Homevision Home Control System

Background

My previous home control system was an HCSII which was originally designed by the folks at Circuit Cellar and is now an open source project.  Although this worked well, when we moved in 1998 and built a new house, I decided I wanted to go in a different direction.  After quite a bit of research, I decided to go with a Homevision Controller manufactured by Custom Solutions, Inc.  The system had an amazing range of features, a strong and very active community of users, and a designer who offered outstanding service and support.  I have never been disappointed with my choice and still am amazed at the expansion capabilities offered.

I started off by researching what I might want to do and then began running wires.  Between myself and my two sons, we ran almost 7000' of wire in the new house.  We ran a minimum of 2 - CAT5 cables, 2 - RG6 coax, 4 conductor speaker wire, and twisted pair to every room in the house.  Some rooms, like the den, family room, master bedroom, and sewing room, we ran even more cables - wire is cheap (or was then) and it's easier to run in bare walls than after wall board is hung.  All of the wires were run to a central point in the basement where I hung 6' X 8' of 1/2" plywood and began installing equipment.  Read on for a detailed description of the current components as well as some of the things the system does and future plans.

Main Control Center

Additional Hardware

Besides the equipment located at the control center, there are many more items located throughout the house.  Here are many of them in no particular order.

• I recently installed a Cyber Power 1000PFCLCD UPS.  This UPS employs a pure sine wave system provides power to the Homevision controller, the connected PC, as well as the main power supply that powers most of the peripherals of the system.  It works very well and I have been very pleased with its performance.
• Touch screens - I have 2 touch screens that provide most of the user input - one on the first floor and one on the second floor.  These touch screens are Epods web pads that I got off eBay for about $100 each.  They run Windows CE and were originally intended to be inexpensive Internet Appliances.  Using a terminal services client application they actually run a virtual Windows XP session on the main Windows XP computer. In this session they run the HomevisionXL Remote plugin client software and the Control plugin to provide a great interface (more on this below in the software discussion).  I have a couple of pictures of sample control screens here.
• Small LCD - I purchased a small LCD from eBay and installed it below one of our touch screens.  This screen is fed from our video switcher and can display any of the cameras.  Currently, when the doorbell rings, if we are home, the screen is turned on and switches to the front door camera so we can see who is at the door.  If we are not home, the video is switched, a snapshot is taken and uploaded to our web site, and an email and text message are sent to let us know someone was there.
• Thermostat - Over the years I have looked into purchasing or building a thermostat that would interface with the home control system.  There are several available but they are either X-10 (which I didn't want to use), or more money than I wanted to pay, or both.  Recently Filtrete has introduced their Model 3M-50 which is a re-branded Radio Thermostat model.  This is a WiFi compatible unit that sells for $99 at Home Depot.  The thermostat is fully programmable, works great, and I'm currently working on a HomevisionXL plugin to interface directly to my home control system and the Control plugin.  My initial version is up and running and works great.
• X-10 modules - Although I have gone away from X-10 switches for light switches, I still have numerous X-10 modules for other purposes.  I use appliance modules for turning on and off table lamps and display lights.  I use 110V outlet modules for a woodworking ventilation system and an air compressor.  I also use a 220V module to control a large dust system, also in the wood shop.
• X-10 SS13A Wireless Wall Switches - It seems like overkill to have touch screens in every room but I still needed to have some controls in each room.  That's where I use these switch pads.  They are wireless, very unobtrusive, and stick right on the wall.  They're used to turn speakers on and off in a room for example.  The signals are received by the W800RF32A and transmitted to HomevisionXL to handle.
• X-10 DS10A Door and Window Sensors - These are intended to be used with X-10 security systems but the signals can also be read by the W800RF32A and sent to HomevisionXL.  They are wireless and can be used just about anywhere you need to sense any type of switch closure.  Here's an interesting discussion of some creative uses for these devices.  Also see my page on using these devices for water leak detection.
  
• Magnetic Switches - I have several types of magnetic switches and use them to sense things like garage door position, entry door and window positions, blast gate positions on woodworking dust system.
• Insteon Light Switches - I am in the process of changing all of my light switches over to Insteon Icon Switches.  There are 2 types - 2876D Dimmer Switches and 2876S On/Off Switches. Instead of using them in their native mode, I'm using an X-10 emulation mode and I really like these switches.  They have a small amber LED so they can easily be found in a dark room.  They operate like a normal decora switch - press the top to turn a light on and the bottom to turn a light off. Additionally, when using the 2876D, holding the switch down will cause the light to gradually bright or dim.  Any switch can also be linked to any other switch so you don't need a traveler between switches to create  two-way switches.  Finally, in X-10 mode, the switches send the equivalent X-10 command when they are activated locally.  This allows the Homevision controller to track the status of lights and always know if a light is off or on.
• Cameras - I currently have 7 cameras of various types installed and 1 more that I haven't gotten around to installing yet.  I can currently view or switch cameras either over the web or from either of the touch screens.  Color cameras are pretty cheap these days and one of my next projects will be some type of servo pan and tilt mount so that I can control them over the web.
• X-10 Ninja Pan and Tilt Bases - After some research, I purchased a couple of these with the intent of modifying them to be controlled over an RS-485 network from my home control system.  I was ultimately successful and added a page on my web site detailing the modification.
  
• Sprinkler system - I am currently using an Irrmaster, 4 zone, X-10 sprinkler controller.  This works well and has been very reliable.  I also have a Mini-Clik Model 502 rain sensor to ensure that we don't water needlessly.  The rain sensor is hooked directly to Homevision so it can be used for both the sprinkler and drip systems.
• Drip system - I also have a 2 zone drip system for watering flower baskets, etc.  This is simply a pair of 24VAC sprinkler system solenoid valves installed in the basement which feed hose bibs outside where the each zone connects.
• Speakers - We currently have 8 sets of speakers in various rooms around the house.  Each room also has a volume control for that room.
• Motorized Shades - There are 3 motorized pleated shades installed on large windows in the master bedroom.  They are controlled by relays mounted in the control center.  Update - recently one of the shades failed and I had to repair and upgrade one of them.  Click here for the complete details.
• Current Sensors - I have several current sensors that I designed myself.  These attach to a digital input and can be used to know when an appliance or device is on.  I am currently using them to track the number of hours on my air compressor to know when it's time for servicing and to track the hours on my furnace to know when it's time to change furnace filters.
• Doorbell detection - I'm using an Elk 930 for doorbell detection.  This part is actually 3 circuit boards - 2 doorbell detectors and 1 phone ring detector.  The doorbell detector works fine and is used as described previously to detect someone at the front door, take a picture, and send us an email if we are not home.  I'm also using the ring detector as described later on this page.
• Temperature Sensors - The Homevision Multifunction Expansion Board interfaces with Dallas (now Maxim) DS18S20 digital temperature sensors and I'm currently using 3 - one outside, one in a freezer in the basement, and one in the freezer of the refrigerator in the kitchen.  I also have an LM34DZ installed in the garage along with the FloodStop valve to monitor garage temperature in case of freezing.
  
• Rain Gauge - I'm using a La Crosse Model WS-7048 tipping bucket rain gauge which I modified by simply connecting the small magnetic reed switch that senses the tipping bucket to a Homevision input.  This way Homevision can track current day, previous day, month to date, and year to date rainfall.
• X-10 Filters - I have also installed several types of X-10 filters.  I didn't need them until I started using CFL bulbs.  Once I did, I ended up installing filters on computers that happened to be on the same circuit with CFL bulbs.  This seems to have solved any problems.
• Surge Protector - I have an Intermatic IG1240 whole house surge protector rated at 20,000 amps per phase and 60,000 amps per system.  Although we don't really have significant lightning or power issues here, this is just a little insurance.
• Signal Bridge - X-10 signals can some times have problems passing from one leg to the other in a 220V system so we have a Leviton HCA02 2 phase X-10 coupler/repeater.  This has worked flawlessly and I have never really experienced the X-10 problems that some people seem to have.
• Over the years my X-10 performance has slowly deteriorated.  I believe that this is mostly due to the addition of computers, HD TVs, and assorted other electronics that tend to be X-10 signal suckers.  I recently added an XTB-IIR from J V Digital Engineering.  Besides boosting the X-10 signals from a range of 5 VPP to 30 VPP, the XTB-IIR also serves as a signal bridge so it has replaced the Leviton HCA02.  The XTB-IIR is installed in my garage next to the main circuit breaker panel and is connected, via a 220 Volt plug, to a dedicated 15 amp, 220 Volt breaker.  Since the XTB-IIR also includes TW523 emulation port, I ran a new 4-wire, flat phone cable from the Homevision controller to the XXT-IIR.  Performance has been outstanding and I'm very pleased.
• Modem - For a few years I used an AOpenFM56EV voice modem in conjunction with CallStation software as our answering machine.  Unfortunately this modem ultimately failed and, since they were no longer available, I needed to find a new modem compatible with my system.  I finally settled on a Hiro Model H50113 V.92 56K external USB modem.  The modem has worked fine, the only drawback is that there is a 60 second per call recording limit.  This works for me but may not work for everyone.

Software

• The Homevision Controller comes with some very capable software that runs on a PC and is used for programming the controller as well as providing many other features when the PC is on-line and connected to the controller.  In addition to that, one very talented Homevision user has written his own software and made it available to the Homevision community.  The software is HomevisionXL and, besides adding many additional features to Homevision, has a plugin API which makes it very extensible and adds the hooks for other users to write software that adds even more features.  I won't even try to list all of the great features but you can read about them on the HomevisionXL web site.  I will however list some of my favorite plugins and what I do with them.  You can see the complete list of plugins here.
• Control Plugin - This is the plugin that lets you create control screens that can then be used on any computer.  It has a tremendous range of features and you can see some of my control screens here - just remember that I'm an engineer not a graphic designer so, while my screens are very functional, they're not always very artistic.
• NetIO Server Plugin - This plugin works in conjunction with the NetIO App available for either Android or Apple devices.  Using the NetIO Online Designer, you develop configurations consisting of various screens which can be uploaded to your device.  These configurations in turn communicate with the NetIO Server running on your system.  I am currently running the NetIO App on my HTC phone as well as a Samsung tablet.  It all works great.  Here are some screenshots of some of my screens.
• W800RF32A Plugin - This plugin was modeled after some software I originally wrote called W800toHV.  The plugin receives commands from a W800RF32A whole house RF receiver and can convert them into any Homevision action.  This makes it very easy to use the SS13A wall switches, the DS10A door and window sensors, and virtually any other X-10 wireless devices.
• Weather Plugin - The weather plugin was written by another Homevision user (with very limited input from me) and can go out over the Internet and retrieve data from a National Weather Service site for any area in the country.  The weather data is updated every hour and can then be displayed on a TV screen or any other type of Homevision connected display.  You can see the site for my local area here and see the kind of information available.  The weather plugin now includes the capability to utilize the Weatherbug API to obtain a 7 day forecast and then display the data on a control screen.
  
• Web Plugin - The web plugin provide a complete web interface to Homevision and allows the monitoring and control of any devices from virtually any web browser.  Here's a sample screen.
• Winamp Plugin - Provides complete control for Winamp and the playing of MP3 files.  I have all of my CDs ripped to a hard drive and I can select and play any of them or any play lists using my touchscreen interfaces.  You can see a sample screen here.
• WinTTS Plugin - Provides text to speech output using the standard Microsoft voices.  I use this to announce alarms as well as reminders for things that I might forget.  For example it reminds me if I leave the garage doors open at bed time or reminds me to wind the grandfather clock once a week.
• SendMail Plugin - I use the sendmail plugin to send me an email if an alarm should occur when I'm not at home.  It also sends me an email if one of my cameras has taken a picture that has been automatically uploaded to my FTP site.  I recently discovered that most wireless providers have an SMS gateway for sending text messages.  This means that, in my case, I can send an email to XXXXXXXXXX@vmobl.com (where X...X is my 10 digit wireless number with Virgin Mobile) and I will get the message as a text message on my cell phone.  This is a great way to notify me of a problem if we are not home.
  
• Remote Plugin - The remote plugin enables me to run the HomevisionXL Control plugin on computers that are on my network but are not running the HomevisionXL application.  It is mainly used to play the Control plugin on my Epods tablets.
• ThingSpeak Plugin - Allows me to select up to 8 Homevision variables to upload to a pre-configured ThingSpeak channel.  I can either view graphs of these variables on ThingSpeak or in an iframe on my own website.
• Heartbeat Plugin - This is a simple plugin that monitors the connection between Homevision and my PC to ensure a continuous connection.
• Sysvars Plugin - This is one I wrote myself (with help from Schelte).  This queries the controller for all of the system status and variables so that I can display them on a control screen.
• Stocks Plugin - Another plugin that I wrote with some help from Schelte.  This one opens the Quote.com mobile web site and reads the current prices of the major stock indexes as well as the current change in price and puts these values into user variables for display on my Stocks screen.
• DSC832 Plugin - I've written a plugin which interfaces the home control system more completely with the security system.  I'm using a DSC IT-100 Integration Module which sits on the DSC bus and sends status data via RS232 to the HomevisionXL computer.  This allows me to display the system status on the control screens as well as a stack of recent security events.
• 3M-50 Plugin - This plugin communicates with my 3M-50 Radio Thermostat thermostat and allows me to control my thermostat either from my control screens or remotely if necessary.
• I needed software to interface with my cameras and, after extensive searching, chose Digi-Watcher.  Digi-Watcher is web cam software that provides video surveillance, broadcasting, streaming, recording, and even snapshots for your camera.  Although I don't use all of the features, it has proven to be very capable.  Even though one instance of the software only interfaces to one camera, I can use my video switch, controlled by Homevision, to easily switch between up to 16 cameras.  I also use the software to take snapshots of a camera if Homevision detects an alarm or motion in an area where there shouldn't be movement.  This picture is then uploaded to my FTP site and an email is sent to let me know it's there.
• I recently switched to the free version of webcamXP for my camera viewing.  WebcamXP provides live streaming as well as the web software to more easily embed the live stream on my camera web page server as well as in my NetIO App configurations.
• Another piece of software that I use is Macro Express.  WebcamXP doesn't have an API so I use a Macro Express macro that is run by Homevision to take snapshots.  Macro Express can perform virtually any task that you can do sitting in front of your computer.  In my case, Macro Express activates the webcamXP window, clicks on the snapshot button, enters a file name based on the current date and time, and then uploads the newly created file to an FTP site and deletes the local file.  I can also use the same concept to take short videos, for example when someone rings the front doorbell, which can then be saved on my Google Drive and then viewed from anywhere on the web.
• WebcamXP has a built in web server that allows you to view the current broadcast image from any web browser.  While the browser worked just fine, it didn't allow me any provisions to switch cameras from the same browser page.  In order to accomplish this, I found a simple web server written in VB6 and modified it so that it would meet my needs.  My server serves up the current camera live stream and provides buttons to switch between my current cameras.  I now have the capability from any browser to switch to any of my 7 cameras and to control the Ninja Bases on the 3 cameras that have them installed.
• One of the pieces missing in our system was answering machine capability so, along with the Hiro modem mentioned earlier, I also purchased CallStation software.  This is very nice software with more features than I could ever list here.  The one feature I really wanted was the capability to send the contents of a message via email.  This way, when we are away from home, we don't have to constantly call to check for messages - they are delivered immediately.  Another nice feature is the capability to execute a program whenever a call is received.  I wrote a simple VB6 program that does nothing more than open a socket, connect to the HomevisionXL software, run a macro, close the socket, and exit.  This macro can then decide if we are away based on the status of the security system, increment a call counter and, when we return, announce that there are calls waiting.  I also use an Elk-930 ring detector to count the number of rings to know when we have missed a call.
• Finally, in order to run a session on the Homevision-attached computer for each Epods touchscreen, and still have access to the computer, I installed a patch that allows multiple desktop sessions on a Windows XP PRO computer.  This also entails running a Windows CE Terminal Services Client application on the Epods computers.

Future Additions

• Install additional cameras and design a pan and tilt base for some of them which can be controlled from my server.  DONE
  
• Install a solenoid shutoff valve on the water line where it enters the house so that the water can be automatically shutoff when we leave the house to ensure a broken line doesn't flood the house if we are gone for long periods of time.  DONE
  
• Continue to install remaining Insteon switches.  DONE
  
• Voice message and voice dialing software that will send an incoming message as an attachment to an email and then call me on a cell phone and let me know I have a message.  The system could also log incoming calls and who they were from.  I'm kind of stalling on this since, with the move to VOIP, things are definitely in flux in this arena.  DONE - actually I'm using the method mentioned earlier of sending text messages instead of a voice dialer.
  
• Investigate installing a UPS for the complete system instead of just some components. DONE
• Investigate writing software to control the Insteon switches in their native mode instead of X-10 mode.
• Write a new plugin to work with the Pushover App which will allow me to send push notifications from my home control system to my phone.
• Add an interface to the current smoke detectors so that Homevision  would know if there was an alarm when we were away.  DONE