Where to begin?

[WebSpider]

Hi forum,

After giving it a couple of months thought, I have decided to want to start with domotica in my existing house, and have also decided that it's going to be an ongoing project, since there will probably be a learning curve. So far I've read up on the technical documentations of RFXCOM, Xanura , Powermax and Plugwise in order to see what all is out there, and how to make sure the end result satisfies both me & my partner.

What I want to achieve, is roughly the following:

1. Most importantly: Basic functionality such as flipping a switch, turning on the TV has to keep working if I myself am unavailable to remedy a domotica-problem (you know ... when I'm out having a beer, I don't want to return home to turn off all the lights [;)])
2. Second: Ease of control: I am planning to have limited control of the installation
using an RC-unit, and possibly later on a touchscreen somewhere (or maybe in multiple places) to fully control all functionalities of used equipment
3. Then: Investment protection: I have a virtualization box available to run any software needed, so at some point, the X10 will have to be transported over IP/WiFi
Then, the stuff I want to bring under domotica-control:
- I want to be able to automate all lighting in the house (also the ones that only have fuse and zero)
- I want to be able to switch on/off audio/video equipment and influence settings (such as chosen channel, volume, audio output over homecinema, etc)
- I want to be able to integrate an alarm system with the domotica stuff
- I want to be able to read power usage, and make automated decisions based on power usage, time, day of week, etc on if to switch off the device completely (standby killer)
- Motion sensors would be great to determine if anyone is still awake, or someone (like me!) has fallen asleep in front of the TV again [:D]

Now, offcourse having all these wishes made clear, now comes the angle of approach and this is kind of where I'm stuck: No one vendor seems to be able to let me do everything I want and choosing multiple vendors will most certainly give me challenges down the line, so I'm looking for your help here.

I am in the Dutch market, and not afraid to solder a bit here and there (did HTS Electro) but I also want the solution to be nearly invisible on the surface, so anything that sinks into existing wiring boxes, wall outlets is favored over plug-in kind of equipment (in general, that is. In the attic, I couldn't care less, so I'll take the cheaper one).

I will do this all myself, so am not interested in installation services (I enjoy doing this myself waaayyy too much).

Now, given all this information ... my question (and quite possibly the question of many others, since I don't think I'm all that different) is ... where to start? In order to create a domotica-system that I can expand gradually, where do I start domotizing? Do I start with the powerswitches? If I do, what will I need to add the A/V? Etc.. etc..

If any of you experts on the matter could give me a few pointers, that would be much appreciated!

[Snelvuur]

I think most topics are allready described, use the search button to see other people say there storys (with reply's)

What i always suggest to people is to get a simple starterkit (elekhomica/waakzaamwonen/etc/see list of shops on forum)

From there you can always expand. Xanura is the one used the most, but it comes with a pricetag too.

Anyway, for you in short:

Lights: Xanura
Switch ON/OFF audio/video stuff: (IRtrans)
Alarm system: Visionic
Power usage: Plugwise for each outlet or RFxcom (for whole usage)
Motion sensors: can come with Visionic or use ms13 ones

So you need, xanura, irtrans, rfxcom, visionic, and some small extra's and you have the most you want (and ofcourse homeseer to connect to whole bunch)

// Erik (binkey.nl)