Pierre's Lab

Just switched to a new Home automation software. The one I used, PowerHome is terrific but didn’t have any update since December 2008 when version 2.1b was officially released. A new beta release – 2.1.2 has been released on January 8^th 2011 and I’m not sure I want to go through another Beta, I did that too many times with Cortexa home automation diy system and it can be painful even if I have a very high interest in playing around with my Home Automation.

I mainly switched to a new home automation software because I wanted an access from my android phone, my kitchen wall mounted touchscreen as well as my Google TV which has Google chrome. PowerHome doesn’t have an android interface or a touchscreen feature. Both go through a web page which is fully customizable but not always to use.

The switch was quite easy as I have plenty of experience working on home automation system and I made several mistakes some quite costly.

What to look for when you decide to have a home automation software.

 First question you have to ask is “do I need that”? This question doesn’t seem obvious nevertheless you need to really thing about it. A home automation software requires many things you will need to purchase and install before you can even think start using it: The second question is how do I want to use it? Just inside the home using my computer? Though a smartphone and/or the web from inside as well as from outside, using a touchscreen dedicated to the home automation software etc.

This list of equipment needed is based on an existing always on internet connection:

• A Wi-Fi router with hard wired Ethernet ports – the Cisco E2000 works well for it’s $65
• A stand alone computer connected to the network, a lower model is perfect. Home automation software do not request a powerful computer. I get mine at a refurbished Dell for $160.
• A UPS backup system in case of power failure – This is a must, nothing worse than a crash when the home automation software is doing a database backup. Mine is a  APC BR1000G I got for $140
• A firewall so hacker don’t ruin your life but you still can access your home automation software through the web and your smartphone if not included in the Wi-Fi router
• An account with a company like dyndns to have a domain name and your home automation web pages forwarded to your home IP through your internet provider. Annual cost: $30 / year for the forwarding and the domain name.

Going on the cheap side, this system cost less than $400 but not being careful it can add up to over $1,000. Even at $400, it’s quite far from the $49.99 that home automation software claim but you can’t skip the expense. I tried and it didn’t work very well.

Now that we have the base of a home automation diy system, we can spend sometime looking at the software by itself, this will be for Home Automation Software part 2.