Home Automation in Switzerland

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
61
Anyone done anything mildly interesting recently?

For those with Somfy blinds/shutters and RF remote controls, you can get a controller, a RFXtrx433E which will allow you to control all your Somfy-controlled blinds together or independently. You can also use it to control other 433.92MHz devices.

We have Somfy shutters but also some older Bubendorff roller shutters. These have a hard-coded unique RF code and cannot be copied or modified.

I wanted to control these too so I connected them to an Arduino board (a Wemos with Wifi), a cheap RF switch with new push-button wall plate and the existing Bubendorff wall switch.

OpenHab provides the link between this module and everything else including Echo.

I can now control these shutters via my mobile phone, a PC screen, rules and of course my Echo Dot.

When I leave the house now I can say "Turn security system on" and as well as doing other things, the roller shutters all come down automatically.

(has anyone seen that film , the Purge?)

I've also created some rules including the bathroom shutter dropping down before it gets dark as the neighbours could probably see in quite well when it is dark with the light on.

The other shutters drop down at 11.00pm.

The Wemos only has enough ports for two shutters (see pic) so I'll probably find another Microcontroller board and a seperate wifi (or better, ethernet module) when I find the optimum position in the house for the control box as the Bubendorff RF controls, unlike the Somfy ones, don't have much of a range.

62
I'm not sure my Somfy blinds have any kind of RF built in. I noticed there are several types of controllers (some include timers for example), and that there are at least 2 types of blinds. The only reason why I'm not sure my blinds are rf-blind is that when there are high winds they are smart enough to close..but that information might be coming from the building via wiring.

63
Do you have a remote control for them? If yes then they are RF.

If you try and take a wall switch off the wall and it unclips and has a battery then it's also RF.

But yes, some are hard-wired. They were in may last apartment as the architect was into Feng Shui and he thought all RF, including Wi-fi was detrimental to health.

64
I had a a bug or omission in my code for the shutters. When the wifi went down and came back up, all the last shutter control messages would be sent at once in a stream

so the shutters would occasionally go up or down of their own accord which worried the wife.

All okay now though..

I'm looking at security / burglar alarm stuff now.

I can arm the 'security system' via Alexa or a tablet/smart phone or local webpage. I can only disarm it via a keypad on the tablet or local webpage.

I'll enable disarming with a finger swipe when I get that working.

I thought it would be a bit of a hassle to have to type in a code to arm it but is that the norm?

Before the system arms, it does a quick check to see if any windows are open (those with sensors) and then gives you a couple of minutes to leave.

My question is - if I have a siren - are there any rules for how long and how loud it can go for?

It's really a bit of a deterrent. When an intruder is detected, I also get an email/sms telling me so but that doesn't give an instantaneous response if I'm away.

Secondly, what features do people think I should also incorporate which they have found useful?

Thanks

65
Back home we used to have the burglar alarm relayed to the local police station, I'm not sure if they do this here but worth considering if you feel it gives you extra piece of mind?

66
He can swap out wall-sockets and thermostats for other models which directly connect to wi-fi, when switching multiple lamps he can add wi-fi dimmers in the boxes of the lamps, no need for "some" box near the router. Just to install an app on your phone and/or tablet which controls them and gets status update from them over wi-fi.

As for his blinds, that would fully depend on the current system which is unknown to me.

And it all depends how much he wants to spend and how complicated he wants the system to be, i have experience with Digitalstrom which is used for a 4 floor company in ZH to control lights but also the coffeemachines and many other equipment with a custom made app and an iPad and server on each floor with a bunch of IP relays in the cabinets, but such is overkill for OP imho. Digitalstrom can do everything but i think it's to expensive and offers way to much for someone who basically just wants a bunch of on/of functions in a home.

67
I can see that you people are into a technical discussion (and centred on users in the German speaking area) but in the event that someone in the French area at some time in the future comes across this thread and needs to do some research on home automation, here are the key works to search for on Google.

La maison connectée

Domtotique ( https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domotique )

If you want to restrict your search to CH websites just add " site:ch " after the search words.

68
Update (for those interested).

I had my system running while I was away and it was all okay when I got back apart from a couple of shutters controlled via wifi (as a proof of concept).

The wifi router needed a re-boot when we got home to get this back (and some other wi-fi connected devices).

Ethernet was fine.

I'm steering clear of wifi-connected devices at the moment - unless they're non-critical (such as Echo Dots, etc).

So, we've now got a fully functional alarm which sends an sms if one of the proximity sensors is set off or a window/door is breached. It also sets off a loud, internal siren.

It won't let you arm it unless all doors and windows are closed (and it will tell you which one is open too).

I've also got all shutters working through my system so I can open and close them automatically (part of the security system opens and closes various shutters and turns lights on and off when set to "away").

I'm going to write some more rules so that if the outside temperature is over a certain amount , and the sun is shining, the shutters will open and close according to the sun position.

I've got a tablet wall-mounted by the front door to control all functions (Alexa also does some). This arms the security system and allows control/monitoring of everything.

It also can show interactive graphs of data, for example:

Not just pretty as I want to use the data to see if any energy saving or heat control methods are working.

69
Maybe find a more reliable router. Though I wouldn't put my IOTs on the same network anyway. Perhaps you can create a special controller using the ESP8266 and set a watchdog on it to handle situations when if it crashes etc.

70
Yes, I was thinking of a watchdog (using an ESP8266) or better, a SONOFF which contains an ESP8266 (and a programming header) and a mains relay so I can just wire that inline with the router power cord.

That's another little project to add to the list.

A new router is on the list too.

71
have you seen this?

72
No, but I'm doing something very similar -with HABpanel

Here are some examples of what other people have done .

You can basically do what you want with it - widgets can be written in angularjs or html or there are some standard ones.

73
Good to know

how many or any Raspberries involved ? Any electrical fundemental knowledge required ? I can handle all the software side by myself, with a little bit of reading, but the hardware side of mine is dark :/

I also assume that it would worth it if you own the house, right?

74
Here you go for a nearly step by step instruction - http://www.instructables.com/id/Uber...-w-Arduino-Pi/

This is, of course, a higher level thing. OpenHab works with commercial sensors etc. You will need to know basic electrical knowledge in order to swap things and install smart sensors.

75
You can run openHAB on anything basically - Windows/Mac or Linux.

I'm using a Raspberry Pi 3 because it's cheap, more than powerful enough and low power (it's on the whole time).

None needed at all - just plug the Pi into ethernet* and power and set it up using a PC or Mac. You don't even need a screen for it.

*As you can put it anywhere, you really don't need wifi.

You don't need any hardware knowledge - it's basically a link between any home automation solutions you may have or get.

For example, I've got a Homematic CCU2 Control unit (also just plugged into Ethernet) which controls radiator thermostats and window switches all over RF.

A basic knowledge of Linux is useful and the rest is pretty straigthtforward.

Rules for example (if this happens then do that .... are based on Xbase/Xtend but it's not difficult.

For hardware I've got a few microcontrollers involved and some wiring because I wanted a few of my solutions to be stand-alone in case something went wrong with my network and from a safety point of view (and it's also fun).

If you want to re-program other peoples's stuff then you'll probably need to know a bit too as you may need level shifters and programming headers etc.

Examples of stuff you can connect without any hardware knowledge:

Amazon Echo

Philips Hue

Kodi

Sonos

Denon

Nest

Plex

Panasonic or Samsung TV

Somfy Blinds

Tesla

Z-way devices

IFTTT

Xiaomi devices

I've done a lot of wiring but you can set most things up with 433MHz RF or wifi with no wiring and then take it with you when you move. Most devices have self-adhesive pads as well as screw options.

I think the main benefit is one uniform user-interface and being able to write rules that link them all.

And, you can access it from your smart phone, PC or Tablet if you wish (or just have it running out of sight).

Oh, and it's open-source too!

76
Hi Tom

Do I understand correctly that you managed to control somfy blinds without somfy's tahoma box?. I would like to avoid the tahoma box as it has a subscription which I find ridiculous.

So far I have hue lights, somfy blinds and a harmony which I would like to control together. Eg. when pressing start movie, the lights should turn off (or dim), projector on, screen down and all (somfy) blinds closed. I got all set up so far except for the blinds.

BR, Zoltán

77
Yes. Works perfectly.

I got it from Swiss-Domotique for 119CHF.

You need the RFXtrx433 E version as it has the extra transmitter at 433.42MHz for Somfy RTS.

Another benefit is it can recognise and Tx/Rx many other devices on 433.92MHz (I've got stuff like an outside thermometer also linked up).

But, it's a dumb unit - I'm using openHAB to do the control (openHAB has a RFXtrx433e binding). It also has a Harmony and a Hue binding too.

78
Thanks, Do you know whether it also works with the somfy IO motors?

79
No, that's a new 2-way protocol. I don't think anyone has reversed-engineered that.

Edit: I just read a bit about Somfy IO. It's cloud-based (hence the money-earning subscription model). That's not something I would want. When my motors/motor control units finally fail - I'm going to replace the, motors/controllers that I can control with open-source code - definitely not cloud-based control (though I assume they'll work if the internet is down).

80
A local CH company also does this.

http://www.soundvisionhouse.ch/show-house/

The have shop in St. Moritz (GR) and a showhouse/showroom in Fahrwangen (AG). Not only homes, they are also do Yacht