Linking home systems retrofit for a geek who never learnt to program

[pmagowan]

OK, I have tried to work out what I need by reading other peoples posts but it is getting confusing with lots of jargon and computer words.  With clear instructions I could do most things so I am hoping someone can push me in the right direction.  I am renovating a large old house and trying to get 'close' to passive house standard.  My heating will be from a Lohberger wood/pellet stove with back burner (can be automated in pellet-mode), a wood stove and probably a radiator linked to the air ducting from MVHR.  I will have solar thermal on the roof.  I have a massive thermal store from a previous plan (3000l) and will probably need a smaller one for this system.  I want to be able to automate it along with other household functions such as security (cctv and alarm), fire alarm, automatic gates and garage door, maybe some lighting and perhaps a small audio system to pipe the radio to a couple of rooms (I don't do TV)

From reading this forum there are a lot of options but I don't know where to focus my efforts.  I would like a mostly wired system because I will be doing some rewiring and also I think it is more reliable.  I want high quality CCTV including PTZ controls with remote access (I already have a part system with DVR).  With heating my most important requirements are that there must be hot water in the morning for a shower (rest of the day i can press a button).  I would like this to be mainly solar and only occasionally topped up by pellets but at the correct time.  I would also like remote access from my phone as I am often suddenly taken away from home and it seems stupid to have everything running and also for security it is good to be alerted and see camera pictures.  Ideally when I arrive home the gates would open automatically, as would the garage and the alarm system would deactivate.

I know this is all a bit of a ramble but really what I am asking is where do I start?  What is the base for this kind of system that I could DIY everything else onto and still have options for the future.  This could be a long project so the budget could extend over time but obviously I don't want to go mad.

Sorry to ramble and thanks in advance.
Paddy

[Countrypaul]

You need to be very careful if you are considering all the features you mention as being part of a single system. A single system tends to have a single point of failure and you would not want, for example, the garage door opening to fail, leaving you with the impression that everything was secure when in effect it had still deactivated teh alarm and unlocked the doors.

In my opinionn you need to isolate each function into a separate entity that can run standalone, but communicate with maybe a central system with that central system not being required for each individual system to work.  Base each system on open standards that allows it to communicate easily if required. Look at each system separately and work out what exactly you need from it. E.g. the garage door opening, other than a remote fob activation to open (and close), do you also want wired access to open (and close) for when you lose/misplace your fob. does the garage door system have to be able to tell something else the door has been told to open (or close), whether the door is open (or closed), what about when something goes wrong (like the door is neither open or closed but won't move?

The hot water in the morning can be solved by something as simple as an immersion heater on a timer (for example, immersion timer comes on at say 06:00 and ensures the top 50L of water in the tank are at 70C). But does this give you exactly what you want? Or should you have a thermostat on a timer but linked to your boiler instead?

Start by focusing on what it the most important system, plan it carefully, implement the most essential features, then move onto the next step, whether that be teh next system or another feature ona previous system. Accept that you may never finish...

Paul

[pmagowan]

Thanks Paul.  I had been thinking that all the systems would be stand alone but with central connectivity.  So for example the mhrv has its own controlls and thermostats etc as does the fire alarm however when the fire alarm goes off the central unit is informed and tells the MVHR to stop.  It could also send me a text etc.  I know most of this is about setting up commands on a computer of some sort and having some way of connecting the various units to the central computer but I don't know where to start.
One of the ideas is that it would interface with the phone and thus I could see if there was a fault or if something was not active.  If all else fails I could enter via a key and deactivate the alarm manually.  My other problem is I am a mac user and so ideally I need a mac interface.

[biff]

Welcome to the forum Paddy,
                I hope you get the advice you need,In fact i am sure you will.There are some smart cookies on here.
                                                                                                        biff

[wookey]

Open Standards, Open standards, Open Standards.

I don't have time to be more specific right now.  (sorry, deadlines), but if you want flexibility and value that's got to be your watchword.

[pmagowan]

Thanks Biff and Wookey,

I get what you are saying Wookey.

I want things that are not chained to their proprietary systems.  I will be redoing a lot of electrics at the same time and I do have quite a bit of space but I also want something energy efficient.  No point creating a really efficient house and then burning electric on a bank of computers!

Some of the z-wave stuff looks cool and have great interfaces such as this http://www.fibaro.com/eng/index.php?ID=hc2.  I am concerned that this solution would be restrictive though and maybe not as reliable as wired solutions.  I want to use proper CCTV cameras with PTZ and not cheap ip cameras so I need something that will interface with a seperate DVR to display images to the phone etc.

I know I am asking for a lot but it seems that all the technology is there it just needs linked together and then displayed to a snazzy interface.

[kalas666]

DVR - look at Qnap.  They do systems that can be accessed from your phone or another computer.

MVHR could be powered from a relay attached to the smoke alarms, so that it went off when the smoke alarm activated.

With my thermal store the boiler circuit is on it's own timer with its own stats, and is set to run from 19:00 till 23:00 and 05:00 till 09:00 to 50 Deg.  This means that if the log boiler was not lit in the evening then the boiler tops up the TS and ensures that there is hot water in the morning.

Heatmiser provide wireless stats and wiring centre's that are accessable from the web, so you could adjust your heating to suit your requirements remotely.

Tying all this together in one 'snazzy interface' is possible but would need some clever programming and a web server.

[pmagowan]

I had wanted to go for a wired system but looking at the options a zwave system is looking to tick more boxes.  I could modify most of the zwave devices to take external power instead of batteries.  It is odd that this is not already an option!  I can't find any wired system that has a suitable interface without essentially building your own.  I am sure I could achieve this but I have better things to do with my time (insulation).  The only thing with zwave is that I would probably need ip cameras rather than ordinary ones.  I'm sure I could make this work.  Anyone have experience of zwave.  I am especially interested in whether I can get it to monitor temperatures and power usage for later analysis to help inform alterations to the house.