DIY Home Automation

It depends on what you intend to do with relays. I have built many 120v dimming relays (well, triacs) using DMX and RS-485, which will support much longer runs than USB.

However, all it does is give you dimming. I use them outside for Christmas lights. I wouldn't be keen on installing DIY 120v stuff inside my home.

I suppose you could use the USB relay to power the coil on a 120v ice cube relay, at which point you would at least have a UL listing on the 120v portion. THere are plenty of communities out there for this kind of thing.

Tim

Cool idea, and that is a cool little toy!

I'm looking into the Z-wave based options for my upcoming renovation. There look to be a lot of control options for that, some are actually FOSS.

Since this is appliance-level hardware (in other words - it should just work), I'm willing to spend a bit more and get something that I don't have to mess with or code a whole backend for.
Edited by lilmike - 2/8/13 at 5:24pm

I'm doing my apartment/HT automation with a set of networked Arduino Mega2560 and have just received a Raspberry Pi which I'm planning to use as a display interface. Arduinos come with all sorts of shield modules so you can wifi or Xbee somewhere you can't get wiring directly.

Search ebay under 'relay boards' or 'relay modules' and you'll see plenty of them that will handle 10A at 120V. Above that you're going to need to find something else. I use MCP23S17 port expanders driving ULN2803 octal darlington drivers and Omron G4a relays because they meet my specs (20A at 240V, 80A surge) and I got a tray of 50 for under a $1ea new.

I set it up this way because I don't want a PC on all the time. And because it was a fun project and got me back into embedded design after a long hiatus. Much as I loathe C, it makes life a lot easier than assembly, but it still sucks compared to Forth.

I am sooo green when it comes to the home automation stuff that is out now as it seems to get more complicated by each passing year. So let me get this straigt, you are using relays, (which are basically just switches that turn some on & off, right?) to control when the lights come on, accompanied by some dimmer switches for the level of light. Then you are also going to be using relays for turning on your equipment, something like 16 different components, right?

I have absolutely no idea what you will be doing for security management, but I am guessing that you will have hi tech cameras that will monitor everything....not sure how you are going to operate those? Also what kind of devise, or software will the security cameras feed the video into, and how do you propose to monitor this video? Also with regards to the security system, are you going to have window breakage detectors and motion sensors, and if so, how do you plan to operate and manage those with regards to how all of this fits together?

Are you writing the software for a DIY home automation controller, similar to a Creston? If so, how and what are you going to use for the hardware? If not, are you going to buy a controller like the Crestons that so many folks use?

What is a high powered Triac and what is its purpose? What is a PC breakout box and what is a 10 channel 11gig router? Sorry for all of the dumb questions but I will be remodeling a house soon and would like to have some sort of home automation like you described, and like I said, I am totally green on this!

I'm not sure who you are asking these questions, so I'll assume me in part and reply.
I am using relays, both for power selection and control in the HT and some house functions, such as lighting in the theatre room. For example it is programmed so that when you press Play on a selection that uses video, the room lights will dim, and will ramp up when you press Pause or Stop. If I selected TT as source, none of the amps etc that run the surrounds (tri-amped) will be powered up. All power switching is done close to zero cross accounting for relay delay.

The plan is later to add mains outlet control and lighting through the rest of the apartment as I find time and need to do so. I have a friend who has build a similar system in his home, and when he's not there, lights and other devices such as radios turn on/off in a correct sequence to simulate people being there, and I'd like to add this later.
I'm doing PIR and window break, and am looking at some inexpensive commercial systems to do video. My own stand alone system will call (and later ) email if it detects. Not sure if I'll be able to integrate the two bet they might not be necessary. We'll see.
Can't afford a Crestron, so I'm basically making a DIY on that does what I want, some of which is highly specific to my my particular set up and equipment, some of which is modified to suit my needs. Total cost for everything should be under $500, plus a lot of coding and soldering, but I enjoy that anyway.
A triac is a solid state switch which can handle alternating currents, making it suitable for controlling the mains on many devices. They are also sued in some dimmers for lighting. High powered would mean one that can handle mains voltage as well as the current that the load you wish to control will draw, say 5 or 10A. Some can handle considerably more current. PC aren't natively suitable for controlling ancillary devices such as relays, so that need some sort of interface to connect to the PC via USB or RS232. These usually then let you control say 24 relays or other devices. These are used in many industrial applications worldwide.

I've never heard of a '10 channel 11gig router'. 10 channel I assume means 10 RJ45 ports but this is an uncommon configuration. Routes/switchers etc are usually in a multiple of 8 ports, 8/16/24/48 and small home/SOHO versions have 5. 11gig might refer to one of the common networking protocols 802.11g. There are faster variants such as 802.11n. Go with the fastest you can afford in a new installation to allow for longest life.
If I was with you in person and had the floorplans and could ask questions about what you want to control and how, whether you want to use a single server and route all TV/video through the network etc it would be easier to make suggestions. FWIW I'm licensed to do this sort of work in my country.

My basic plan is to add at least one Cat6 cable and port to each room, and depending upon the room and it's use and possible uses later, I'd likely add more. You could always bring say 4 cables from each room to a central point with the switch(es) placed there and connect up the outlets you are using now. Rearrange the living room in 5 years might mean a point on the opposite wall is more convenient (no exposed cables), so all you'd need to do then is go to the 'network cupboard' and change to the correct wire. Trust me, you will regret not putting them in now when the cost will be minimal as it's easy and cheap to do before the drywall/gyprock goes up, and much more expensive later. In some cases due to the construction of the house it may be very difficult and expensive or impossible to add later without something you may not like, such as an external visible conduit.

I'm not at home at the moment, but I'll post it when I get a chance.
My background is electronics, so I approach design of a system as 'how is this easiest (for me) to do' and use a lot of electronic sub systems to augment processors. For me, that is implement anything in software that I can't do easily in hardware. That's pretty much it. The zero cross detector goes to a spare input pin on the Mega, so when it's about to open/close a relay, it constantly loops looking for that pin to change state and adds a delay to get relay operating delay plus software delay to equal 20mS (50Hz here). I tested all the relays I used for many operational cycles and averaged the delay to use for that type of relay.
I'm not using a media player to implement this - it operates with no PC running.
I have XBMC but I find it easier most of the time to simply access a file and play it rather than use media players. When I wish to play something that's on a PC, I select that as a 'Source' via IR remote, which brings the PC out of sleep mode (and sets up the rest of the system) and I use a keyboard/trackball combo to control the PC.

There is some misunderstanding. The 'control' system of Arduinos, does not need a PC to be running. I can put a disc in the BRP and select 'Play CD' via IR RC and control the system from the RC (stop, play, change sources etc). The Arduino receives the IR codes and acts according to what it receives.

The Arduinos do not need to know whether a source is playing or not. They set up the conditions to allow it to happen and control some of the functions of the devices. If I was watching a movie from the BRP, after initial system set up, and pressing play, they are idle until the next control is pressed.

If I wish to play a file stored on computer selecting 'PC Music' / 'PC Movie' sets up the system by turning on/off power amps, projector, AVR etc and by applying the settings for that source if needed, and then I control the movie/music being played from the PC via a combo keyboard and trackball.

On the PC where I have a lot of movies and music stored, I have XBMC but it is sort of annoying, and I have no problem just opening MPC and selecting a DVD file to play for instance. I might get J River later, when I build a dedicated HTPC. Movie files from the PC are played out to the AVR via HDMI. The PC is connected to a network that runs throughout the apartment (not the garage yet though) so I can access and play files from any computer connected to the network.