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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 12 2017 at 09:33 | IP Logged
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Hi - Dave asked people to post interesting ways they use Powerhome that probably couldn't be done with other SW.
To get the thread started, here are some of mine:
1) Every 15 minutes, PH fires off a Perl script that parses the NWS page for my town and writes two files that are read into global variables. One is the temperature, the other is a value of 1 if it's raining and 0 if it's not (this requires parsing the four or five different ways the NWS forecast can mean "Rain" (e.g., showers, Fog/Mist, etc). I use the temperature to decide whether to run my ceiling fans, and an auxiliary heater in my laundry room (but the latter is only on Saturday when we do laundry). More on the RAIN bit later.
2) I have power sensors on my clothes washer dryer, and a piezoelectric buzzer (controlled by an appliance module and a relay) in the center of my house. PH actuates the buzzer is a certain pattern if the dryer is done, OR if the washer is done but the dryer isn't running. This is trickier than it sounds because modern washers draw power intermittently, so once a wash cycle starts, PH has to handle a large stream of ON/OFF messages, and determines that the washer is done only when no message has been received for ~3 minutes. When an announce-able event occurs, it fires the buzzer in a pattern, and then a different pattern 10 minutes later. Of course, if we're in NIGHT mode, the buzzer is suppressed.
2a) My son's room in the upper loft is isolated such that he can't hear the buzzer. So we set it up that he could bring up a web page (exported from PH) press a button, and then for the next several hours, if there was a washer/dryer event, PH would Email a text to him.
3) There's an Insteon on/off (magnet) sensor in our mailbox. When the mailbox is opened the piezoelectric buzzer goes off, except if we're in NIGHT mode. In night mode, the event is remembered and when we go into DAY mode the buzzer goes off. It continues to go off in 20 minute intervals for a while and stops. However, there is a Keypadlinc by our front door with a button dedicated to resetting the mailbox notification. As soon as the mailbox is opened, the light on that key is lit. So even if we're away for a few days we can instantly see if there's anything in the mailbox by looking at the button. [I also use the PH-unique feature of independent button control to light other keypadlinc buttons to indicate system state].
4) We have an attached garage. It was never well lit because I didn't want to blow a KW of power. However, thanks to $4, 1300 lumen LED daylight spotlights now available at the Home Depot, I hung a grid of 6 sockets and now have a brightly lit garage. Even better, I mounted on/off sensors on the garage doors so that opening/closing the doors turns on the lights for short intervals. Here's the smarts: The physical (Insteon) switch acts as an override, canceling upcoming light timeouts, or blocking new on events for a few seconds. (Example, you get out of the car, walk to the door to the house, press the button to close the garage door, and turn off the light as you enter. Without PH, the light would come back on when the door completed closing a few seconds later).
5) I used the web page design feature to develop custom control pads. Links to the web page are on browsers on everyone's PC and phone, and I've wall-mounted two $40 Kindle fires in high-traffic spots set up with their browsers pointing to the web page, essentially making them $40 touch-pad controls.
6) We needed to replace our front lawn, which meant a lot of watering. I needed 5 sprinklers to cover the area. I bought a few $12 electric valves from Home Depot, connected them to 120/24V transformers plugged them into appliance modules. Because of low water pressure, I could run only 2 at a time. PH allowed me to develop custom watering schedules, but to skip a day whenever it had rained within a certain number of hours before the scheduled watering. Adjusting the schedules was trivially easy.
7) With my doorbell hooked up to an I/O link, and several X-10 Chime monitors spread through the house (some plugged into insteon modules where the X-10 didn't reach), PH insures the doorbell is heard throughout the house.
8) Motion sensors in my driveway trigger both spotlights (during dark hours, as determined by PH), and fire the piezoelectric buzzer so we know when we have visitors.
9) For some common frequent tasks, I created icons on my windows toolbar that fire PH macros (no need to even open PH). Mundane, but very convenient.
10) We turn "NIGHT" off later on weekends and holidays. PH is pre-programmed to do this on all major holidays, and if I take a week off, I can press a button on a control center menu, and enter the number of days until it returns to normal schedule.
11) I'm sure other programs give you a "vacation" mode where more lights are running on timed schedules. But mine also turns off the piezoelectric buzzer, and some other things I don't need when I'm not around (like the auxiliary heater). I also have a "VACATION TEST" button that turns on all timed lamps so I can check they all work before I go.
That's all I can think of for now. PH Rocks!
/j
=================
one more:
So here's another trick, which is so basic to my system I forgot to mention. All Insteon commands are sent to a common MACRO that checks status and does retries. If it's a timed event (so not time-critical) it spreads retries over more than a minute in case there was some short term electrical disturbance. Point is, this MACRO works real hard to make sure the command gets through. In the rare cases a command fails, it logs the failure and sends an Email.
As a result, I have 100% confidence that every command for which I don't receive an Email is successful, and I am notified of every failure. Not sure any other system anywhere else lets you have that level of confidence.
Edited by jeffw_00 - November 26 2017 at 10:41
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 13 2017 at 12:26 | IP Logged
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Jeff,
Appreciate the writeup, some excellent ideas there.
Looking forward to seeing some other user stories  .
Dave.
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KevinDo
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| Posted: November 20 2017 at 08:26 | IP Logged
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Thanks for sharing these tips, Jeff. Great stuff!
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kemporama
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| Posted: November 24 2017 at 13:40 | IP Logged
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Jeff- Could you tell me what kind of device you use as a
power sensor for your dryer. I've been wanting to do
something like this for years. I know that Smart Home
used to have a plugin device that could do this a long
time ago, but they discontinued it and I Can't find an
Insteon replacement for it. Thanks.
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 24 2017 at 13:48 | IP Logged
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It was the Synchrolinc - looks like they discontinued it. Sorry - if you ever find a source let me know?
/j
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 24 2017 at 13:56 | IP Logged
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I was doing something similar on my washer as well but was using the Insteon iMeter module model 2423A1 (until the unit up and died on me). It appears to
also be unavailable but looks like it can be had on eBay.
Dave.
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 24 2017 at 14:00 | IP Logged
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Same module, different name (but older firmware - might be buggy - I remember I had to update my first synchrolinc to get it working)
Edited by jeffw_00 - November 24 2017 at 14:05
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 24 2017 at 14:07 | IP Logged
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and I don't see any on Ebay :-(
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 24 2017 at 14:19 | IP Logged
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They are similar but slightly different. The synchrolinc (2423A5) will send on and off commands (according to power calibration) while the iMeter (2423A1)
sends actual power usage in Watts.
In any event, it appears that NewEgg has the Synchrolinc: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA05W01B6 828&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-
PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Home+Automation+-+Smart+S ensors+%26+Accessories-_-9SIA05W01B6828&gclid=CjwKCAiAo9_QBR ACEiwASknDwbbaWtOhKkHqNLLyzSPDzEw-
mdpGgqWzmo4TvnuCLmlsHRKlrq2bvRoCnokQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Dave.
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 24 2017 at 14:34 | IP Logged
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Dave is correct - Synchrolinc's can be had at NewEgg (I just bought one - Thanks Dave!)
{although, the item is "Newegg Marketplace" sell through from Smarthome - I wonder if I'll get an Email "out of stock". We'll see...
Edited by jeffw_00 - November 26 2017 at 10:40
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nick7920
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| Posted: November 26 2017 at 16:46 | IP Logged
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few of my tricks for now.
1. Door bell - PH sends picture and Message when door
bell is rang (using foscam camera for picture)
cheap wired door bell normally has electromagnetic to
make a sound (bell cost $10 in hardware store) -
I inserted X10 door/window Magnetic Sensor inside the
bell closer to coil. anytime someone rings the bell Ph
get the trigger and runs macro.
(you can also use the insteon door sensor running
small wire for external sensor )
2. Satellite Dish - Heater
connected with external power module , when weather
current condition shows Snow it will turn on until
current condition is clear and I add few extra hours
to make sure - using for many years and works great no
more loss of signal because of snow on the dish.
3. combination of some light and exit door will
trigger the Alarm on. (for turning off have to use
phone).
Nick
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 26 2017 at 16:58 | IP Logged
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Hi Nick - #2 is very clever - how do you detect weather?
Re #1 - I like your idea. FWIW - I put an iolinc between my doorbell button and the actual doorbell, so the button triggers an event that fires the doorbell (but only during certain hours)
Edited by jeffw_00 - November 26 2017 at 17:00
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 27 2017 at 10:54 | IP Logged
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Newegg cancelled my order...
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TonyNo
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| Posted: November 27 2017 at 16:24 | IP Logged
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Yup. #1 for me as well.
What kind of dish heater and where did you get it?
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nick7920
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| Posted: November 28 2017 at 10:04 | IP Logged
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dish heater purchase from amazon - Ice Zapper Satellite
Dish without the thermostat - since we control thru PH
and also other had problem with thermostat.
for weather I had used others also but found accurate
for me from
weather.gov and in xml and let PH do the parsing
example
http://w1.weather.gov/xml/current_obs/KORD.xml
For door bell X-10 was cheapest like $6.00 solution.
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DeanC
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| Posted: December 08 2017 at 01:55 | IP Logged
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A couple of my uses:
1. I have a Davis weather station that writes current
conditions to a csv file that PH then parses. This way
I have accurate weather conditions for my backyard. PH
sets heat or cool mode on my Insteon thermostat based on
outside temperature. This works much better than the
'stat auto mode.
2. I bought an Epson wireless portable scanner to keep
in the kitchen where we open the mail. The idea was to
scan items that we needed to keep such as bills not
available on the internet, store receipts, etc. allowing
us to be paperless. Problem is that the scanner software
running on the remote computer shuts down after 15
minutes of idle time(why have a wireless scanner if you
need to be at the computer to launch the software?). The
solution was to have PH kill and relaunch the software
every 14 minutes.
3. Not implemented yet but will be next summer. Have PH
keep a running total of the previous seven days rainfall
and turn on the sprinklers only when rain has not
delivered enough irrigation. Based on running time PH
will also add sprinkler water total to the rain total to
determine if the grass needs more water and water will
remain on only long enough to provide the proper weekly
amount. Also watering will not be allowed if the wind is
blowing hard enough to interfere with the water
delivery.
4. Not implemented yet but working on it. Using solenoid
valves and a connection to my air compressor, PH will
shut the water supply off and turn on the air to blow
the water out of the sprinkler system any time the
temperature approaches a value that puts the system in
danger of freezing. This also has the advantage of being
able to turn on the water supply to the sprinkler system only when needed. This will prevent wasted water, muddy
messes, possible basement flooding, etc. if a sprinkler
valve gets stuck on while we're away for several days.
Jeff, would you mind sharing your status checking macro?
I have a couple of devices that intermittently don't
respond and I've not been able to solve the problem by
hardware. Thanks, Dean
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: December 09 2017 at 07:15 | IP Logged
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Hi - as noted in a different post - I can't upload the code screenshot. But you can find it here:
http://www.kwcpa.com/pwrhome/
Enjoy. Let me know if you have qns
/j
Edited by jeffw_00 - December 09 2017 at 07:16
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progas
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| Posted: October 25 2018 at 09:18 | IP Logged
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I dont do much with powerhome, but my best uses are the
following:
1. I have chickens, and they need heat when it gets
cold. So I setup a weather check with PH using weather
underground. I found the base code on the forums and
then figured out how to pull the data I needed. Temp,
wind chill, humidity, various others go into variables
every 30mins. Then I have PH run a macro every other
30mins that checks the variables and then turns on or
off the heat lamps according to a defined temperature.
This has been great during fall and spring where the
temperature swings can be fairly drastic.
2. My kids are in high school and they always seem to
sleep through the alarm clock. So, I setup a daily timer
that will start flashing their bedroom lights (20 times)
in the morning at the exact same time their alarm clocks
go off. It works wonderfully they are up every morning
with out fail. Just make sure you have bright lights
installed their rooms. 
3. Last summer I wired a relay switch to an outlet in
the garage and used PH to run my hydroponic garden out
back using an extension cord. Worked great except when I
had a power failure, catastrophic loss of garden. This
winter I am going look at designing a fail safe using
solar and batteries.
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Topic: Smart Powerhome Tricks
