nayr's home automation build out...

[TechBill]

I noticed in one of your post that you are using Aeon Z-Stick for your Z-Wave devices.

I am thinking about adding home automation to my HTPC server in the basement since I am going to replace it with a i7 so it should be able to handle my media streaming and home automation so I stated looking for the Aeon Z-Stick to see the price range and it seem it not available in USA? Is there a USA version of Z-Wave stick?

Bill

 

[nayr]

USA Version: http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Z-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456607304&sr=8-1&keywords=Z-Stick

 

[nayr]

Latest updates, I got a brand new PTZ for the front door and reviewed it elsewhere so you guys already know that..

Ive been telling people to do this for a while and been waiting on someone to call me out on it. Life/Death sprung up and I have an unexpected funeral to attend and there is nothing that can be done about the packages in the air.. so I found this nice wicker box on Craigslist today for $20, added a spare Z-Wave contact switch I had laying about, and setup a PTZ Preset to check it out when its opened.

Ordered a laser engraved plastic sign for it tha'll read: Deliveries - Please hide parcels inside.
also going to put a big: SMILE FOR THE CAMERA sticker on the inside of the lid

Also thinking of putting a slab of styrofaom in the bottom so they can toss packages in unharmed, taking the latch off and putting a handle on it and maby if I dont fuck up the wiccer add a hydraulic lift so it dont slam shut.. oh yeah

 

[TechBill]

USA Version: http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Z-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456607304&sr=8-1&keywords=Z-Stick

Thank you

I just realized that your using linux for your home automation correct? My HTPC is Windows based since I run SageTV on it. (it open sourced now btw www.sagetv.com) because the capture cards I used to record my TV shows and movies it's driver are only available in Windows versoin.

if linux then I probably need to run it in vmware under Windows or something like this.

Bill

 

[brad]

nayr: AWESOME WORK! Inspiring me to get started. Thanks for all the info, and sharing your photos and code. 7+ year Blue Iris user and discovered your posts here searching for BI stuff (I'll send my request and vote to the author, Ken, to add MQTT support ).

Mind reviewing my newbie plan?


* Install Domoticz on existing home linux server (later get a CuBox)
* Order Aeon Z-Stick Gen5 (for ZWave simple starter switches/sensors)
* GPIOs - If I go with BeagleBone, what do you use in the middle of the relays? You were custom designing, then suggested this and then later this?, but that link is dead. Or as newbie, should I start with ETH8020? If BeagleBone, how do you connect to those GPIO ports? Is there a plugin-to-screw-pin option? To use the GPIOs on BBB, is custom coding required or will Domoticz work fairly straight forward to interface?


As a first project, all of our beehives were stolen recently. I was thinking I could loop a wire (about 125' away) through each hive and back to a relay (GPIO / BeagleBone or ETH8020?). I assume with Domoticz, I could monitor this and get an email notification on break. Later could add lights or connect to my home alarm panel to trip it. All that sound about right to you? Suggestions appreciated.


You tried Nagios? I love it for monitoring all the IPs.

 

[TechBill]

I am considering CuBox instead of trying to run Linux within Windows server and I got one question about your setup -

I noticed in the first post that your running large eSATA drive. Are you storing media file or stuffs on it? If I am only wanting to do home automtation then I won't need a eSATA drive with using Domoticz correct? It'll run just fine off the SanDisk card?

Bill

 

[nayr]

@TechBill yes but it cross platform, domoticz runs just fine on Windows.. the only big disadvantage windows has is external scripting languages.. linux you can use anything, windows you have to use powershell or batch scripts unless you load up your own python/perl/javascript environments.. You might have trouble farming scripts from the community of linux users too. I use a HDHomerun for recording transmitting live tv around the house.. love it.

@brad, sucks that company disappeared.. I'll see if I can you something for the beagles IO..

@TechBill the cuBox is my NVR, the eSata drive stores my cameras video streams... SanDisk sucks balls, go buy a Samsung Pro instead.. Ive got a stack of junk SanDisk cards to back me up.. and yeah my main OS is loaded off a USD card, the HDD is just for ftp server.. the CuBox was chosen for the eSata port, if you dont intend to use it you can use something else if you'd like.. the RPi2 is really close in performance and would be easier to start out with if your new to arm linux.

@brad, your plan is sound.. your loop is going to need to be powered externally.. you can always use a breadboard or protoboard and roll out your own screw terminal connections.. these are a favorite of mine: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1214

 

[TechBill]

I also use HDHomeRun to record my shows but I also have a pair of Colossus cards (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_colossus.html) which I use to record from two of my DirectTV STB. It all hooked up in a server rack in the basement.

I run SageTV as my NVR and each TV in my house have HD300 which play back any media contents from SageTV and other sources I throw at it but soon I will probably be switching all the HD300 to Nexus Player since someone manage to write a SageTV client for it so it easier to have access to everything including security camera from one small STB at each TV.

Now I want to add home automation and maybe Blue Iris however I am not sure what path to take, install server with a bigger processor and throw everything on it - SageTV / Blue Iris / Home Automation or just run it all on a separate server.

I and my wife are both Deaf so we have a special device that flashes light when doorbell is pressed, videophone is ringing, fire alarm or our babies are crying and sometime sneaking around at night (listening monitor) while we are sleeping but they are all different brands and just take up lots of outlets around the house so we would like to be rid of them and put it all in one same system to control our lights around the house and the vibration on our bed.

I been working on SageTV for the last 12 or so years because it support Closed Captioning and subtitles perfectly so now my next goal is to built a perfect in home alert system for me and my wife.

Bill

 

[nayr]

very cool setup, thx for sharing.. I cut the cord entirely and use Sonarr.tv for scraping the internet for new releases, but given your visual requirements I totally get why your on the path you've taken.. its pretty awesome you using tech to augment your life in such a way, you'll love getting everything all unified together in Domoticz.

I personally like the modular approach to Home Automation, I dont have domoticz just running on the CuBox, its running on all sorts of nodes throughout the house.. its just the CuBox is the master and the rest are all just slave nodes.. when possible I try to keep all logic/scripts locally on the nodes so they are entirely capable of still operating in a standalone mode.. when you start really depending on all this logic you've written you really feel the pain when something goes down, with this strategy if there is an outage at least it wont impact everything, some important things can still churn along in isolation while I am repairing things.

 

[nayr]

Alot of people have been asking me for this and with my new front door PTZ I finally have the drive to start.

Hardware list:

• Dell 21" 1080p Monitor w/USB Hub and 12v output (for speakers or something)
• Raspberry Pi2
• VESA Mount & Case for RPi2
• 16GB Samsung Pro uSD
• 1.5ft DVI to HDMI Cable
• Motion Sensor

I am going to install Domoticz on the RPi so its a slave node, hook it up to the monitor, powered by the internal USB HUB, hook it to a motion detector powered by the speaker power source, and run a wire out through the door for hooking up a pressure mat and mount it all to the back side of the monitor.. the monitor will just need a small bit of plumbers tape to strap it to the wall to keep it from tipping forward.

plan is to have the monitor wake from sleep automatically if someone enters the mudroom or steps on the door mat outside and display the front door camera.. then have a USB number pad tucked away in the closet for changing presets and cameras being displayed.. I'll probably tuck some USB speakers in the space behind the monitors for the microphone and then have the audio mute once the door is opened.

I dont have all the hardware yet, I'll start gathering that up in the coming weeks.. already installed electrical port, just need ethernet.

Having a new Domoticz node in mudroom with IO will be a boon, we plan on replacing that front door and window soon and I'll take the opportunity to hardwire sensors inside it.. this is also a good place to put a few temperature sensors and perhaps a wiegand card reader for the alarm system.

*edit* did more work, added more pix.

 

[nbstl68]

nayr, I just wanted to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread about all of your designs and implementations.
But now that I have read this far and tried to wrap my head around all of it, from the perspective of a "tech savvy", mere mortal with no idea how to write code or implement anything on the scale of your projects,

I kind of feel like this at the moment...



Very cool stuff!

I think the closest I'll be able to do eventually is something with BI or maybe Xprotect.

Can't wait for you to find the time to work on and share results of the LPR project you mentioned in another thread....No pressure.

 

[nayr]

thanks, yeah this kinda stuff is really beyond most people.. I do feel sorry for people without the skill yet still have the desire, if you just go buy off the shelf crap you end up spending a fortune and then without any of the ability to add the logic that really makes this stuff useful..

turning on and off lights with your phone, ok its cool but not really worth the cost and hassle.. having your house detect nobody is in the room, or your watching a movie and adjusting the lights all on its own is where it becomes interesting.. then tying in stuff like your TV remote can control lights like a physical switch, or mimicking occupancy when your away, then really starts to make it worth the effort.

ALPR Project is going to be lots of fun, Ive been wanting to do it for a long time now.. I have most of the stuff ordered just waiting on it, it'll be a few more weeks before I get to make any progress, and in the meantime more and more suspicious vehicles and burglaries are ramping up as the weather gets better and I keep wishing I had a database of plates to check.. you can all thank Nextdoor for this project, with the help of my neighbors I expect this to be more useful than just on my own.

Was looking around at my upcoming tv-wall project and I found this for you guys: https://github.com/SvenVD/rpisurv

Goal

Rpisurv is designed to be simple to use. The goal is to connect your raspberry pi 2 to a monitor, tell rpisurv which rtsp streams it should display and tell it the max number of "columns" of streams you want. It will then autocalculate the rest, like how many rows are needed etc ...

Description

You can think of rpisurv as a wrapper for omxplayer with following features. Rpisurv uses omxplayer to fully make use of the GPU of the raspberry pi 2.

• Rpisurv implements a watchdog for every stream displayed, if the process gets killed somehow. It will try to restart the stream/process. This gives you a very robust surveillance screen.
• Autocalculcate coordinates for every stream displayed. The last stream defined will be stretched to make use of the complete screen but only if some pixels are unused.
• RTSP stream up/down detection and autorearrange of the screen layout. So for example if you stop a camera (or just stop the rtsp server on the camera), rpisurv will detects this and will recalculate/redraw the screen with the still available cameras. The same is true if a previous unconnectable rtsp stream becomes connectable. All without any user interaction.

I am going to use this project to get me going out of the gate, but I want extra features and it to be written in NodeJS like all my other HA applications.. so I will re-implement this but for my own needs.

I have reconfigured all my cameras to transmit both the main/sub streams via UDP Multicast, since I am going to be throwing one of these Pi based surveillance monitors on at least 3 displays, if not more, using the Multicast capabilities of my Dahua's will allow all the monitors to remain in sync, and keep the load down on my cameras since they will only have one stream to handle regardless of the number of displays I decide to use.

One of the benefits of putting all my cameras on a VLAN, I can multicast to displays securely without authentication and not have any big security headaches to contend with.. the displays of course will be on the same vlan as all my IPCameras and HomeAutomation nodes.

Hardware will be here Friday, should have this camera display up and working by next week.

 

[nayr]

Front door Monitor is done, and while RPISurv gets you up and going fast and easy.. I did not want a 2x2 Grid.. so I wrote my own.. the front door camera is cropped a bit but I really like how it turned out.

now I need to get more Raspberry Pi's for the living room and bedroom tv's, and a couple card readers.. This monitor does not have any EnergyStar features, if I try to put the display asleep the backlight stays on and I get a test pattern.. man that sucks, so I am also going to need to setup an external relay to turn the monitor on/off.

Because of how crappy this freebie monitor is I am going to be keeping my eyes out for a nice cheap IPS display.. the wide viewing angles and low power consumption are needed, with this monitor if I crouch down to kid or short person height the LCD is unreadable.. it has terrible viewing angles.

 

[bp2008]

Front door Monitor is done, and while RPISurv gets you up and going fast and easy.. I did not want a 2x2 Grid.. so I wrote my own.. the front door camera is cropped a bit but I really like how it turned out.

now I need to get more Raspberry Pi's for the living room and bedroom tv's, and a couple card readers.. This monitor does not have any EnergyStar features, if I try to put the display asleep the backlight stays on and I get a test pattern.. man that sucks, so I am also going to need to setup an external relay to turn the monitor on/off.

Because of how crappy this freebie monitor is I am going to be keeping my eyes out for a nice cheap IPS display.. the wide viewing angles and low power consumption are needed, with this monitor if I crouch down to kid or short person height the LCD is unreadable.. it has terrible viewing angles.

Cool. No doubt about it, a 20+ inch monitor beats the heck out of a 7 to 10 inch tablet if you have the room for it! Are you going to use some kind of motion sensor to have the monitor on only when someone is in the room to see it? It might be a challenge to find a monitor that wakes up suitably fast for that though.

 

[nayr]

yeah im going to hardwire a motion sensor in that room to one of the rpi's gpios, then I am putting an approach motion sensor outside also wired to it.. both will kick on the monitor, and yeah im going to want something tha'll wake up within a second which is pretty reasonable now days.. even this shitty monitor I have now will turn on in less than a second if I push the button on the front, unfortunately if I pull the plug it wants to show a dell splash screen for a few moments so an external relay to turn it on/off is not going to work well.. but it might be my only option unfortunately regardless of my monitor.

the RPi's bus throws errors once u have 4 connections to the video frame buffer, more videos will display but all the HDMI control just errors on me with 4 streams.. works fine with 3 streams.. so I cant even shut on off the monitor through the HDMI port right now or take a screenshot.

I think I am gong to need to hack omxplayer so it dont even try to attach to the gfx bus since apparently it runs fine directly through framebuffer.. dont know if its going to work but thats the next thing I need to figure out before getting a better display..

I also want a speaker of some sort in there for the front door's mic, the plan is to mute the speakers when the door is open.. I think I can get the response quick enough that anyone at the door wont have any idea about the monitor tucked into the closet. the speakers will be muted when the display is asleep so the dogs dont freak out all night long at noises outside.

$10 USB Weigand Prox reader will be hidden on the back side of the closet entrance... I am going to produce a short video that counts down to arming/alarming and it'll display on the monitor when coming/going, just swipe rfid fob as you leave to arm and when you come back to disarm.. when security system is armed cameras will not display and monitor will not wake unless perimeter is breached.. then it'll just show a warning video counting down until sounding the alarm.. then maby a loop flashing red/blue while alarm is triggered just to fuck w/em

 

[Zorac]

some pretty cool stuff! what are you using for your gate sensor?

 

[nayr]

Just wired contact's, these specifically: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chamberlain-Switch-Sensor-Wide-Gap-Contact-Security-Alarm-System-Outdoor-Gate-/151089131420?

Ive found you want to use wide gaps on gates and still put them as close as you can, this way they can take a beating from wind and have enough play to bounce around & flex without triggering an alarm.

 

[Zorac]

Just wired contact's, these specifically: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chamberlain-Switch-Sensor-Wide-Gap-Contact-Security-Alarm-System-Outdoor-Gate-/151089131420?

Ive found you want to use wide gaps on gates and still put them as close as you can, this way they can take a beating from wind and have enough play to bounce around & flex without triggering an alarm.

Should do the trick, didn't know they had wide gap contact sensors. Thanks!

 

[HDClown]

Hi nayr, impressive stuff you have done. If I understand correctly, you use Domoticz running on the Cubox with Aeon z-wave stick as your home automation hub, and you use the Beagle board to "monitor security sensors" and trigger things via relays. You also indicated you had an Elk panel (M1G?). What I'm a little confused on his how the Beagle boards are integrated into this mix and what exactly it's getting it's input signals from. Is that off the Elk or something else?

I've been considering get an Elk (to replace a Vista 21iP that needs a cellular modem upgrade) and a popular configuration I've found is to have Elk M1G talk to an ISY and do Insteon and Z-wave off that, because the ISY/Insteon stuff is very easy to program and more flexible than the Elk itself. It seems like you home-brewed your own type of equivalent system to this, if I understand this thread correctly. If so, would like your thoughts on this route vs. the way you did it.

Also wondering why you went the Z-wave route for things like the mailbox door triggering PTZ preset, vs. using wireless sensors that could be communicated through the Elk (GE, Honeywell or Elk's own brand).

 

[nayr]

there is no elk panel, and I went with Z-Wave as its in the 900MHz ISM and does mesh routing.. I have a 100W Ham radio and 433MHz ISM is right in the middle of a the UHF band I work on.

elk does not have nearly enough power and memory to do what I need.. ZWave is mainly for lighting, the few wireless security sensors on it will be replaced with hardwired ones once I get around to pulling a wire.. for example when I pour a new driveway up front I'll add a vehicle sensor to it and run a conduit over to the mailbox.

Even hardwired I may still keep some Z-Wave wireless sensors on for dual function, with ZW the contact switches can talk directly to a light switch.. so when I open the front or back door the contact switch instantly tells the outside and inside lights to come on without going through the automation controller.. so the response is instant, the lights are on before the door is even close to being opened enough to walk through it.