Jumping back in

Sun Oct 20 13:21:23 EDT 2019

Good to see your name pop up on the list!

> On Oct 20, 2019, at 9:41 AM, Chad Gard <chad at holeinthewoodsfarm.com> wrote:
> 
> On 2019-10-19 08:31, James Sentman wrote:
> 
>> Welcome Back! :)
>> 
>  
> Thanks! It feels good to be thinking about this stuff again in a more actionable sense, and to see some of the same names as the XTension list of olde.
>  
>  
>>  
>> A used or refurbished mini is the way to go. I wouldn't go further back than something that can run at last 10.11 or 10.12 as you won't have much time before newer XTension versions can't run on it anymore. I'm already starting to hit things that I can't do if I still want to support 10.10 which is the currently oldest version supported. If you're going to be running video through it then the newest and fastest processor and most memory you can find would be important. If not then it is less important. While a smaller system without much video support will run on 4 gig of RAM I would definitely recommend 8 as a starting place. More modern mini's don't have upgradeable memory though so make sure you either get one that is still upgradeable or get one that already has the memory that you want. The internal disk drive size is not as important as long as you can fit the OS on it and the few apps you want to use. My mini only has a 250gig boot partition. I keep all the recorded video and other things on external RAID arrays. If you go with a mini that has the capability to replace the internal drive an SSD is a wonderful speed boost for any system. They don't last forever though so I would also invest in something like "Drive DX" which can watch the SSD lifetime indicator. XTension writes to the drive a lot to save it's database and XTdb and video support do as well. An SSD has a limited number of writes it can do before errors start to creep in and XTension will use those up faster than not. I don't know if a modern mini that comes with an SSD is replaceable or not, if you have one of those then I would place the XTension app on an external drive so that the database writes go to one you can replace. A small SSD in a good USB3 case is cheap and very fast as an external drive and you can watch it with drive dx or other software and replace it in 3 or 4 years or however long it takes for the program to tell you that it's reaching the end of it's life. My last one lasted more than 4 years before it got down to where the software was telling me there was about 10% left of it's lifespan. It never threw any errors and I'm using it now as an external boot disk backup. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable copy of the internal drive every night so that if it failed I could boot from the external and be almost right back where I started.
>>  
>>  
>> I would also not run the latest Catalina OS version that Apple just released for any reason in any circumstances. Seriously, don't do this to yourself.
> 
> that runs fairly close to what I was expecting. Of course, I don't expect to do much video at first, but can see a desire for it down the road a couple of years.  My thinking, though, is that by that point, what is currently a new mac will be an old one, and upgrading the HA server might be reasonable when I need to handle the video. Of course, my first XTension machine had 8 mb of ram and an 80 mb hard drive ;)
> 
> Thanks for the info on the SSD. I was thinking XTension would benefit from an SSD, while simultaneously wearing it out quickly, so you confirmed that.
> 
>> 
>> Second, what's the status of insteon support?  On the website, it looks like the legacy Vera plugin supports it, but the UI7 version does/may not?  Browsing around at the different devices available, I'm thinking it's not unlikely that I'll want to run several protocols simultaneously, but a combo of the two being the backbone of my system.
>  
> I would not recommend Insteon at this time.
>  
>  
> good to know.  thanks
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not aware of any directly controllable irrigation valves, but there are many ZWave ones that will work fine with the Vera. All you really need is something to control relays to switch 24v to regular irrigation valves which are very inexpensive. If you're going to be programming the runtime logic in XTension anyway though there is little to be gained from a complex irrigation controller. All you really need is a relay controller on ZWave or some other protocol that we support. Or even roll your own with an arduino on wifi and a very cheap multi-relay board. I have code for this as it is what I have one but have not completed any dedicated hardware for it yet. The downside to such a hack is that it doesn't have things like maximum runtimes so that if your ZWave goes away while one is on it may just stay on forever, the upside is that it's much cheaper. The code I've got for the arduino solution does have maximum runtimes. But to sum up ;) Any ZWave irrigation controller will work fine, and if they are not to your liking then any ZWave relay controller will work to turn on the cheap standard irrigation valves.
> 
> 
> 
> I guess that depends on your definition of "cheap."  Most of what I've seen on 2" 24v valves run in the $200-$400 range each.  I need 18 of them, plus wire, power supply, and relays so I can stop spending all of my time wandering around the farm with my 5' long irrigation valve key (I burried all the irrigation pipe 4' down so I don't have to worry about freezing,can use it to help protect blossoms from late frosts, etc.  The valves are housed in drain tile lined holes so can get to them with the key).  Most likely I would look to controllingwith xtension, and puting some error checking to deal with the possibility of miscommunicating an off.  While an irrigation zone running long is an unfortunate waste of electricity and water, most of the time I'd likely catch it before too long.  If it happens while I'm away, I might have an employee on sight.  if not, it won't dammage anything before I get back.
> 
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> ZWave is definitely the way to go. It's a mesh network so devices will forward signals to other devices until they find their way to your remote devices. If you need to extend the network aeotech and probably others make very inexpensive, around $20 if I recall, network extenders that do nothing but that and work well. I've added a few for friends with dead spots in their setups. There are also plenty of battery operated sensors and such. They don't forward commands so wont add to the mesh but as long as there is a powered device within their range that can forward the signal or a range extender they will work fine.  The good ZWave switches and other devices tend to be slightly more expensive than insteon or X10 switches, but not more than $5 or $10 bucks and I find them to be much more reliable. My current favorite ZWave switches are sold by the homeseer folks. https://homeseer.com/lighting/ <https://homeseer.com/lighting/> they are the most expensive as well though. Any brand of ZWave switch will work fine. Wherever possible though I would use a switch that requires a neutral connection. They work better with LED and other lower loads. There are still switches out there that do not require a neutral if you have that limitation in places, but they may not work properly with all LED's or CFL loads. I've got a mix of both around the house that work well, but for some of the non-neutral ones I've had to hack in a single regular bulb along with the LED's or not run certain brands of LED's or something to make them work properly. 
>>  
> Thankfully, most of my buildings were unwired when we bought the place. I wired them with neutrals everywhere, or haven't wired them yet.  the house isnt' very old, and code required it when it was built. But, the original owners fired their contractor midway through and tried to finish it themselves,so I'm always finding "interesting" things whenever I'm fixing something (not infrequent -log cabins are maintenence intensive).
> 
> I like the colored LED indicators on those switches.  lots of ways those could prove useful.
> 
> How about this conundrum - most of our switches are 3 or 4 switches in a single gang box.  I've never seen a smart switch option like that, which makes sense (hard to fit the wires and the tripple/quadrouple dumb switch in there, let alone multiple radios...).  Difficult to really not worth it to replace the boxes, because that requires dissassembling the house so you an get a chainsaw in to the top of a log to notch it out.  So, my plan is to mostly use dimmer relays in the junction boxes for the fixtures themselves and just leaving the swithes on (or removing them and putting a blank cover over them). Favorite choices there?
> 
>  
> Something else to consider when buying ZWave sensors is that many of them use expensive and strangely tiny batteries. Things like CR123 or CR2 batteries. I would shy away from these in preference of ones that take regular AA or AAA's. It's just a pain to keep all those different battery types around to swap them out when they start to go dim. 
>  
> I've noticed that. I'm very much a fan of standard batteries, and have a large supply of eneloop rechargeables.  I think I once saw a rechargeable CR123, but don't have any, nor a charger.
> 
> 
> 
> Anywho, thanks for the detailed response, James! 
> 
> -- 
> Chad
> 
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