Too little, too late and too expensive if you ask me.

http://www.smarthome.com/2441ZTH/INSTEO ... tat/p.aspx

It acts as a controller and requires a base thermostat:

http://www.smarthome.com/2441TH/INSTEON ... 2FD864E0B8

That's not the way I read it. It only requires an INSTEON base thermostat IF you're going to control HVAC with it.

While it seems a little pricey to me as well, I think it's probably a good *start*. A plain old temp/humidity sensor with no display or controls, just reporting temp/humidity, is probably what most of us were wanting/hoping for because we use Indigo to do the heavy lifting. This piece is probably designed for folks who just use the built-in Insteon controller functionality (without a central home controller setup).

Actually, I can see how this might be a little better than just a sensor. If CINCHOUSE decides she's hot and she's upstairs, she can just go drive the temp down on this piece of gear vice going downstairs, which I can set up Indigo to interpret any number of ways (turn on ceiling fans, turn on A/C, dehumidifier, etc).

I might have to put one of these on the list....

Phil

I would be really curious to know how many people don't have any type of software to control their home automation network. Sure, having dedicated tactile buttons that don't require you to launch a browser/app and path to a location to change the temp is a nice feature, but I really think a good first step would be just the sensor of temp/humidity. Getting something like that out for 25-30 bucks would have sold like hotcakes. The sweet spot between trying to get some of the cheaper oregon scientific/RFX stuff going vs. the super low cost 1 wire solutions some people have come up with. Easy to integrate, cheap and throw them all over your house to monitor. Sounds like a kickstarter project to me!

Hi Dewster. I'm one that has zero software to automate with but that's just because it was all I could do to put in controllable elements
into the house so I had to wait till later to get an automation controller. That time has now come and I'm seeing what's out there now
as opposed to 5 years ago. It hasn't really changed that much. Still no real standards beyond X10. Sure, there's zwave and insteon
but those existed 5 years ago....and so did zigbee I think. None of the mentioned protocols have really gained huge market share
and each has it's good reasons for thinking theirs is the best. I've decided to go with insteon. It's still a fractured world.

One factor to maybe consider is the next buyer of your house. Will the buyer be computer savvy? Many people aren't.
And so a geekhouse could potentially scare away some buyers if they weren't into it. My original goal was to put in
controllable lights and buttons to control things that your average electrician could understand and deal with.
Without having to know alot about computers. Same for the prospective buyer of my house. Hence the beauty
and simplicity of Leviton. But unfortunately not much else speaks Leviton DHC and now I have to decide just how
screwed I is when it comes to interoperability and choosing a whole house controller.
I chose an ISY-994ir Pro which will be arriving soon. I can make it work with Indigo and when I sell I have the
ability to walk away from the house and take my bits of automation with me easily and leave behind a fully
functional house if the new buyer ain't into home automation. I'm afraid some of the cheap 1wire solutions
would have to be pulled due to lack of any understanding on the part of the new home buyer.

So there's alot of reasons and approaches to home automation - just wish I could afford a house like Bill Gates has.
The original Microsoft Surface concept sure was cool! A coffee table in your living room that displays the TV
guide and newspaper and whatnot on it...now THAT'S home automation!

I'm developing a set of wireless temperature sensors that will interface with Indigo. While initially tried to have them communicate using the INSTEON protocol, the INSTEON Developer license and documentation doesn't really come with all that's necessary to create your own devices. Access to inexpensive INSTEON modems is difficult to come by, and getting community support is difficult because anyone with a developer license must sign an NDA.

The units will cost about 40-50 (depending on manufacturing cost), and will come with a plugin for Indigo that will create an individual device for each.

Will be taking preorders before the end of August; I'll post details as soon as ready.

Great -- looking forward to the details!

Have you considered an ethernet solution that links the sensors via RS485 or RS232 to a small box that then interprets and sends the information through ethernet to the automation software?
This would allow you to provide a range of products to market & provide price points to suit a range of customers.

I built in webserver would allow for configuration, viewing and calibration if required.

let me know what you think.

Regards

David Johnson
(Ishcar)

I did originally consider using ethernet, but decided against it as unfortunately not everyone has ethernet lines running through their homes. I for example live in a rental and while I don't mind replacing all of the light switches for Insteon, I would not want to undertake a project as big as running wires through walls. It's because of that that I feel a wireless solution is the best one.

It also makes sense for placement. When considering making the units plug into a wall, I realized that outlets are rarely placed where you want to measure temperature. For example, the temperature right by the crib of a newborn/toddler is going to be different than it is right by the floor where an outlet/ethernet jack would be.

Plus, I like the idea of being able to move these around the house, either to refine the best placement, or to temporarily measure something.

For Temperature sensor only, I am using some cheap Radio Shack temperatuer senders linked to a RFXtrx for 25/30 bucks apiece (there are several models and I picked up what was in stock). I haven't looked lately, but I think the Oregon Scientific T/H sender that uses the same protocol is about $35 and you are allowed either 3 or 10 of them depending on which model you get. So although you do have to put out the front cost of around $100 for the RFX, adding transimitters does bring the system price down eventually.

Exten wrote:One factor to maybe consider is the next buyer of your house. Will the buyer be computer savvy? Many people aren't.
And so a geekhouse could potentially scare away some buyers if they weren't into it. My original goal was to put in
controllable lights and buttons to control things that your average electrician could understand and deal with.
Without having to know alot about computers. Same for the prospective buyer of my house. Hence the beauty
and simplicity of Leviton.

Actually, I believe a much better approach is to install smart devices that physically work just like dumb devices. Then future owners can either add the home automation logic or just use the switches as normal switches. With INSTEON you also have some intelligence in that they can link to each other so basic stuff can be done without controllers. That way you're not constantly limiting yourself in terms of what you do in your house to solutions that only work with there's no central intelligence. That's going to be a HUGE limiting factor to a lot of what you can do in your house.

My point is this: the only thing you really want to be careful about if you plan on selling a house with automation is that the automation isn't required for the standard features of a house to work correctly. Switches work as expected, etc. If the new owner is interested in further automation then they have a leg up because they have some intelligent devices already installed - but it's not required.

But that's just me.

Jay,
Very well said. That's my goal as I'm installing and setting up. The temptation is there to not bother with setting up SwitchLincs on a three-way switch properly...just let Indigo manage it...but just as you said, that means Indigo has to be up and running and communicating just to make the kitchen light switch work. The other smart thing (I think) about setting up the Insteon stuff to work sans computer is that it reduces the amount of Insteon packets flying around the house wiring, reducing the chance of collisions.

Phil

I think this goes into a broader question about what people do to improve their houses in general. Basically, me and the wife do look at a lot of things and ask ourselves, how would a prospective home buyer look at this? But ultimately, at the end of the day, even though our tastes may not mesh with someone else's, we ARE still living in it. Same goes with home automation....and sure that may mean a lot of extra work down the road to get it sales ready, but if you have no intention on moving anytime soon why bother? Just hang onto the old stuff you tear out.

I totally agree. Unless you specifically buy a house to flip it then it seems a bit pointless to limit your automation just because you might someday sell the house. Removing HA is very simple compared to installing and configuring it. And you have the upside that having it installed might make for more perspective buyers.

davvi wrote:I'm developing a set of wireless temperature sensors that will interface with Indigo. While initially tried to have them communicate using the INSTEON protocol, the INSTEON Developer license and documentation doesn't really come with all that's necessary to create your own devices. Access to inexpensive INSTEON modems is difficult to come by, and getting community support is difficult because anyone with a developer license must sign an NDA.

The units will cost about 40-50 (depending on manufacturing cost), and will come with a plugin for Indigo that will create an individual device for each.

Will be taking preorders before the end of August; I'll post details as soon as ready.

Right as I'm soldering a temperature sensor onto a prototype board, I see that http://www.MacHomeStore.com has a new sensor in stock, http://www.machomestore.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=51&products_id=266. While there have been other sensors available, I haven't seen any that can be used with more than 3 at a time. Unfortunately I will have to stop developing my version of the sensor as these are available for roughly the same price and already have a plugin created for them (with the RFXrec433 receiver). While my version had the ability to work with hundreds of sensor on the same network, 10 is probably more than enough for anyone. It's a bit disappointing considering how fun the development process has been, but that's the reality of creating a product like this. Onto new ideas!

Good thing I didn't proceed with an order of parts for 250+ temperature sensors which was on the agenda for this week...