I thought I'd start a thread about home automation. I was trying to
do something which I though would be simple but it's not... I have
some insteon switches in the house, and was looking to move a bit
outside.

What I'd like is for my system to detect when a car pulls into the
driveway (motion detector at the end of the driveway). When the car
pulls into the driveway, the house front lights, and the front foyer
lights to turn on. The front lights would be on a timer so they turn
after ten minutes. When I'm leaving the house, I press the 'Going
Out' button, which turns off all the lights in the house, turns down
the thermostat, but turns on the front house lights on (again, on a
ten minute timer). If the car drives out of the driveway in that ten
minutes, it does not reset the timer, etc because it knows I'm
leaving... Of course, no lights would turn on if it's light outside,
and there would be an override switch that allows me to manually turn
the lights on or off (for when I'm shoveling the driveway, etc).

First I'm wondering if anyone has tried something similar and if so,
how they accomplished it and what their success is/was. What
technologies they used etc. (I don't mind moving to a different
technology here, as none of the components save the 'going out' button
would interact with the inside lights)

Next, I don't think I can do the above without running a computer
24/7, which I'd like to avoid but, if I did do that, I was wondering
if people could recommend some software, etc

Lastly, I'm wondering about motion detectors -- does anyone know of
any good detectors that could survive a Canadian winter? I don't want
to buy something that bums out once it drops below -20.

Thanks,

John

John wrote:
I thought I'd start a thread about home automation. I was trying to
do something which I though would be simple but it's not... I have
some insteon switches in the house, and was looking to move a bit
outside.

What I'd like is for my system to detect when a car pulls into the
driveway (motion detector at the end of the driveway). When the car
pulls into the driveway, the house front lights, and the front foyer
lights to turn on. The front lights would be on a timer so they turn
after ten minutes. When I'm leaving the house, I press the 'Going
Out' button, which turns off all the lights in the house, turns down
the thermostat, but turns on the front house lights on (again, on a
ten minute timer). If the car drives out of the driveway in that ten
minutes, it does not reset the timer, etc because it knows I'm
leaving... Of course, no lights would turn on if it's light outside,
and there would be an override switch that allows me to manually turn
the lights on or off (for when I'm shoveling the driveway, etc).

First I'm wondering if anyone has tried something similar and if so,
how they accomplished it and what their success is/was. What
technologies they used etc. (I don't mind moving to a different
technology here, as none of the components save the 'going out' button
would interact with the inside lights)

Next, I don't think I can do the above without running a computer
24/7, which I'd like to avoid but, if I did do that, I was wondering
if people could recommend some software, etc

Lastly, I'm wondering about motion detectors -- does anyone know of
any good detectors that could survive a Canadian winter? I don't want
to buy something that bums out once it drops below -20.

I designed and built my own system, based on a 8052 processor, but there are
lots of commercial systems available. You can probably do the lights and
driveway thing with X10 modules. There are X10 IR motion sensors (not
weatherproof?) and controllers which you can program to sense the motion signal
and turn on/off various lights. Once programmed, tey remember to operate
independently of the computer.

My system controls the house and hottub temp, various lights in the house and
garage, house alarm system, and alerts me if doors open or are open or unlocked
when I set the alarm on.

An excellent place for this sort of question would be the comp.home.automation
newsgroup.