This piece was written by Q, who is an avid home automator based in the UK. As I was browsing Twitter, I found him tweeting about how he finally had 70 RFID tags delivered to his home. I was intrigued. What could a man possibly be doing with that many RFID tags? A lot, as it turns out. In this brilliant piece, Q explains how he got into home automation. You can find him on Twitter (@FourQ).
Better yet, retweet this page!
Home automation: it sounds complicated, it sounds expensive. In reality it depends on what you want to do.
If you want to have your lights turn on and off to deter intruders then it’s available from as little as around £400 for a nine roomed home with a handful of appliances thrown in.
I’ve wanted an smart home ever since I heard about Orange and Microsoft doing smart homes a number of years beforehand. Kids have MP3 players and choose Sony. Men have MP4 players and Toshiba. A true techie links his Nokia to his server to control his house – something so discrete that nobody knows about it.
There are a couple of major suppliers whose web sites you can use. Unfortunately SimplyAutomate was taken over by LetsAutomate last November. SimplyAutomate was reasonable, despite a hiccup with every order I’ve placed. LetsAutomates use Fastway Couriers, who can’t find a house with the address, detailed directions, guided live directions, next door’s house number (I only have a house name), and even Longitude and Latitude – ultimately an opened package was left on my doorstep a mere three weeks after ordering. As a result my next purchase will be with UKAutomation.co.uk. (Editor’s note: For ordering and shipping within the US, SmartHomeUSA is an excellent option.)
I’d purchased a home automation starter’s kit from SimplyAutomate following the birth of my two year old son. His sleep patterns meant he wasn’t sleeping until around 2am so something had to be done. When my old machine died I purchased one second hand to keep up and running quickly. The machine came with HomeSeer 1.7 pre-installed and £209 from a bonus at work paid for the starter kit.
The thing is, once you start automating your imagination goes wild. Before you know it you’ve connected up the dishwasher, timed the wash cycle and set up the home automation server to e-mail you or call you once the cycle’s finished. You start thinking about your other areas of the house – the coffee percolator now springs to life ten minutes before you wake so each morning you’re greeted with the scent of fresh coffee, your shower starts up a couple of minutes before you get in so the temperature is just right, the traffic report is downloaded and filtered so only the roads you take so you only hear the problems you’re going to face, the weather report is read so you know whether or not to take your Kawasaki or not… and all before you’ve left for work.
You know you can work overtime as your lights and TV will turn on at sunset and any visitors will be captured on the motion activated CCTV with the e-mail showing you who visited and when by sending you a picture (or video) of your property. The heating adjusts accordingly and you simply send yourself an e-mail or call home to let the house know you’ve finished work and the air conditioning or heating has the right temperature for you a few minutes before you arrive home.
Of course now you want to take it to the next stage, you have your bike fitted with RFID so when you blow your hown or flash your lights approaching your driiveway the house alarm deactivates, the garage door opens, closes and the front door unlocks for you with the lights set and the media server showing your favourite DVDs. These days even the robot vacuum cleaners are affordable. You can have floor cleaners if you have laminated flooring or robotic grass cutters for your lawn.
The question is, what is it you really want? Lights, security, full automation? The sky is your limit – all you need is the imagination, a little time and cash and you can do whatever you want.
Go for it.
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