Ingo's MisterHouse and HomevisionŽ-basedHome Automation System |
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It's time for Homevision owners to unite and exchange ideas. Since we didn't have a public forum, I created the homevision-users mail-list. To subscribe, enter your address below:
| Date | What |
| 2002 | Too busy with work and life.... sorry, no real updates. |
| November 2002 | Installed CyberGenie phone system |
| October 2001 | My second Automated Halloween House.
Motion sensors set off random scary sounds as trick-or-treaters approach. Strobe light on an X10 Module. All outside lights are replaced with blacklight bulbs. Next year, I'll probably add fog. |
| Febuary 2000 | Switched entirely over to LINUX running MisterHouse and IBM ViaVoice Outloud for zoned speech announcements throughout the house using a 70V RadioShack MPA-100 PA system which is controlled by relays (with a 70V system, you don't have to worry about impedence changes). |
| November 1999 | Moved the homevision-users list to OneList. |
| ECS was great, but I'm a Perl hacker at heart. I'm
in the process of writing a new module for MisterHouse
to support the Homevision controller.
Check it out! MisterHouse is Open Source!! It's all in Perl!! It can also run on Linux!!! |
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| August 1998 | Bought ECS! I looked at plenty of others, but for real power, ECS is it! It's the ultimate in programmability and support. |
| Moved my Homevision schedules into ECS - now ECS is the brains, and Homevision is the brawn. | |
| Implemented ECS Speech | |
| Added Caller-ID Voice Announcements | |
Finally put up my Makita drapery system.
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| October 1998 | Got a bunch of motion sensors and spotlights. |
| Future: | TODO: Implement ECS Answering machine.... |
| TODO: Implement touchscreen |
Buy Homevision Controller Got it from Worthington Hook up TV Sniffer (Probe only) Not bad, but it "flickers" before settling to an "on" or "off" state. Hook up Buffalo Electronics PS-100 Amplified IR Connecting Block, Xantech power supply, and three Xantech dual mini emitters Control my Home Theater components directly from Homevision. Install Leviton 6400 Wall Transmitter I hate normal X-10 wall switches. They feel mushy, and they don't report their current state to the controller. Make Homevision keep track of if I'm watching TV with the internal tuner, or if I'm watching a Laserdisc via the video input. If I'm watching TV, it opens the PIP window for the Homevision display.
If I'm watching a video input, it knows to just superimpose the text on the screen.Add "Feed Fish" macro. My family can now select a menu item off the TV screen which turns off the Aquarium filter and turns on the aquarium lamp. Then an hour later the filter turns back on.
Before this, the fish either starved or got fed twice - now it's obvious if they've been fed already.Implement my new Marantz RC-2000 remote control.
Here's a scan of an RC2000 advertisement (290K).Started programming buttons to send specific IR commands to Homevision, with each one labeled on the LCD screen. It really makes it easier to use than having to remember that mute turns on the lights. Fix the TVSniffer "flicker" problem Added a simple debounce routine: if the state of the digital input changes, I just load a timer with 15 seconds and start it. When the timer expires, I call the routine to actually change the "TV Power" state variable. Bought 3 Makita Drapery motors from Electronic Goldmine for $10/each. Now I have to find a way to control them (IR) and something to hook them up to, since they didn't come with the drapery tracks or the remote. Upload Homevision IR file Makita.zip to control Makita motor. Write "nagging reminders" macros for feeding fish and taking out trash. Uses video screen every 15 minutes until I've done it. Install two dual floodlight motion sensors, one in the front, one in the back Time for some security integration. I bought these a while back, but haven't gotten around to installing them yet. How about touchscreens?
Buy touchscreens Bought two from a surplus store for $69/each. Get low cost/low power PC to drive them Maybe a 386 running DOS or WinForWorkGroups? Gotta have an ethernet card. Write software to drive touchscreens Client Write software to communicate between touchscreen servers and Homevision Server
Evaluate Hal2000 As a beta tester.
Not bad, but not ready. Not expandable past their implementations.Evaluate HomeVoice There's a free demo.
Hmmm... maybe....Consider multiple microphones $$$Expensive$$$ Buy Homevision Expansion board I'd love to have those digital temperature sensors.
| Worthington | There've been a number of complaints about Worthington's service lately. I've had one or two minor glitches myself, but nothing that would keep me from ordering from them again. They've always got the best price, and my wife makes sure I'm very price conscious! |
| Home Automation Systems - On-Line Catalog | Great catalog. Get one! I've ordered a few things from them, good service, OK prices, but a great full-color catalog. |
| Automation Plus | Never actually bought from them... |
| 1. | Home Automator | The #1 source. Read it here first. |
| 2. | HTInews | The #1 free (on-line) source. |
| 3. | The Gadgeteer - Home | I love gadgets, and this is free and on-line. |
| 4. | Popular Home Automation | Good magazine, good second choice. |
| Philips Pronto Remote |  |
| 6 Channel Hunter Security Remotes |
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| Bill Bik Proximity Sensors |
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| A whole new house |
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