In a previous post, we covered how to stream music to multiple rooms in your house using the iPhone (or iPod Touch) and Apple’s Airport Express. In that article, I mentioned convention home automation: turning lights on and off, monitoring rooms, etc. I’ll explain a few options using inexpensive hardware and software combinations.

I’ve been using various home automation solutions for about 10 years. The only affordable solution used to be X10. It worked reasonably well and is still supported by a number of free software projects (Mr. House, Heyu, etc.). In fact, until just a few weeks ago, I used Heyu as a bridge between my homebrew web automation interface and my X10 serial controller. While the flexibility and utility were fantastic, a few nagging issues helped me decide to take the next step: Insteon. (If you would like to know more about X10, Heyu and Mister House, a quick search online will yield a few days worth of reading.)

Insteon is X10 evolved. X10 was a passive system that sent uni-directional commands from the main controller (CM11A) to various X10 modules throughout your house over existing power lines. Installation: very easy, reliability: ranged from fair to take-a-wild-guess. The problem lies within the fact that most X10 devices are “stupid.” They listen for a command, and (if you’re lucky) perform a simple operation: turn on, turn off, dim, etc. Also, each module needs a specific X10 “id” that is usually set by a knob. Insteon eliminates both of these issues by giving each module a unique identifier from the factory (think of it like a MAC address) as well as the ability to respond to commands so that the controller (in this case the Insteon PowerLinc) knows that the command was recieved and can even check a module’s current status. Each module also acts as a repeater to keep signals strong throughout large installations.

There are several ways to automate your home and use your iPhone (or iPod Touch) to control it all. I will summarize two of the turnkey options available.

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Tags: home automation, Insteon, iphone, X10

I’m a home automation geek. I have a network of X10 devices throughout my house that are used to control lights, outlets, and security cameras. There’s one thing missing: multi-room audio distribution. That’s no easy task if your working with an existing home with the walls already in place or an apartment that frowns on extreme makovers. I’m guessing that covers most of us. Running audio wiring throughout your house and installing expensive audio distribution hardware is out of reach for most folks out there. It’s messy, complicated, and costly. What’s a geek to do?

Try this: iPhone (or iPod Touch) + Aiport Express = Wireless, high-quality audio distribution and remote control. By adding an airport express to my existing wireless network (which, admitedly, includes an Airport Extreme base station) I’ve added the ability to stream my iTunes library to a selected room in my home. Throw in the free “Remote” app from Apple and you have complete control over your media from anywhere within wireless range. If that sounds good, consider this: you can do this for up to 5 wireless extenders.

Perhaps this sounds costly: Airport Express = $99, iPhone/iPod Touch = $199-$299. 5 rooms would run almost $700. However, “inexpensive” 4-zone audio distribution controllers start at around $1000! Neither of these include speakers or wiring, but you can use a decent computer speaker system in most rooms or plug into an existing receiver/audio system (as I have).

The system works great: audio is clear and easy to control, plus you get the added benefit of better wireless coverage throughout your home. Setup through the Airport Admin application is incredibly simple and quick (compared to some of the archaic web interfaces out there). The only downside that I could identify is the relatively obvious white box hanging off of my electrical outlet. Most of the time this is hidden behind furniture, but this is still a small concern for most.

For more details, here is an article that covers the wireless distribution system (WDS) used by Airport.

Tags: audio, home automation, iphone