Electronic Gadget Ideas for a New House? 413
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?"
Motorola (Score:2, Interesting)
Since the future is wireless... (Score:5, Interesting)
What to do (Score:5, Interesting)
Consider Dilbert Ultimate House (Score:4, Interesting)
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).
POWER! (Score:2, Interesting)
Suggestions (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Related (Score:4, Interesting)
DMX for lighting control. (Score:2, Interesting)
alternate power grid (Score:3, Interesting)
Solar DHW & Electric (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Passive solar heating, digital thermostat (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Time-Out Corner (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [theplumber.com].
Go for solar power (Score:4, Interesting)
Faraday cage - it's a must (Score:4, Interesting)
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
Conduit with Pull Strings (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:straw? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:placeholder (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:alternate power grid (Score:3, Interesting)
Possible gadgets (Score:3, Interesting)
Weather monitoring station. Probably somewhere high up for the sensors, with a more convenient location for the display. Presumably, these will be LAN appliances some day, needing only ethernet.
Digital interface for an aerial antenna. If you ever want to transmit pirate TV like the telestreet [indymedia.org] movement in Italy, or do the A/D conversion of over-the-air television closer to the source.
Lighting control bus. Like X-10 works over power lines, perhaps more flexibility would be available if the control circuit has its own data bus.
Irrigation control. Depending on climate, of course.
Whole house audio.
Whole house video.
Toaster network. [casemodgod.com]
That's all I can think of off the top of my head, except for the obvious computer network thing, of course.
CONDUIT! (Score:4, Interesting)
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.)
Re:Not really gadget-related, but: (Score:5, Interesting)
I've seen electricians use pipes for home wiring (and one underground conduit for a light-industrial location). When you put in a new wire you insert the wire in one end, and attach a vacuum cleaner on the other end and suck the new wire through.
I know very few people who have seen this system, including electricians. They think I'm crazy. But I swear I've seen it at least twice...
Re:Some Pointers: (Score:3, Interesting)
That also typically means that you should have conduit runs...to everywhere you might consider it. Any closet could later become a server closet, so put two conduits to a closet as well.
If your house is multi-story, you would probably want the conduits going between floors. It was the biggest PIA to get CAT5 going to the first floor in my house, as it felt like every conduit was hitting a beam. and did not go below. There was two conduits with power and the other one media going from crawl to attic at the most inaccessible point imaginable.
Oh, that brings me to the last point....make sure all conduits are accessible without great pain.
As for the pull string -- that is usually nothing to worry about. I simply used a drain cleaner (a long metal blade that is both fairly flexible, but will stay straight unless provoked. Basically a less bendy measuring tape) with a hole on the tip. Simply push the drain cleaner through...and tie a string, then pull the drain cleaner out.
Conclusion: have multiple conduits crossing floors as well. (remember to keep data and power separate) Make sure they are going everywhere, and you will be alright for the future.
Re:What to do (Score:1, Interesting)
I've always thought a central vacuum would be nice. Have a big ol' vacuum bag in the basement, with a big ol' (loud, who cares, it's in the basement) motor, and big enough pipes without sharp bends so you don't get christmas tree pieces clogging it up. Don't forget to include cleanout openings in case it gets clogged up anyway.
In my shop, I've always wished I had iron pipe around the ceiling perimeter hooked up to compressed air. Every eight feet or so tee off a piece of pipe coming down the wall with an air hose hookup. Compressed air is great.
Solar powered sidewalk lamps.
A false wall or two
A wall made out of two parallel planes of thick plexiglass which sandwiches a gigantic ant farm.
A holodeck. Or for the budget conscious, a soundproof gameroom/theatre.
Supply your own electricity/heat/AC with windpower.
Underground flywheel energy storage.
Water cistern.
A walk-in cooler. Not for food, for brewing beer.
Put expanded metal lathe in all your walls to keep the martian thought police from reading your mind. And your wireless.
Build and evaporative cooling silo next to your house. Bonus: the whole setup will like a mini nuclear plant.
A detached hideaway. Not high tech, but sometimes you might just want a little space...
Insulated exterior window blinds that actually work (vs. the stupid useless stick-ons people consider fashionable). Block the sun's heat *outside* (proper planting and siting is prolly easier).
Mount all your seating to the walls, so it's easier to vacuum underneath.
Concrete floors.
30 amp outlets in the basement/shop/server room.
Emergency automatic generator for critical servers/stuff (red outlets) (which are on UPS during switch-over).
Server closet (Score:2, Interesting)
Make a closet behind the area where you will have the entertainment center. If possible, have the back of the TV and the Stereo protrude into the closet (by using an entertainment center with the back removed). That way, all the wiring will be easily accessible from within the closet. Have all the ethernet and power cables run to the closet. That way, you have one central place for your servers, printers, virtual reality transducers, sub-vocal mind-reading control hubs, and don't forget the old primitive hologram generator.
Oh yah, and the breaker box, too.
Wiring Closet; Water recycler; (Score:1, Interesting)
Wiring closet: everyone is suggesting run ethernet wires instead of wireless; good for security. wire everywhere. I would go a step further, and include in plans a specific central closet for electronics -hub, router, server, PVR/Satellite/cable feed. Include a special hidden spot (in the ceiling?). This would be where to hide things like the disk your security cameras etc. will feed to. What good is a surveillance system, if the first thing stolen is the recorded evidence?
Unless you live in rural Minnesota, water will probably be an issue. I would suggest a grey water system, designed to route output from sinks, washing machines, bathtub etc. to a tank that would recycle it for things like flushing toilets, watering the lawn. A fancier system would have automated valves so you could reroute the drains depending on perceived quality of the drain water. I wonder if you could get away with this - probably still be illegal to water your lawn this way during "no watering" times, or people would just run the bathtub to get enough to water the lawn. One set of doom-mongers say the southern USA will run out of water in 10 years.
Re:straw? (Score:3, Interesting)
Have you considered lighting control systems? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Fiber et all (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, if you have the $$ - I would recomend laying fiber. Remember, even though you put conduit in - your fiber must be put into flex tube for protection. I would put two runs of each single mode and multi mode fiber. Unless your certified in terminating it, I would have a licensed/certified person terminate the fiber into connections.
Do you plan on having an audio system? Maybe not now, but in the future? Make sure to run an extra conduit, and cut a zip box into the top corner of each room. Bathroom included on this one. And dont forget, some high end systems can use fiber to connect the speakers. I would say to put fiber, cat5, and coax into these drops.
You mentioned wireless. I would use wrap boards with cealing mount antennas. Put some conduit into the cealing - with a 1'x1' lockable box that becomes part of the cealing. If you run MikroTik's level 5 router os the units, you can have multiple AP's act as one, run WPA/WPA2, and for PC devices, also have them use IPSec back into a "Private" network.
TV? Yep, I would run seperate conduit for this - Pick logical locations for this. One in the bathroom too. You never know, you could want to put a little 13" tv in there for the umm.. rest breaks.
If you haven't already confirmed the building plan, I would take an area in the home, and put a 6x6 equipment room in. This is where all the conduit would terminate. Buy an equipment rack, and stud in into the floor there. But a couple patch pannels, I'm fond of the panduit minicom modular 48 port patch pannels, however, anything will work. Buy a fiber termination box for the rack as well. Put your phones into 66 blocks on the wall. I would also use cat5 for my phones, and not cat3. With the cost of cat5 being so low, it just makes sense. I would also use cat6 for the network in a new install.
Thought of VoIP? This sets you up great for it. You have a central place to put your VoIP server in, and connect it back into your PSTN network.
Anyway, Just some design thoughts. Hope they help.
Wire for DC! (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Not really gadget-related, but: (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, though, expect to need things you haven't thought of. Make sure every wall and floor can be opened relatively easily so that you can install the next big thing without having to anticipate it.
Re:straw? (Score:2, Interesting)
Ferretman
Re:Passive solar heating, digital thermostat (Score:2, Interesting)
My Mum's place has pergola that uses the same principle as this, deciduous trees/grape vines near the house that provide shade in summer but let light in in winter. In addition to this large windows on on the north side with curtains to work as demachina explained (unfortunately not automated though) but in addition to this, the floor behind them is tiled so it can soak up any sunshine on winter days and continue to release the heat after the sun has gone down.
Made it though many winters comfortably without using any heaters.
Re:Passive solar heating, digital thermostat (Score:1, Interesting)