Home wiring for Multimedia

Thanks,

That has made it clearer to me. I have Metro Broadband from Digiweb so I don't have any direct phone line. Is there anyway around this?
 
Yep,

I also have wireless BB, and use voip from www.Blueface.ie . Gives me the exact same functionality as my old eircom landline, wihtout the rental!!! Look at getting an ATA adapter (which basically allows you plug a normal phone line into your router), and bobs your uncle.

Wexfordman
 
Wexfordman,

Thanks very much for your help. I am going to look into that. The Digiweb deal was supposed to include phone but they are having problems and haven't got it working yet.

Which Blueface call plan do you have?
 
Valhalla,

I have the 14.99 per month call plan, it gives all calls to irish and uk landlines free, unlimited. Calls to mobile are charged, but still very competitive compared to any other package I've seen. I do make calls abroad as I have relatives, and there is a 25 euro per month wold wide plan, but calls abrad on this service are so cheap, I would need to ber on the phone for a very long time to make a tenners worth of calls. My sister lies in swittzerland, and bluface costs only 1c per min to switzerland!! Thanks a lot of minutes to make up the difference of 10 euro on the world plan.

Someone mentioned buying a ilnksys wireless router earlier in the post. I would recommend the one Blueface sell, as it is both a wireless router and an ATA adapter all in one, for about 20 quid more than a normal priced wireless router. An ATA on its own costs about 75 quid.

Now for the cheeky bit, if you do sing up for them, can you mention my details, as as a customer, I get a tenners worth of credit for any referrals!!!

PM me and I can give you the details.

Regards,
Wexfordman
 
[broken link removed] electronics do a range, most are designed for bilding into speaker cabinets but should do the job.
Leo
 
Wexfordman – I like the sound of your setup and I think I want a piece of this VoIP and home automation action! So any advice you can give is much appreciated.

Blueface.ie sounds pretty good alright, but I want to make sure that my setup will allow me to take full advantage of it. I have two separate networks in my house: phone network and computer network, and both happen to be Cat5e cable, and are not currently connected. The computer points in each room are now terminated with RJ45 connectors, but the phone points are not yet connected – its just loose cable.

We have NTL cable broadband and I have the cable modem running into a Linksys Wireless A & G router (WRT55AG), though we don’t use the wireless cos we have wires everywhere we need it. We have no landline and really do not want to get one as the Eircom rental is too dear IMO. Am I right in saying that by buying an ATA Adaptor (whats the exact name of this component and do you have a link?) and plugging it into the Linksys, we could then use any normal phone (plugged into the ATA adaptor) for VoIP? Could I put normal phone points in each room, connect normal phones to them in each room and then join them all to the ATA adaptor so they could all use VoIP?

If we went with this setup would these just function like normal phones – can we get an 01 number, and can someone on a normal Irish mobile or landline ring these phones directly?

I’ve checked out the demos on letsautomate.co.uk and I’ve gotten the basic jist of what X10 can do and I’m pretty impressed. Three things I would like to use X10 to do would be:

A) Control central heating remotely by phone

B) Dial 2 phone numbers when our house alarm (which currently does not have a dialler) goes off

C) Setup external remote control of lights in two rooms (for security)

Our gas boiler is in the utility room and its power is fed through a timer. We have no thermostat at present in another room, but would like to add a wireless thermostat and external remote control by phone for this.

From what I can make out [broken link removed] device will somehow (?) figure out when our house alarm is going off, and ring up to 4 numbers to notify us, while also providing the ability to remotely control the heating and lights via phone. Would this work with the phone setup I describe above?

We currently have chrome dimmer switches for lights in almost every room, and I’d like to be able to control two of those over the phone for security when late home from work etc.

Really sorry for the long post, but I haven’t been this excited about what a benefit technology can be since I discovered Windows Media Center (which, by the way if you need advice on I’m your man) so any help is much appreciated.
 
Pinchy,

This is actually my third time trying to reply to this post. First was way too long, so I deleted and tried to shorten it. The second one ended out just as long, and my little boy turn the PC off on me before I finished, so this is attempt 3, which will be much briefer.

VOIP

In short, it can do everything you wanted it to do from your posts below. The ATA will give you the exact same functionality as a standard eircom line. You can plug a standard landline phone (portable, DECT or whatever) into it and use it just as you would a normal landline. Think of an ATA as your main eircom phone socket basically. With regards whch ATA, I can only advise based on what I am using, which is a combined Wireless router and ATA by linksys. The advantages are functionailty, and the fact that you get two devices in one., but also the combined router/ata will actually allow you to prioritise voice traffic over everything else should your BB connection be put under pressure, it will ensure your voice gets bandwidht first. Wiring throughout the house is possible, as I said, think of your ATA as your main telephone socket, this is what I have done. However, a much easier solution would be to use DECT phones, which basically allow you to spread them around the house, but only having to have one base unit plugged into your ATA. much simpler. Local numbers are allocated by blueface (I have an o21 number, and again use is exaclty the same as a landline. Anyone can call you on it from anywhere in the word, there are no limitations in this regard

Automation
You can do what you want relatively easy, and the unit you pointed to in your post (the SC2800) will give you remote access as you want. However, this unit has a lot of limitations. Rather than go into them in great detail, I would suggest you look at two other items, just to see the functionality that is available first to compare to the SC2800. I am not syaing the SC2800 wont to it, it will, but in a very, very limited way.

Look at the follwoing units and spend a bit of time comparing them. They are basically "intelegent controllers" and these will be the brains behind your system. If you get this part right, addinbg and expanding your system will be a breeze

Have alook at these links and let me know what you think

Comfort System
[broken link removed]?
[broken link removed]&

Homevision Unit
[broken link removed]?
www.csi3.com


Entry level intelligent Controller
[broken link removed]?

ATA/Router info
https://www.blueface.ie/shop/getDevice.aspx?device=&payg=&extras=&page=plans&plan=IEUKUNLMTD&x=24&y=4


Look into the controller options in a bit more detail on the links above and let me know what you think. I personaly would steer you towards the comfort system as a replacement for your existing alarm system, particularly if you were up to self installing your own alarm system.


Let me know what you think.

Regards,
Eamon
 
Thanks a million wexfordman, some great info there. I'll be looking into this over the next few days and no doubt I'll have more questions than answers by then

For the moment I'm going to order Blueface VoIp. Can you use any ATA with this (I'm assuming you can, as I may be able to pick [broken link removed] one up for €45).

If you PM me your blueface details I'll stick you down as a reference so you get your free tenner's worth of calls.
 
I'll try sonos and clipsal ulti for the lights. Clipsal faceplates are nice, really modular.
I'll run enough cat 5 or 6 to cover LAN and IR receivers. Coax ct100 for TV distribution and 79 strand speaker cable or better for audio.
Alarm cable will be 8 core.
 
Some alarm keypads might require cat5 (like the comfort), so if you were planning on having a kepyad near your door, you might want to consider this also.

Wexfordman
 
Wexfordman - I am currently building a new house and wondered if I am going to use X10 modules for automation, is there anything I need to get my electrician to do at first/second fixing stage or is it all stuff I can do myself once the house is finished? Also, is it possible to hook up the X10 system to a simcard system so I can send texts to the house to do automation tasks or is it all web based? Thanks!
 
Essentially, you can install x10 as a retrofit, but if you are doing anew build there is lots you can do to make it easier. The wo points you need to consider, is what lights and appliances you ant to control (I would suggest all, as this gives you a more practical solution), and the second point is sensors. Any automation system works of sensors that tell it what to do based on situations and scenarios, i.e if you open a door, and it is after sunset, turn on a light, if you open a door and it is before sunset, dont turn on a light etc.

So you need to plan for wiring of sensors to the hilt, and this mainly is along the lines of a security alarm, ie, PIR's for rooms, and relay contacts for doors (including indoor doors, I will explain this later in more detail if you want, as it might seem strange to want to put in relays on internal doors).

I'm waffling....

Specifically, with regards x10 modules, Look into the x10 modules you need, they can be retrofittred behind a normal light switch, although the type of light switch you need is slightly different (momentary contact rather than permanent). Look at the letsautomate.com website, and look at the newer x10 modules as these are really the way to go (mine are the older ones, and needed slightly diferent wiring). I would suggest as a trial, purchasing one of them now, with a basic 10 controller to play around with and show your electrician. It will cost you about 100 euros for the controller and one x10 module, and the module you will re-use in your new house anyway. You can fit the module into your existing house in about 10 mins and play about with it to get an idea and a bit of confidence.

Sorry if I am not making much sense, trying to get this down in a hurry as I am just heading out the door.
Wexfordman
 
Thanks for the info Wexfordman. Will get 1 module and the controller and start experimenting and show my electrician!
 
one other thing. Is it possible to add texting functionality to this system? e.g. Is it possible to text the house to turn on the heating, switch on/off the alarm etc etc?
 
It is possible to do it via texting, hav'nt done it myself though. Home automation is very flexible and pretty much anything can be done using off the shelf products. Look at software apps like homeseer and look at the homevision hw device in addition to the comfort alarm system.

I have my remote access via telephone dial in, wap, and web, but to be honest, the dial in is the most used, wap/web iI just use for showing off at the moment, although with 3G taking off, might make web access more practical. Homeseer will also allow you to run commands remotely via email

I know the texting is possible, just not sure what HW you would need to do it, will do some digging and see what I can find, but have a look at the forums on www.automatedhome.co.uk

X10 is pretty straight forward, but when talking to your electrician, make sure you are clear about double switches etc and space for the modules behind the switches. For single gang switches it wont be a problem, but for double gang or more it might need some thought. Also make sure he works out how the modiules will work with two switches either end of a hall for example controlling the one light. No big deal really, just a few topics to go over with him.

Wexfordman
 
Wexfordman said:
I have my remote access via telephone dial in
Click to expand...

Well, telephone dial in access would be sufficient. Basically, I want to be able to dial/text the house on the way home from work to turn on the heating or switch on the alarm if I've forgotten etc etc.


You mentioned something about Momentary switches needed for X10. Is that for the old type modules or do they have to be momentary for the new type aswell?

1 more thing. What controller should I buy with 1 of the modules so I can test it out?

Thanks a million for all the info. Very helpful.
 
As far as I am aware, you still need the momentary switches, especially for the dimmer type modules, see [broken link removed]

They also show some of the momentary switches you can use, I have used clipsal ones myself.


With regards a controller for teting/playing around with, I would suggest this one [broken link removed]

This is only a trail controller for you, it wont give you any great functionality. You should be looking at a homevision controller longterm and/or a comfort alarm system (I have both, and would recommend the same for a new house).

Again, just make yourself aware of some of the limitiations with x10, i.e electronic transformers can sometimes introduce noise on the line and block x10 (I had this problem on 1 socket, but is easuly sorted).
Wexfordman
 
Is there not a lot of overlap between the homevision and comfort systems? I guess I could get the comfort system to begin with and add the homevision system at a later date for more control and web access?
 
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