Hi everyone! A year or two ago I posted here about designing and developing a home and pool automation system. Well it's come a long way and I'm planning to go to market in the spring. The system starting price will start at $499 and for that you will get:
* An expandable linux based web server that controls the operation. All configuration and controls are done via this web interface. You can do as much or as little as you want with this. The device is very small, about the size of a brick, and draws very little power.
* A wireless framework that connects to the pool node (up to about 150 feet between nodes or so)
* A pool node that allows the following IO:
- 4 relays to control either contactors or jandy valves
- 2-4 pressure/vacuum sensors (2 standard)
- 2-4 temperature sensors (2 standard)
This bit of kit will give you easy out of box ability to:
* Schedule pump start and stop.
* Calculate based on your pump head curve and calculated head loss, estimate your GPM flow, thus you can control pump runtime based on actual gallons pumped. As your filter clogs, the pump will run longer.
* Schedule hours varying based on time of year
* Pump protection. The system detects pump prime loss and shuts down the pump.
* Freeze protection
* Light automatic turn on/turn off. Never forget to turn your light off at bedtime again.
* Solar control
* Spa/pool mode switching
* Logging and graphing... whatever you want to log, gallons pumped, pressure over time, temperature, solar heat gain estimation
* Ability to monitor and control everything via the internet... anywhere.
And finally things that make this setup unique:
* Beautiful web 2.0 based configuration and status utility
* Nearly 100% automatic configuration. No keying in IP addresses, no messing with wireless setting. The server automatically detects new nodes on the network. Only basic configuration of what you have hooked up to the node is needed.
* No wires between the pool and the home server.
* Ability to add touch screen control (developing for Android tablets, iPod/iPhone, as well as Nokia Maemo devices)
* Future cost effective expansion to include Insteon control, Whole house audio control, security, and hvac control. Also will have the ability to integrate with other home automation systems.
I did hope to arrive at a lower price, but factoring in time for kit assembly, software development, etc, it's really as low as I can go with it. It's still priced at around 50% or less of competing systems that do much less so I'm hoping people will respond to it.
There is no photos, videos or other documentation yet but there will be. I've finally firmed up the core plans and hardware, now I have to order final production runs, take photos, finish the more fancy portions of the software, etc.
I'm trying to get a gauge on how many people at least in this forum are ready to buy a system like this, like the idea of this system, or think it's just excessive and unnecessary and wouldn't spend the money. Please vote if you fit in any of these categories!
* An expandable linux based web server that controls the operation. All configuration and controls are done via this web interface. You can do as much or as little as you want with this. The device is very small, about the size of a brick, and draws very little power.
* A wireless framework that connects to the pool node (up to about 150 feet between nodes or so)
* A pool node that allows the following IO:
- 4 relays to control either contactors or jandy valves
- 2-4 pressure/vacuum sensors (2 standard)
- 2-4 temperature sensors (2 standard)
This bit of kit will give you easy out of box ability to:
* Schedule pump start and stop.
* Calculate based on your pump head curve and calculated head loss, estimate your GPM flow, thus you can control pump runtime based on actual gallons pumped. As your filter clogs, the pump will run longer.
* Schedule hours varying based on time of year
* Pump protection. The system detects pump prime loss and shuts down the pump.
* Freeze protection
* Light automatic turn on/turn off. Never forget to turn your light off at bedtime again.
* Solar control
* Spa/pool mode switching
* Logging and graphing... whatever you want to log, gallons pumped, pressure over time, temperature, solar heat gain estimation
* Ability to monitor and control everything via the internet... anywhere.
And finally things that make this setup unique:
* Beautiful web 2.0 based configuration and status utility
* Nearly 100% automatic configuration. No keying in IP addresses, no messing with wireless setting. The server automatically detects new nodes on the network. Only basic configuration of what you have hooked up to the node is needed.
* No wires between the pool and the home server.
* Ability to add touch screen control (developing for Android tablets, iPod/iPhone, as well as Nokia Maemo devices)
* Future cost effective expansion to include Insteon control, Whole house audio control, security, and hvac control. Also will have the ability to integrate with other home automation systems.
I did hope to arrive at a lower price, but factoring in time for kit assembly, software development, etc, it's really as low as I can go with it. It's still priced at around 50% or less of competing systems that do much less so I'm hoping people will respond to it.
There is no photos, videos or other documentation yet but there will be. I've finally firmed up the core plans and hardware, now I have to order final production runs, take photos, finish the more fancy portions of the software, etc.
I'm trying to get a gauge on how many people at least in this forum are ready to buy a system like this, like the idea of this system, or think it's just excessive and unnecessary and wouldn't spend the money. Please vote if you fit in any of these categories!