and causing us misery ... so that anything even a little bit smart has to be better ... so integrated has to be better ! It can be more context sensitive, will have more strings to its bow, and can be adjusted, too ...

            ie: Cortex + UPS doing the alarms seems a great idea, and with the Idratek team behind it, it's more than likely to work-out

            (assuming Windows doesn't let the side down, of course - which it will, even if only now & then, so a strategy to handle that would be v.necessary)
            Last edited by chris_j_hunter; 10 January 2011, 07:01 PM.
            Our self-build - going further with HA...

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            • Geps
              Automated Home Guru
              • Nov 2010
              • 136

              #21
              Well yeah - the windows aspect was the other part of my reasoning....I'm not aware of any Reflex-esque support for the alarm features, though I admit I haven't looked.

              I think though it's just good design to have redundancy - especially where safety and security is concerned (which leads us right back to the worm topic!)

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              • chris_j_hunter
                Automated Home Legend
                • Dec 2007
                • 1713

                #22
                OTOH, more systems => more to go wrong ... and more to upset SWMBO ...
                Our self-build - going further with HA...

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                • Geps
                  Automated Home Guru
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 136

                  #23
                  Originally posted by chris_j_hunter View Post
                  OTOH, more systems => more to go wrong ... and more to upset SWMBO ...
                  Exactly....so surely it's far better to reduce the systems running on the PC

                  Comment

                  • chris_j_hunter
                    Automated Home Legend
                    • Dec 2007
                    • 1713

                    #24
                    yep - the old conundrums, many app's fighting for space vs one trying to do it all, and relying on others completely vs retaining some ability to intervene ...
                    Our self-build - going further with HA...

                    Comment

                    • stachoo
                      Automated Home Jr Member
                      • Nov 2009
                      • 32

                      #25
                      Out of my experience and from what I hear from people using alarm systems in their houses, false alarms are mostly (if not always) caused by sensors - not by the system to which those sensors are connected.
                      So an integrated system doesn't increase the number of false alarms. Furthermore, with Cortex, it's quite easy to spot those sensors because event logging is quite extensive.
                      Regarding reliability - as long as You have a server dedicated to Cortex, which doesn't run too many other applications that constantly change and may go wild - there's not much to worry about. It should powered by a UPS of course.

                      Comment

                      • Geps
                        Automated Home Guru
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 136

                        #26
                        Freaky......Have been contemplating fitting a flood alarm for a few days now......colleague comes in today and tells me her house has been flooded by the washing machine whilst they slept upstairs!

                        It's nice when the decisions get made for you

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                        • chris_j_hunter
                          Automated Home Legend
                          • Dec 2007
                          • 1713

                          #27
                          how will you do it - tray under each machine +sensor linked to digital inputs ... or add a meter & motorise the main stop-valve & have a Cortex macro do some logical checks ... or ... ???

                          our washings machines have start buttons that it would be relatively easy to link back to IdraNet, so Cortex could command their starting, with feedback via power & water meters, as a basis for such checks ...
                          Our self-build - going further with HA...

                          Comment

                          • Geps
                            Automated Home Guru
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 136

                            #28
                            No idea just yet....as soon as I start to get the various elements together I'll start to look at the options.

                            I'm thinking at the moment of sensors across doorways for areas like the kitchen where you have non absorbent floors. Under the machines can work but in the case of my colleague the kitchen sink got blocked quite far down...the washing machine then drained and with no where for the water to go out the sink it came. Needless to say an undertray wouldn't really have helped.

                            Quite a few options...I think I'll have a play when I've got the time and resources.

                            RE your washing machine idea.....I'll start a thread on that now.

                            Comment

                            • chris_j_hunter
                              Automated Home Legend
                              • Dec 2007
                              • 1713

                              #29
                              interesting - when we lived in Germany, Bosch & Siemens made a big selling-point of their Aquastop technology, for stopping floods - it was a v.flat float sensor that sat in a tray somewhere under the machine ...

                              start-button & feedback ... the start-button would allow delayed start etc, based on presence & clocks etc ... the feedback bit might be quite tricky to get working, economically, and logically, when the details are gone-into ... good idea about a new thread !
                              Our self-build - going further with HA...

                              Comment

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