Misterhouse device recommendations for a new house

[Seann Clark]

All,

    I am planning on moving out of my apartment and into a house here
soon, and I am looking for a good way to loop Misterhouse into that, for
energy efficiency, and other things like that. I currently have an X10
cm15 and a cm17, which work decently, but I would like something that
has a better ability in code to see a light on/off event that isn't
generated in Misterhouse, and let the MH server know accordingly. The
current issue I have, is if I turn a light out not using MH, it still is
marked on in Misterhouse, which isn't something I desire to show on that
interface. I would also like to hook this into an HVAC system to be able
to get stats on temp settings and so forth and control that through
Misterhouse as well. In reading the list posts I get the impression
Insteon is the most widely used and supported, but I see some good and
bad in that product, just reading over the list.  Basically what I am
looking for with anything else, right now, is light control, since I
don't foresee the need for appliance control and as far as I have read,
the existing X10 modules I have will work sufficiently with Insteon for
that future application. Since the house isn't bought yet, I don't know
exactly what thermostat to use, but based on research from list posts on
suggestions, I was looking at something like a HAI Omnistat2 RC-2000BL.

    I would like to get feedback based on what works best to start, and
then see where I can go from there. Especially since the cm15 requires
hacking to a few files that don't play well with upgrades (I have had
issues with that in the past and haven't had time to go back through and
fix the errors.)


~Seann


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[Marc MERLIN-7]

On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 11:27:40AM -0500, Seann Clark wrote:
> All,
>
>    I am planning on moving out of my apartment and into a house here  
> soon, and I am looking for a good way to loop Misterhouse into that, for  
> energy efficiency, and other things like that. I currently have an X10  
> cm15 and a cm17, which work decently, but I would like something that  
> has a better ability in code to see a light on/off event that isn't  
> generated in Misterhouse, and let the MH server know accordingly. The  

Insteon does that for sure, I'm pretty positive Zwave and UPB do too.
Now, to be honest, I use Insteon and sometimes the notification of local
change gets lost, so I have mh rescan all my devices every 15mn just in
case.
Insteon is the cheapest of the 3 and likely has a few more users here if
you need help, but requires that your house is wired with neutral wires
(otherwise you'll have to use Zwave or X10).

But you should have a look at
http://misterhouse.wikispaces.com/Insteon#insteon_x10_zwave_upb

> interface. I would also like to hook this into an HVAC system to be able  
> to get stats on temp settings and so forth and control that through  
> Misterhouse as well. In reading the list posts I get the impression  
> Insteon is the most widely used and supported, but I see some good and  

The Insteon HVAC option is just not that good. If you can run a Cat-5
cable to your thermostat, you'll be much happier with an HAI Omnistat.

> that future application. Since the house isn't bought yet, I don't know  
> exactly what thermostat to use, but based on research from list posts on  
> suggestions, I was looking at something like a HAI Omnistat2 RC-2000BL.

I think the Omnistat2 protocol is different from the Omnistat protocol
and I don't think Omnistat2 is supported yet in mh, but if you can
modify a bit of perl, it shouldn't be too hard to add Omnistat2 support.
Or, you can buy a dirt cheap Omnistat RC-80 or better (RC-90, etc...)
and it will work pretty well out of the box now with
http://misterhouse.wikispaces.com/hai_stats
http://misterhouse.wikispaces.com/file/view/hai_mh_20090803.tar.gz

Either way, drop X10 or only use it as a secondary cheap protocol with
your Insteon PLM (since Insteon can also drive X10 devices or read from
them, I use the old X10 wireless remotes for instance).

Marc
--
"A mouse is a device used to point at the xterm you want to type in" - A.S.R.
Microsoft is to operating systems & security ....
                                      .... what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking
Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/

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[Tom MacLean]

By the way, can Insteon co-exist with either UPB or Zwave?  I am presently
using Insteon, but oddly enough, only about half my house is wired with
neutrals in the switch boxes.  I'm thinking of embedding the inline lincs in
the ceiling, but the use of zwave might be cheaper or easier.

-tom m.

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc MERLIN [mailto:marc_mh@...]
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 1:07 PM
To: The main list for the MisterHouse home automation program
Subject: Re: [mh] Misterhouse device recommendations for a new house

On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 11:27:40AM -0500, Seann Clark wrote:
> All,
>
>    I am planning on moving out of my apartment and into a house here
> soon, and I am looking for a good way to loop Misterhouse into that,
> for energy efficiency, and other things like that. I currently have an
> X10
> cm15 and a cm17, which work decently, but I would like something that
> has a better ability in code to see a light on/off event that isn't
> generated in Misterhouse, and let the MH server know accordingly. The

Insteon does that for sure, I'm pretty positive Zwave and UPB do too.
Now, to be honest, I use Insteon and sometimes the notification of local
change gets lost, so I have mh rescan all my devices every 15mn just in
case.
Insteon is the cheapest of the 3 and likely has a few more users here if you
need help, but requires that your house is wired with neutral wires
(otherwise you'll have to use Zwave or X10).

But you should have a look at
http://misterhouse.wikispaces.com/Insteon#insteon_x10_zwave_upb

> interface. I would also like to hook this into an HVAC system to be
> able to get stats on temp settings and so forth and control that
> through Misterhouse as well. In reading the list posts I get the
> impression Insteon is the most widely used and supported, but I see
> some good and

The Insteon HVAC option is just not that good. If you can run a Cat-5 cable
to your thermostat, you'll be much happier with an HAI Omnistat.

> that future application. Since the house isn't bought yet, I don't
> know exactly what thermostat to use, but based on research from list
> posts on suggestions, I was looking at something like a HAI Omnistat2
RC-2000BL.

I think the Omnistat2 protocol is different from the Omnistat protocol and I
don't think Omnistat2 is supported yet in mh, but if you can modify a bit of
perl, it shouldn't be too hard to add Omnistat2 support.
Or, you can buy a dirt cheap Omnistat RC-80 or better (RC-90, etc...) and it
will work pretty well out of the box now with
http://misterhouse.wikispaces.com/hai_stats
http://misterhouse.wikispaces.com/file/view/hai_mh_20090803.tar.gz

Either way, drop X10 or only use it as a secondary cheap protocol with your
Insteon PLM (since Insteon can also drive X10 devices or read from them, I
use the old X10 wireless remotes for instance).

Marc
--
"A mouse is a device used to point at the xterm you want to type in" -
A.S.R.
Microsoft is to operating systems & security ....
                                      .... what McDonalds is to gourmet
cooking Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/

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[Marc MERLIN-7]

On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 01:20:32PM -0400, Tom MacLean wrote:
>
> By the way, can Insteon co-exist with either UPB or Zwave?  I am presently

UPB: yes, different voltages
Zwave: yes, Zwave is radio only

> using Insteon, but oddly enough, only about half my house is wired with
> neutrals in the switch boxes.  I'm thinking of embedding the inline lincs in
> the ceiling, but the use of zwave might be cheaper or easier.

It's possible, just do some research on what devices you intend on using and
see whether they are currently working and supported. Also note that they
are not all created equal: local switch toggles on intermatic switches
aren't yet reported back to mh, while they are with more expensive leviton
switches.

Basically there are fewer users and likely fewer types of supported devices.
My recommendation is to do your homework, and try as much as you can during
your 30 day return policy so that you can return things should it not work
like you hoped.

Otherwise if you have a house with a crawl space and/or attic, it may not be
hard to wire neutral to your existing switchboxes.

Marc
--
"A mouse is a device used to point at the xterm you want to type in" - A.S.R.
Microsoft is to operating systems & security ....
                                      .... what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking
Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/ 

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what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with
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