Hi,
Wondering what cool things people are using InControl for?
Beyond the simple "turning a light off from my phone" , what scenes and integration have you got going?
I'm not claiming to be doing anything groundbreaking, but here's some of mine:
* I get a notification when my washing machine finishes its cycle
* I have a '30 minute run-time' button (scene) for my pool pump, which means I don't have to set a reminder to turn it off after half an hour
* I have the front door unlock when I arrive home
* I have a 'bedtime' scene that turns on the bedroom lights then 10 minutes later turns off the living room lamps & turns down the thermostats
* I use the IFFF 'Maker' and 'Comcast Labs' channels to get a pop-up notification on the TV confirming scene activations
* I use EventGhost and a text-to-speech plugin to get spoken confirmation of scene activations
Your turn...inspire me with your interesting setups! :-)
What cool things are you doing with InControl?
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- Last Post 27 August 2019
Have motion detectors with luminance that turns on the front and drive way lights after dark.
Lock the front door 5 minutes after it unlocks for the handle lock and at 1000 pm lock the deadbolt.
Door sensor on daughter's door that wakes us up when she gets up (she is 5 now).
* I get a notification when my washing machine finishes its cycle
What washing machine/device are you using to get that status notification?
Primarily used for timer functions. I use multiple scene functions. I have some of the Aeon lab door sensors so when opening a door, light turns on, door closes, light turns off.
@ f0ggy987 I would be interested in the wash machine and/or TV information that you've mentioned. I have a samsung washer/dryer along with a samsung smart TV. When the washer/dryer completes, a little prompt bar is displayed on the TV that it's done. I've long been trying to hack this interface (via wireshark) to create custom messages. Is that what you are refering too?
It was achieved using a Aeon Labs Smart Energy Switch (DSC06106-ZWUS) which can report the load (Watts) being drawn by the attached device. When the washing machine starts, the Watts drawn goes up and when it finishes, the Watts drawn goes back down. Those are the basis for an 'on' and 'off' scene.
Here's the thread where myself and another user got this working: http://forums.axialcontrol.com/thread/scene-not-triggering-help-with-my-logic
It has been working very well for me every since.
With regards to the Samsung washer/dryer unit, it looks like that integrates with IFTTT: https://ifttt.com/SamsungWasher You can link InControl to IFTTT via the Maker channel: https://ifttt.com/maker So the Samsung channel would be your IFTTT recipe 'trigger' and a Maker channel HTTP Request to InControl would be your 'action'.
Hope that helps!
I have a bunch of stuff going...
- I have LED rope lights under my railing lining my front steps that turn on 10 min before sunset and off at 11pm during the week and midnight on weekends.
- I have a dimmer switch running the living room lighting, with that i have scenes like movie night (dims to 5%), good morning (tun to 60%)
- I have z-wave locks on all outside doors, I have a scene called goodnight, that locks all the doors and turns off all the lights.
- I have a security system in the works... door sensors, motion detectors... I'm still working out the details on how to make it easy for my family to arm and disarm when coming and going as well as before bed. (any ideas?)
- i have a door sensor on my safe, so it alerts me any time its opened.
- many many more things in the works... just gotta save up money to buy more components. I'll update once i get them up and running.
You thought about maybe using NFC chips to activate and deactivate your alarm system? NFC chips are realativily cheap, and you could have one on the outside of the house and one on the inside. You could setup a rule that exit wait a minute, set the alarm and lock the doors. When someone comes home, you could do the opposite. Plus you also could the door locks to deactivate the alarm too, just make a rule that when the door unlocks, the alarm system is turned off, or a combination of both. Also there is the geo fence option too.
Thanks! I worry about the geo fence, I've never set it up nor do i know the reliability But, you did give me an idea... theres no way in our garage other than through the house, so, I could put a door/window switch on the door so that when it opens, it auto deactivates the system. Then, i could put a zwave button in the garage to activate the system on delay, to allow us to leave before the system activates. i could also have a zwave button set in the bedroom to activate and deactivate the system at night.
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Really stupid cost saver.
Problem: I have a batch feed garbage disposal with a magnetic switch. The switch sticks, so it runs for a few minutes even after you turn it off. Switch replacement is problematic, replacing the disposal with the same quality is around $300.
Solution: I use a heavy duty zwave switch ~$30. My wife and I simply turn off the disposal with the Axial control iPhone app.
I have BlueIris sending HTTP commands to trigger living room light in the very early morning if a area mask is broken. Growing more security features.
Siren/Chime will ding every 30 minutes if garage door is open past 6PM. Siren if motion sensors are broken while alarm armed.
Custom HTML5 interface on a tablet for home control full AJAX for Axial and for BlueIris cameras.
Motion sensor and a strip of led rope light under bed gives a nice glow if you need to get up at night.
I have a remote cabin where I go on weekends. I'm using InControl/Axial Control to help me keep an eye on it.
The Internet there is simply a 4G USB stick connected to my router. This is unreliable but is the only option for Internet there.
I have multiple motion detectors around the cabin and out-buildings, if any of them detect motion ALL outdoor lights are turned on and I get an email.
I also have a cable across the driveway 800 feet away which is tied into a window sensor to sound an alarm, turn on all the lights and send an email if the cable is opened.
There is also a light beam sensor tied into another window sensor, which will blink several lights and sound an alarm when a car comes down the driveway while I'm there.
I have redundant controller systems that coordinate with each other via a couple of dedicated Z-Wave devices, one dimmer and one switch.
The switch indicates to both controllers, which one is the active one. The dimmer is used for presence level. Off means I'm not there, 15% means I'm comming later in the day, 30% means I'm there but temporarily away (ie at the store), 80% means I'm there but it's night time (heat setback), 100% means I'm there.
Because the Internet is so unreliable I have a schedule built in to automatically set the presence level to 15% (warm up mode) at the proper time and day of the week.
I have keep alive procedures to power-cycle various network devices (routers, switches, mesh points, access points etc.) periodically to bring the system back online by itself in the event of an Internet outage or system crash. This has been a really useful feature.
Among those network devices is a Raspberry Pi running as a Wifi NAS, and buried deep underground. This is to store pictures and videos from my security cameras. This Raspberry Pi is powered from a Z-Wave appliance switch, which is also underground, although not so deep.
I also have an exit scene which activates when the driveway cable is closed and shuts everything down when I leave.
I have a lot of normal automation such as lights and sensors also.
I do wish I could find an accurate Z-Wave thermometer that I could tie into the system. Nothing that I have found works very well when the temperaturs get much below zero.
