Still awaiting delivery of the RFID unit and power supply for the electronic lock so haven’t been able to make much progress on it other than running cables to the lock and position for the RFID reader. Hopefully should be here in the next few days.
In the mean time I have been playing with home automation software and think I have found the one I’ll use as it can interface not only with Insteon and X10 but any serial or IP connected device which will allow me to pull temperature, humidity, voltage and all sorts of other data into the system on which to make decisions from.
eg: turning the bathroom fan on when the humidity rises, cooling fan in the rack when the temp rises, email/sms notification of power outages, etc.
The software is called Home Control Assistant and is around $160.
I have ordered a USB/serial connect 4 relay board that I will interface with it to allow low voltage switching for things like the Kitchen amplifier, cooling fan in the rack and also to be able to unlock the door from the automation interface. The unit is also capable of bluetooth or WiFi with a module but will be connected via USB. Picked it up for $35 on eBay.
Have also ordered a pair of DHT22 temperature and humidity sensors and a 5 pack of DS18B20 water proof temperature sensors.
DHT22’s will be mounted in the bathroom and laundry to allow automatic fan control when humidity rises.
DS18B20’s will be used mostly for data collection and also to trigger cooling fan for the rack.
More coming when the post man gets here 🙂