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[VacationAutomator]

I am interested in putting some automation in a vacation home where I do not maintain an internet connection.  I wouldn't mind putting in a local PC running a wireless LAN for controlling the devices.  Ideally my goal would be to dial into the local PC remotely via telephone line modem and remote control the unit with something like PC Anywhere.

One of the main functions I am interested in is monitoring the temperature and controlling the 240v electric baseboard heaters to turn them on before going to the house.  It would be a bonus for me if the software on the local PC could monitor various conditions such as temp, flooding, glass breaking and use the modem to dial out and provide an alert.

Any ideas on what products or methods I could use would be appreciated.

[skywalker1689]

This is the situation I have - Remote Home Automation without Internet.
Some of the web links might need to be copy and paste.

I have a remote location thousands miles away and visit only couple times per year.
It got break in couple time last couple years. People always suggest me to sell it and

save the trouble, but it has sentimental value more than $$$ value.

I installed couple motion detect flood lights and two 24hr lights and two timer

controlled lights. The location is subject to frequent power outbreak and Hurricane

like wind and downfall. The flood light is solid, but 24hr lights and timer lights are

no good.

So I am thinking three solutions.

Solution one uses two phone lines in the remote location.

Possible Equipments:
2 POTS(plain old telephone system/service)(actually one needs 4 pots or 3 pots + voip)
   2 pots in remote location, 1 pots in local to receive call and 1 pots/voip to
   call remote x10.
$68.99      http://www.bodysecurity.com/home-protection-products/telespy.htm
$56.95      http://www.smarthomeusa.com/ShopByManufacturer/X-10-Pro/Item/PHC06/
$12.99 x 8   http://www.x10.com/automation/x10_am486.htm
$20.00?      home made barking dog
$???.??      power outlet
Total cost about $250 to $350 Plus cost of 4 phone lines

One for me to dial in to control x10 controllers
One for motion detect auto dialer with monitoring system(MDADM) to dial out to me.

First with dial in x10 controller, I can turn on lights with PC locally automatically

or with a cell/pots manually. So I can remove timers in remote location kill the worry

of power brownout(timer will out of sync). To solve the burn out lights problem, I

probably just need to install more x10 controlled lights. So some of them can last

long enough until my next visit.

So when MDADM dial my local number
I pick it up and monitoring it
At the same time I dial out to x10 controllers and turn on lights and barking dogs and

TV or radio...

...



Solution two uses one phone lines in the remote location.

Possible Equipments:
1 POTS(plain old telephone system/service)
$68.99      http://www.bodysecurity.com/home-protection-products/telespy.htm
$405.00      http://www.kvms.com/Product/MP-8.aspx
$50.00??   eight 25f to 100f power extension cable
Total cost about $520 Plus cost of 2 phone lines

This solution seems promising and professional grade(at least in DTMF part), but very

expensive.



Solution three uses two phone lines in the remote location.

Possible Equipments:
2 POTS(plain old telephone system/service)(actually one needs 4 pots or 3 pots + voip)
   2 pots in remote location, 1 pots in local to receive call and 1 pots/voip to
   call remote controller.

$68.99      http://www.bodysecurity.com/home-protection-products/telespy.htm
$50.00   http://www.bomara.com/WTI/115plus.htm
   http://cgi.ebay.com/WTI-RPB-Remote-Power-Boot-Switch_W0QQitemZ360030932824QQihZ023QQcategoryZ11175QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewI

tem
$???.??      very old external modem
$50.00??   eight 25f to 100f power extension cable
Total cost about $200.00 Plus cost of 4 phone lines

This solution is cheap, but one needs 4 POTS to make it work.
In remote location, WTI RPB+ controls eight power devices.
WTI RPB+ needs a rs232 cable to be connected to a external modem which is connected to

a POTS.
Locally, one uses a PC's modem dial remote location's WTI RPB+ and control one's

remote lights and barking dog...

In solution one, only audio/noise/voice... can be heard(confirmed).
In solution two, all commands and audio can be confirmed and required only one phone

line. So I can monitor the remote location and react right away(issue DTMF commands).
Solution three is similar to solution one, but WTI RPB+ will give you confirmation and

is cheaper than x10.



Why not Internet?
POTS in the most place is still much reliable than Internet. Internet access is not

readily available in every places and in any time, but a pots/cell phone is almost

available in most location and most time frame.

I am interested in putting some automation in a vacation home where I do not maintain an internet connection.  I wouldn't mind putting in a local PC running a wireless LAN for controlling the devices.  Ideally my goal would be to dial into the local PC remotely via telephone line modem and remote control the unit with something like PC Anywhere.

One of the main functions I am interested in is monitoring the temperature and controlling the 240v electric baseboard heaters to turn them on before going to the house.  It would be a bonus for me if the software on the local PC could monitor various conditions such as temp, flooding, glass breaking and use the modem to dial out and provide an alert.

Any ideas on what products or methods I could use would be appreciated.

[Tuicemen]

VacationAutomator since power isn't a problem and your planing to use a PC there are a number of software options available to you!
the first one that comes to mine is Homedomination
As for the PC interface there are a number of options as well but it best to look at the software first as some hardware may not work reliable with it!

ActiveHome Pro & the CM15A  will do what you want with some thirdparty addons and some tinkering!

[skywalker1689]

Sorry to give you that impression. I meant to use PC locally. If you use a PC in a remote location thousand miles away. It will only add complexity and problems.

At this time I am leaning the solution one, but use one phone line in remote location if Telespy is compatible with X10 PHC06.

I did mention I can use a PC as an addon to do some routine automatically, like timer functions.
I use to use a PC as a timer to control my sprinklers to water my lawns 1 minutes every 20 minutes in certain time frame.

I can use a PC to schedule calls to X10 PHC06 in the remote location to execute certain routines.
The PC in local location is using as a timer and will not be affected by remote location's brownout and can be reboot easily when it got stuck.

There are other telespy alikes gadgets, but use lots of batteries which is a NO in a remote location.

I won't be able to know how useful is the motion detection function in the Telespy, until I test it personally.
I do have 24hr lights(2), motion detection flood lights(3) and timer controlled lights(2) running in the remote location currently.
With X10 PHC06 and local PC, randomly I can light on the rooms and yards more lifelike in the evening.

VacationAutomator since power isn't a problem and your planing to use a PC there are a number of software options available to you!
the first one that comes to mine is Homedomination
As for the PC interface there are a number of options as well but it best to look at the software first as some hardware may not work reliable with it!

ActiveHome Pro & the CM15A  will do what you want with some thirdparty addons and some tinkering!

[skywalker1689]

Comparing Telespy's motion detection sensor with X10's sensor, don't know which one is better?

According to Amazon Telespy review,
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000B8Z2GS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2_cm_cr_acr_img?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Telespy will autodial, if power is on from off which is good for a X10 controller & X10 motion sensor.

So we can use X10 motion sensor(like flood light) to turn on Telespy X10 controller, then Telespy will dail our Cell # and we can listen to the audio(if any) for 30 seconds.

Next we can choose to dial back to X10 telephone responder and activate Home made Robot Dog or MP3 Audio and turn on whole house lights or choose to call 911.

[Tuicemen]

For the price I think the DS7000 would be more a deterent!
You can set up other sensors to interface to it and it will auto dial (Up to 4 numbers not just one) let you listen in and also trigger remote sirens and flash lights!If you also incorporate the tellephone responder (if you can find one) You can call back to turn the lights back off as one the DS7000 is done with the dialing the lights stay on!