Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!PT.CS.CMU.EDU!ROVER.RI.CMU.EDU!nivek
From: nivek@ROVER.RI.CMU.EDU (Kevin Dowling)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: House Automation (other approaches)
Message-ID: <745@PT.CS.CMU.EDU>
Date: 28 Jan 88 16:33:33 GMT
Sender: netnews@PT.CS.CMU.EDU
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 31

Brian Reid's house automation project is similar to mine but larger in scale.

My wife and I bought a house here about 18 months ago and we have totally
gutted it and have been living in it. (camping in the city!) Building new
is easier and better, and our next house will probably be from scratch.

I have completely removed the old 'knob and tube' wiring and replaced it
with a 200A service (40 full-height/80 half-height breakers) Every room has
at least 1-2 Circuits (The kitchen has 8). The wiring I used is TRI/CON
which combines 75-Ohm coax, 4 twisted pairs, and 2-12awg (shielded) W/ Gnd.
Every room has a run of TRI/CON and the switchplate has a phonejack/ BNC or
F connector/ duplex outlet.

We're still at the point where all the walls and ceilings aren't up and I'll
be adding central vacuum, and running some more wiring. I plan to use the
excess twisted pairs for extra phone lines. All the wiring terminates at a
large panel in the cellar and all patching and connections will be done
here.  I intend to use X-10 and eventually the new CSBus protocols in
controlling devices.

I have a large amount of information on Home automation stuff and will try
to post a reference list of stuff to the net.  There is a magazine devoted
to this called Electronic House, the Magazine of Home Automation. Founded by
another CMU alumnus too.


nivek
Aka :	Kevin Dowling		Bell:	(412) 268-8830
Arpa:	nivek@rover.ri.cmu.edu	Mail:	Robotics Institute
Hacking Robots for Mars...	Carnegie Mellon University
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