Home Automation Info

HomeSeer v2.0

The diagram at left depicts the architecture of a HomeSeer solution in a whole-house automation application. The master controller in this WHA solution is your Home PC running the HomeSeer v2.0 software. Note the slave controller has disappeared from the diagram, as HomeSeer does not support the notion of a slave copy running on a "slave" PC in the home. Even though you could run HomeSeer on a second PC in your home connected via your home data network, the software can not communicate with the second copy to create a coordinated control environment.

As previously mentioned, HomeSeer is a "do-it-yourself" approach to WHA. It is possible to configure a HomeSeer solution with a different manufacturer's product for each of the sub-systems (i.e. security system, thermostats, A/V component control, user interfaces, and lighting controls). Generally though the goal in WHA is to limit the number of vendors involved in the solution to improve reliability, operability and ease of installation and support. For that reason we configured our example HomeSeer solution to use Home Automation Inc. (HAI) for security and climate control, Vizia ZWAVE lighting devices and button keypads, and Ocelot for A/V component control.

Any of the HAI Omni family of security systems are supported along with the HAI RC-80 communicating thermostats. In this setup the Omni security panel connects to one or more RC-80 thermostats via direct wiring. The HomeSeer system communicates with the Omni panel via a serial link connected via a standard telephone cable.

The Ocelot IR Module controls your A/V components via IR emitters connected to each component, and also connects to the HomeSeer PC via a serial link.

The Vizia lighting devices and button keypads are ZWAVE devices that communicate with HomeSeer via a ZWAVE interface module connected to a USB port on your PC.

When configuring HomeSeer to interface to external subsystems as described above, it will be necessary to install the appropriate plug-in module to enable communications. In addition to interfacing to external systems, plug-in modules in general enhance the functionality of HomeSeer and can add desirable new features to the system. Note there are plug-ins available to include many more sub-systems than the ones discussed above. For a complete description see homeseer.com.

Finally, if your home PC is connected to the Internet the standard HomeSeer user interface is web browser-based. Thus with the proper website and DNS setup for your PC you will be able to access your HomeSeer system from anywhere Internet access is available.