Economical Insteon+X10 HA?

[labrat68]

probably - there are some new bi-directional X10 devices but I would have to look to see if they have a light module

[Hipper]

First, let me say thanks to Dan for the hard work with the insteon driver.

My biggest issue with insteon is that as far as I can see there are only light an appliance controls. Where are the motion sensors, entry control (i.e. door locks) and thermostats? If there was an up to date Z-wave controller supported I wouldn’t mind spending the money to get the devices that I want to control my house. So right now it looks like Z-wave has the most end device controllers but least support in LMCE and insteon has up to date support but lacking in end devices unless you are ok with the slower and less reliable X10 devices.

Looks to me like from a home automation stand point we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Is there a happy middle ground, what should someone do for an LMCE setup today? Does one invest in an old z-wave controller (if it can be found for a better price then on fiire.com) and more expensive/better (do you truly get what you pay for?), end device controls or wait for a new z-wave controller to be supported or start using insteon and wait to get more end device controls? Better yet, could someone invest in both z-wave and insteon controllers and use X10, insteon and z-wave all controlled by the same LMCE core? That seems like the most flexible solution right now if you want full home automation but it may be a bit more expensive.

[ddamron]

Hipper,

That's exactly why I implemented the X10 side.. is to support the Sensors..
That's also why currently, only ON/OFF commands are implemented...
The Thermostats, check out www.simplehomenet.com..
They also have generic I/O devices to use for Door locks, etc..

HTH,

Dan

[Hipper]

Dan,

The HVAC control device on www.simplehomenet.com looks interesting but there is no basic UI for the every day user. Do you know if anyone makes a standard digital wall mounted thermostat that supports the insteon wireless or wired coms? I would love to simply replace my existing thermostat with an insteon supported device. If I could do that and control my lights I would be sold on insteon.

[Matthew]

The HVAC control device on www.simplehomenet.com looks interesting but there is no basic UI for the every day user. Do you know if anyone makes a standard digital wall mounted thermostat that supports the insteon wireless or wired coms? I would love to simply replace my existing thermostat with an insteon supported device. If I could do that and control my lights I would be sold on insteon.

I am helping to revise the Floorplan GUI to devices. I would like to see that GUI also represent HVAC device states (eg. coloring a room red to blue showing its temperature, perhaps with a pattern or outline showing if it's currently being heated/cooled/stable). But that's really a discussion for another thread (coming soon to the Developers forum .

[Loki008]

First, let me say thanks to Dan for the hard work with the insteon driver.

So right now it looks like Z-wave has the most end device controllers but least support in LMCE and insteon has up to date support but lacking in end devices unless you are ok with the slower and less reliable X10 devices.

Looks to me like from a home automation stand point we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

This is exactly what i have been noticing. I am in the process of buying some zwave equipment right now because the total selection seems to be broader / more affordable with the hopes that some break through will come out for zwave support (even if i need to get my hands on an old controler). If not i guess ill just stick to the windows control software for the system.

[Matthew]

First, let me say thanks to Dan for the hard work with the insteon driver.

So right now it looks like Z-wave has the most end device controllers but least support in LMCE and insteon has up to date support but lacking in end devices unless you are ok with the slower and less reliable X10 devices.

Looks to me like from a home automation stand point we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I am in the process of buying some zwave equipment right now because the total selection seems to be broader / more affordable with the hopes that some break through will come out for zwave support (even if i need to get my hands on an old controler).

That breakthrough could be when you update LMCE to use your Z-Wave equipment, and share it with everyone else. That's the kind of place the rest of LMCE's breathroughs have come from.

[Loki008]

First, let me say thanks to Dan for the hard work with the insteon driver.

So right now it looks like Z-wave has the most end device controllers but least support in LMCE and insteon has up to date support but lacking in end devices unless you are ok with the slower and less reliable X10 devices.

Looks to me like from a home automation stand point we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I am in the process of buying some zwave equipment right now because the total selection seems to be broader / more affordable with the hopes that some break through will come out for zwave support (even if i need to get my hands on an old controler).

That breakthrough could be when you update LMCE to use your Z-Wave equipment, and share it with everyone else. That's the kind of place the rest of LMCE's breathroughs have come from.

I would love to, but in all honesty i come from a windows world and am great with hardware but have next to zero experiance with code and linux. The last time i touched code was QBasic in highschool and PBasic for some parallax controlers i was playing around with. Dont take what i am adding as critisim, its not i think everyone who is contributing is doing a great job. I am merely adding my voice to an area that as a user i feel could use some development and trying to gather support on the zwave platform so that hopefully there will be a large enough of an user base that it is a worth while development project for someone with the experiance and skills nessicary to tackle it.

[1audio]

I'm ready to supply a Leviton serial ZWave controller to a developer who will figure out how to make it work and get the RS232 to properly recognize it. I'll even include a few light modules. We can go back in to the ZWave stuff to support the two way features later but its an available ZWave interface that will work in the system. None of the current USB interfaces in the US (Wayne Dalton, Intermatic etc.) have USB chips that are supported in Linux. Send me a PM.

[ddamron]

Dan,

The HVAC control device on www.simplehomenet.com looks interesting but there is no basic UI for the every day user. Do you know if anyone makes a standard digital wall mounted thermostat that supports the insteon wireless or wired coms? I would love to simply replace my existing thermostat with an insteon supported device. If I could do that and control my lights I would be sold on insteon.

Look at the EZSTAT picture closely...
It's got SETPOINT UP/DOWN buttons,
and FAN ON/OFF buttons
will know more when it's released.

[Matthew]

I'm ready to supply a Leviton serial ZWave controller to a developer who will figure out how to make it work and get the RS232 to properly recognize it. I'll even include a few light modules. We can go back in to the ZWave stuff to support the two way features later but its an available ZWave interface that will work in the system. None of the current USB interfaces in the US (Wayne Dalton, Intermatic etc.) have USB chips that are supported in Linux. Send me a PM.

To be clear, you're making an offer in that message to any developer who is qualified to take it, right? I'm not taking you up on it, I just want to make sure that such a developer reading this thread can tell there's an offer to them available, and that you're not just letting us all know that you've already made that offer to a developer you've already got.