Home Automation

[Mark1966]

I know that there are forums like Whirlpool where there is a LOT of discussion around this, and specialist IP camera forums as well. As I'm starting to dabble in this stuff though I thought it may be useful to share some basic information here.

First of my projects in this space arrived today -

What is it? Well it replaces this old thing -

with this (blade for scale) -

The manufacturer is called Konnected and they have replacement boards like this or interface ones to act in parallel with the existing system. Mine is WiFi but you can also get PoE.

My system was an old Ness D8x from when we had the house built in 2009. Frankly, we never turned it on, who wants cranky neighbours with a siren blaring.

Now I get alerts on my phone when the motion detectors are tripped. I can manually activate the siren or have it automated. At least now I will know if there are issues!

At present I have it setup connected through the Konnected Cloud (free) to the Samsung Smart Things app on my iPhone.

It works with a range of platforms though -

The most stressful part of the setup was updating the firmware before installing, where IS that micro-USB cable, which required installing some drivers on my PC, but they step you through it pretty well.

There were also twin wires to 'reset' the old panel I didn't need and the wires to the keypad which is no longer in use. There I just tucked out of the way.

 

[Mark1966]

My second phase of this project is to update my security cameras.

The joys of being married to a school principal can include unhappy students and ex-students. After having our house egged a couple of times and toilet-paper bombed (a story to that, I had the kid as he was getting in the car while it was driving off...) we installed cameras before my wife and I went overseas together later that year.

The cameras are still fine, although I plan on updating one camera and putting the existing one in the garage, but the NVR is old and tired, a Hikvision 7604 NI SE/P Series NVR. It doesn't have the firmware (updates are problematic) to use the Hik-Connect platform allowing smartphone access and even accessing it across the home network is hit and miss - and you can only use Internet Explorer to browse to the system!

At present the PoE cameras terminate at the NVR in our walk in robe, which also gets a little noisy at night sometimes too, and my wife is a light sleeper.

After looking at options I'm over engineering as usual and have purchased:

TP-Link 6 Port 10/100Mbps Desktop Switch with PoE (TL-SF1006P) ( I could have gotten a 5 port since I decided to move the PC, see below)
A refurbished Dell OptiPlex 3070 SFF i5 9500 3GHz, 16GB [upgraded] RAM, 256GB NVME SSD, DVD/RW, W11P
A 6TB Seagate Surveillance 3.5 HDD from FB Marketplace (for the empty slot in the OPtiplex)
Blue Iris software for installation on the PC

A few people use an external HDD for storage but I wanted to keep things neat. This meant faffing about to find a refurbished machine with a spare 3.5" slot. They most commonly come with a 2.5" SSD which means only enough space for another 2.5" drive. While you could ditch all that and get a new 3.5" caddy and a NVME SSD I was trying to avoid the hassle of doing that and then reinstalling the OS etc.

While waiting for the PC to arrive to get started on this I was thinking about what I was going to do with the camera I want to install in the garage. I would need another PoE switch and thinking about keeping that secure, and power etc etc ...

... when I stumbled across a second hand one of this Wall Mount Server Rack locally, for less than 40% of the retail price ...

You can get cheaper still on eBay as bare racks, but this one comes with the shelf, PDU and a twin fan unit - which will be useful in my hot garage!

With this much space I'm hoping that it will accommodate my [on-site] NAS which is already in the garage, the PoE switch for the camera I want to install out there AND the Optiplex - meaning it is no longer in the walk in robe ...

With the reduced size of the alarm system, see above, and no longer having a back up battery in the alarm enclosure the PoE switch for the cameras is also neatly tucked away in there too - more cable and tech mess out of the way.

Tomorrow's project is to pick up the cabinet and install on the garage wall. There is already conduit coming down with existing Ethernet and power cables which can be pulling up to terminate higher up the wall inside the cabinet - hopefully all easy!

More to come ...

 

[Mark1966]

The third phase is to 'automate' the garage.

This is for me actually less about automating it, although having geo-location of my phone meaning my garage door opens as I drive up is as cool as it is spooky, and more about monitoring it. A neighbour has indicated that he occasionally sees our garage doors left open and closes them for us. Nice but not optimal!

Having already 'invested' in the Samsung Smart Things app I wanted something compatible - and settled on the Meross 'Collie' Smart Garage Door Opener.

Confusingly it shows only two cables included, the text says three, their sales contact assured me that they would send me three!

While I only have two garage doors I'm planning on using the third sensor on the normal door into the garage. This should allow me to get notifications if either the garage doors or the normal door are left open, the latter meaning that the dog is probably inside the garage!

I'm still awaiting this - so more to come here too.

 

[Gargravarr]

What could possibly go wrong? Kewl...

 

[Mark1966]

A fourth project was to get some form of monitoring for our office after recent break-ins within the building.

On the KISS principle here, after some research and checking reviews I plumped for a Google Nest cam (but the indoor wired version).

Yes, the camera can simply be turned off/unplugged/ripped off the bookshelf. By then however I should have received a notification and some video!

Images during the day are good as you would expect. For most of the night there are lights in the hallway outside too -

After they turn off you get the usual -

For the price, acceptable.

 

[Mark1966]

What could possibly go wrong? Kewl...

It is tech - so everything!

 

[Gargravarr]

If I were a city dweller, I'd probably do something similar (though more likely on a Raspberry Pi or Arduino platform, but that's just the sort of person I am). As it is, I've only just got around to ordering a new lock for the front door, as the original has been missing a working key for years. Any intruder here would have to go a LONG way out of their way, and would be unlikely to be interrupted if we were away from home.

 

[Bucephalus]

I've got a great watch-dog - cheaper, loyal and great company. Beat that!

 

[Mark1966]

OK, so today's update.

One thing I discovered last night with the alarm upgrade is that the siren didn't work, it just made a click sound although the strobe worked so I knew it was getting a signal. Konnected have a FAQ about that, and it seems that this is common with older alarm systems. So this morning I dropped into Jaycar and grabbed a cheap siren, changeover was very simple and now it all works. I can set the motion detectors to activate the siren or operate it independently - also being able to turn if off remotely!

Next task was meeting the Gumtree seller of my server cabinet, easy transaction and in great condition!

When we built our house we chose a lovely textured brick for the exterior. Looks great BUT in the garage it is also the interior, and the surface is very uneven. In a couple of cases I've actually had to grind off the most significant protrusion, but generally affixing some timber to the wall and then affixing the item to timber is the solution.

I should have taken some before shots but here is the section ready for the cabinet to be mounted -

The Dynabolts are recessed into the timber to give a flat surface. I also pulled through two Cat 5e patch cables, the ones hanging out the bottom as they will be for PoE cameras in the garage. One initially but *maybe* two later - and anyway, you can never have too many cables can you?

The GPO and data point *may* have originally been lower where the blocks of wood are -

Unfortunately I didn't realise the time and missed getting to Bunnings to get the final fasteners, so at present it is just resting in place with a couple of temporary screws as a safeguard -

 

[SpeedyPC]

Just get yourself a pissed off angry guard dog, you don’t need all that super security technology shit.

 

[Mycroft47]

Just get yourself a pissed off angry guard dog, you don’t need all that super security technology shit.

Or leave Canberra

 

[Gargravarr]

Or leave Canberra

There's that, but no dice. Canberra is full of people whose job it is to steal your worldly wealth entirely legally. Though I hadn't heard they were going after people's vintage razor collections, but I guess they have to move with the times...

 

[Mark1966]

I've got a great watch-dog - cheaper, loyal and great company. Beat that!

Just get yourself a pissed off angry guard dog, you don’t need all that super security technology shit.

Well we do have a dog as well, but his bark is not followed up by bite!

Or leave Canberra

... and miss out on all these fun toys?

There's that, but no dice. Canberra is full of people whose job it is to steal your worldly wealth entirely legally. Though I hadn't heard they were going after people's vintage razor collections, but I guess they have to move with the times...

You wait, I'm sure that THOSE Canberrans will want a piece of my collection, they want enough of everything else!

 

[Gargravarr]

Well done @Mark1966, you've got me thinking again about a project I have shelved for too long. The last time we had major bushfires in our area, we had an anxious wait in anticipation of burning material dropping over the edge of the Great Western Tiers and falling into our backyard. Or more specifically, on to the house. It's only a matter of time before we're in the same boat again.

I have planned to set up a system to remotely operate a pump and sprinklers on top of the house, filling up the gutters (I have a stop valve on the downpipes) so they overflow over the walls of the house and wet the surrounding area. We'll have to be long gone, as there's only one exit, so we can't afford to get trapped. There are no guarantees that it'll work under the worst circumstances, but I can only try.

The interesting aspect is that since we're entirely off-grid, we rely on 2 internet connections, 4G+ and satellite, either (or both) of which may go down when atmospheric smoke particles get beyond a certain level. So I want to build in a fail-safe that cuts in autonomously in the event of extreme drops in ambient light during the day, but without activating when we have a solar eclipse or suchlike... ... or alternatively cutting in at night if there's a sudden increase in air temperature. The more I think about it, the more code I have to come up with.

 

[SpeedyPC]

Well we do have a dog as well, but his bark is not followed up by bite!

What kind of dog do you have? a barking mad Chihuahua that doesn’t bite.

 

[Mark1966]

Well after a full morning doing other things, back to finish this off this afternoon.

Cabinet installed and mounted -

NAS and switch operational, two cables going nowhere, room for Optiplex underneath the shelf.

 

[Razor Burn]

If I were a city dweller, I'd probably do something similar (though more likely on a Raspberry Pi or Arduino platform, but that's just the sort of person I am). As it is, I've only just got around to ordering a new lock for the front door, as the original has been missing a working key for years. Any intruder here would have to go a LONG way out of their way, and would be unlikely to be interrupted if we were away from home.

I'll admit that's where my new found Sabbatical funds have been going as who knew a Raspberry Pi was going to cost a fortune plus associated sensors, cameras so great to see @Mark1966 sharing his recent Smart Home projects.

 

[Gargravarr]

I'll admit that's where my new found Sabbatical funds have been going as who knew a Raspberry Pi was going to cost a fortune plus associated sensors, cameras so great to see @Mark1966 sharing his recent Smart Home projects.

I can't say I've noticed any new-found sabbatical funds yet, as I had a bit of a mini-splurge last December, and it'll take a little while before the exchequer recovers. It does mean I can anticipate a handful of packages dropping in like Easter eggs over the coming weeks.

Fortunately, I don't need a huge amount of RAM in my Pi, so a basic 4B model will be more than enough ($129 at Jaycar, or I might just use an older model) and the sensors should be cheap enough. I'll probably go old-school and do my coding in Fortran for speed and efficiency.

 

[Mark1966]

I can't say I've noticed any new-found sabbatical funds yet, as I had a bit of a mini-splurge last December, and it'll take a little while before the exchequer recovers. It does mean I can anticipate a handful of packages dropping in like Easter eggs over the coming weeks.

Fortunately, I don't need a huge amount of RAM in my Pi, so a basic 4B model will be more than enough ($129 at Jaycar, or I might just use an older model) and the sensors should be cheap enough. I'll probably go old-school and do my coding in Fortran for speed and efficiency.

Fortran!!!

Sensational

 

[Razor Burn]

I can't say I've noticed any new-found sabbatical funds yet, as I had a bit of a mini-splurge last December, and it'll take a little while before the exchequer recovers. It does mean I can anticipate a handful of packages dropping in like Easter eggs over the coming weeks.

Fortunately, I don't need a huge amount of RAM in my Pi, so a basic 4B model will be more than enough ($129 at Jaycar, or I might just use an older model) and the sensors should be cheap enough. I'll probably go old-school and do my coding in Fortran for speed and efficiency.

2-4GBs is more than enough for most needs and move quick as they get poached like crazy yet the various sensors for weather, security, home automation are more readably available and not as expensive. I've covered my bases with Arduino, ESP32 and Pi's plus a few proto boards for AI and learning coding so basically replaced one expensive hobby for another one...