I am building a house this year and was curious to know if anyone has made their house 'smart'. So I'm thinking lights/appliances anything else. What products did you use? Was it much more expensive than standard products? etc
Building a House - How to Make It Smart? on The Cheap
thierry on 10/05/2018 - 00:12
Last edited 10/05/2018 - 09:24 by 1 other user
Last edited 10/05/2018 - 09:24 by 1 other user
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Smart product can be obsolete fast, so think twice before getting them installed. You don't want to stuck with something that doesn't work/get supported for the next 20 years.
I've installed and worked on smart houses/automation for the better part of decade. You want "on the cheap" then look at the current range of Xiamoi products and the systems you can get from Officeworks. If you want something more established google Z-Wave/ZigBee. If you're building a new place and have money to burn C-Bus.
I had C-Bus in my previous house, completely overkill but it's flexible and given it's hardwired very reliable (and great to play with if you love tinkering!). I've fitted my current house out with a range of Z-Wave devices/products. It works well for what I want (remote turning on/off of lights, security camera monitoring, heating/cooling, door locks). I installed a small Z-Wave system in at my parents place for security: basically a panic-switch beside the bed that when pressed turns on the carport, backyard, sideway, loungeroom lights and sends me a SMS.
So it depends on how "smart" you want to make things and of course budget!
hey mate
I bought a place which has z-wave installed for switching on/off lights/water pump etc.
I ideally want to install a lock to the garage which is a separate structure to the main house so that i dont have to carry the key with me all the time and also install security camera.
The garage side door is a glass sliding door.
Would you be able to recommend a lock and security camera as well pls.
thanks so much.
For locks I've used the Lockwood Z-Wave, they're not the cheapest (~$500) but they're a breeze to program and Lockwood support is fantastic.
So many different brands, prices and quality for IP cameras. I'm no expert in this field but I've got a few Hikvisions installed and they work well recording footage to my NAS.What Z-Wave controller are you using?
Thanks I will have a look at Lockwood. Hopefully it can be installed over the glass sliding door
I am using veralite
Will check hikvisions as well
Cheers
I'm going with http://www.pushcontrols.com/home-automation.html not cheap,
As lights, door and air con as part of the system.
oh well I save some money buying eneloops thanks to ozb :)I picked up a dozen of these switches when they were on sale for about $5 each. A electrician friend wired them in for a case of beer (took about 2 hours to do the lot). They sit behind regular switches so you can use manual ones if needed. Interface with mobile app, google home or alexa. Have them on all the lights, some power points and the bathroom fan for a timer. Not the smartest devices but customisable so you can get them to do what you want with a bit of fiddling.
I do this too. I run tasmota on the sonoffs and wired the switches to the gpio pins. The switches control the sonoff rather than the lights.
Have extra cables wired to all your switches because a lot of the digital smart switches require an extra Neutral cable to work. The extra cost of re-wiring current switches is probably stopping a lot of people from changing all their house switches to smart switches at the moment.
Low voltage lighting (12 or 24v) circuits in star configuration to one cabinet.
Run low voltage (3.3v or 5v) wiring in star configuration for all switches as a separate circuit.
Build a hub with a pi and relays to control all the lights.
See that Australian YouTube"superhouse" channel for inspiration.
Use lots of conduit.To retrofit you ideally need a live and neutral going into the real switch box and a live and neutral coming out of the switch box.
You can have the house wired as non smart with large boxes behind the switches to put your smart home gear then add the smart home stuff yourself.
However going with a separate circuit for switches and power will use less power bc you don't have to have an always on device behind every switch
Smart appliances can be obsolete very fast and I don't trust the new tech to last long because they are built to fail in a few years so people will be forced to upgrade every now and then.
I am also planning to build a "smart" home on a budget. Here is my plan (note that not all things point to smart connectivity but it helps in some regard and its more about increasing power efficiency in my house):
- Choose powerline adaptors instead of spending money on having Ethernet data points all around the house. Google powerline adaptors if you are not aware of it. The tech is like magic. I would recommend the xiaomi ones.
- I plan to have solar panels installed in my house to offset my power consumption. I also plan to have a heat pump water heating system installed instead of gas/electric/solar water heating. The heat pump systems can be set to heat water during the day when the panels generate power.
- Instead of getting smart appliances, I get smart plugs (like the xiaomi ones) and configure it such that it turns off all appliances in the house (except the router and few others) when I leave home for work and at night when I go to bed. I trigger this action with a button which will also activate my alarm system (xiaomi) at the same time. Thus cutting off "vampire" power usage of appliances and arming my security system at the same time.
- I will time my washing machine to run at around noon while my solar panels are still generating power.
- I plan to get a smart robot vacuum cleaner (xiaomi?) which can run during daytime when I'm at work.
- Motion sensors paired with smart led lights in the garage and my corridor to light up the place in the evening when motion is detected so that I am not fumbling around to find the switch.
- Install a smart lock on the garage door leading into the house (not the main door).
- Google/Alexa assistants to control lighting and bring up media content to listen to or watch.
Well that is the initial plan :)
Make sure the stand by power consumption of the wifi smart plug is less than the stand by power consumption of the appliance :)
Eg the sonoffs use a few watts same with smart light bulbs.
If you want to lower power consumption then you need to turn the power on and off in a central place with a rasp pi controlling multiple relays connected to lights and sockets.
Smart and cheap sounds like a recipe for headaches, things not working properly, difficult setup etc.
Do it properly, or manage your lights the old fashiooned way, by using the switch.
Having tinkered with this for a bit I would recommend keeping the home wiring standard and not bothering with building anything specific for the smartness of the home (other than making sure there is ethernet in enough places to spread the Wifi signal). Smart wiring won't add much value to the home, but funnily enough wired Ethernet can help sell a place pretty quickly. Instead focusing on off-the-shelf products would be the cheapest and smartest long-term decision IMO. I personally like using HomeKit, so either have HomeKit compatible devices, or something that can link up with HomeBridge on a Raspberry Pi. Belkin Wemo, Xiaomi, LIFX, Harmony Hub for AV system and Broadlink RM for the a/c.
Xiaomi!