The Digital Family Learns How to Automate Their Home

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• digital family
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Meet The First PM Digital Family: Part 1 - Computers, Print Story

First PM Digital Family: Part 3 - Home Automation, Print Story

In our five-part Digital Family series, POPULAR MECHANICS asked Jamieson and Peggy Jones and their two children Nina and Ben to turn their home into a real-world, living laboratory, which we would outfit with some of the most innovative high-tech gear. Over the course of 11 months, we have technologically overhauled the Jones's Connecticut home in three stages. Stage one was computer equipment. Stage two was home entertainment. For our December issue, POPULAR MECHANICS's contributing editor Rebecca Day worked with the Joneses on home automation. Here, we take you behind the scenes to the Web-exclusive Dialogue 2: Jones family correspondence with Rebecca Day throughout the final process.

The Planning Stage
May 4

Hi Rebecca, Peggy here. I spent some time researching last night and began to ramble on about how we could potentially use some of the home automation. We came up with this abbreviated list and my comments about how to use automation follow.

Systems that are connected to the home-automation computer:

1. HVAC 2. Whole-house fan 3. Windows automated for fresh air ventilation 4. Window coverings (blinds, shades) 5. Awnings for deck and door 6. Light and outlet control (hard-wired) 7. Interior and exterior temperature sensing 8. Occupancy detection within house for lighting & HVAC management 9. Hot water circulating pump to preheat water at tubs and showers 10. General home security, including infrared surveillance 11. Whole-house door locking system, keyless entry 12. Visitor alert system 13. Automated exterior hose valves 14. Phone or internet control

Stand-Alone Systems

1. Touch-free faucets for bathrooms 2. Automated oven hood venting based on smoke detection 3. Automated fireplace dampener 4. Appliances that are time controlled and energy efficient like washer-dryer, dishwashers and small appliances like bread makers (who wouldn't love any of these?) 5. Car auto-starts connected with automatic garage door opener 6. Fancy phones 7. Multistage toilet - reduce water consumption for different flush requirements

Comments:
As much as possible I'd like to see home automation paired with energy conservation, something I do manually now wherever I can.

Coordinate energy efficiency with automated interior/exterior shades. Can an HVAC system be aware of the outdoor humidity/temp and have blinds open or close based on whether you want to take advantage of solar heat (in winter) or block it to save on a/c costs (in summer)? In the ideal world it would be great if there were shades that would automatically lower in the afternoon when the sun comes into the kitchen/family room. For example, we like fresh air as much as possible in the summer. Typically, I'll open the windows on the west side of the house (usually our bedroom/bathroom windows) in the morning and use the whole-house fan to bring in the cool morning air. By about 10 am on a typical summer day, it gets too hot to do this and warm air starts to fill the house. So, I shut the windows, close our bedroom window blinds and turn off the attic fan. This works great until about 1pm when the sun starts to come into the family room. Then it is really hot and the a/c kicks in, and I start up the attic fan.

How about a system that would coordinate all that stuff? Is that possible in the high-tech world? It'd be great to have windows close automatically and shades come down automatically when the house senses that it's getting too hot or humid. I'd like to be able to press a button when we leave the house and have a system that goes into the 'cool' mode without my having to go around and open/close windows/blinds. At 4 pm, when it starts to cool down, I'd like to have the windows open and start pulling in cooler outdoor air, and shut down the a/c. It would have to do this based on how hot and/or humid it is outside. Same thing for night time. Can the windows close automatically on hot and humid nights and start the a/c in the bedrooms? Then, as the outside temperature drops in the middle of the night, can it open the windows before we wake up?

Driveway alert system: Can a bell ring or alert be sounded on the speakers or PCs to let me know when someone is coming into the driveway? Often when the kids ride bikes in the driveway, I'll park a car at the top so that cars can only enter from the side street. That way I can see from the garden/backyard when a car is coming in. I'd like to know when a car comes in. It would also be great to have a picture of the car driving in and/or a camera at the entry doors so I can see who is there. We don't have a doorbell, so some kind of system like this would be great. Maybe a little display in the kitchen or on a portable device for when I'm in the garden? Or maybe on the Palm pilots? I think the Web site for Home Automation Inc. mentions equipment that can allow you to see who's at the front door camera using the Windows Media Center.

Lighting system: Can lights automatically turn on in the hallway and outside an entry door when I go to answer the door, and then shut off after I say goodbye and lock the door? How about nightlights for when I get up in the middle of the night to help the children or to go to the bathroom? Right now we have 'limelights' on the stairs, but the kids can't get to sleep with nightlights in their rooms or in the hallway. So, when you go upstairs to give medicine to them for example, you have this bright bedside lamp on so you can see what you're doing. It would be nice to have an automatic nightlight that goes on when you walk in the dark hallway at 3 am. Home theater: How about the ability to lower blinds and turn off lights when you are about to watch a movie on the home theater system? Can you make it so that when you set up the movie with the lights on and then sit down to watch, the room darkens? What about if you forgot to turn off the lights in the kitchen after you made popcorn? Can you press a button or use the TV to switch them off? Also, I'm in the habit of leaving cabinet doors open in the kitchen. Are there any ways of having them close automatically when you leave the kitchen or something? I know Jami has had fun thinking about how he can accomplish this!

Thanks, Peggy

Phones
July 14

Hi Rebecca,
We've spent most of today researching cellphones that are compatible with the cell dock. Success! We ordered the phones online at Letstalk.com. They were really helpful and gave us a good deal. However, we really needed to handle the phones physically to see which ones we liked, which meant multiple trips to the local malls. We both liked the Motorola v710. I can't wait to get them on Monday. Until then, we are reverting to the old phone with the answering machine (can't quite part with it).

I'll let you know all the details of setting up the cell docking station as soon as I get the phones. So far, the RCA phone has been a breeze to set up. I've played with the ring tones and registered the handsets. I'm looking forward to having my own voicemail/answering machine, separate from Jami's. Will that be the key to my phone troubles? Will there be any excuses for not returning calls in a timely manner? Tune in next week for the latest episode.

Peggy