Thinking of Misterhouse...

Well, it's been a little over a month since my last post. In the interim, I have taken a 2 week trip to Italy and not much else (except recover from my 2 week trip to Italy).

Although I haven't made any changes on the home automation front, I certainly haven't stopped thinking about it. I've decided that my previous solution of using wired motion detectors and a UPB I/O module isn't really the way I want to go... it's a little ponderous (with the wires) and expensive.

My next thought was to have a wireless receiver which receives wireless signals from the motion detectors, and the receiver would send the contact closures to the UPB I/O module. This again gets expensive as you have to buy special wireless PIR motion sensors for a specific model of wireless receiver. For the Visonic brand, this uses prices like:
200 series 4-channel receiver: $72.99 from Smarthome
200 series 2-channel receiver: $54.99 from Smarthome
200 series wireless PIR: $109.99 from Smarthome
UPB UMI: $94.95 from Automated Outlet

This is certainly more than I wanted to spend. A fuller explanation of how I came to this idea is detailed in this thread: http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=5483

In the same thread, Martin from Automated Outlet mentioned that WGL (http://www.wgldesigns.com/) is designing a whole house transceiver that would take signals from wireless X10 RF transmitters and send out resulting UPB signals. He indicated the product was currently in beta testing. Since there is a meeting of the North Texas Home Automation Users Group this weekend at Automated Outlet, I will certainly be sure to ask about this module and his experiences with it. However, I'm also pretty sure I don't want to wait around for it.

So, my conclusion is I have to do something that I wanted to save until later, and that is add a PC to my home automation setup. I have an old computer that was given to me by my friend Kelly (who has since moved to New York City). I plan to set this computer up with Linux and the free home automation software Misterhouse (http://misterhouse.wikispaces.com/) based on the instructions on (http://mrhousefromscratch.tk/), straight down to the version of Linux he used. Misterhouse is written in Perl, a language with which I am familiar, but the learning curve on this particular product appears steep, so I'll go with the tutorial and learn a bunch on the way.

This software also has an external web access which would be immediately available over my wireless network for local clients (like our two laptops), but which can also be setup for external access (password protected of course) so I can check on the status from my cell phone or an external computer (assuming I have my dynamic IP setup through a dynamic DNS website).

But how does this relate to Project #2, you may ask? Well, Misterhouse recently updated to have UPB interface (and I have an extra computer interface from a recent Simply Automated KPE-06 purchase from a fellow cocooner), it also handles WGL's (http://www.wgldesigns.com/) W800RF32 module, which is described on their website as:
"The W800 receives all X10 RF commands from key chain remotes, palm pad remotes, motion sensors, and even X10 security modules. Unlike the transceivers, this receiver sends X10 RF signals directly to a computer..."

This means that Misterhouse will be able to take the X10 RF signals and perform UPB actions based on what it receives. This makes the addition of not only motion detectors easy (particularly the cheaper X10 ones, around $10-12 instead of $100+), but also door and window sensors and wireless remotes (great for the living room or keychains). And the only part of the setup I have to purchase (besides the motion sensors and such) is the W800RF32, which makes it a cheaper solution than the one cited above, and as a bonus, I can set up Misterhouse for free now with the web access, and add the W800RF32 and wireless parts when I'm ready.

As always, I'll update the blog with my progress.... I'll also make an attempt to take notes at the NTHAUG meeting this weekend and post them here as well as on cocoontech.