High TEch Home

[ME BIGGD01]

Well I am finally moved in to the new house and have had a lot of things done to make it even better to live in and make it more comfortable. All in all I am happy and so is my Daughter who loves it along with her new school.

So here I am getting back in to the swing of things. Moving forward is a pretty tough job sometimes but it's something we must do in our life.

My next task is to design a new home network that completely handles everything from streaming all digital media, security, lights and any other electric components that can be controlled via remote. Now I had basically half of this running in old house but now I am looking to go beyond that and make it so enhanced that at the quick of a switch you can do anything from any where on my property.

Now one thing I have to consider is the costs. It's so easy to go to the store or shop online and spend out of your ass for something that will be obsolete in a years time so I want to make sure I do it right and cost effective. I also need to monitor the electric as it seems the Avg bill I am getting from LIPA is around 330 per month. That's a lot and I aim to bring it down.

Wow it sounds like I am getting cheap, the truth is I want to be responsible when it comes to the monthly output of my finances. With the economy the way it is one should be careful with how they spend their hard earned cash. I also find it to be a great time to get deals if you know how to shop.

First as I have always said in previous posts is you need to create a budget. Whether you are build a simple computer, you need to know what you want to spend and what you want.

For this I will start with a budget of $15,000.00 which will include all hardware and software. Labor will be done by myself and also one of my brothers who is an electrician. I have already started with this project as I had extra piping run through out the yard for electric lines to be run. This was done while I had a 10 zone sprinkler system put in and I will not add that cost to this budget.

11 rooms- 2 bathrooms- 3 qtr acre property
networked and wifi capable
HD screens
Security
Server
Digital Storage
Remote Power
Computer systems
HD play back devices/HD streaming
New editing workstation

Well this is the start of the creation of my new network in my new home.
I am curious to know any ideas or suggestions that some of you people may have or are currently doing with your own home. This is a project I have always intended to do and I am going to finally design and do it. some things have already been ordered but I am still designing it. I want it to be simple to install and simple to deploy with the ability to upgrade at a small cost.

I will continue to keep this thread updated until mission is completed.

[FUS1ON]

If I was building a new home and with the problems we have here with limbs and stuff blowing fuses on the power grid in this area in even marginal weather, i'd love to have a way to disconnect from the grid outside and connect our generator to just one connection to power things like freezers, refrig, etc .... instead of having to run cords to all of the appliances.

I used to install home theaters, sat dishes, home automation, etc ... years ago and in new homes i'd run cheap PVC from sections of the house to other sections and run nylon string in it with labels on each end so I could pull wires easily later as things changed for my customers.

[ME BIGGD01]

I have considered the generators but with solar panels. This is all great but the problem is the batteries to hold the charge are extremely non cost effective. In a worste case scenario, I would use 2 genarators to work the items that are important. Also having fuel on hand is a must.

PVC piping is a good solution. For the yard I used the water sprinkler line hoses to run electric underground. My brother used the string also and some sort of vacuum which pulled the string to the other side. I am still working on completing that task for my pond and waterfall lights. :thumbs:

[Grimmy]

If I was building a new home and with the problems we have here with limbs and stuff blowing fuses on the power grid in this area in even marginal weather, i'd love to have a way to disconnect from the grid outside and connect our generator to just one connection to power things like freezers, refrig, etc .... instead of having to run cords to all of the appliances.

I used to install home theaters, sat dishes, home automation, etc ... years ago and in new homes i'd run cheap PVC from sections of the house to other sections and run nylon string in it with labels on each end so I could pull wires easily later as things changed for my customers.


A short term fix for this, as I did this a few years ago when I lost power for 9 days, was to use a 220V, 30Amp breaker, and I used that to back feed power from the generater to my fuse panel. I just just the main breaker off, and I only had to run 1 cord, from the generator. I know it's not the proper way to do it, for there should be a hard disconnect and one that you can visually see (not a circuit breaker, one with knifes) it's disconnected, but I didn't have time nor the money to spend on doing that.

I was able to use everything in my house just like normal, just had to watch what I all had on. I even turned my hottub on low, so it could reheat the water for 3 hours, but I have everything else in the house shut off, as it took 90% of the generators capacity.

Something like this could be hard wired as well, and have a reverse plug installed somewhere where you have the generator sitting as well. Heck when you have power, you could use it as a welder plug or something as well. Just some options.

Sho, get me a plane ticket and I'd come down and wire it for ya ;) :thumbs:

[OUTLAWS WHOCARES]

Sho down this way most new homes have 100 gal propane tanks that kick in when the power goes out. We use it here for hurricanes.

[ME BIGGD01]

Sho down this way most new homes have 100 gal propane tanks that kick in when the power goes out. We use it here for hurricanes.

How does propane keep the heat and freezer without electric?

[OUTLAWS WHOCARES]

Here is a site to check out.

http://www.assurancepower.com/generators/generator-packages.html

[Grimmy]

How does propane keep the heat and freezer without electric?

I am betting the generator runs off propane instead of liquid gas. I have seen those around here. More commonly found on house backup or store backup generators.

[ME BIGGD01]

I am betting the generator runs off propane instead of liquid gas. I have seen those around here. More commonly found on house backup or store backup generators.

Hmmm, that is interesting and will have to look into such a generator and research it.:thumbs: