X10 or Z Wave or something else?

[Davearia]

Hi All,

Long time since I posted on here but glad everything seems to be as cool as it was a couple of years ago.

A played around some X10 stuff a few years ago and got some ressults to a fashion. I bought a kit which included Harmony OS 2007 which I have to say I didn't reckon much of. As a .NET developer for the last 8 years or so I found Domia's OS disappoiting and I'll leave it at that.

I picked up the Un4seen stuff and wrote a multi zone media player which was remotlety controlled from a mobile device, this was an equal amount of fun as frustration but learnt a lot from doing it.

I am at the stage where I am really keen to try and write my own application the covers 1 home automation 2 security 3 home entertainment. I was reading yesterday that the owners of X10 are in receivership. I was reading about possible newer and more advanced technologies, don't get me wrong X10 has lasted this long and as they are supposidly being bought out and therefore looks as though they will continue. But I am at point where I am simply looking for good technology to work with on this project.

What would you suggest I should use?

Thanks, Dave.

[chris_j_hunter]

have a look at Idratek, that was our choice, but also EIB / KNX, Dupline, C-Bus, Arduino, Netiom, Nice, VBus, WebBrick ... depending on how much involvement you want - they work at various levels ... there are lots of others, but they would be top of our list to consider ... and, if nothing else, they might lead to ideas !

[toscal]

X10 modules are made by loads of companies now. So its still supported no matter what happens to X10 the company.
If you want to go down the plugin module style, have a look at PLC bus. From what I have seen on other forums people are very happy with it and its a lot more reliable than X10. There are also some very nice in LCD in wall controllers
There is also some nice free software for the PLCBus system
If I was to go for a cabled system I would choose Idratek.

I think a lot of the choice is down to how much work you are prepared to put in. Do you want to start knocking bits out of walls for a cabled solution or a retrofit solution with minimal alterations to the house. But if you are planning on extending or remodelling your house then its an ideal time to put in the conduit for a cabled solution.

Have to agree about the Harmony software I hated it when I tried it. Homeseer (this has a plugin for PLCbus) is much better, though I might be a bit biased as I was a beta tester for Ver2.0.

[Davearia]

Thanks

Thanks for the replies so far, appreciated as always.

The main things I want is firstly something that works works with .NET without all sorts of layers/wrappers etc. Now X10 does work with .NET I know but as you are reading the traffic coming in from the COM connection it's really low level stuff and to be honest old technology.

Secondly, with X10 is the apparent inconsistency in that some projects work great but another house project the signals going over the house wiring can be eliminated as it is seen as just noise interference. I liked playing with X10 but I am at a stage with it is a clean slate so I can go anyway.

When I looked at Z-Wave it appeared to be newer and there seemed to be support for .NET and I would have thought if it transmits through radio signals it would be better than going over the wiring of the house.

I suppose the best solution would be to almost have all of these devices assigned to an IP and go through WIFI maybe that's where it might end up.

One question to ask regarding Homeseer is there a limit to how many times you can install it?

One thing that really p*ssed me off with Harmony is that you get about 3 installs and because I was rebuilding my PC at the time unknowingly passed the threashold and got told buy it again!!!!


Anyway any of your thoughts are welcome as at this stage it is just me taking time to consider all of my options.

Many thanks, Dave.

[toscal]

As regards to Homeseer, you can re-install as many times as you like. Unless its all changed.
You should be able to get Plcbus to work with .Net, I know there are a few basic VB programs out there. This blog might help.