building a new home

heya guys,

building a new house, going to deck it out, I am an electrician by trade so wiring is no issue with me, I am also building the house myself so I can design whatever I want.

Basically I am going to list what aspects I would like recommendations for hardware on and hopefully we can get some good response.

I am going to have a NOC over the garage so all cabling is going back to there and everything will be controlled from there.

Zwave looks to be the most advanced protocal for appliance control. So I figure Ill be using that.

(1) Im also thinking about using acoustic magic microphones for home automation (IVB can CQC do voice commands?)

(2) What would you suggest as zone controllers so if the microphone pics up sound in one room, it locks onto that signal.

(3) I want to have wired contacts on all doors/windows, what is the best contacts/controller for this?

(4) I am rfid implanted so I will be using normal keys + rfid for entry into the main house and rfid for entry into all other rooms. If you have any questions on this create a new topic and ill answer.

(5) I have x10 anaconda cameras on my old house, any suggestions for better in the same price range? (32.99).

(6) Entertainment. Would you do big ass dvd changer/player or big ole computer that has all the movies on it?

(6) Entertainment. controlling tv/radio/dvd/etc...Im thinking pda or touchscreen?

(7) touchscreens in each vital room.

gimmie suggestions and if i think of more i will post again.

thanks

--chris

Reply to
cj
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Answering that which I know. I don't do RFID or X10, so i'll refrain from giving you my uninformed opinion.

CQC doesn't do VR yet. Frankly, I don't think the technology is mature enough to warrant widespread usage.

For wired contacts/sensors, I got the bag o'magnetic reed switches from toymaster

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- something like $2.50/each, cheaper by the dozen. Running to an Elk M1G, basic switches are all you need.

Depends on # of concurrent streams you want, and # of DVDs you got. I was looking for a Sony 777ES serial controlled changer, they all seem to be gone by now as they're discontinued and replaced with the firewire ones. I currently have 2.5TB in space, but there's tons of heat/noise issues, plus the power suck. I can get multiple concurrent streams, but if I had to do it all over again, i'd just get a megachanger.

For both of these, I love my Fujitsu 3400. PDA is just waaaay too small for anything reasonable inside the home. Plus, the 3400 is only $160, and can run the CQC viewer natively, no RDP or dot-net-viewer needed. Pics are here.

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Reply to
IVB

Figure otherwise.

Reply to
Dave Houston

nice response and nice reasoning behind it aswell, really it was.

--chris snipped-for-privacy@puddl.com

Dave Houst>

Reply to
cj

You're building new and say wiring is no problem, yet are planning to use a braindead RF protocol so I figured nice reasoning would go over your head. ;)

There are several hardwired systems and hardwired beats wireless. Pick >nice response and nice reasoning behind it aswell, really it was. >

Reply to
Dave Houston

hey man thanks for responding :)

Ive played around a fair bit with homeseer, even went as far as tying my jabra bt250v into it via bluetooth. Worked exceptionally well but would cut out from time to time, so like you said its a very buggy software.

sweet the elk m1g looks good, any advice on setting it up? you did via serial i take it? or did u do serial -> usb?

well im figuring capacity for 500 dvd/movies, satellite feed and the ability to monitor via multiplexor all the cctvs in the house.

(how many channel multiplexor can one get i wonder?, figure ill have 10 cameras or so in the house).

you went pc with 2.5tb?

yea i think megachanger in the noc will be the best bet.

yea i figure thats what ill do, i will be doing lcd framed monitors that change artwork based upon the rfid tag it detects when I/family enter the room.

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Reply to
cj

CJ,

Please note that while Mr. Houston routinely posts negative "information" aboiuot Zwave, he has indicated in the past that he has never actually had anything Zwave in his possession.

Most of his comments about the subject are based on speculation and (possibly) some personal animosity toward one participanty of this newsgroup who sells Zwave products. I don't carry Zwave (other than one RF transciever from ELK products) so I've not much of an ax to grind on the subject.

There are several reasons to consider Zwave. For one, the protocol has garnered support from most of the major players in the industry as well as several in the PC world (Intel, for example).

I'm a bit fatigued at the moment so I won't rehash much of what has already been posted on the subject. A Google search on "Zwave" OR "Z-wave" within this newsgroup may prove interesting.

Regards, Robert L Bass

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Dave Houst> You're building new and say wiring is no problem, yet are planning to use a

Reply to
robertlbass

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