Boiler/Home Automation

[jebatty]

Has anyone used one of the Denkovi home automation kits? Looks to be easy, programmable, and suitable for boiler control as well as home automation.
http://denkovi.com/home-automation-complete-easy-home-control-kit-ver-1

 

[peakbagger]

I haven't used that kit but I will comment about home automation systems in general. Homes tend to be around for a long time and longevity of the equipment and support for software should be considered. I have some X-10 controlled equipment in the house, Leviton used the protocol to make spec grade equipment, a lot of other firms made consumer grade. The system sends fairly primitive signals over the AC waveform to chips integrated into special outlets or to special controllers. The only permanently installed X-10 equipment in my house still working is the spec grade Leviton stuff. At the time it was around $30 bucks an outlet at the electrical supply house. I picked the outlets and controllers at close out pricing so they were not as expensive. Radio Shack, GE home and couple of other firms sold the consumer grade and they are all dead. I autopsied a few and the chip looks the same but the rest of the electronics are night and day cheaper compared with the spec grade. At one point I controlled an AC unit and had my garage door opener tied into it but mostly I use it t run yard lights that are fed from my attic. Running wiring to a couple of specific switches is a pain in a finished house so having an X-10 module at the light with a local override means I can turn the lights on anywhere in the house. I don't use the remotes anymore but do have a couple of wall mounted controllers that install in place of a Decora style switch that lets me address 4 floodlights.

There have been a couple of other much hyped formats that have replaced X-10 that also have fallen by the wayside. I would strongly suggest buying equipment that uses a format supported by several large firms in hopes that they may support it for longer. Just realize anything hooked up for the long term to the household AC lines needs some robust surge protection and that's where many low cost components don't do well.

The resort town south of me had a lot of high end custom PLC based systems installed during a high end housing boom. The local contractors made a bundle installing and made continuing profits supporting the programming. The systems usually used low voltage wiring in the walls going to a large termination rack in the basement so going back to 110 AC meant some pretty serious retrofit costs. Many of the systems have had to be upgraded at big cost a couple of times as the software ceased to be supported by the factory. I heard of a couple of places that were hit by electrical surges and the insurance company dumped the owner as the cost to replace the system far in excess of normal wiring. Most of the software is PC based and rarely does a piece of specialty software make it past one major Windows revision. There are a couple of industrial control systems that do ensure backwards compatibility, Allen Bradley being a conspicuous one but the cost is quite high. Much of the new home automation puts a fancy front end with all sorts of bells and whistles but it comes down to the inevitable pay me now or pay me later on the back end equipment..

 

[NateB]

If you are somewhat techie you could solve the software issue, by using virtual PC or something like it, and keep an old OS just for controlling this hardware, but the cheap electrical side will fail, and your stuck with a nonworking system.