Home automation system - Let's begin...

Other Hardware Home Automation
1

Hello guys! Now i've been thinking and thinking, looking and looking, searching and.... yeah, you know where this goes.

So finally i want to start my project.

You can read about it here http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,81046.0.html

After that post i've been looking around a lot of forums, and what i want to start out with, is the "server".

I will design this system by using a laptop which acts like the server.(And our media server for the TV.)
Then i want some wireless sender/reciver to plug into the PC.
Around my apartment i will install some nodes which also transmits wireless.
What form of wireless signal would be best for this? I'm thinking about doing bluetooth, but im' not sure about the security and the signal strenght. My apartment is about 90 kvm.
What i also should think about is the power for the nodes. Should i wire them to a converter, or would some batteries be enough?(Then of course have it to check how much life the battery has and sends a signal to the server, when it's low, so i know i have to change it soon.)
What do you think would be the cheapest and best method for me? Batteries are expensive these days, but so is electricity + wires. (Note i'm going to expand this system alot, so 30+ nodes could be in use.)

Well, enough about that. What i want to start with, is the server. I'm thinking about program a web server that i can connect to, and then this server sends the commands to the sender/reciver and then out to the nodes(and the other way around)
Because I use a PC for this server, i will have enough proccessing power, so that won't be a problem. What i'm worried about is how should i do this? Does any one have any tips, tutorials, source codes or learnings etc, so i can read my about how i should do this.

2

If you want a pc based system, you may save time and money by purchasing one of the homeseer home automation programs.

http://store.homeseer.com/store/x-C5.aspx

3

Yeah, i already looked at that, and i love it. Looks very cool. But will it work with all my "custom made" devices, and can i configure it, the way i want? Like to turn on a projector and stuff like that. How much can i customize the system?

4

I'm thinking of using the Homeseer for control, and then use jeelink/jeenodes for all my devices. Would that be a good idea? And what about security in this case?

5

I'd suggest looking at this post: http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,8721.0.html
I finally got it working at my house this weekend. The Apache server configs need some massaging to get it to work, but I can give you some details. I have a password protected website with my Arduino remote control webpage behind the login. My test setup was to put an LED on the Arduino and use the webpage to turn it on and off. I plan to move toward controlling other things, like lights (lamps), possibly garage door, etc. I don't know how to do any visible feedback on the webpage. I may look into doing something like that as well, although it isn't my main concern.