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Newbie Questions

Hi All,

I'm strting work on a monitoring system for my own house which will be built soon. It has a simple purpose - video monitoring our house from work while the babysitter is with our child.

I have that part pretty well planned out already, but now I think I'd like to add other features such as lighting control, temp. monitoring etc.,

Can someone please kindly point me to any information, groups or vendors who sell this kind of equipment? i.e. a thermostat that can be controlled via LAN,(wireless/wired). My biggest priority is that these devices need to be accessed via TCP/IP and hopefully provide a programming API, as I plan to write software to control these from central location.

Any information will be greatly apprecited!

Igor.

Reply to
igarber
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Hi Igor.

Elk M1-Gold.

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from
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HAI at
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Good luck!!!

Reply to
Frank Olson

Here are several DIY friendly systems which you should consider -- HAI Omni, HomeSeer, Napco P9600 and ELK M1Gold. I sell ELK but not the other two. HAI makes HA controllers with reasonable security functionality. HomeSeer is an HA software app (Windows) which integrates well with Napco Gemini and several other security systems. It can also run straight HA without the alarm. HAI's Omni series controllers are well-known, good quality hardware. ELK's M1Gold is a powerhouse. It can do pretty much anything you like. Their TCP/IP port includes a built-in web server so no dedicated PC is required for remote access.

All of these systems allow varying degrees of user customization. ELK includes a lot of things which are add-ons with others. Since I sell ELK and Napco I'm not entirely unbiased. :^)

Reply to
Robert L. Bass

Thank You! I'll have to take a look at what exactly the level of customization is.A lot of products I've looked at, provide their own web server, which can be a bad thing when trying to integrate it into one software control location.

I also picked up a book "Build Your own Smart Home". While most of it is just advertising for SmartHome.com, it does offer some insight into the design and implementation of these systems. I'm still returning the book, though... :)

Reply to
igarber

To address your biggest priority of TCP/IP access, you might consider using using Transmon components. These components connect over AES encrypted TCP/IP. A small database is the center of a logical star configuration. An API is provided for VC++ 6.0 which you can use for implementing controls or interfaces to devices. The API provides an encrypted connection to the dbase. An interface to the X10 CM11A is provided. Modbus RTU and TCP/IP interfaces are nearing completion. Configurable graphic control panels with encrypted TCP/IP connection are included.

These components are currently free for non-commercial use, such as yours, at

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examples of home use, click on the 'cm11a' link.

Regards, Steve

snipped-for-privacy@> Hi All,

Reply to
Steve

There are a number of DIY things you can do fairly cheaply. Using the apache web server and its CGI functions, you can control a lot og gizmos over the net. You can connect an x10 firecracker to your computer and control the x10 devices via the net. Webcam setups for video (and audio) monitoring are also easy to setup. Homeseer is a popular program for web based home control and monitoring.

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Reply to
Si Ballenger

SmartHome.com has alot of products but not the best prices. Almost every vendor easily beats the prices of SmartHome.com

But they do offer alot of products.

Browse the Homeseer message board and download a trial copy to see if thats what you want.

I'm a Homeseer Dealer and also a user.

I have it intergrated with the ElkM1G. I don't use the ethernet module though. I use Homeseer to connect remotely. I think the ethernet module is a bit high. A little under half the cost of the M1 now, at around 200.00. Homeseer has a plugin thats 29.95 and I have homeseer hooked up via cat5 cable around 40 feet from the panel.

Reply to
Brian

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