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Electronic Gadget Ideas for a New House?
pmadden asks: "I'll be building a house this summer (standard straw bale construction, earth plaster, the whole low-tech gig). Naturally, I'll be putting gobs of ethernet in the walls, with drops to the rooms, on the roof, and so on. I'll add wireless too, once it's secure enough to keep all of you out. What gadgets should I plan for, so that I don't have to do a major retrofit? I'll have cables for TPZ cameras, for when they get super-cheap. We'll leave niches for putting in routers and stuff like that. What else? What cool thing will be cheap in a couple of years, leading my wife to ask, 'why didn't you plan for that'? Any recommendations for good Christmas light control systems, and so on?"
This is a placeholder, i will be referencing this when the dupe is posted.
question: why are you building your house out of straw?
My sig can beat up your sig.
Wouldn't straw bale walls block wireless signals worse than normal walls? They are thick and are stuffed with organic material wrapped with chicken wire. This sounds like a recipe for bad reception...
Have two air ducts availiable where your comptuer will be. Then you can pipe the hot air from a rear fan and PSU outside. Even better, you could also attach ducts to the front for ice-cold computing during the night or winter.
Put TV jacks in every room except bathrooms. I mean it, every room. You never know when the location of your TV will change.
Le français vous intéresse?
my uncle was just in town recently and had the plans to the house he is building. they are putting sockets under the roof overhangs just for christmas lights and they will all go to one or two switches. on one hand it seems silly, but on another it makes a world of sense.
as for everythng else maybe you want to try to keep some conduit space open for the future. honestly who knows what we will be using for TV or internet in even just a few years. will everyone have fibre in the house? will coax be gone? will CAT5 cable be old? is today's CAT5 cable going to be good enough for tomorrow's speeds? i don't know how much it matters in a house setup, but cable is rated for speed.
you might as well plan for ethernet everywhere. wireless is easy, but ethernet is cheap to do from the start. if you put something along the lines of an Audrey http://audreyhacking.com/ in the kitchen, it would be nice to have the wires ready to go.
How about leaving an empty conduit so you can snake additional cabling (Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre, etc) for future expansion. Everything leads down to a central location in the basement so that you set that up as the location where the server, TV (cable or satellite), telephone are centrally located.
Panic now, beat the rush!
Dilbert's Ultimate House might be a good place to start.
You'll have a lot more luck searching for a good camera with pan, tilt, and zoom capabilities if you look for "PTZ camera" (164,000 results) instead of TPZ camera" (2,330 results).
Steven N. Severinghaus
As far as my suggestion, I say you should account for the possibility of having a small server room in your house. Such a room would should be easy to keep cool (basement?), fire resistant, and have some type of shielding from electromagnetic radiation (like thin sheet metal).
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Some interesting ideas would be the following. Some of these products can be found at smarthome.com
Electric deadbolts. You could eventually link these puppies up to your computer and allow remote locking/unlocking of your house, possibly even remove the need of a key and use thumbprint identification instead.
Be sure to put some ethernet ports near your major appliances. Some future appliances are planning to have network integration to let you know when they need to be fixed or require attention. Best Buy already sells a fridge with a wireless internet tablet.
I'd also suggest putting fiber in at your important locations of data transfer. Your main office workstation, media center, etc. Also run wire for a 7.1 surround sound system, and if you want to add even more convience consider possibly installing a house wide audio system so you can pump music into each of your rooms.
Also, you should possibly consider investing in VoIP. Rather than having to put in another jack for telephone, you could run everything through your ethernet.
Consider your house's surroundings. You could install automated irrigation systems, lighting control, and as well as proximity gate/garage openers.
Be sure to invest into a good security system to make sure no one steals everything you just put your money into. A good low-tech solution would be owning a dog.
Keep in mind though, if you do plan to make an entirely large technologically saavy house, you should also install some house wide precautions. You should invest in a serious housewide surge protector/power conditioners. Perhaps even consider getting some sort of backup power supply incase of emergencies. In which case, you should also isolate your power outlets for critical systems that should run off the backup as well so you won't be wasting backup power on non-critical devices during power outages. Also take into account power saving devices, efficiency is good. Consider flourscent and low wattage lighting. Well setup HVAC systems will monitor your house's environment well and know how to properly adjust.
Supply your in-ground sprinkler system with liquid propane and wire it to motion detectors.
And please put it on a webcam so we can watch.
I think this is a relevent link to the parent's post.
Your focus on gadgets is misplaced. You don't know what will come along. Instead focus on infrastructure. This means tv jacks in nearly every room, Gigabit ethernet in every room (maybe more than one per room), possibly fiber, and more. As for wireless, this can be added if and when you want if you already have the infrastructure in place. Also you may want to have a second set of infrastructure so you can use digital entertainment systems to send out digital content to any room in your house.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Consider Solar Hot water and Radiant heat.
If your utility charges US$.17/KWH or
more (PG&E customers with 2 * baseline
in Silicon Valley) consider solar electric
right away, otherwise put in the 600V
DC wires from the roof to the electric
meter for when the costs come down
enough to make it attractive.
I'd spend more time concentrating in efficiently heating and or cooling your house.
If you live someplace with cold winters...
Lots of well insulated south facing windows with eaves that overhang just the right amount so the windows are mostly in the shade from the eaves in the summer when the Sun is overheard but catch tons of sun in the winter when the Sun is lower on the horizon.
Then put remote controlled motors on the curtains so that they automaticly open and close for optimal heat in the winter(all closed at night and open to the east in the morning to the south midday and to the west in the afternoon) and for optimal light and minimal heat in the summer(close the curtains on the east windows in the morning and the west windows in the afternoon when the sun is shining in them, and then open them for light when the Sun isn't shining on them.
If the house is well insulated and you don't open the front door(or have a small entryway with two doors, to much you wont need much heat during the day in the winter. If you want to sink more money in to it you could probably bank some heat in water tanks or such and use them to keep the house warmer at night too.
Passive solar aside, do plenty of research and find a very good digital thermostat and efficient heating, air conditioning system. You also want to be able to program it so it automaticly minimizes energy consumption during times you are always out of the house(at work or school), or in bed, and warms up the house just before you get up or cools it down just before you get home from work in the summer.
@de_machina
When planning your house for the future, you need to have one corner in one room of the house designed to have _no_ electronic hookups at all. If possible, you should also make it into a wireless dead-spot. That way, when your future child (heck, even those might be electronic gadgets by then) needs some discipline, you can send them to the corner for an experience of life in the 20th century (also known as "back when I was your age"). On second thought, you should have as many as you plan on having children...
On a serious note, though... have you given thought to having one room without any hookups other than electric outlets? I have one room at my house that is my "escape" room. I don't have anything other than the room lights and a desk light in the room. I don't carry my cell-phone into the room. It is where I go to think, read books, practice playing music, etc... all free from the distractions of my gaming consoles by the TV, the new mail indicator flashing on the computer, etc.
Your mileage may vary, of course... but when your mother-in-law/father-in-law/mother/father/etc come for a visit, you would also have a room that would be somewhat "safe" to put them in... "safe" meaning that your house doesn't burn down when they try to figure out how to turn down the radio.
Takuryu
PS: You could help out the economy here and buy one of our fine, high-tech toilets.
Design your house so that you can add a solar power array. Dollars to doughnuts there will be some incentives for doing stuff like this in the future and it might even save you money in the long run. You can add a 2.6kW solar array for $23,000 as was done in Rochester NY recently, it works quite well. You can sell any excess power back to your utility and also check the status of your solar arrays online.
i am planning a house too, and i will put my bedroom in a faraday cage.
...
....
:) or be able to tell the tap if i want drinking cold or showering hot .....
.. well a motion detector that places a nice red dot on anyone entering the area would be cool too ...
...
cellphone signals, computer radiation, high/low voltage cabling radiation goes byebye...
if you plan it nicely you can still have your tv stuff there, just use a projector with mirrored image (back projection)
why? just think of your office, the phone in your pocket... the phones next to you
now you sleep 6-8 hours, at least have all the bad stuff shielded from you and your family - especially small kids
on the other hand i always wanted a sensor like in johnny mnemonic that tells me the water temperature when i open the tap
hmmm
more seriously: i really like the ideo of the house to be in different states depending on time and the number of people being home to automate lights (dicro filter is a nice touch for colour)/..
also temperature control depending on users
maybe have r2d2 bring my coffe or protein shake after my excercise
Whatever amounts or locations that you decide for any wiring (electrical, coax, cat3/5/6, speaker, fiber) install it in conduit. This gives you the ability to "upgrade" the wire in the future using the old as a pull wire for the new. Then in specific locations that you feel may need future capabilities (entertainment areas, computer areas, etc) add a second spare conduit with a pull string installed for potential expansion. One note, this can get VERY expensive so planning it to meet your budget while maximizing your flexibility is important. But, if you have the money, putting everything into conduit and have some spares in the walls can give you some peace of mind.
"Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats." --Howard Aike
Christmas light control systems
Do you mean an on/off switch?!
*cough* crazy Americans!
I've lived in and completely rewired (electrical) and wire (network) two old homes (1905 and 1914 respectively) during the past five years. The one thing that is key to being able to account for future developments is having at least two hollow channels from top to bottom that can be accessed on every floor. Typically, your plumbing is already run like that. Electrical less so, but it should be. And phone/data also should be. So since you're building from the ground up, make sure to have one channel for electricity and another for phone/data or just data if you plan on using VoIP.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
If it's not already obvious, I'm advising you to build your house as if it were flex office space.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Before building the house, dig a large pit in the ground and sink some geothermal radiators. Where I live (Michigan), we can dig down about 5 feet and reach an area that is about 53dF year-round. If I threw a radiator down there, I could effectively use the Earth to liquid cool pretty much anything, including a server or even the whole damn house.
It is all about surface area... Do the math...
More
CONDUIT! For the love of God, CONDUIT!
If you're really big on the idea of upgrading in the future, you seriously need conduit. It will save hours of your time in the future, as well as encourage you to do more upgrades! (Upgrade all my CAT-5 to CAT-5E, SURE! No prob!) Well, ok, so maybe it isn't quite that simple, but still, conduit will save you the hassle of drilling through walls, climbimg around in the attic and crawlspace.
Also, make a central patch panel somewhere in your house. If it's already built, put it in the garage where your cable and phone come in, if the house is still in the planning stages, create an MDF room! (Where you house all your patching, as well as your file server and MP3 server than can play any song to any room in the house.)
...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror, and you would not have been informed.
Today, you can get a lighting control system for any communication medium -- proprietary, ethernet, wireless. In my opinion, the wired ones are usually cheaper and more reliable than the wireless ones.
If you plan to put in a lighting control system -- since you are energy conscious or you like to be able to set the mood or you just like another gadget to play with -- it might be prudent to think ahead and wire the house for it.
(I know some people who claim that ethernet based dimmers work just fine, but in my installation at home, I prefer to know that the system will not collapse just because some Worm is utilizing 100% of the bandwidth on my LAN.)
Most proprietary systems require at least four conductors -- power, gnd, and two for 485 or like communications.
Along side your regular AC house wiring, you should run DC wiring. You could install a single transformer running at the highest DC voltage you wish to supply, then install voltage dividers at each wall outlet, so that you can select the voltage you want at point of use.
What does this mean? NO MORE WALL WARTS! Also, you'll save quite a bit of power because the wall warts are very inefficient and burn power (1-5 watts) even when nothing is plugged into them. In a modern (esp. geek) house, those multiple small loads running 24/7 add up really fast.
"Research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing." -- Wernher von Braun
Typically, straw buildings are plastered onto a base of wire mesh. If you're using this method, be aware of the RF screening effect of wire mesh. Depending on whether you're using this and where you're using it, you might end up with RF screening that screws up Wifi.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If someone has made a hole in my wall and spliced into my network cable, my net connection will be the least of my worries.
I am a pro. Use 3/4 inch conduit to all data/phone jacks. I like to put one next to every electrical outlet. Electrical outlets are almost always 1/2 inch conduit. Three twelve gauge wires fit easily into a 1/2 pipe and 12 guage will carry twenty amps. It's pretty rare to find an outlet that feeds more than twenty amps. You 'utility room' will have your hot water heater, electric load center and a wall mount rack for networking/AV gear. I like wall mounted because it keeps it out of the water. If you home run all your conduit then you're going to have one heck of a junction box. I like to mount it right above the server rack. Usually at least 12"x12"x6". In a traditional built dwelling I like a 1.5 - 2 inch conduit into both the attic and the crawl space. In a straw bail construction the south wall is usually the corridor/window wall for passive solar heating. I would run the big conduit pipe to there so it's easy to pull in stuff that got forgotten earlier. Try to design a drop ceiling for that front corridor, you can hide quite the cabling nightmare in that. :)