Is LED practical?

Lots of people of sceptical about lighting a room with LEDs.  They say the light is harsh, blue and too directional for general use.  Well, judge for yourself.  This kitchen is currently lit with nothing but LEDs.

They are all dimmable and Part L compliant.  I can't deny the cost was considerably higher than incandescent though.

Welcome Home Lighting

We've now moved into our house and the long summer days are a distant memory.  After owning the house for 11 months it's good to be finally coming home to our new address.  One thing that makes the experience a little more pleasurable is the lighting I've rigged to welcome us home.  From the driveway I can press a key-fob button and the outside and hallway lights come on.  It's not the cleverest of ideas I'll admit.  However it is the sort of small thing that can make life generally more pleasurable.

For the moment all the house lighting is controlled using HomeEasy kit, and this is no exception.  I may continue to use the key-fob remote after I transition to my custom home automation system.  Alternatively I may go for a traditional PIR sensor approach.  Ultimately it'll probably use a combination of different inputs.  One thing is certain though - I like my welcome home lighting!

Programmable Network Room Thermostats

If you'd like to have individual control of the temperature in each room, and be able to extend that control to a mobile phone or the internet, there are plenty of companies offering a solution.  Most of these however, are just re-branded versions of products from heatmiser.

There are two things I really like about the heatmiser networked programmable room thermostats:  they are fully featured stand alone programmable thermostats and the protocol to talk to them remotely has been published by the manufacturer.

Home Automation and Part P - Your Options

So you've decided to embark on a major home automation project and you live in England or Wales.  The fly in the ointment is Part P.  There are a number of ways of handling this.  I'll try to cover them all, but if you think I've missed one them post a comment at the bottom.

Your options are:

DMX for Domestic Lighting Control

I'm going to be using several DMX controlled dimmers as part of my home automation system.  DMX512, to give it it's proper name, is normally associated with stage lighting, and might not seem an obvious choice for home automation.  I know of only one other project that has made use of it like this.

Introduction to "Part P"

There is a lot of confusion and misinformation around the web about so called "Part P".  It's a subject that  anyone wanting to do D.I.Y. home automation should be aware of, so I thought I would shine some light on it.  I'll reference the actual legal documents so that you can verify the information I'm giving.

About This Blog

This blog is about home automation.  It is based around my own automation project: a 1960s four bedroom semi in the north of England.  The emphasis is on low cost D.I.Y. approaches but commercial solutions are also covered.

Some of the topics I intend to cover are:

• What home automation can do
• Cheap alternatives to the big name automation systems
• Electrical regulations in England: "Part P"
• Why home automation is still uncommon
• Presence detection

In my own project I'll be making use of various technologies that I'll discuss in general.  These include:

• Arduino
• DMX
• Linux
• HDMI
• MythTV