cheapish way to cintrol control spot lights via my phone or ??

There are several LED controller on the market that can do this. I went for one that works over my existing network, rather than making its own hotshot.
 
some simple options are:

Phillips Hue Bulbs.
LightwaveRF inline relay or lightswitch and lightwaveRF wireless controller.
ZWave relay and zwave contoller

take a look here: http://www.vesternet.com/

none THAT cheap, but the lightwaverf is fairly cheap once you have paid for the wireless link.
 
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Lightwaverf .. forget the wireless link, get a raspberry pi, transceiver and domoticz and you can operate all sorts of home automation
 
valve90210 said:
That sounds like an interesting setup, do you have a setup like this, if so it would be great to see a write up on how it's done! :)
Click to expand...

Yeah i run this setup, controlling lights, remote switches and my boiler, all through the raspberry PI and lightwaverf switches and relays.


All you need is the following

Raspberry PI
A http://www.uk-automation.co.uk/products/RFXCOM-RFXtrx433E.html (this is the transceiver that sends/receives signals)
Domoticz software (http://www.domoticz.com/)
and the relevant switches.

The RFXCom above works with a wide variety of different protocols, lightwaverf just being one of them.

Really easy to setup and get working, once the software is installed you can get domoticz to turn on lights at certain times of the day, control the boiler, check for movement in the property etc etc, its endless.

Theres also a good android app for domoticz http://sebastiaanschimmel.me/projects/dromotica.html
and i believe a IOS app has also been written.

That covers the basics, if you need any more info just ask.
 
We went with Philips hue and most rooms in the house now have some hue device in it. The other half thought it was gimmicky at first but now loves it. Geofencing and alarms/timers and IFTTT support are great.
Downside is of course the expense :/
 
ScoobyDoo said:
Yeah i run this setup, controlling lights, remote switches and my boiler, all through the raspberry PI and lightwaverf switches and relays.


All you need is the following

Raspberry PI
A http://www.uk-automation.co.uk/products/RFXCOM-RFXtrx433E.html (this is the transceiver that sends/receives signals)
Domoticz software (http://www.domoticz.com/)
and the relevant switches.

The RFXCom above works with a wide variety of different protocols, lightwaverf just being one of them.

Really easy to setup and get working, once the software is installed you can get domoticz to turn on lights at certain times of the day, control the boiler, check for movement in the property etc etc, its endless.

Theres also a good android app for domoticz http://sebastiaanschimmel.me/projects/dromotica.html
and i believe a IOS app has also been written.

That covers the basics, if you need any more info just ask.
Click to expand...

I'd be really interested to see more about how you've got your system setup, which switches etc you've got how you've gone about setting it, up, it seems like it could be a great way of sorting out lighting etc as it seems to control a huge range of different protocols allowing for some great setup flexibility.

A couple of quick questions, which model Pi do you use, and how does the transceiver connect to the pi? also, how does it go about controlling x10 kit? (if that's something you've done)
 
I just run an old 256mb model b pi, domoticz is very light weight and runs fine on this.
The rfxcom is a tiny device with a small antenna on it and it plugs directly into the USB socket on the pi, no external power is required.
The rfxcom controls all the protocols, I haven't got any x10 equipment, as long as the device transmits over 433mhz and the rfxcom supports the protocol then it will work fine. Domoticz takes all the hard work out of it.
 
ScoobyDoo said:
I just run an old 256mb model b pi, domoticz is very light weight and runs fine on this.
The rfxcom is a tiny device with a small antenna on it and it plugs directly into the USB socket on the pi, no external power is required.
The rfxcom controls all the protocols, I haven't got any x10 equipment, as long as the device transmits over 433mhz and the rfxcom supports the protocol then it will work fine. Domoticz takes all the hard work out of it.
Click to expand...

That's good to know, as I also have an old 256mb pi model b, would be great to put it to this use!

I think I might need an additional bit of kit for the x10, to translate the rf into x10 singal s but that's not hugely expensive and would allow me to continue using my x10 modules that I currently have before I upgrade to lightwave rf for such things...

Is it possible to set up lighting scenes etc with Domoticz software?
 
Scenes can be setup really easily in domoticz, it's also got a good logic system allowing all sorts of possibilities. Have a look at the domoticz forums, will give you an idea of what can be done.
Ive got a simple pir setup in my utility and between certain times of the day /night when this is activated domoticz will turn on the utility light and down stairs toilet light for a set period of time before switching both off.
This is just simple logic and it can get very complicated if you want it to, just shows what can be done very easily.
 
Sounds good to me, I shall have to do some reading up on it.

Is it simple enough for idiots (like me) to get stuff setup or do you need a level of programming skill to get it setup nicely?
 
Really simple to setup, no programming needed at all.
The only slight programming is for the 'logic' in domoticz but this is just blocky and is drag and drop.
 
It is, but it's a fully functioning Unix box, just needs power and an sd card and you've got a fully running computer capable of many different tasks.
 
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