Full Home Automation - For Peanuts

Posting after along time here - Got an unexpected call from Joe Radhik today morning which brought back old memories of this community and the friends I made here
Thus the thought of putting up this post which will hopefully inspire the younger ones here to take up doing things the old fashioned way - i.e. DIY

domo2_1.jpg


Other Screenshots


domo2_1.jpg domo3_1.jpg domo4_1.jpg domo5_1.jpg domo6_1.jpg domo8_1.jpg domo9_1.jpg IMG_CAP.jpg

We recently moved into another house and I thought of checking with local system integrators for setting up an automation system - After being appalled by the exorbitant costs, general lack of knowledge and the fact that the solutions offered would require a significant amount of recabling and time, I decided to do it on my own.

The idea was to ensure the following
a) Absolutely no recabling/retrospective fittings & fixtures
b) Ability to support existing discrete items (I had a couple of Wemo switches and LIFX bulbs)
c) Low cost but scalable solution - Ideally open source

Eventually settled on the amazing open source Domoticz platform and a week worth of tinkering, I finally ended up completing it
Currently, the system supports 12 lights (all rooms except Kitchen and some outdoor lights), a couple of wall outlets, 4 temperatures sensors, 1 barometric sensor, 1 motion sensor (Wemo) a LIFX light, 3 IP monitoring cameras and integration with the existing XBMC entertainment setup (Living room)

The last bit is the best party trick as the lights dim out to a light purple/blue hue in & around the living room when I start watching TV and switch back to full bright white when I pause/stop TV.

Needless to say, the system also checks for the sunrise/sunset status and ambient light and switches/dims/brightens the lighting in and around the house

I was also able to create event based rules (e.g. send me a mail notification alert if motion is detected in the porch when no one is at home)

The next step is to create a wireless mesh network of additional sensors (Soil moisture sensor, garden temperature and humidity, utility sensors ( House Power consumption , gas consumption)
And maybe, just maybe @Joe Radhik, add a dust sensor to auto activate a Roomba to clean the house when it gets dusty :p
Also need to wall mount an old iPad to act as a fixed physical controller since it is sometime a pain to look for a phone when you need to manually change something

The best part - All of this was done through cheap off the shelf components
- The central controller runs on a Raspberry Pi
- The entire system leverages the existing wired/wireless network (except the weather sensors)
- The weather sensors run on the 1-wire protocol meaning I was able to use the existing telephone line cables that were already there in the house wiring)
- The lighting system uses the brilliant low cost 2.4G network Milight RGBW bulbs
- The overall cost I incurred was a small fraction of the quotes I had originally got
- The learning curve was steep but I derived the satisfaction of having learnt something new each day all along the way

As mentioned earlier, I hope this inspires some of the members around here to take up what was for me an immensely satisfying project
 
Last edited:
https://www.amazon.com/LIFX-Smart-M...i&ie=UTF8&qid=1479793103&sr=1-1&keywords=lifx

I have a few Hue bulbs , Hue beyond and a bunch of LIFX - The light output and the color accuracy on the LIFX is far better than Hue

Though I have seen the Hue bulbs only in the stores, i was quite satisfied with the brightness of the Lifx bulbs. And since the Lifx does not need a bridge , it is a clear advantage, also iam able to control the lights and as well as change the color using voice commands with Google Home.



CHeck with them if they would be willing to provide the API (or even a URL) to control the switches directly over LAN
If you can get that, you can configure HAbridge/Domoticz to handle voice control for them
Will Check.

Does anybody have any details of Motorised Curtain provider available in India/Mumbai.
 
I am also looking for 1 - Apparently Mumbai does have a few
Do please update me if you find out anything

http://www.wifiautomation.in/wifi-automation.html
Just spoke to the guy over there, he has Zwave and zigbee compatible motors, but he said, we need to configure it to make it work with an existing system. I am not sure how does that work. Maybe u could understand better from him.[DOUBLEPOST=1479822115][/DOUBLEPOST]I had a chat with Pert support team today, they said that, though in their FAQ they have mentioned that their product will work with Alexa, they cannot guarantee it at the moment, and an update is required which will make it work.
Similarly for google home too they don't have any ETA on the integration.
 
Last edited:
I had a chat with Pert support team today, they said that, though in their FAQ they have mentioned that their product will work with Alexa, they cannot guarantee it at the moment, and an update is required which will make it work.
Similarly for google home too they don't have any ETA on the integration.


Hmmm. So they are being vague. I mean, if an update is required and they have the update ready then what is the issue. Or maybe they mean that they are still working on the update. So that means that it is false advertising on their part if they have a complete guide for Alexa and still can't guarantee that it will work.
Things like these sometime really put me off and make me really just want to give it up until the technologies mature enough to become reliable.[/QUOTE]
 
Hmmm. So they are being vague. I mean, if an update is required and they have the update ready then what is the issue. Or maybe they mean that they are still working on the update. So that means that it is false advertising on their part if they have a complete guide for Alexa and still can't guarantee that it will work.
Things like these sometime really put me off and make me really just want to give it up until the technologies mature enough to become reliable.

The underlying Tech has become reasonably mature as evidenced by the sharp fall in prices over the last 1 year.
My first IoT device was a Wemo Plug that cost me almost 5K a couple of years ago - ESP8266 based plugs can be built for less than 1K now
What has not happened is that many of the implementers aren't sure whether they want to keep everything closed and proprietary or open it up - This is esp true for those where the scale is too small to have any development community around it (like Oakter that promised me they would release an API but never did or these PERT guys)

There are three routes that one can take - Go the traditional closed system route through a system integrator (like control4)
OR buy established products that have a history of iterative improvement (e.g. Philips Hue, NetAtmo etc)
OR be ready to do it the hard but reliable way by going under the hood (e.g.LIFX does not support Siri currently but can support it if you are ready to run a homekit bridge )

PS: In all likelihood, PERT would be based on ESP8266 - If you are up to it,you can easily flash a open firmware like ESPEASY on it and then integrate it with whatever central server / voice control mechanism you want to use
 
^^ You of course can - but the underlying idea remains the same - which is you need to have a central controller server to manage your rules (time based/location based/activity based etc)
There are quite a few choices for such central controller - I swear by Domoticz
In fact Domoticz acts as a lot more tha that

My place is now a huge mashup of all sorts of IoT devices and platforms ranging from Homekit (Apple), Smartthings (Samsung), Echo (Amazon), LIFX, Hue, Logitech, Z-wave among others as well as several cheap chinese IoT bulbs (Milight - which I assume is what you got) and switches - Domoticz acts as the central unifier for them all so they can all work seamlessly either through a single app or through Voice (On both Echo and iphone/ipad Siri) as well as be managed as a through a unified automated workflow (as if they were all on the same protocol/from the same manufacturer)

Here's something to add on to the previous video which may hopefully give you some additional inspiration to get started ASAP :)

My energy monitor from owlintuition stopped working and I'm now looking for a more opensource z-wave solution for the same and other things which I can slowly build upon. I wanted to start with the samsung smartthings as it was only available for $50 recently, but I did not as it supports only US Z-wave frequency and thus I would have to find 220v switches matching the same z-wave standards (difficult task because US would not have 220v zwave devices).

What Z-wave frequency are you working on ?
My guess is that your smartthings is a US purchase ?
How are you controlling power on/off (non-smart bulbs) with US based Z-wave frequency ?

I was interested to start with

1. smarthings starter package
2. One of those keypad z-wave locks
3. 3-phase z-wave energy sensor

Any suggestions ?
 
My energy monitor from owlintuition stopped working and I'm now looking for a more opensource z-wave solution for the same and other things which I can slowly build upon. I wanted to start with the samsung smartthings as it was only available for $50 recently, but I did not as it supports only US Z-wave frequency and thus I would have to find 220v switches matching the same z-wave standards (difficult task because US would not have 220v zwave devices).

What Z-wave frequency are you working on ?
My guess is that your smartthings is a US purchase ?
How are you controlling power on/off (non-smart bulbs) with US based Z-wave frequency ?

I was interested to start with

1. smarthings starter package
2. One of those keypad z-wave locks
3. 3-phase z-wave energy sensor

Any suggestions ?

I am not big on z-wave and I use smartthings only for the z-wave lock and a few Z-wave CO/Smoke sensors
My primary hub is domoticz which runs all the rules and provides the web interface to control everything
However, of late, I have started using the Amazon echo most of the time for manual control - Alexa is hooked to Domoticz via a package called habridge (available on github)

At times, I also end up using the Homekit app/Siri which is integrated with domoticz via a github package called homebridge


As for the devices, most of them are wi-fi based rather than z-wave (if you count Philips Hue as wi-fi and not zigbee)
So the lights are either
a) Smart (Hue/LIFX)
b) Non Smart - which are controlled through ESP8266 based switches (small enough to go inside the switchboard - search for Sonoff)

IR devices are controlled through Harmony hub which is natively supported by Domoticz - so IR workflows (e.g Watch TV = Switch on TV, set input to HDMI1, switch receiver, set input to Sat/Cbl, switch STB) can be started via either the harmony remote or domoticz or Alexa

Temp /Weather sensors are again based on ESP8266

As for power consumption, that is self made using parts (Arduino/ESP82266/SCT-013-030)
You can create a 3 phase setup or easier, just hook a single phase sensor clamp on the earth wire to get a summed up value of all 3 phases (unless you really need values by each phase which maybe overkill for a home setup)
 
^ Thanks, I took some time to research and make my mind before replying.

I'm going towards smarthings, lock & few other sensors.

I was also looking at LIFX Gen 2 bulbs which are around $22 right now, but the reviews on Amazon is not great, the common issue seems to be loosing connectivity. Any review on the same ?
 
^ Thanks, I took some time to research and make my mind before replying.

I'm going towards smarthings, lock & few other sensors.

I was also looking at LIFX Gen 2 bulbs which are around $22 right now, but the reviews on Amazon is not great, the common issue seems to be loosing connectivity. Any review on the same ?
I am using 6 Lifx bulbs since almost a month, not faced any kind of disconnection so far. Iam using it with Smartthings and google home.
 
I am using 6 Lifx bulbs since almost a month, not faced any kind of disconnection so far. Iam using it with Smartthings and google home.
I have had a few disconnection issues in the last couple of years although all it needed was to switch the bulb off and back on manually once.
Haven't seen disconnections in the last few months so probably fixed in the recent updates
 
^ thanks for the feedback guys.

I went for Philips hue starter kit 2nd gen warm white along with echo dot @ $107. Individual bulbs are $15.

Looking for a deal on schlage touch deadbolt be469, one multi sensor and harmony hub.

EDIT:
Seeing the reviews, Wink seems better than smarthings, any thoughts ?
 
Last edited:
tagging @superczar

Finally, I went with Smartthings, Hue 2nd gen with warm white bulbs (plenty), harmony hub, couple of echo dots, schlage z-wave deadbolt, zooz 4 in 1 sensor, Yi Cams, and a bunch of Xiaomi sensors & plug. Already received the Xiaomi package, would receive the rest early next month.

I am still looking low cost solution/devices for below:

1. 4 channel relay, since the z-wave versions are very costly, I'm looking to integrate Esp8266 based solutions that work with Smartthings & Echo. I zeroed on Sonoff, see below links:
https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-4ch.html
https://community.smartthings.com/t/sonoff-dual-wifi-switch/73542/7

they already have a DTH & smart app for single sonoff switch. Would need 3 of 4 ch relays that I can hide behind the wall plates if it works.

2. ESP8266 based blinds motor that works with smartthings/echo. I've horizontal blinds with a string on the side which can be pulled to open/close. There is a DTH for this too, I need to check if it will work with my blinds and how feasible it is since it needs a power adaptor and I would want to run it on batteries.

If you guys have already achieved the above requirement, I would love to get some inputs on the same. Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

forgot to add:

3. Also looking at ESP8266 based IR transmitters to control basic TV operations, fans & split AC in others rooms without the harmony. Found a project here : https://community.smartthings.com/t/esp8266-nodemcu-arduino-based-tv-remote/50161

bought the parts for this including ESP8266, under shipment.
 
Last edited:
Anybody knows if there any alternative products to Smappee in India? I am looking for a energy monitor like this one which uses a simple clamp on mechanism if possible. Smappee costs 27k which seems way over the top.

http://www.smappee.com/be_en/energy-monitor-home
http://www.aneindia.com/
I use a SCT-013 (its a hall effect sensor exactly like the one on the link) which costs sub 1K
In addition, you will need an arduino to handle the data processing and a ESP8266 to upload the data either to the cloud (if this is meant to be standalone) or to a central controller (if this is meant to be an extension to an existing HA setup)
 
Kind of post I am looking for. Some real R&D stuff out here. Thanks for sharing ,, And yeah,,,, You have inspired me...

Just now ordered RPI3 from amazon as first step... I want to try controlling the stuff with android phone.
 
Bumping up an old thread.
Right now I live solo in a studio where I have some basic automation in place - lights and fans are controlled via Google Assistant via smart plugs and switches.
Infra red stuff - heater, stereo, tv etc are driven off an rm mini 3

I'm planning to move back to my old house for good, and want to replicate and scale this across my entire house

My router performance seems to have degraded as of late with connections dropped more frequently. My landlord uses an airport extreme and I use a netgear ex6200 extender. Do I need super deluxe wifi for so many iot devices, or do I need to switch to something with a hub style controller to reduce the load on my wifi?

I see a lot of cheap smart bulbs, Wipro, syska, and some generics. Are they decent (will they run a couple of years reliably or crap out in a few months)

I'm somewhat fairly invested in the Google ecosystem - what's the best way to build a Google Assistant compatible setup ( where everything is an "ok google" away).
 
Back
Top