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tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt to ropeguru

MVM

to ropeguru

Re: Best home automation standard...

What do you want to automate?

I think Zigbee will be popular for "white goods"

I use a little PLC with web interface to automate our greenhouse and am in the process of designing a second system for our wood stove/water heating stuff.
»cainetworks.com/products ··· dex.html

/tom

ropeguru
Premium Member
join:2001-01-25
Mechanicsville, VA

ropeguru

Premium Member

said by tschmidt:

What do you want to automate?

I think Zigbee will be popular for "white goods"

I use a little PLC with web interface to automate our greenhouse and am in the process of designing a second system for our wood stove/water heating stuff.
»cainetworks.com/products ··· dex.html

/tom

Maybe autmation isn't the correct term. I am looking for a common protocol for things like thermostat, monitoring electrical usage at least for total off the breaker panel and maybe down to the outlet level and definitely at the breaker level for things like electric heat strips and well pump, usage and flow off of well pump, and maybe even a camera or alarm system.

I haven't gotten everything fully worked out in my brain yet. I think one of the main things is some sort of central interface and/or control platform for everything. I am not even sure if something like this even exists at this point that isn't cost prohibitive.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt

MVM

The market is still pretty fragmented and a lot of players either do not have much in the way of networking experience or think their proprietary control protocol delivers a marketing benefit. It is also a chicken-n-egg problem. Until home area networks (HAN) become pervasive there is not much marketing incentive to may your widget network capable.

Zigbee is starting to gain traction with manufactures.
»www.zigbee.org/Standards ··· iew.aspx

May want to take a look at the RF4CE spec. I leave it to creative minds what the acronym means.
»www.zigbee.org/Specifica ··· iew.aspx

»electronicdesign.com/com ··· d-z-wave

My bet is that some form of RF technology will win the home command and control battle, both home automation and Consumer Electronics, and that energy harvesting will be adopted to power devices like intrusion alarms eliminating the need for batteries or AC power. But that is just my crystal ball -YMMV.

/tom

cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

1 recommendation

cdru

MVM

said by tschmidt:

My bet is that some form of RF technology will win the home command and control battle, both home automation and Consumer Electronics

Way to go out on a limb there. Are you betting that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow too?

Zigbee, Z-Wave, whatever tomorrow brings...which ever one that you choose one of the other's will be the dominate one (if there ever really is one). X-10 definitely won't be the winner.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt

MVM

said by cdru:

Way to go out on a limb there. Are you betting that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow too?

We have had multiple discussions about future proofing homes. I just wanted to make the case that for most stuff unlicensed RF is the preferred medium: not hardwired, not power line, and heaven forbid not IR - remember IRDA. I've strung a lot of LV wiring for my DIY home projects I would much prefer not having to do that.

Hopefully if neither Zigbee or Z-Wave score an outright win bridging between the two will be pretty easy. The most important issue is not the physical layer so much, though that is important, but the device control profiles.

I'm betting heavily on the sun, although the weather here in NH is pretty bad today, so it is unlikely I'll see it tomorrow.

/tom