nayr's home automation build out...

nayr

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
9,329
Reaction score
5,324
Location
Denver, CO
Figured I'd share some details on my setup since its pretty unique..

I have a Cubox i4 Pro (Quad 1GHz ARM w/2GB RAM 64gb uSD) that runs ArchLinux and has an eSata 4TB WD Purple Disk


This lil linux box runs a web server with a custom interface I whipped up, the interface controls all the home automation aspects and uses x509 TLS Authentication to access the webpage; without a certificate signed by me you just get an error message (check it out if you like, http://dispatch.nayr.net).. the interface looks great on phones/tablets and desktops, here are a few shots:
Screenshot 2014-04-08 02.29.52.pngScreenshot 2014-04-07 02.50.44.pngScreenshot 2014-04-03 23.39.42.png
Some of the home automation is done through ZWave; the rest is over IP through my control nodes I'll get to shortly... Ive got a ZWave thermostat with some custom circuitry I put together so it runs my swamp cooler like an airconditioner.

Dispatch also runs an Asterisks VoIP Server for my Cisco VoIP Phones; handling all my phone calls, syncing address books with google, etc.. lots of hacks in here... But from the VoIP Phones I can also control the home automation & security through a touchscreen menu system hosted off the webserver.

Cameras are on there own vlan with a firewall protecting them; they FTP video 24/7 to the dispatch server and then those files are shared back over the network to my apple computers for playback. I can remote view slow FPS jpeg captures of all my cams over HTTP or use SmartPSS either locally or remotely over VPN (I have 10Mbit uploads so it works well)

There are several programs I wrote that interface with the Television and Audio/Video Receiver over serial connections, and throughout the house in strategic locations I have Sensor nodes hidden.

Sensor nodes are BeagleBone Black's running ArchLinux and plugged into the same vlan as the security cameras.


These run custom code to monitor security sensors, turn things on/off with relays, control sprinklers, basically be my IO ports of all sorts.. one in the garage, one in the attic, and one in the basement... they run really simple services that just push changes and sensor data to the dispatch server, where it gets proccessed, and recieves commands from the dispatch server to bang relays, report environmental conditions, etc.. These devices also authenticate with the dispatch server using strong crypto.

osbo (1).jpg

I am still debugging/programming/adding on to this and it will be a long term project I spend some considerable time on each year; the next big addon I am going to shoehorn into this is an OkIdoKeys smartlock to have it disarm security system when presented with an auth token, and begin work on an automated aquarium controller for my 55g cold water tank.

there's a load more going on in the background but I'd just bore you with details... but I thought you guys would get a kick out of such a convoluted setup; I'll keep you guys appraised of any cool new happenings.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

nayr

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
9,329
Reaction score
5,324
Location
Denver, CO
Thanks :D

one thing I forgot to mention; the web interface provides toasts for the local device.. if you keep the page open event notifications popup in realtime through the OS's notification system.. when a call comes in the caller-id/address book info appears in the corner of the screen, or a door opens, alarm goes off, etc.. regardless what app you have open as long as the page is open in the background somewhere... It was a grand day when I finally got that working... it also works over IM so I can have it push notifications to my mobile devices.

eventually the plan is to offload the NVR duties to a Dahua NVR hooked into my AVR and put a bunch of automation around it; ie if the doorbell/alarm goes off then turn on tv (if needed), switch HDMI to NVR.. then timeout and switch back/shutdown..

Im thinking of new ways to hack more intelligence in all the damn time; for example on really nice days in spring/fall we just leave the back door open for the fresh air, but at night it gets really cold.. if I remembered to shutdown the heater I'd forget to turn it back on later, waking up to your house being 40 degrees sucks and takes a ton of energy to heat back up.. So now if the back door is left open for longer than 5mins it shuts off the heater until the door is closed for 20mins; then it resumes its normal programming.

I made it really modular and flexible; so often I come up with an idea and a few hours later I have program written and tested that works beautifully.. perhaps one day if I get enough time to cleanup the code and restructure/document things better I may release it OpenSource; but its still going to take a bit of cleverness to even get it running well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RJF

Tiger_Claw

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Aug 23, 2014
Messages
151
Reaction score
22
I am still debugging/programming/adding on to this and it will be a long term project I spend some considerable time on each year; the next big addon I am going to shoehorn into this is an OkIdoKeys smartlock to have it disarm security system when presented with an auth token, and begin work on an automated aquarium controller for my 55g cold water tank.

there's a load more going on in the background but I'd just bore you with details... but I thought you guys would get a kick out of such a convoluted setup; I'll keep you guys appraised of any cool new happenings.
That is some serious talent brother and that isn't a joke. Have you ever considered designing, copyrighting and selling anything like this?e

Seriously, I don't know what your day job is, but your hobby here is amazing. :disillusionment:

Tiger
 

Shockwave199

Known around here
Joined
Mar 13, 2014
Messages
1,016
Reaction score
550
Location
New York
Hold on, all this effort and cameras and the back door could be left OPEN! You might look into auto door closing!
 

nayr

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
9,329
Reaction score
5,324
Location
Denver, CO
no the back door is purposely left open, while were sitting in living room and kids/pets run in and out... especially in the spring time; after breathing recycled air for months on end its nice to smell something other than eachother.. :)

problem would be I'd open the door and temps would drop a degree or two and the heater would kick on; then I'd shut heater off then few hours later close the back door and go to bed and wake up cold as fuck... I already had the pieces in place for other reasons I just need to put them together.

For my day job? Well lets just say a few million users is a walk in the park for the systems I design and maintain... My hobbies are vast and never ending, it gets tiring at times because it seems the project is never done and if it is there's several more projects that need attention... the accomplishment is fleeting; but then every once and while I stand back and look at this shit and the bigger picture comes into focus and its just friggin awesome and I have to at least tell someone whats going on.

I could sell alot of things and make plenty of money; but I make good money and have the ability to do some epic projects as it is so why mess up a good thing? I live life in the pursuit of knowledge and ability; not money...

ps: my garage doors auto close; both the big car door and the normal pedestrian door.. I am considering one on my office door.
 

Tiger_Claw

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Aug 23, 2014
Messages
151
Reaction score
22
For my day job? Well lets just say a few million users is a walk in the park for the systems I design and maintain... My hobbies are vast and never ending, it gets tiring at times because it seems the project is never done and if it is there's several more projects that need attention... the accomplishment is fleeting; but then every once and while I stand back and look at this shit and the bigger picture comes into focus and its just friggin awesome and I have to at least tell someone what's going on.
That is awesome. You are one lucky MoFo. I tilt my hat in your presence. Keep up the good work

Tiger
 

nayr

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
9,329
Reaction score
5,324
Location
Denver, CO
you hear any black helicopters yet? there on there way!
 

Vin Tekiel

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jul 30, 2014
Messages
59
Reaction score
1
Love it!!! It's awesome, it's part of what I want to do, and now I feel so far behind ;(
 

Mike

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
2,982
Reaction score
2,725
Location
New York
@nayr you never cease to amaze me! This is amazing and extremely cool, keep up the great work and thanks for sharing with the IPCT community.
 
Last edited:

nayr

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
9,329
Reaction score
5,324
Location
Denver, CO
Thanks guys, recently added a Nexus 7 to the network, its freaking wonderful.. battery lasts all day, its fast, display is great, supports multiple users and the wireless charging is ideal.

im putting together a mobile NAS to put in with my expedition kit, its going to be a WiFi access point coupled with a PogoPlug and 1-2tb of storage running Plex Media Server and Music Player Daemon w/usb sound.. I'll shove it all into a tiny indestructible enclosure with a 12v power plug and it'll provide endless hours of entertainment for passengers on my frequent road trips and give me access to my entire music collection where ever I may wander.

I will manually re-encode (Handbrake FTW) my entire children's movie collection and favorite tv shows directly into a tablet appropriate resolution (dont really need 1080p) to put on the NAS so all it has to do is serve the files up over a local wireless network.
 

Attachments

Last edited by a moderator:

icerabbit

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Apr 14, 2014
Messages
583
Reaction score
74
Location
FL <~> ME
Fantastic!

You must be able to build and control just about anything with that much technical, hardware and software knowledge! :D

Custom home automation to suit your needs! Love it!

In car wifi, nas etc I can handle, though probably not as elegantly as you, and certainly not with custom server, authetication, interface etc. Would be off the shelf-ish.

... I really need to learn more stuff ...
 

icerabbit

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Apr 14, 2014
Messages
583
Reaction score
74
Location
FL <~> ME
PS: regarding the mobile nas.

I have somewhat of a lite & portable version of what you're going for, in the form of a kingston mobilelite; which does wifi sharing of sd card and usb drives.

I picked one up for easier mobile file access on the road with ios devices (no card slots :( tired of wasting time moving files around ... no file and folder access really sucks in ios). The kingston was better than the other ones I tried. Might be something under the hood that could be reflashed to be more useful.
 

Vin Tekiel

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jul 30, 2014
Messages
59
Reaction score
1
I almost went with the sainsmart relay card, but decided to have fun and bought the relays by themself for almost nothing :)
 

Jim W

Young grasshopper
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
73
Reaction score
2
I almost went with the sainsmart relay card, but decided to have fun and bought the relays by themself for almost nothing :)
I think the relay bit is quite cheap but I want the ethernet controller -I'm trying to figure out a way to rig up a lighting controller that works from an Android phone.
These are another device wit I/O ports
Here

eth484-400.png
 

nayr

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
9,329
Reaction score
5,324
Location
Denver, CO
I use beagle bone black for network access and hook the GPIO's to basic relay boards (w/no proccessors)
 

Jim W

Young grasshopper
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
73
Reaction score
2
I don't have the skills needed to do the programming so i need something ready to go
 
Top