LinuxMCE Forums

General => Users => Topic started by: Captain_Glen on July 13, 2009, 07:30:23 am

Title: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: Captain_Glen on July 13, 2009, 07:30:23 am: Hi,

I want to set up Linux MCE. I live in Australia. Where can I buy the hardware for lights, blinds, sprinklers, security cameras and temperature control?

Also what hardware do other Australians have? Where did you get it? Do you recommend it? How much did it cost?

Any info would be appreciated.
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: zacatlan on July 13, 2009, 09:56:25 am: Hi Mate,

I haven't implememnted any of the automation stuff as I rent .

Having said that, Bunnings will have a number of X10 supplies.

It would be good if anyone could shed some extra light on insteon/z wave and other devices.

Take a look at the Australian setups in the wiki.
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: colinjones on July 13, 2009, 11:27:13 am: There are no Australian versions of ZWave or Insteon, and no sign there ever will be at this stage. The European and UK versions of ZWave will work in Australia, although any power sockets will have to have convertors of course... the only issue is the RF frequency used in EU/UK is a little different from that registered in Australia for the same use... so using it would technically be illegal. I have investigated that band, and it appears not to be used in Australia at the moment and the range of the ZWave signal is comparitively, very small.

X10 is pretty crap, and the prices Bunnings charge are criminal for 30 year old technology. PLCBus is working, available, and somewhat better than X10 but is still very slow and unidirectional, so unreliable.
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: hari on July 13, 2009, 04:54:43 pm: get Instabus/EIB/KNX. A bit hard to retrofit, otherwise really decent tech.

br, hari
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: Captain_Glen on July 17, 2009, 04:41:20 am: What are the websites that I can order PLCBus and Instabus/EIB/KNX from?
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: colinjones on July 17, 2009, 04:59:46 am: The PLCBus you will find cheaper, and genuine AU versions of - they have an HK or CN website somewhere (giyf) but deliver to AU.... best to research compatibility with LMCE, I not sure how far ddamron got with it. EIB stuff is much more expensive and I don't believe has an AU version, but the voltage/freq systems are the same in EU as AU, so will work with appropriate power socket converters where appropriate, and is a much more advanced technology than PLCBus.
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: scourt on July 17, 2009, 06:16:26 am: I live in Brisbane and decided to install Clipsal CBUS for the lighting. Unfortunately I haven't yet managed to get it working with lmce even though there are instructions on the wiki at http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Implementing_Clipsal_Interface_using_Generic_Serial_Device.
(btw, any assistance with that would be appreciated).

I also bought some of the WinPlus X10 stuff from Bunnings when they dropped the prices by 50%. They're not selling it anymore...
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: colinjones on July 17, 2009, 06:48:43 am: What's it doing/not doing?
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: Zaerc on July 17, 2009, 03:50:46 pm: To answer your original question: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Where_to_Buy#Australia

If only people would bother to list their suppliers...
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: colinjones on July 17, 2009, 04:11:46 pm: Quote from: Zaerc on July 17, 2009, 03:50:46 pm
To answer your original question: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Where_to_Buy#Australia

If only people would bother to list their suppliers...

The original question is more about HA rather than general hardware, and the options (or lack thereof) have already been detailed here. That web site is horrendous, I have added a "best price" web site to the wiki for Australia which includes MSY among hundreds of others, which has by far the best pricing in Australia for all things computer, so I have removed MSY as being so company specific is completely unnecessary. (esp with that site, just click on the link and you will see what I mean!)
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: Zaerc on July 18, 2009, 03:20:18 pm: Quote from: colinjones on July 17, 2009, 04:11:46 pm
Quote from: Zaerc on July 17, 2009, 03:50:46 pm
To answer your original question: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Where_to_Buy#Australia

If only people would bother to list their suppliers...

The original question is more about HA rather than general hardware, and the options (or lack thereof) have already been detailed here. That web site is horrendous, I have added a "best price" web site to the wiki for Australia which includes MSY among hundreds of others, which has by far the best pricing in Australia for all things computer, so I have removed MSY as being so company specific is completely unnecessary. (esp with that site, just click on the link and you will see what I mean!)

Somehow people from several other countries managed to put up shops for HA though. But I suppose we'd all be better off removing everything from that page and put something generic like an ebay link there instead.
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: Captain_Glen on July 20, 2009, 04:06:38 am: Can someone please post the url that they bought their home automation stuff from? I have no idea where to buy home automation stuff from in Australia.
Title: Re: Where to buy Linux MCE Hardware in Australia
Post by: darrenmason on July 20, 2009, 04:33:58 am: I bought my PLC-BUS stuff from Automation@Home. They were very quick and the gear was well packaged.

http://x10-hk.com/store/index.php

Regards
Darren