How big is your system? (NO HELP NEEDED) {CHAT}

Tutorials & Examples openHAB Stories
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Our home is an off-grid house on a small rural property (80 acres) in Queensland Australia. The focus is on energy efficiency and self sufficiency.
The system originally ran from a few Arduino megas running my own code including custom communication protocols (because I had not heard of MQTT.) These have now been updated to use MQTT and OpenHab.

How big is your system (Sensors,Switches ect)

About 70 sensors/input devices in all. These report on normal things like temperature and humidity, but also things like the depth of water in our bore (800m from the house) and the level of water in our tanks. The solar power system uses Morningstar controllers that support MODBUS and a victron battery monitor outputs data to a custom (esp8266 based) serial to MQTT relay. Most of the lights and power points have Sonoff devices behind them (running my own software).
16 cameras and a watering system that looks after about 55 fruit trees. OpenHab, Weewx and Mosqueeto on a Pi3.

How long have you been working on your setup

I started with the Arduinos about 4 years ago. Discovered OpenHab about 2 months ago.

How many lines of code run your rules (Total Lines of all files)

About 1600 - Iā€™m a PHP/C++ programmer - so not very good at this scripting javascript like code. Others would probably look at my rules and wonder why Iā€™m doing it like that :slight_smile:

Whats the best feature your system has

Voice control from Apple Watch is cool. Ability to automatically turn electrical loads off and on as solar power permits. Turn generator on locally or remotely by voice if required. Ability to monitor the bore and automatically alter watering of fruit trees accordingly. Oh and the cat flap automatically tracks each of the two cats in and out - and prevents them from exiting after sunset.

What are you adding or doing next

Currently building an interface to get data out of our solar water heating system - this will provide data to help decide when to dump surplus solar electricity into the water heater element.

Does everyone in your house like your system

The word ā€œtolerateā€ comes to mind :wink:

How much has it all cost

Almost everything has been built on low cost hardware (sonoff devices, arduino etc). I would guess around US$600

My job - well I started life as an electrician before moving into IT. I am currently semi-retired but still doing a little web development etc.

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1600 doesnā€™t sound too bad. I love helping people improve their rules if you ever have the desire to look for improvements.

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How big is your system (Sensors,Switches ect)
did not count, but about 40 (~15 Hue lights, a few sensors, 6 outlets, 6 squeezeplayers, etc); rental apartment so there are limitations on what I can doā€¦
something like 250 items

How long have you been working on your setup
Oh my, 3-4 years I started with one of the earlier 1.something versions of OH

How many lines of code run your rules (Total Lines of all files)
somewhere a little under 400

Whats the best feature your system has
Having 20 some lights coming automatically (thanks to the great DP from @rlkoshak) and cute little good night messages for my wife when all lights are switched off

what are you adding or doing next
Presence would be nice, but failsafe presence detection is difficult to achieveā€¦

does everyone in your house like your system
very much (my wife loves it and guests are dutifully impressed)

how much has it all cost
probably around 1500 USD

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4 Years and least 2 Years with OpenHabā€¦
round about 100 Aktorā€™s / Bulbs and so on ā€¦
(Homematic/Hue/Tradfri/Z-Wave)

On my OpenHAB Raspberry 4000 Lines of Code ā€¦

Little NodeJS Apps / Bash Script / CEC Commands on certain Raspberry Pi Zero

A lot of Money ā€¦ but the IoT and Programming is just my Hobby :slight_smile:

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WTF ā€¦ Every Wall One Tablet installed ? :wink:

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Thanks Rich. I appreciate the kind offer. You have already helped more than you know. Your posts and comments here have been a cornerstone in developing my rules.
Many thanks for your contributions.

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Take a look at GitHub - bemasher/rtlamr: An rtl-sdr receiver for Itron ERT compatible smart meters operating in the 900MHz ISM band. Make sure your meter support ERT. If not, I suggest you use PG&Eā€™s Green Button API (assuming youā€™re on PG&E)

Iā€™ll see if I can come up with a tut for this. I havenā€™t touched my blog in ages :slight_smile:
Basically, Im using a small raspberry Pi zero wireless with a camera on it. Then a WebRTC to notify subscribers (browser or my android app {not in Google Play}). I hooked up a small ESP01 on the doorbell chime to detect if someone pressed the door bell. The rPIZero then ā€˜callsā€™ my phone. The app I made pushes a notification to the phone also and when I click the notification, it connects to my security camera on the front door. The camera has 2-way audio, and thatā€™s how I can ā€˜answerā€™ people from anywhere.

PHP, nice! I was affiliated with ClipBucket before they went open source. I miss PHP

Wow! Iā€™ve been planning for a LOOOOONG time to get my masters, but even now, I just donā€™t have time :stuck_out_tongue:

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I know right :slight_smile: HA can be had for cheap but for me, the biggest cost was the server I made for BlueIRIS. Not all of my cameras are H264 so thereā€™s a lot of encoding happening. 20+ 2+MP cameras, recording only on motion and my i7 always hovers at 60%, with several cameras recording, it can spike close to 100% even with HW Acceleration :frowning: Planning to upgraded to a coffeelake setup (donā€™t tell my wife LOL)

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That would actually be fantastic because it addresses a couple of ideas Iā€™ve had that Iā€™ve left on the back burner. How did you hook the ESP01 to the chime? Iā€™ve some arduinos and now some esp8266s but Iā€™m pretty sure the chime is not running at 3.5v/5v so did you hook of a regulator or something like that? Did you 3D print the cases or repurpose something?

Except for the camera and a case, I think I have all the parts I need to build this out. Iā€™ve already a pretty good idea how I would handle the software side of things, I just havenā€™t had time to get on a ladder with a voltage meter to see what my current chime and button uses. Iā€™m kind of hoping I can use the wires from the button, kind of like I did for the garage door opener. Failing that, I might use a sound detector and just report a doorbell for loud noises. It will be in the box with the chime so I should be able to tune it way down so it only triggers on the door bell and not for the dog barking at said door bell. :wink:

I probably would not have done either of my masterā€™s if I had not lucked into them. Both were executive masters (no thesis) and specially taylored for my former employer. So that meant we met in the evenings and the professors came to us at work. The first one (Transdiciplinary Engineering from Texas Tech) had a masterā€™s project (thesis in all but name) but the second one (Security Engineering from SMU) was just coursework. That was hard enough to work full time and get all the classwork done, and I wasnā€™t married nor had a kid yet. Had work not paid for it and made it easier to do, I probably never would have done either of them.

Some day I want to go back for a PhD, but I think Iā€™ll wait until my four-year-old graduates college first. :slight_smile: It will probably be hard to get accepted into a program though since neither of my masterā€™s had a full thesis. But if I were to start right now, Iā€™d definitely do something related to IoT security.

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It actually measured ~16V

Using a voltage divider, I brought voltage down to ~5V, which feeds a relay that will bring the GPIO to ground. On LOW Interrupt, thatā€™s the indicator the chime is ringing. For my 16V, it was a perfect for 16.5K and 7.5K resistors to bring it down to 5V.

Quick Tip: on your code, throttle your logic ( I set mine to 2 mins ) so you donā€™t get a notification for every chime (within that time frame). My sons love to play with the doorbell button :slight_smile: I added the throttling logic purely based on experience. LOL

I 3d print my cases, but in this case (ESP), I didnā€™t need to. The ESP was small enough to fit inside the doorbell hardware itself. I reused the 16V to power the esp using a step-down converter.

For the ā€œringā€ camera, yes I printed the case. The rPi camera fits perfectly to the peephole (interior side). I didnā€™t remove the lens/glass, so it was like a free fish-eye lens :slight_smile: hehehe

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How big is your system (Sensors,Switches ect)
I have 25 ZWave devices: Power monitor, motion sensors, switches, siren, Water sensor, hand-held remotes, Garage door Openers and Sensors. I also hooked up my 3 networked Onkyo AV receivers.

How long have you been working on your setup
A little over 1 year.

How many lines of code run your rules (Total Lines of all files)
Around 600 lines. The biggest chunks of code are scenes for my AV equipment which I can control via my 3 Amazon Echo Dotā€™s or using the remote controls. Iā€™m sure it could be streamlined a lot.

Whats the best feature your system has
We have a Aquatic turtle, the lights in the tank go on and off automatically. We also have a TV mounted to the back of the tank and send videos from YouTube to it. My wife also is prone to leaving the doors that open into the basking area open by mistake and we had the turtle jump out (itā€™s 5ā€™ up). So now I have a sensor on it that sounds a siren if itā€™s left open too long!

What are you adding or doing next
I have been experimenting with automating streaming YouTube videos to the turtle tankā€™s Chromecast. I also have IP cameras and might do some integration with them in the future. I also have some Alexa controlled Wifi switches that I want to integrate plus a Broadlink IR transmitter to control our Mini-Split HVAC that I havenā€™t done much with.

Does everyone in your house like your system
Yes very much so although my wife isnā€™t too interested in the technicalities of it.

How much has it all cost
I donā€™t have too much of an idea but I suspect itā€™s less than $500.

My Occupation
Iā€™m a database architect and have been in software development for many years. I enjoy tinkering with the IoT stuff, definitely a hobby.

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In OH2.x z-wave devices can be discovered and then setup accordingly. Coming from OH1.8.x which is entirely a text based config I wanted the same in OH2.x, however thatā€™s not fully possible at the moment. So in my setup I created all of the items and assigned them to the discovered z-wave devices.

Not a difficult process. Also you get to learn a great deal about how it all works together.

Happy to offer you support where I can if you need any.

Garry

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How big is your system (Sensors,Switches ect)
4 light switches/dimmers/led strips
6 outlets
6 sensors
3 buttons/switches
1 thermostat
2 IR controllers/remotely controlled TVā€™s
2 phones used for presence via UniFi access point
3 Echos/dots
and a number of supporting things and virtual items

How long have you been working on your setup
About 2 years

How many lines of code run your rules (Total Lines of all files)
553 lines total, although this needs to be cleaned up. Lots of temporary stuff for testing and I havenā€™t really optimized anything.

Whats the best feature your system has
Donā€™t really have that many automations yet honestly. The laundry sensor is probably the most useful though. No more walking up and down the stairs constantly to see if the washer is done or just in one of long idle periods.

What are you adding or doing next
Cat detection to keep him off the counters! We are remodeling and will now have counters under a window. The countertop is barely set in place and he thinks itā€™s already his personal balcony.
Would like to find a good way to identify if/how many are in bed.

Does everyone in your house like your system
My wife called me lazy when I added the first outlet to my lamp. Then complained that Alexa didnā€™t control hers. :wink:

How much has it all cost
Probably around $300 not including the Echoā€™s or other items not primarily for HA. The most challenging part of this hobby is trying to do it on a reasonable budget.

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How big is your system (Sensors,Switches ect) About 22 Power sockets controlled via 433 MHz and a Pi, 3 max! thermostats with temperature sensors, 2 window contacts, 4 amazon echos, IR control with the raspberry pi to control Samsung TV, Homecinema and Apple TV and a LED strip; Present detection with network scanning, implementation of Siri, Alexa, IFTTT, an iPad on the wall

How long have you been working on your setup half a year approx.

How many lines of code run your rules (Total Lines of all files) 2300 in whole, including empty lines between rules etc.

Whats the best feature your system has The funniest is: Alexa, ich muss kacken - Alexa, I need to poop: and the light in the bathroom turns on.Alexa, Iā€™ve finished: and it goes out. The most useful is: Alexa, goodnight or goodbye: and all the lights and the heating turn off. The sequence to watch TV is useful, too: Alexa, I want to waste time: All lights goes out, Receiver, TV, Apple TV goes on and Netflix opens and automatically play the next episode of The Big Bang Theory.

what are you adding or doing next I bought an ESP8266 an a torque motor. I want to control my blinds with it. Thats the project for the next 2 month. When it works I will duplicate it for all 4 blinds. The idea with the motor isnā€™t professional, but intuitive and creative. Furthermore, I donā€™t have to open the blind motor - I am afraid of nothing is working after the operation.

does everyone in your house like your system yes, without the situation, when I turn off the light in the bathroom when my GF is in front of the mirror for hours.

how much has it all cost Amazon echos: 300 Euro, Max thermostats: 130, power sockets: 70, Pi: 60, IR control: 1 (oh yeah!), so together about 561 Euros (without the iPad)

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  1. How big is your system (Sensors,Switches ect)
    8*2 switches, however rarely in use due to motion and voice
    10 netatmo sensors
    15 plant sensor
    7 alexaā€™s
    16 relays for heating, lights etcā€¦
    72 *3 dmx controllers

  2. How long have you been working on your setup
    Since 2014 thats when I started to completely renovate and rewire the place

  3. How many lines of code run your rules (Total Lines of all files)
    I am using heaps of groups to make my rules short and reusableā€¦

  4. Whats the best feature your system has
    Secret doorbell code to open door, voice control, and my custom made dmx light control. Everything is wired centrally in the fusebox with a PC PSU, super practical when I need 12,5 or 3.3V somewhereā€¦

  5. what are you adding or doing next
    Currently I am installing all my custom made furniture then adding neopixelā€¦

  6. does everyone in your house like your system
    Yes they love it! Except when rpi crashesā€¦

  7. how much has it all cost
    No idea, can check it, but 1000-1500USD, depends how you calculate it. I needed lights and did all by 12v so I could do it myself, so then it turned out cheaper than have an electrician installing 58 downlightsā€¦

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  1. appr. size of system:
  • 58 homematic devices (contact sensors, heating devices, Thermostats, power plugs, switches)
  • 30 Philips hue devices (lights)
  • 20 other Zigbee devices (Paul Neuhaus power plugs, Busch Jaeger switches)
  • 9 webcams (inside and outside) controlled with zoneminder
  • 6 Netatmo devices
  • 5 Amazon Echo
  • 3 hue bridges
  • 1 Homematic bridge + 1 Extension
  • 1 garadget door controller
  • 1 Logitech Harmony remote control
  • 1 Yamaha Receiver
  1. Time for setup
  • Started with OH appr. 1,5 years ago. Transformed from X10 based (> 10 yrs old) to current system.
  1. lines of code (incl. spaces, comments)
  • 1.400 lines for Item definitions
  • 4.400 lines for rules
  • 530 lines for sitemap
  1. best feature
  • Voice control (via Echo, Apple Watch)
  • Presence detection and house automatic mode when no one is there
  • gardenhouse to detect when postman deposits package, notifying via push message and coloured lights
  • simple Timer functions
  1. doing next
  • currently integrating AmazonEchoControl binding
  • integrate Viessmann central heating into OH
  • integrate webcams into OH (new zoneminder version and binding)
  • extend / redesign Sitemap
  • planning for smart lock (Nuki)
  • planning for LaMetric display integration
  1. does everyone like
  • son likes pretty much everything
  • wife does not like Amazon Echo, complexity of system
  • I like it!
  1. costs
    appr. EUR 8k
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  1. Size of system
  • 65 Z-Wave devices supporting lighting, monitoring (temperature, humidity, energy, motion, doors, water detection, doorbell, emergency water shut-off), and door locks
  • 3 Big Ass Fans
  • 2 Ecobee thermostats
  • 4 Global Cache iTachs controlling TVs and Russound
  • 1 Liftmaster garage door opener
  • 1 Mi vacuum
  • 4 Unifi WiFi access points (for presence detection)
  • 3 Squeezebox players
  • 1 Russound CAA66 supporting 5 zones
  • 4 video cams
  • 24U wall mounted rack in basement
  • and of course openHAB, running on Logic Supply industrial computer in rack
  1. Setup time
  • Took about 12 months because I did it as a part of a major home renovation project
  1. Lines of code
  • Things ~80
  • Items ~1000 items
  • Rules ~5000 lines (and growing)
  • Sitemap ~800 lines
  • HABpanel
    • 3 lines (ok, so 2 of the lines are REALLY long, LOL)
    • 20 dashboards (probably a better measure)
  1. Best feature
  • It all comes together in HABpanel
  • Presence detection using Unifi binding and WiFi access points
  • Doorbell plays through audio zones based on presence and time-of-day
  1. Whatā€™s next
  • been messing with opencv to be able to detect people and vehicles in webcam feeds
  • would like to automatically inject Squeezebox favorites into HABpanel and Basic UI (using Selection widgets), saving lots of time keeping them in sync manually
  • motorized blinds, which will open automatically just before sunset when my SunsetWx binding predicts a great sunset :slight_smile:
  • make better use of energy monitors on electric utility and standby generator feeds
  • integrate Miele dishwasher and GE oven (both WiFi connected, but no binding support yet)
  1. WAF
  • Everything (except for zoned audio) can be controlled manually. 'Nuff said about that. :wink:
  1. Cost
  • Somewhere north of $15k plus lots of my hours building rack, running/terminating cables, writing rules, etc.
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How much has everyoneā€™s system changed since I wrote this post

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Not much at all. I have fewer lines of code that do more thanks to triggeringItem and Member of. Iā€™m also working on extending my system to monitor my dadā€™s house. I can now interact with Google Assistant directly to control things Iā€™m my house instead of relying on Autovoice. Mine changes really.

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I have more lines now I have learned alot since posting this all my rules are now text Iā€™m slowly moving my items to text still alot too learn the todo lost keeps getting bigger :smiley:

I was going too do this for my nans house she died shortly after I posted asking for help I might do the same in the future for my mumā€™s house

When you say extend how do you plan to achieve this just sensors at your dadā€™s or an entire oh setup that you can moniter and controll

I would be interested to hear how you progress on this one