Home Automation Domotica Forum Europe, Bwired Forum

nice to see another singaporean. well, the windows and doors are the same actually, you cant have a door that is not brown in color. how i know, I glued a thin sheet of brushed aluminium to cover the main door(the side that faces outside) because after a while my wood got suntan mark shaped of the door grill.
so anyway, I got someone came knocking on my door telling me that I cant have this type of door. for reasons like, thou it's fireproof it must be able to be chopped open by fire fighters( poor lass thought it was solid metal.) and on top of that someone complain that the metal is reflecting into someone house when the sun shines.
but besides that, I really like the look of the door. it looks like a solid armour plated door.

as for windows changing color, you can choose any color as long as it's stainless steel color.
at least 5 months to change not bad. singapore have to pay $3k to submit for approval, approval is another matter.

as for the rain sensor, I got another alternative. I coated the sensor with silicon oil thingy. and remove the access so that the silicon goes into the grooves to prevent algae growing.

on top of that I set HS to ONLY IF RAIN SENSOR = WET FOR MORE THAN 60S THEN NOTIFY. it seems to work perfectly only problem is only 1m after it rains then i know it's really raining. but better than nothing. I also just finished installed my auto windows closer. I was told that doing such a thing is illegal in singapore also. as it states "no modification to windows" in HDB law that i read somewhere.

your concept has a flaw. it doesnt work for someone staying near the sea like me. (marine parade) my house faces 45 degrees directly to the sea.

it's not even raining and it's already 81% humidity now with bright sunshine.

as for lightning protection, i used a china made X10 40A whole house filter which is also a lightning surge protector.

good to see some Singaporeans too around here lah

Door
My door is brownish but my parents in law have a white one, my neighbours too and a friend of mine even a yellow... all no problem at all! HDB under DBSS and condos have different regulations which vary on the developer.
Have you tryed to get a metal looking color with airbrush? Where you live in Marine Parade, has not many HDB apartments anymore... I live in Simei, is also eastcoast.

Renovation
In a HDB (subsided public housing) is an permit for renovation FREE OF CHARGE! Problem is that only a HDB Licensed Contractor can submit online for a permit. They charge a fee for it. Think $50 is reasonable but $400 for a free permit is of course not proportional anymore. These contractors pay an annual HDB licence fee of a few hundred dollars and there is no limitation in permits. If they charge you $3K (1500 euro) then you've been simply ripped off. Sadly many Singaporeans do NOT even know that these permits are free of charge... Average waiting time for a permit is 10 days and standard valid for 4 months. One single permit is valid to do all major renovation (hacking walls, removing old floor or wall tiles with jackhammers and reposition of door/window frames). For all other renovation activities you do not need any permit

Note for non-Singaporeans: when you buy a new apartment in Singapore, most of the people renovate everything with hiring a interior design company. They do everything from designing to construction. Everything get replaced to the latest designs. An average renovation can cost easy between $40K to $80K (20.000-40.000 euro!). DIY is not very common here but is very slowly comming up. Painting a simple HDB 5 room cost $2K by contractor, DIY $300!!

In condos you have to check the regulations of the property developer. With landed private property you have to deal with URA. When you use a Qualified Person to submit for a permit, the proposal is immediately approved else it will takes maximum 4 weeks. The application fee is $1500 (750 euro), valid for 2 years.

Note for non-Singaporeans: in Singapore when they renovate a landed property, only the structural skeleton of the house will be used. All other walls, doors, windows, floors, stairs, mothers in law, aircon pipes, plumbing and wires are demolished out. They call that here do some additions & alterations I like this kind of creativity to make your house more yourself...

Rain sensor
One minute is not bad at all.

I don't use HomeSeer as I've designed my own HA system. Did some tests for 2 weeks, filmed 24/24 the weather outside with a webcam and logged the humidity levels each minute into my computer. Then I analyzed the difference in humidity between dry and wet in my area. In the morning is the humidity also significant higher then in the afternoon. I programmed these values into my system as reference. Probably you have to use 90% or 92% as border. Play with the values and you will find it.

To shut everything automatic down during thunderstorms is a extra precaution. Singapore is one of the most thunderous places on planet Earth! In an average thunderstorm, the energy released amounts to about 10,000,000 kWh, which is equivalent to a 20-kiloton nuclear warhead. A large, severe thunderstorm can be 10 to 100 times more energetic. Standard lightning surge protectors are tested with average thunderstorms and not the larger severe ones as we have in Singapore.

I am now still busy to build this addition. Electronic equipment as my computers will be then shutdown automatically. The HA system and my CCTV will run on a battery cell until the thunder has stopped. Big relays will cut off the power on all the 3 lines of some subgroups. Lighting and some other devices will still be functional as usual.

LOL and here i thought i was taking it too far.

sweet, own HA. would love that IF i had the time.. we should meet up one day for kopi.. haha

A relay will not stop the thunder from jumping over into your switched of circuits. Specially not when the supply gets a hit.

Originally posted by fantic: A relay will not stop the thunder from jumping over into your switched of circuits. Specially not when the supply gets a hit.

Indeed the normal tiny cheap relays will not do the job. I speak about the relays who are isolating themselves when they are not powered. They used in industrial purposes to cut the power entirely off during emergencies or swapping over to backup power. Some hospital equipment have these relays build in. Still seeking for them...

Originally posted by andywee: sweet, own HA. would love that IF i had the time.. we should meet up one day for kopi..

haha Love always to have a nice kopi