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Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#11

Post by byoung2 »

logic wrote: post #6

I played around with X10 networking (device control using the in-house power wiring as a message bus) years ago, for home automation. Fun stuff, and usable even today. Recently, I've started working on an Arduino-driven thermostat replacement using XBees to get around the problem of running wiring in a house without any conduits (and not wanting to run plenum-rated cabling in the heating ducts). It's actually pretty…

I played around with X10 networking (device control using the in-house power wiring as a message bus) years ago, for home automation

I had lots of fun with X10 back in college, tricking out my apartment to have voice control over the lights and drapes. The X10 computer interface combined with Homeseer allowed me to create pretty complex "scenes" such as the always popular "seduce" command which would close the drapes, gradually dim the lights to 15% in 1% increments over a 1 hour interval, and start playing a playlist of mp3s that sadly started with Sarah Mclachlan and ended with Barry White.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#12

Post by jawngee »

My entire apartment is Z-Wave and I have a custom written iPad app that lets me control most everything.

I've been considering putting some of those cheap 7" android tablets into my walls, but I don't own the place, so I guess I'll have to wait.

X10 is a horrible joke, don't go there. Z-Wave is fantastic though.

Here are some zwave links:

http://www.z-wave.com/modules/Products/

http://www.smarthomeusa.com/search.php?q=z-wave

https://www.zwaveproducts.com/

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#13

Post by danielnicollet »

shrughes wrote: post #3

I hacked my lights and some power outlets. I can turn them on by flipping a simple switch. I also hacked a lock onto my door and hacked some layers of paint on the ceiling. Then I paid some people to install a temperature control hack so that air conditioning can be controlled based on a heat sensor. And some other people came in and hacked some wires to different ports near the floor. They put a box in the alcove wh…

love this joke (just like I loved your post at http://shrughes.com/p/how-to-vote-on-hacker-news/) and I agree the word "hack" has become tarnished as of late on HN. I think hardik988 was genuinely asking about how to hack together some sort of smart local grid application to control all the equipments around his home though. That's one of my fantasies too and I just haven't had time to do it but one day...

In the meantime, here is a couple of great places for tips on that: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http://ieeex... http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/toaster/

if you want to control the utility down the road too ;-) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=power-hacke...

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#14

Post by hardik988 »

danielnicollet wrote: post #13
shrughes wrote: post #3

I hacked my lights and some power outlets. I can turn them on by flipping a simple switch. I also hacked a lock onto my door and hacked some layers of paint on the ceiling. Then I paid some people to install a temperature control hack so that air conditioning can be controlled based on a heat sensor. And some other people came in and hacked some wires to different ports near the floor. They put a box in the alcove wh…

love this joke (just like I loved your post at http://shrughes.com/p/how-to-vote-on-hacker-news/ ) and I agree the word "hack" has become tarnished as of late on HN. I think hardik988 was genuinely asking about how to hack together some sort of smart local grid application to control all the equipments around his home though. That's one of my fantasies too and I just haven't had time to do it but one day... In the me…

Thanks, yes I was genuinely seeking inspiration for my home in the future. Thanks for the links, will be sure to check them out.

EDIT : Posted reply above to shrughes.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#15

Post by [deleted] »

shrughes wrote: post #3

I hacked my lights and some power outlets. I can turn them on by flipping a simple switch. I also hacked a lock onto my door and hacked some layers of paint on the ceiling. Then I paid some people to install a temperature control hack so that air conditioning can be controlled based on a heat sensor. And some other people came in and hacked some wires to different ports near the floor. They put a box in the alcove wh…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#17

Post by hardik988 »

shrughes wrote: post #3

I hacked my lights and some power outlets. I can turn them on by flipping a simple switch. I also hacked a lock onto my door and hacked some layers of paint on the ceiling. Then I paid some people to install a temperature control hack so that air conditioning can be controlled based on a heat sensor. And some other people came in and hacked some wires to different ports near the floor. They put a box in the alcove wh…

Well, I'm sorry if it appeared that it looks like I'm trying to tarnish/dilute the word 'hack'. But yes, I was looking for inspiration from people who have'hacked' (if I may be permitted to use it) together electrical/electronic appliances at home, and in process, extracting the maximum out of everything that they have lying around.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#19

Post by lotharbot »

kingsidharth wrote: post #18

Does managing to keep your mum outta your room for a month counts? It's a big deal, I tell you. Especially if you are a messy teens. Tricks like make it smell with your shoes work well.

As a teen, I did quite a bit of work to keep my family out of my room. I come from a very large family, and I'd managed to turn my room into the cleanest and quietest place in the house, which meant everyone else wanted to spend a lot of time there (defeating the purpose of my clean, quiet space.)

I arranged the furniture such that anyone entering the room would have to walk through a narrow space between a dresser and wall, then walk all the way around my bed through another narrow space, before they could get to the open part of my room. I furthermore made sure there were no good places to sit except for my computer chair (by raising the bed to an uncomfortable height, and leaving piles of school papers stacked on my other chair, which I could easily move if I wanted company but nobody else would've moved.)

The best part was, I didn't have to make my room messy, smelly, or uncomfortable for me. I just made it uncomfortable for other people to spend time in the room without my intentionally creating space for them.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone hacked their homes?

#20

Post by asfaltboy »

hardik988 wrote: post #8
tobtoh wrote: post #2

I haven't hacked my own, but this guy has: http://www.bwired.nl/ He's the most extreme example that I've come across and he even describes how he did it/what tech he uses. If you are looking for inspiration on what to hack, you can't go far wrong using his house as a start!

You guessed it right. I was looking for inspiration when I started this thread. Thanks for the pointer.

someone said X10 "is horrible" but this guy uses it, anyone can give a (link to) comparison with z-wave?
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