nayr's home automation build out...

@nayr, did you have any luck with the Amazon Echo?

I'm considering buying one of the Echo Dots and using them with TP-LINK Smart Plug's for lights and a few other things around the house. I was just curious if these are secure, and if not if they are functional if prohibited from incoming/outgoing traffic on the network.
 
nah I didnt get one; was not hackable enough.. I mainly wanted voice announcements the laundry was done or the mail had arrived or whatever so I just hooked up a usb speaker and hid it behind my couch and record off wav files of basic events.

I can controll lights w/remotes so voice assistant is not horribly usefull, and there is a huge privacy consideration.

might look at the new google one
 
nayr said:
nah I didnt get one; was not hackable enough.. I mainly wanted voice announcements the laundry was done or the mail had arrived or whatever so I just hooked up a usb speaker and hid it behind my couch and record off wav files of basic events.

I can controll lights w/remotes so voice assistant is not horribly usefull, and there is a huge privacy consideration.

might look at the new google one
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You (and @fenderman) are the network security guru(s) here, do you feel they're a threat to the security of someone's home network? Both the Echo and the remote devices like Wemu and/or the smart plug?

I know the ioT has been in the news a lot lately for negative stuff, just curious if the convenience is worth it yet.


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I run my IoT and automation systems all in-house with no cloud based services, stuff like the Echo requires cloud connectivity and having a product that puts an always listening microphone fixed in many houses makes it a delicious target for state level actors.. not to mention all marketing crap they going to use such stuff for, wont it be creepy when you cant get a hardon and then you start getting spammed for viagra; oh wait.. nm, whats the worst that could happen? :p 'trigger: it happens to alot of guys, response: double down on dick spam'

in my experience voice interfaces are more frustrating than useful; and that nice Z-Wave lock of mine wont be much use if you can just walk up to my living room window and say: Alexia, unlock the front door and be welcomed in regardless who you are.. needs some star-trek level voice prints with convoluted command codes before initiating self destruct.
 
I sell and Install Security Systems if your interested. I can offer you a DIY Kit if you want.
 
I'm asking everyone who uses Asterisk and I remember you do as well: What do you use for CNAM and are you happy with it? I've switched around over the years and still can't find one that works exceptionally well pretty much by itself. It's usually not a mission critical element, but now that I have some time I'm circling back to it again.
 
flowroute provides CNAM with my DID's
 
so with another kid on the way my wife has to give up the other bedroom and move down with me; we both telecommute so time to redo my office and make room for two.. she's nesting so its gotta be done before baby comes.. I been waiting to do my home office since forever.

here is a basic idea of what i'm planning, im going to build a half wall and basically make 2 window cubes.. new flooring/paint/decor this time coordinated with my wife's eye.. I think my office is the only room in the house that is left unpainted from when we bought it, still stark white heh.

Hardwood faux tile floors but under the desks I will but underfloor heating, window will be tinted with mirror reflective tint and a motorized roller shade will be made for the window to open/close at dusk/dawn so nobody can see in since its a due south facing window.


Screenshot 2016-12-22 03.33.28.png

The partition wall down the middle will support a pair of dual monitor wall mounts on each side and be about 4ft high with a shelf on top for plants.. we each get to decorate the wall behind us, one thing I learned with telecommuting is having a wall behind you is nice, kids/dogs/cats/random chaos are much likely to appear on camera and you can have some privacy when others are around.. The office door is getting a closer installed so it'll always remain closed.

A pair of celling mount speakers will be aligned right above where the partition is and hooked to zone3 on my house audio system.. I can hide a subwoofer in there somewhere, we both jam the same music when working so thats good.. I can probably hook up a few more powermates up and set them on our desks to control the volume with a twist and tap for mute.. I'll put the access point right between both speakers so objects sitting on either desk are unobsecured from 5GHz quickness

On the wall by the entry door I'm going to put a table with my two printers on it and a cheap and big 4k tv to output 24/7 feed from my NVR out of.. we should both be able to see it from our desks with a glance over.. going to try to see if this 4k NVR can handle all my cameras at once with good quality and this need not be theatre quality display.

Eventually I'd like it setup in such a way that anyone in the family could use either or both stations, and setup the TV for Gaming so perhaps we can all play video games with our own either multi-monitor or big screen setups heh.. Its not guaranteed my wife and/or I will telecommute forever so I want it to be flexible as the kids rooms are not big enough for them to have desks of there own.

Got a few more secrets up my sleeve, but those are just finer details.. like a place for my camping fridge to keep cold drinks on hand when not on the trailer :D, but its these details tha'll make it my dream home office.
 
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yeah this is just a basic cartoonish layout I have for my automation panel, I dont have furniture on it normally I just did it for my wife's benefit; in my automation panel each room is full of sensor statuses instead of furniture :)

I see it completed in my head already, dont need any damn blueprints.. just have to pull it out and make it real.

$200 4k TV is what im talking about yeah, the one I want in the living room is like $1400 heh.
 
Aube (a division of honeywell) probably makes the best electric floor heating thermostats out there (they make hydronic too) and most models have a dry contact that can lower the setpoint.
Aube Technologies inc. Edit to clarify: there are also Honeywell branded versions that appear almost identical but they don't have the terminals to set it to the vacation setpoint.

homestyler is much more than just blueprints. Plants right below the window could also work well.
 
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the window sill in my office is 4ft high inside, and ground level outside, like half a foot.. plan is to connect the sill to the divider wall.. the wider cap shelf/sill will all be one and I'll have a steel LDR pipe at the open end of the divider going up attached to the celling to give it support to hold all these heavy monitors.

im thinking the cap shelf/sil piece will have a raised ledge of some sort, and with everything at same level I'll make some gravity fed drip system that comes on at defined intervals, living in a desert its nearly impossible to over-water anything it seems so its kinda easy to automate plant watering.. manual watering still done from time to time but much less often.

I'll check it out, it would be nice to have something better than what I do now.. technically I kinda have 4 stories so it makes drafting it up a lil pain w/freebie versions.. usually I squish em all down somehow.
 
Im thinking of installing an electronic door strike on the office door, when working from home I can lock the door and just push a button on our desks to let people in, then put a hidden button up high on the external door sill that will pop it open and kids cant reach w/out a key.. fail secure and just twist the lock on back to enable/disable, can have home alarm system kill power to latch entirely so the hidden buttons wont work when house is armed.

Think I got the audio system figured out, this was going to be tricky but the plan is each cubical will get a single 40w in-wall center-channel speaker installed under the desks just off the floor (yay monoprice).. powered by my multi-zone amp downmixing to mono and fed by one of these in each cube: Amazon.com: Pyle PWPBT47 In-Wall Home Theater Receiver: Electronics so you can use that built in speaker with either a 3.5mm stereo or bluetooth.

then between the two cubes above the divider will be a pair of ceiling mount speakers hooked to my receivers inputs that can sync whole house music (FM Radio or Pandora), and because receiver has AirPlay its an audio output on our mac's so either computer station could in theory play stereo out the roof speakers or throughout the whole house and outside :) The idea being both both workstations can share control over music while having individual speakers for normal internet use that are not crap built in.. I dont want any monitors or speakers to have to sit on desks as that eats up room.. I like to play music throughout the house when kids are in school and im working from home, and of course when house cleaning and partying.

So yeah, 3 individual audio systems.. I thought about giving each station surround sound but it seemed a bit overkill.. if yeh want to game/movie in surround sound you can do it in the living room heh.. I'd like each station to get a powermote knob like I have in living room that will both control volume/mute of the overhead speakers so we can take phone calls and not have to fumble with some app.
 
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of course not
 
Not to get off topic too much,but are you doing a whole wall with faux stone? Have you installed it before?
 
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I doing a accent wall for my living room with it, but I'm torn if i should go with faux or not. I keep hearing of height/weight limitations using real stone and possibly having to use catch rails every few feet of height support. Look forward to seeing your final result.
 
put concrete tile backer board behind it and it'll hold the weight all the way to the roof.. im only doing a 6ft wide section with it and a normal tile saw cuts right through em.
 
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nayr said:
put concrete tile backer board behind it and it'll hold the weight all the way to the roof.. im only doing a 6ft wide section with it and a normal tile saw cuts right through em.
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First time I've heard of that option. Thanks!
 
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