The Baptiste Family

[NOTE: This page is BADLY out of date. I hope to get it updated soon]

Having been an avid electronics hobbyist since I was a teen, Home Automation is a great hobby. Currently, my wife and I live in the house she grew up in. Its about 75 years old. Not the easiest house to automate, but we plan to completely renovate it this year so lots of the neat parts of my system are ‘holding’ until we remodel.

My current system consists of:

• HCSII-DX Supervisory Controller
• PL-Link RS-485 X10 Controller from Circuit Cellar (no longer available - replaced by HCS-PLIX)
  • Currently I control a few lights based on time and outside light. I also control our window AC unit (not temp based yet - just timed). The outside bug zappers also come on at dusk and turn off and dawn. Light input is from a simple solar cell hooked to an SC Analog I/O port. I’ll move this to my AMAN Jr weather station when I install it on the roof.
  • Having problems with your PL-Link hanging? Beef up the reset circuit!
  • I hope to add a Leviton X10 signal amplifier soon. That way I can start controlling things on the far end of the house.
• iLock Secure Access System.
  • This device uses 64-bit keys to unlock my doors electronically. Kits are available through Creative Control Concepts.
• NEW! X10 Low Voltage Control Board from Creative Control Concepts
  • This board has 8 relays on it which can be controlled via any X10 transmitter. This board supports latched & momentary operation, 2-way X10 Status Requests, and relays can be tied to different sets of module numbers for a given house code. I use it to control sprinklers, low voltage landscape lighting, etc.
• MCIR-Link RS-485 IR Interface
  • This is used mainly for IR control of the house via a learning remote. I haven’t really implemented a lot with this yet because I’m trying to decide on which learning remote I want to buy. Once I do I figure I’ll start putting in lighting macros, etc. When I get my on screen display working, this will be an integral part so I can switch display windows.
• PICLCD based LCD displays for System Status & Weather Information
  • The HCS-PICLCD is a home built PIC based LCD Interface for the HCS RS-485 network which supports various size LCD Displays. Kits are available through Creative Control Concepts, but the HEX files will be made available for users to program PICs on their own in keeping with the spirit of CC Ink.
• AMAN Jr. based weather station (AMAN Jrs are available from Micromint, Inc.)
  • You can also buy an HCS AMAN Jr. Board
  • Weather Sensors are either home built or were purchased from Davis Instruments. It monitors, wind speed and direction, light, temperature, and rainfall. I hope to add a humidity sensor and pressure sensor soon. The pressure sensor will probably connect directly to the SC since indoor or out, the pressure is the same.
• PICDIO - a PIC (16C63) based DIO-Link which drives a 40/80 column Seiko Thermal Printer.
  • Another HCS product by Creative Control Concepts. I rolled my own here mostly to reduce the size down to two chips. I hope to squeeze the whole DIO Printer interface into a Centronics plug casing. The PIC-DIO has a 128 byte buffer for sending fairly long lines to the printer so I can print status and event reports as they occur for a daily log. I print out a daily weather report too. Once I get my 4×40 LCD interface working I’ll probably print less daily stuff and use it mostly for event/exception logging.
• MiniDIO - a PIC (16F84) based DIO-Link for 8 bit I/O on the RS-485 network.
  • Another HCS product by Creative Control Concepts. I rolled my own here mostly to reduce size down to two chips so I could have tiny I/O interfaces around the house. I currently have one of these on my network - the whole interface with terminal blocks fits on a 1.6″ X 2.7″ PC Board
• NEW! Mini-Link - a PIC (12C671) based Analog & Digital I/O Module in an 8-pin package from Creative Control Concepts
  • It supports 3 multi purpose ports which can be configured as 8-bit Analog inputs or Digital I/O’s. There is a 4th digital input thrown in for good measure. The Mini-Link is great for embedding HA control into an existing product case like a thermostat. An entire Mini-Link interface can be built is less than 1 square inch!
• BUFIO I/O expansion board
• DSC Commercial Alarm System with Digital I/O interface to HCS II controller
• Whole House surge suppressor - will upgrade to Leviton model after renovations.

The HCS home automation system is a very powerful system. I enjoy using it because it isn’t ’shrink wrapped’ like some other systems and it does NOT require a PC to be running 24 hours a day. I don’t care what they develop on Windows for Home Automation. I’ll never have a PC based system - windows crashes too much Give me an embedded control solution ANYDAY! You can buy the kits, construct them, and write some control code or really get into it and start designing your own interfaces for your own needs. I like that flexibility.

Future Components (once remodeling is complete and/or PIC development is done)

• HCS-Voice for speech capabilities
  • One neat idea I have (though it may not work unless I can do some major reverse engineering) is since my alarm system has 7 intercoms on it, I’d like to pipe the HCS Voice through these intercoms stations without impacting the alarm system (since these intercoms serve as monitor mics for a central monitoring station)
• HCS-DTMF for telephone control. I’ll probably use this mostly for menus of options (status, etc.) vs real control of stuff.
• HCS-PICSPR - a home built PIC based sprinkler controller. Still a concept until the remodeling is done and the new sprinkler is installed.
• HCS-PICIRP - a home built RS-485 node which allows the use of an inexpensive HP IR Printer (HP82240A) as an HCS printer.
  • This was driven from my quest to find a cheap, small, quiet printer. The ideal thing out there is a thermal cash register receipt printer but they cost a fortune. This printer is small and quiet. The IR interface isn’t too bad. Will be available from Creative Control Concepts.
  • This is probably a little lower of a priority now that I have the Seiko Printer hanging off the PIC-DIO, but I’d still like to try and get it working. Handling both serial input and the modulated IR sequences needed to print would be a fun challenge.
• HCS-PICLGT - a home built RS-485 or Digital I/O node which connects to a lightening sensor.
  • Can send info like strikes per minute, peak strike rate, alarm status, etc. to the HCS. Then the HCS can shutdown various equipment and disconnect it via AC and Coax relays. Not sure how I want to hook it to the HCS (networked or Digital I/O). Will be available from Creative Control Concepts. I’ll use a fiber optic connection from the sensor to the PIC node to prevent ESD problems should the sensor get hit. The lightning sensor was from Stormwise, Inc. but they have stop producing them and are looking for a patent buyer.
• HCS-TV+ - an interface which will allow the HCS II to display text on a TV.
  • Probably will use an off the shelf Text overlay device with a home designed PIC to translate from HCS commands to the commands required by the text device. Will be available from Creative Control Concepts. I’m really excited about this one.

That’s about it. I’m toying with the idea of an HVAC controller node, but it’ll be quite a project because I want it to support zoned HVAC systems which I plan to install to conserve energy.

Here are some ’scenarios’ as I call them that I hope to add:

• A car sensor in our driveway so we know when cars approach. Perhaps have it hooked to a video camera to auto switch to the outside camera.
• Hot Tub control
• Automated Garage Door Control - not sure how yet. Perhaps a receiver in each car that when pinged via radio responds (or IDs itself) which tells the HCS to open the door.
• Motion detectors outside to have light follow motion as well as alert the system to outside motion. Could always tie in the sprinklers to discourage anything approaching the house at night
• Entertainment macros which are started by one IR code and result in numerous codes being sent to different components to say, dim lights and turn on systems in VCR mode, etc. This would be initiated from an IR remote OR a person coming home (favorite radio station, etc.)
• Still thinking….