I finally managed to get my hands on the JeeLink (v3) – JeeLink 868, which is regularly out of stock. Hence, I can now finally start to boost my home with cool sensory, actors and other stuff.

First Things first.

Introduction

In the past I used 1-wire and Digitemp to measure and track temperature. Than later I added stand-alone heating-valve regulators to optimize the temperature and preheat rooms before I would enter them and like to have them worm. All this was nice, but not really the way a technology affine person would want to have it.

For this reason but manly because I did not want to add extra wiring everywhere, after moving I stopped using some of the stuff. Of cause I was unhappy. So, I looked for wireless options and found the following links that made me confident to try my luck with it.

http://blog.moneybag.de/fhem-guenstige-temperatur-und-luftfeuchte-sensoren-von-lacrosse/
http://blog.moneybag.de/hausautomation-mit-fhem-uebersicht-einiger-moeglichkeiten-zur-realisierung/
http://blog.moneybag.de/hausautomation-mit-fhem-auf-raspberry-pi-mit-philips-hue-temperaturmodule-fh-20-funksteckdosen/
http://blog.moneybag.de/hausautomation-fhem-mit-funksteckdose-energiemessung-elv-pca-301/
http://www.fhemwiki.de/wiki/HM-CC-RT-DN_Funk-Heizk%C3%B6rperthermostat

Goal

I want to start with the simple things and later add more and more options. Adding light bulbs and such will probably not be my target. So, what is it?

Measure Temperature
Measure Humidity
Adjust Heating valves
Detect Window open/closed
Monitor Smoke detectors
Measure energy consumption

Temperature and Humidity

Measuring temperature in your rooms and maybe even outside seems to be just for fun. Heating systems or radiators today have manual valves that allow you to set the temperature. On second thought, these valves are sometimes not working or are positioned underneath window boards. It is for sure that the temperature they apply to is the one directly next to the heater itself. Hence, they are only little helpful to make sure that a whole room has a comfortable temperature.

Secondly, one can find out precisely the room temperature of ones favour and use this information to apply it at later times again.

Even more important these days is to keep track of the humidity in your flat or house. We all know of friends of friends who have fungus trouble in their homes. High humidity is causing most of these problems. Therefore, exchanging air at home regularly is one of the most important things to do to keep humidity at a healthy level. Of cause, one can just stick to a fixed schedule – in the morning 10 Minutes and in the evening 15 minutes – and hope for the best. Still, this might not help, because how would you know if you are successful? How should you know if the air outside might be even more humid than the one inside? Also, every time you open the windows warm air is leaving your rooms = energy is wasted.

The Technoline TX 29 DTH-IT is measuring temperature and humidity. Its price is about 15 EUR and therefore quite reasonable in my opinion. Putting it in every room is a small investment, but everyone can start with the amount they want.

For outside I ordered the Außen-/Thermo-/Hygro-Sensor TX21IT+. I have not tried it yet, but I hope it is compatible. You should not use the TX 29 DTH-IT outside, since it is likely that water will break it.

Heating valve adjustment

To adjust the valve of a heater in the room is one of the major things to make your home comfortable warm but still save as much energy as possible. If you have your own house or heating system, you might want to put your measurements and adjustment options there. On the other hand, in regular single family houses or flats it is still very useful to put remote controlled heating valves on your radiators. They enable you to adjust the temperature of each room to your needs and can give you even more comfort.

Additionally, combining your sophisticated temperature + humidity measurement set-up you will have total freedom of configuring various if-then-else actions.

I have opted for the HomeMatic Funk-Heizkörperthermostat HM 105155. It is supposed to be well supported and even has its own temperature sensor inside. It can also be connected with a window open/close sensor to replace the integrated window-open-temperture-drop turn-off function.

Window open/close

I guess, this is pretty much self explanatory. As mentioned in the “heat valve adjustment” section, you can connect a controlled valve with this type of sensor to turn off the heater when the window is open.

There are two other things I like to have it. 1 I can set-up a reminder that the window needs to be closed after a certain time frame, since I often forget to close it again. You can also make some more complicated rules that you get a reminder to close a window if humidity or temperature drops to a certain point. 2 I like to get a notice if a window is open If I want to leave the house. this way I do not have to check all windows and can leave without fear of having forgotten one. Your think of more possibilities, only your imagination is your limit.

Smoke detectors

Smoke detectors are important and in some countries required. Either way, I can only recommend anyone to install them. but really take care of the quality. I read many articles and reviews and came to the conclusion that the cheap ones are not worth it. Most problems are alarms that do not have any reasonable cause. Not only are they annoying more importantly they are making you not taking them seriously any more.

My choice of smoke detectors are the ones that are self-learning. The clue is that they are checking the smoke-detection chamber regularly and adjust their sensitivity. You can imagine that over time dust is settling and without adjusting might be regarded as smoke. Secondly I can recommend dual detectors. These detectors not only detect smoke but also heat. Of cause, having a temperature measurement set-up, you do not necessarily need that. On the other hand, if you configure heat-fire detection by temperature sensors, you need to install a separate loud alarm triggered by your Home Automation System.

Implementation

In this article, I will not talk about implementation. Continue reading my following articles to read about how to set-up such a system.