G-Stress Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I've been thinking about something for quite sometime now. Every since the episode where they modded the lights to be controlled over the internet and being that I'm in the process of buying a home, why not have an internet enabled home? Just curious to hear anyone's input on this. What I'm wanting to do is control the lighting, water, door locks and possibly other things over the internet. The lighting I don't think will be hard at all after seeing the hak5 mod plus I've seen modules online to do such a thing. The water however say for example I'm on my way home from work and I want to start a bath so it's ready when I get home. I'm not sure what I would need or how it would work. The only thing I can think of is to somehow get a device that turns the water on and off and to stop after so many gallons, ounces, etc. It's gonna be a fun project. The light mod and the hak house is what gave me the idea and I would love to hear anyone's thoughts or suggestions on the topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundguymike Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 This seems neat but I'm still a little confused about your idea. Are you planning on building all these things yourself or buying premade components and putting them together. Are you planning on doing all the remodeling before moving in or will it be an ongoing process. I for one hope you try to build as much as you can. The lighting and security and cameras and av equipment I think will be fairly easy. All the equipment needed exist for these items to communicate and be controlled by a computer. You would need to build a user interface and put it on the web. As far as the bathtub just think of it as a large washing machine. use a solenoid to control the water flow. A pressure valve to control the amount of water and a peristaltic pump on a trimmer to add the soap. If you need to know how those work together watch The secret life of machines. A peristaltic pump is not covered in that video but it is fairly simple. Info can be found on Wikipedia. And for having it controlled by the internet I would suggest using a light controller and instead of wiring it to a light bulb wire it to a the bathtub control board so it turns on the solenoid. Well whatever you do make sure you take some pics or even a video or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H@L0_F00 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Why would you need to unlock your doors over the internet? That seems really foolish, putting your physical security at risk over the internet... Not too bright, especially if you're not good with server security, connection security, etc. You might come home one day and find some cracker waiting for you, after he's taken all your stuff... But by all means, do whatever else you'd like, the locks just aren't very smart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 RFID locks and no door handles might be worth it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 RFID locks and no door handles might be worth it though. I prefer the idea of using a USB port as the key hole and a USB device as the key. Certainly more secure than RFID on the wireless front (there is none!). Same as any key however, if you lose it is easy to make a duplicate of. Would defeat any one with a lock pick. Probably want to make sure that no amount of shorting out the USB port opens the lock. To that end, magnetic strips have the same level of security, providing you are not silly enough to put a correspondence bar code on the card that some one could take a picture of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Stress Posted March 11, 2009 Author Share Posted March 11, 2009 Very nice ideas. I like the idea RFID locks and USB locks, although I need to make sure security would be suffecient. I thought about a magnetic type lock as well. I want a lock that cannot be duplicated. The reason I want to control the locks over the internet is for purposes of family comming to the house when I'm not there so I can remotely unlock and lock the door for them. The idea I kinda had in mind for the door locks is those RSA SecureID's. Somehow implement them with a door lock. I don't know much about them, but have seen various corporate officials using them via vpn sessions. @ soundguymike, I like your ideas as well. I figure the water would be the hardest mod to do. I'll have to learn alot during the process and it is going to be an on going process possibly alot of remodeling as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5ive Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 home automation is a big part of my business. We do high end AV, computing, and full home automation. It is pretty cool. We sell life-ware and control4 based systems. http://life-ware.com/ http://www.control4.com/ As for the locks there are a ton of companies now making controllable locks. I have not seen any token based locks however that is an interesting idea. We used the Schlage LiNK locks on a recent project and the customer loves it. http://consumer.schlage.com/LiNK/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonen Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 I LOL'd at the idea of running the bath over the internet. Imagine how fucked you would be if some one cracked your setup and turned the taps on while you were away at work. Fuck flooding chat rooms lets flood a real home and watch it on the survalence equipment. =P Needz more bubble bath! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadwil Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Why don't you do the same thing with your oven? I saw this show on Discovery Channel where people are experimenting with this stuff. The Oven can be controlled remotely, and if there is food in it then that will auto-cook. Also, the refrigerator will automatically know what is in it and how much, ect. All kinds of cool stuff dealing with an automated home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Stress Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Why don't you do the same thing with your oven? I saw this show on Discovery Channel where people are experimenting with this stuff. The Oven can be controlled remotely, and if there is food in it then that will auto-cook. Also, the refrigerator will automatically know what is in it and how much, ect. All kinds of cool stuff dealing with an automated home. Again I'm happy to hear all the input. I haven't thought about the stove or fridge yet, that's interesting. I'll keep that in mind and possibly try to implement that. @ 5ive, I'm liking the Schlage lock, it seems to be exactly what I want, only I do not want a keypad. I want fingerprint only with a master lock key that cannot be duplicated. I was looking at this one, but it has a keypad: http://www.mykey2300.com/ I like the design of this one alot better: http://grm.manufacturer.globalsources.com/...t-Door-Lock.htm @ shonen, To prevent flooding if possible I plan to somehow put a drain in the floor, but it shouldn't be a problem once I figure out exactly how I'm gonna do it. There must be someway to put a device in play to turn the water on and off and off after so many ounces, liters, etc. or if that's hard to do I could always time it and set it to run for a specific time then stop. It is going to be the hardest mod I'm sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H@L0_F00 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Why not make sure your connection is as secure as possible? SSH, SSL, whatever you're gonna do and a long, randomly generated password. With SSH you should use public and private keys as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Stress Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Why not make sure your connection is as secure as possible? SSH, SSL, whatever you're gonna do and a long, randomly generated password. With SSH you should use public and private keys as well. SSH I already had in mind to use that. I'd like to keep it as secure as possible. I would really like to throw an RSA SecureID into play, but don't know much about it. Another thing in mind is what am I gonna use to serve everything, I'm not so sure I want to use windows as I need the most reliability and uptime. Question I forgot to asked for anyone real familiar with security camera's/systems what would be the most recommended as far as home surveillance? I met a guy that had a nice Lorex brand system. I'm looking to move around may or so. The first mod will be the door locks and I will post pic's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5ive Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Lorex is a solid solution as far as low cost surveillance goes. It is a lot cheaper then most other brands and the image quality is rather impressive. I am not a huge fan of their DVR interface - it will get the job done however it is not very elegant. As for the appliances, look into LG products. They are making pretty much everything IP controllable these days, not just in the kitchen but also washer/dryer. As for the server, I typically recommend control4 to most people - you can accomplish everything that can be done with a higher end system such as lifeware, creston, amx, etc, for a fraction of the price. It is an embedded linux based solution and it is rock solid. However this is not much of a DIYer approach as I don't think you can even buy the products directly, its only sold to installers such as myself. For a DIYer, I would look into using HAI as your base. They have been doing this for a long time and have a solid reputation for making reliable products at reasonable prices. I would stay far away from x10 as most of that stuff is simply garbage. http://www.homeauto.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Stress Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 Lorex is a solid solution as far as low cost surveillance goes. It is a lot cheaper then most other brands and the image quality is rather impressive. I am not a huge fan of their DVR interface - it will get the job done however it is not very elegant. As for the appliances, look into LG products. They are making pretty much everything IP controllable these days, not just in the kitchen but also washer/dryer. As for the server, I typically recommend control4 to most people - you can accomplish everything that can be done with a higher end system such as lifeware, creston, amx, etc, for a fraction of the price. It is an embedded linux based solution and it is rock solid. However this is not much of a DIYer approach as I don't think you can even buy the products directly, its only sold to installers such as myself. For a DIYer, I would look into using HAI as your base. They have been doing this for a long time and have a solid reputation for making reliable products at reasonable prices. I would stay far away from x10 as most of that stuff is simply garbage. http://www.homeauto.com/ Yes sir, I highly agree, x10 is junk. I've gotten one of their camera's before and it was just a waste of money. Now Lorex is probably what I will go with, but as far as wireless camera's what would anyone recommend? I've seen a few d-link and airlink's, but I've not used any besides that junk x10. So there is no way I could get a lifeware system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destro Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I would only do it on a part of the house lights because if your computer crashes or anything happens you won't be able to get lights.It's a cool thing and hope it works. cheers, Destro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DingleBerries Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I've never owned anything as large as a house.. I look forward to rooting your home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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