Comfort Automation/ Security System Forums

Hi All

If you have found yourself able to see this forum, you must have applied to be a beta tester of the UCM/Pi solution.

Please say hi to your fellow testers, hopefully in the coming weeks and months you will have plenty to talk about.

Thanks,

Matt

[line]Morning all,
Eamon here! Suppose, an outline of each of our system is not a bad starting point.
[line]
System:- ComfortUCMS:- Eth02, Velbus
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Automation devices includeVelbus (controlled by comfort via comfort UCM)[line]Google home smart speakers (x5)[line]Nest Thermostat[line]Nest Protect[line]Hue lighting[line]Smart things hub.[line]UHAI RPI[line]
Wish List/What I am aiming to do with UCM/PI
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Direct control of comfort via google home, including all velbus devices[line]Status and 2 way feedback of all comfort states and devices[line]Integrate external devices (hue, nest) into comfort so they appear as actual devices with counter values etc in comfort.[line]Push notifications for security status/alerts etc.

Hello people.
I thought it might be worth adding a bit of background, so you have an idea of what kit we have, what we might want to do, what our experience and knowledge is, etc.

System:
I started with Comfort 1, installed around 2002-ish. This was replaced with comfort 2 a few years back.
We have a pair of wiring nodes (din panels) for the 2 ends of the house.
Originally most of the house lights were controlled using X10, but that has mostly been removed and yet to be reconfigured.
We have a SEP for the outbuildings. We also have an IRIO for some of the newer garden lights, and some RIOs with relay panels for other garden and drive lights.

We used to have a couple of marmitek switch modules linked to physical switches that used to send X10 commands to the comfort panel to control the external lights for convenience.

We now mostly use the Comfort app on my phone, an android based cordless house phone, and an android tablet to do this.
These are the only means to control most of the outside lighting.
We have an Amazon dot that is patiently awaiting a UCM/Pi

Background:
I\'m a systems/software engineer in the space & defence arena, so whilst I don\'t write mobile apps, I am pretty techy and have used MQTT among many other pub/sub messaging protocols, and interface standards.

Wish List:

• Add voice control via amazon echo for lighting control.
  
• I would like to be able to view the system remotely in a better manner.

• Comfort isnt currently linked to our heating, we have 4 Heatmiser programmable thermostats.

• It would also be great to integrate the security cameras (some are IP, others aren\'t).

• being able to use the garage door opener buttons in the car to control other stuff would be nice, but phone proximity might do this too (like turn the drive lights off/on)
  

Cheers,
John.

Hi Guys,

I feel a bit intimidated with all the wonderful add-ons you have. Nevertheless, the UCM/Pi sounds very interesting and I am looking forward to try new things.

System:I started with Comfort 2 system as part of a Cbus installation. I toyed around with Zwave as part of ComfortClient development but it was purely for testing.
All lights and undefloor heating is controlled by Cbus and connected to Comfort via UCM/Cbus for status updates and control via ComfortClient. I also have a few RIOs for ad-hoc inputs like Pool pump and garage door/remote control.
My phone system in the house is Cisco CallManager Express based and I had an idea some time ago to write some phone integration into Comfort but it never happened.

Background:I\'m a network engineer in the Telecommunications/ISP industry but started out in the electronic design field as was my studies but these days it\'s only a hobby. I was the proverbial thorn in Julian\'s side when he developed ComfortClient to what it is today. And Yes, I can develop some basic software and I tinker with hardware. I designed my own UCM to read digital temperature from Dallas 1-wire sensors to measure my solar heating panels and geysers. The 2nd generation of that is all splayed out on my desk waiting for me to migrate it to a proper PCB 

Wish List:

• Being a bit biased towards ComfortClient, I would like to see what integration is possible with UCM/Pi.
• Perhaps integrate my irrigation system with Comfort that has a proper schedule and remote access.
• Also security camera integration as mentioned before.
• Encrypted remote access to Comfort from the Internet without using local router/VPN device. (Read \'proxy\' via UCM/Pi to get to Comfort)

Ingo.

Hi

Running a comfort system II with the usaul loads of bits attached

Have installed a few (main job, sparky)
Would like to see how much more can be intergrated using the R-PI, have to admit it is not a format that I am familiar with, however have started to look into it a bit more Node Red and I can see how push notifications can be utilised for elements within the structure,
If there are any App builders out there I think we may need a new one to control all comfort with the intergration of R-PI
I like the idea of getting rid of the smarthings, in my opinon to laggy and unreliable.
Would like to see what can replace the zigbee though or an expansion of it through the R-PI


Hugh

Hi all,

At home there is a comfort system running with a UCM ETH2.
As I am a bit of a energy saving fanatic, I would really like to be able to control some smartplugs using Comfort data. Examples:
- switch off smartplug (ex. setupbox) while in Away mode
- switch off smartplug (ex. stereo in living room) after no PIR detection for some amount of minutes.

But I am quite sure that this is just the beginning ....

Best,
Marijn.

Hi All,

Name here is Clive and I\'m located close to Salisbury in the UK.  I have just retired after 46 years in the power generation business working internationally with one of the large German/UK companies. My technical background is in power plant control engineering/electronics/computing, I am afraid though that I failed into the management/consulting side of the business in the latter years. Enjoying my retirement as I\'m now able to \'play\' electronics and computing again!  I\'m also a licensed radio amateur and enjoy constructing my own equipment.

I Installed Comfort in year 2000 and have just this year upgraded to the latest version, the basic setup is a CM9000-ULT with a local LEM and UCM/ETH3 then a SEM and LEM at the other end of the house which sits with a relay panel for outside security lighting. Five keypads and a couple of door stations complete the system.  I have been very pleased with the reliability of Comfort and also with the way the system and tools have evolved.

The main other HA stuff is Honeywell Evohome and Phillips Hue lighting.  At the moment I\'m using SmartThings and Alexa as \'glue\' to bring it all together along with Matt\'s UHAI on a RaspberryPi.  I feed system data via SmartThings into an Influx database on another Pi.  Influx also has inputs from ESP8266 modules used for ad hoc monitoring such as boiler feed/return temperatures. These modules feed Influx directly but I am migrating now to MQTT/Mosquitto which I have just set up along with Node-Red to have a play with in anticipation of the new UCM/Pi. Having been brought up with plain vanilla K&R C I must admit to struggling now with things like Java Script but I\'m sure a good project will provide the necessary impetus to learn :-)

Having now looked at Node-Red I think this with the new UCM/Pi will be able become the central focus of the whole system and allow me to \'de-clutter\'.  I\'m also keen to keep as much as possible within the home network.

Best Regards

Clive

Hi, 
I am Lee, and I am starting an automation/AV business after a career change from the Education Software market. My original background is in Electronic Engineering and my particular interest is on the interfaces between processing and hardware, so IoT and automation projects are of great interest.
I have a comfort system with ETH/RIO/IRIO/Zwave which has grown over the last 5 years or so to control security, lights, blinds, automation, HVAC. I have a Vera system, and have used RPI and Arduino to automate tasks so using the UCM/PI will allow for a lot of rationalisation and a better domestic and customer solution
Cheers
Lee

Hi all,
I\'m Keith and have had a Comfort System, along with other home automation, in my home since about 2000/1, which has undergone various tweaks and upgrades.

I\'m currently running Comfort 2 with a standard UCM and a UCM Universal, the latter is used for LightwaveRF integration (which I have switched most of my home lighting over to from X10). I also have another UCM for programming when needed (such as when the main UCM upgrade broke it the other day and I had to resort to the programming cable).

Other things I have include Google Home, Sonos, Alexa (via the Sonos One speakers), Heat Genius/Genius Hub zoned heating control, and some legacy X10 that I\'ll eventually get around to changing over to LightwaveRF. I\'m fairly agnostic about the whole Google Home/Alexa thing at the moment, although I\'m probably more on the Google Home side.

We are an Android Household. We really don\'t use iOS at all. We also don\'t really use Windows.

I\'m a Telecoms Developer/Consultant by trade, so I have a background in interfacing stuff, integration, protocols, cloud services, and so on.

I\'ve also been a beta tester for Sonos for several years, including alpha/beta testing their hardware (I have a couple of development versions of Sonos speakers that, apparently, are in 3D printed cases).

Wish list

• Google Home/Alexa integration
• Easier integration with LightwaveRF (programming with responses and configuring the UCM Universal is a bit painful)
• Integration with Genius Hub (subject to Code Red support for Genius Hub)
• Reduce the need to boot into legacy OS (Windows) to run Comfigurator (Almost all of the computers here are Linux or ChromeOS, with a tiny bit of Apple Mac. Windows is only used for a very small handful of legacy apps that aren\'t either web-based, or which can\'t be run directly on Linux either natively or using Wine)
• Secure external access (I\'m not comfortable port-forwarding into the UCM, so I haven\'t done it) ideally largely transparent to the user (i.e. no configuration of port-forwarding, VPNs, etc.)
• Interface with other stuff like IFTTT

Also, ideally, I would like to pull most of the programming I have done with responses, which is largely lighting control, out into Code Red so it\'s easier to program, more flexible, and easier to maintain.

I should point out I love Comfort and the responses capability and have used it a lot over the last nearly 2 decades, but I think the reliance on dealing with serial protocols and response programming is very limiting compared to more modern systems. I really think this is an essential modernisation of the platform which will retain all of the stability and capability of the original system, and will enable some interesting integrations.

Cheers,
Keith