If you can Automate your Home, you
might (not) be a redneck.
Sometimes
it just takes a while to get everything together. I moved
into this newly built house almost two years ago now - and it still
isn't really newly built. It's only almost
newly built.
Though
right now it's almoster than it's ever been before.
One thing
I accomplished last week is to finally get my driveway sensor hooked
up. Well, almost. I have the
thing installed next to my Stargate, and it beeps reliably when a car
pulls in to the drive. I still have to run an 18-inch long
piece of cable to interface it with the rest of my system.
Why do I delay such an elementary task, you may wonder?
The answer
to that is unnecessarily complex (I've been married for 20-something
years, you see).
I have
always enjoyed having "fun" with my automation skills. For
instance, somewhere on the web I found a guy who could do great
imitations of other people (wish I could remember where).
Anyway, he produced a .wav file for me using the personality of Forrest
Gimp (as he called him). Forrest faithfully reminds me to
take the trash out on Monday nights. My wife Linda isn't
crazy about Forrest.
When
caller ID recognizes a call from my wife's sister, a funny (at least I
thought so), though perhaps unflattering (according to someBODY) sound
is heard from our house audio speakers. Linda isn't crazy
about that, either; but "Gee," I said, "it's only to let us
know who's calling."
She
apparently thinks that such novelties are "redneck." Well,
I'm not a redneck.
I could go
on and on with the fun that you, too, could have with your automation
system, and the hours of challenging discussion it can provoke among
your loved ones - but at this point, you probably think that I'm
talking much too much about myself. So let me move on to give
you a few ideas about how you can begin to develop your own suave,
urban, and sophisticated system. Let it never be said that I
recommend a redneck design.
Still, I'd
like to know what's wrong with being a redneck?
If I were.
Which I'm
not.
In all
seriousness, you really can do your family a big favor by taking a few
steps to ensure their safety. Simple measures like X10
Floodlights  outside the house can make for a
safer
environment after dark. A camera
 mounted outside the front door
will let you (or your kids or wife) see
who's ringing the bell before opening the door.
Even
better, some means of verbal (as well as visual) communication from
inside will add tremendously to everyone's peace of mind.
Check out this link
 for a simple standalone system
that will do just that for you.
There are
a billion and twelve simple things you can do to improve security and
convenience around your home (relax - I won't itemize). A
little surfing around www.SmarthomeUSA.com
will provide you with more than enough ideas.
And the
one thing that I always say (in fact, this could become my
"mantra"): YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AN EXPERT
in home automation to pull this off!
You'll
probably find too, that as you become familiar with the possibilities,
your confidence and desire to do more will grow. In the
process of making home a safer place, it becomes a natural step to use
the same processes to increase convenience. It works the
other way around, too. As you add "convenience" features to
your system, it often follows that security grows right along with it.
For
instance, my outside cameras, driveway sensor, and front door motion
sensor were really installed as conveniences. It's nice to
have 60 seconds or so advance notice when guests are about to arrive;
and we actually live in a pretty safe area, so security
wasn't a major concern. However, these devices serve both
purposes nicely.
The one
thing that you might want to be thinking about as you get into all of
this is how far you might eventually go. As I said, you can
do numerous simple things with standalone devices. In the
long run, if you're going to do very much, you might be better off
basing the whole design around a central brain. That way, you
don't have to buy "intelligence" multiple times. Simpler
devices can be connected to a single smart controller.
I make no
secret that I'm a Stargate
fan, but there are other less expensive ways of
centralizing your automation. Homeseer
is a great software-based system, Elk
makes modules that can be programmed from your PC, Adicon
, HAL .... lots of stuff.
You just need to compare the features
with your budget and decide what's right for you.
If you
were interested in pursuing the Stargate route (my method of choice), Integrating
the Smart Home & its Owner will provide you with lots
of detail on how to put a flexible system together.
By the
way: guess I never dealt with the question of why I've delayed
interfacing the driveway sensor with the rest of the house:
I'm just
not sure what I want (dare) to happen when it detects a car.
Linda already doesn't like the beeping sound it makes by
default. Well, now - I can easily disable that and initiate
some other event. But for that matter, she doesn't like the
beep that plays when the motion sensor at the front door detects
movement outside. I'm just not sure what to do
anymore. This has the potential of putting a serious damper
on my fun.
Might be
that her nerves are just a little on edge from all my experimentation.
Can
somebody please tell me what's redneck about a beep? And
heck, it's not even possible for a redneck to have a mantra, is it?
Back to blog
copyright (c) 2002 Integratorpro.com
|
