DomoticsBlog.com Home Automation for the Masses

Home automation for the Holidays

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:12:50 GMT

So today I spent some time working around the house with my family, my parents visited us for the holidays. After cleaning up the xmas decorations my wife headed off to ride her horses and my dad and I worked on a few things.

I received a few Insteon devices for xmas this year so we worked on getting those wired up in the house. We now have two Smartlinc Insteon Dimmer Switchs hooked up, one in the living room, and one in our bedroom.

My trial license of mControl expired, so I am going to have to figure out what to do about software to control the switches, I still think I would like to write my own, but we’ll see how that goes. I have enough other projects to keep me busy without trying to start up my own open source home automation application.

The best product from Smarthome, for your pet?

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:09:26 GMT

So I was going to go to bed tonight without blogging here on my home automation blog, but I came across a few products from Smarthome that forced me to blog!

The first thing I came across was this, an indoor yard for your pet to defecate on… really?

Then I came across this pooper scooper ! Seriously?

When they come up with an automated roomba type bot that actually picks up the yard I’ll buy it.

Installed the Signalinc Coupler and all is well

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:06:08 GMT

The Signalinc is now installed in the breaker box downstairs, and now X-10 signals in my house work from my testing no matter what outlet the devices are plugged into.

Installing a new circuit breaker

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:41:22 GMT

So the first project to get started on our home automation project is to get a new circuit breaker installed in the basement so that I can hookup the SignaLinc Phase Coupler .

Windows Home Server up and running on mControl

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:37:36 GMT

Well it’s now officially the day after Thanksgiving, that means Christmas Lights need to go up over the next few days. With that in mind, and following my blog post from earlier, I decide it was time to get the Insteon and X-10 equipment I do own working together. I ran across the mControl Software on Smarthomeand then decided I would look into it more. I found a trial copy and have that up and running on my Windows Home Server. I must say, it is pretty sweet that I can control the lights from nearly any computer in the world now. Over the next few days I’ll go through and hookup all the hardware I have boxed up currently. It is mostly X-10 controls, but I do have a few Insteon controls as well.

Here’s a screenshot of my test setup running in the Windows Home Server console.

What is the best Home Automation Technology?

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:46:11 GMT

So it has been a while since we've done anything with our Domotics (Home Automation) blog, and it's getting to be winter time, time for projects inside the house. Last year we started down the path of Smarthome products, but we didn't proceed all that far into the system. We still have the hardware, and will most likely use that hardware/technology going forward, but first the question is. Read more!

Tracking a domotics plan

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:13:06 GMT

One of the projects that we will be following here at Domoticsblog.com will be the move of Christopher and Natalie Hammond over at www.going2colorado.com. They will be moving to Colorado in the summer of 2009 and part of their moving process will be to configure a house with a home automation setup. Stay tuned as that process unfolds!

St. Louis Home Automation

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:06:19 GMT

DomoticsBlog.com is a home automation company based in St. Louis Missouri. We'll be adding more home automation information so you can track our growth. If you're looking for home automation information in St. Louis you've found the right place!

Home autonot

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 06:55:13 GMT

This blog hasn't seen much activity lately. We've been too busy finishing up a few other projects to start playing with all of our new Insteon toys. We should have those plugged in and playtime commencing sometime this week!

Insteon SDK Shipped

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:15:13 GMT

I haven't received an email yet but it looks like by tracking my order on Smarthome.com the Insteon SDK shipped today!

Order Status 1/14/2008

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:41:54 GMT

Great news! Part of the SMARTHOME order came in today. The two modules arrived though still no word on the SDK. I'm actually thinking I might not need the SDK and the 2600S as I may have another solution in the works! More on that if I find out more information tomorrow!

SmartHome Developer Kit Ordered, Take 2

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:35:20 GMT

In the last post I made mention of the fact that I hadn't heard anything from SMARTHOME regarding my order which included in the USB version of the Insteon SDK. Well I called SMARTHOME yesterday and they told me that they would be unable to fulfill that order because the USB version was not longer producted, so I cancelled the order. Today I called them again and learned that their Serial SDK was still available, though it was listed on the site as backorder.

Smarthome Order Status, no notification, no change....

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:33:27 GMT

Well last week we posted about ordering an SDK for Insteon from Smarthome.com. Since that order we haven't heard a single word from Smarthome... No update on the order beyond my initial email that I received for confirmation. Their website says the order is "open".

Smarthome Developer Kit Ordered!

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:36:22 GMT

Well, we took the time this evening to order a few things from SMARTHOME this evening. We ended up ordering the Hardwired SignaLinc Phase Coupler (Signal Bridge) as well as a INSTEON SwitchLinc Dimmer, White. We hope to use the Phase Coupler to make sure that the power lines here in our test house don't have any problems at the breaker box.

Home Automation - Thermostat control for your computer

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:14:43 GMT

Here at the Home Automation blog we've been looking into options for how we can remotely control a thermostat in a home. We honestly haven't found a whole lot of information for solutions that we deem acceptable yet.

Welcome to the new DomoticsBlog.com, your Home Automation Resource

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 04:10:47 GMT

Domoticsblog.com will provide you with all of the information necessary to get your home up and running with the latest wave in Home Automation Technology.