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Featured Installation of the Week- Duprey Home Automation

This week, Duprey Home Automation was hired for a very interesting and smart  installation. A client contacted us, looking to get into home automation.  He is from the Mid-West, but has a vacation home in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  The client wanted to be able to control several key devices around the home that are large energy hogs.  Since there are some periods of time where the home is unoccupied he would like to be able to remotely turn off the

220V Controller

water heater and pool heater among other things.  The client already has a Mac in the home that is always on and running the IP-based security camera system so he would like to  use this Mac in the system.  We came up with a simple but effective solution to meet all his requirements, and do it very reasonably.

Indigo by Perceptive Automation

We are installing a few Insteon devices to control the appliances we need to control, and an Insteon PLC to interface with the Mac.  We will install the software Indigo, by Perceptive Automation.  We will then finish by designing some simple web pages using Indigo’s web server to allow the client to access his home from any internet connection in the world to control his home.  From this foundation of Insteon access points, a PLC and Indigo, we can expand to more lights and appliances in the future.

We thought we would share this installation with our readers, as it is an excellent way to get started with Home Automation inexpensively and also control items in your home to save energy and money.

Check us out on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DupreyHomeAutom or Become a Fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DupreyHomeAutomation.  Thank you.

Duprey Home Automation at the Home & Remodeling Show, Melbourne FL

This weekend Feb 6 & 7th, we will be at the Home & Remodeling Show in Melbourne Florida.

Home & Remodeling Show

We look forward to meeting you there and discussing what home automation can do for you and your family.

For the occasion, we have produced a new post card explaining what home automation is, and how it can help you both “Be Green” and home as well as “Save Green”.

New DHA Postcard

Click the image for a larger view.

Stop by booth #704 and enter our contest to win some great prizes, including 10% off any installation.

We hope to see you there!

As always you can follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/DupreyHomeAutom or Become a Fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DupreyHomeAutomation

Thank you, we appreciate your support!

Apple iPad will be an Amazing Whole Home Remote for Home Automation

Ever since rumors of an Apple tablet started many months ago, I have dreamed of a day when we could use one as a remote control to run everything in our house.

New Apple iPad

Since then we have laid an excellent foundation to allow a mobile, touchscreen device to act as a remote.   We already use Apple products in our home including Airport Expresses and Apple TV’s to stream  music and video wirelessly around the home.   We use iPhones and iPod Touch’s to control them and software (Indigo) from Perceptive Automation, to control the home automation system.  We also have an IR system, that allows our various Macs to control AV gear over infrared (iRed).  Indigo allows you to create custom web-pages, where you can control your home via any web device.  We have also used a Harmony 1000 RF

Harmony 1000 RF Touchscreen Remote

remote control, in conjunction with the home automation system to control my home, and even went as far as creating specific web pages formatted specifically for a Nokia 770

Nokia 770 Tablet

touchscreen tablet we have mounted in the kitchen (as seen in our first video post).  The iPhone, iTouch, Harmony, and Nokia are all great devices, but none of them are perfectly suited for the task of total home control.  The iPad is perfect for this task.  First off, if you have one, I imagine you will use it frequently, and I can picture this as a device you will have on the coffee table or couch, always near by for quick email checking, or a short post to Facebook or Twitter. Since you will be using it like this, and it will be close by most of the time, it is perfect to run your home.  The great thing about Indigo is that you can create different web pages, as many as you want, with varying sizes and resolutions, and it integrates with Insteon and X-10.  When combined with Applescripts, the possibilities are endless.  Over your homes wifi network, the iPad can control the infrared devices via iRed on your Mac, as well as control iTunes and all the other devices (lights/appliances) in your home.  All of this technology is available today!  I know I enjoy using my Harmony 1000 to press one button to run an action group called “Watch a Movie”.  It turns on the correct devices in my AV rack, switches to the correct inputs, loads the movie, dims the lights, and arms the security system.  Since I am always within arms reach of my iPhone, and assume it will be the same with my iPad, I can’t wait to be able to control everything from it while on the couch checking email or my security cameras.  If Steve Jobs has his way, this will be a device we will have in several rooms in our house, making it even more convenient as a home automation interface.

There are a lot of Apple naysayers out there.  Irregardless of what Apple introduced Wednesday, they would have complained.  I for one am very excited to get my hands on one, and use it to control my entire home and I think this new gadget will revolutionize home automation interfaces.

Home Automation Can Help Prevent a Disaster at Home

This one happened to me just this past week.

Ever since I have completed the changeover in my home to smart switches and devices, I have really started to enjoy the use of sensors around the home.  I have already set up several sensors that offer all kinds of information that my computer takes in, and then makes decisions as to which actions to perform.  For example, I have a garage door sensor, that detects if the door has been left open.  At set times a script will run and the home will notify me if I need to close it.  I also have door sensors to detect when our doors have been opened.  We also installed sensors on some important windows (kids room etc.).  Motion sensors are also used both inside and outside of the home to notify us when people are at the front door, or if there is motion anywhere around my home.  This next level of intelligence really allows you to do some fun, and amazing things.  Once you have the data at your fingertips, what you do with it is limitless.

First Video Podcast- Quick Introduction to Insteon Home Automation using iPhone

We had the idea to create a short video to show you a few of the things that you can do with Insteon Home Automation technology. This video includes using a Nokia touchscreen tablet and an iPhone as an interface to control everything in the home.  We hope this short video gives you some ideas of what can be done.

We apologize in advance for the low video quality.  We are definitely not video editors!  Thanks and enjoy!

Can Home Automation Help Parents with Kids?

Has this ever happened to you? I bet there are more than a few of you out there that can sympathize.

The other night, my wife and I were out late at a Christmas party.  We have a two year old, and anyone with young children knows that sometimes that car ride home is the best thing to get your child to sleep.  When you get home you struggle to get the child out of the car seat, inside the house and into bed without waking them.

This got me thinking.

We have a keypad at our front door, with the usual “Home” and “Away” buttons.  Home turns the house into home mode, turns on certain lights and runs other scripts.  Away puts the house into Away Mode, turning everything in the home off, activating motion sensors and cameras, and running a few scripts.

TriggerLinc by Smarthome

I started thinking, what if the house knew when I got home, and if it was after a certain time, say9PM when we got home, it would assume we had a sleeping child with us, and would react differently.  Say, dimly light a path to the child’s room, and turn those lights on just enough to allow you to get them to bed without waking them up.

So I set out to make this happen.