Can you set automations in HA to run the irrigation based on historic or predicted rainfall? That’s one of the features I like on Open Sprinkler. Basically, I want to automate my sprinkler to make my yard look “good” but not “great”. I don’t want to be the guy with the greenest yard and the highest water bill. I just want it to maintain the yard to an average state. From what I understand, you can somewhat dial that in with Open Sprinkler.
I’m a HA noob.
Aesthetics:
is key for the WAF and honestly is nicest.
Covers:
Noone has discussed power for automated blinds, curtains and windows?
Internal wiring would be ideal, but I don’t understand how…into the light switches? Just plugging in 12V power adaptors all over the windows with cabling sounds nasty to me.
Data:
I have and agree with Cat6e to every room, not sure why 2 though?
Management:
Proxmox hypervisor is best, I think better than esxi, which I’ve only looked at a bit.
Shower:
expensive I think, but digital would be ideal, I see useful data and savings from this.
Switches:
HA switches seem good…the displays where you design your own buttons?
Not sure on the global home solution though for uniformity/aesthetics. Could be overkill for each switch. However, I would like a switch that can manage fans/light dimming/light colours which I haven’t found available on the market yet…maybe the ha switch thingy?
Toilet:
Washlets are next level (just need the auto lid opener). Perhaps auto turn off at power would save.
I see a future where they sample number 1 or 2 daily, providing a lifetime of health data (aha, on this day this sickness began)
Yes, my code looks at the weather forecast and will not water if:
- the actual rainfall in the last 24hrs is above my set limit
- the percentage chance of rain later today is above my set limit
- the amount of rain predicted to fall today is above my set limit.
I have those limits adjustable via input_numbers and also have an override function if I choose to ignore the rain forecast for whatever reason.
Here in Australia we are limited to which days of the week (and time of day) that we can water which is assigned to us based on our street number. So I can only water on those days if I choose, or cancel the watering all together if there is rain. During winter we aren’t allowed to water at all.
There is some code on this forum by Klogg which goes further to dynamically adjust the watering duration based on weather. Very technical and well done but I didn’t bother getting too carried away with mine
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I’m building as well and have given thought on how things will be implemented, to be a) WAF friendly and 2) aesthetically pleasing.
- Lights switches and Powerpoints.
I’ll be using Fibaro Dimmers and Switches installed in behind the switches. The benefits are that the switches and lights will still work if the system is down, the switches look standard and it can all be controlled by my Home-Assistant host. They just cost a lot, they’re about $110 AUD each at the moment.
- Blinds/Covers
I’ll be using blinds with li-on battery motors in most areas. 240v blinds are easily concealed as they use small tails into dedicated 240v connections (not lights). Still looking at options to determine which versions best integrate into HA.
- Management
I moved on from having HA in a VM basically because of the z-wave and conbee ii (zigbee) USB sticks I want to use to control those types of devices. I bought a HP Elitedesk 800 G1 mini at auction. It’ll be located with the rest of my equipment that is hosted in a rack (and will be located in a central location of the house).
- Network
For all things that have an ethernet port I have a cat-6 point installed for. Everything else will be WiFi which I am more than comfortable with.
- Control.
I have a couple of iPad Pros that I don’t really use, so these will be wall mounted in a couple of strategic locations (probably entry hall, and the bedroom hall or maybe main living area) with a suitable wall mount. These will be powered by PoE.
The family all have their own devices (phones or tablets) and can also control from there.
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In the event of cable failure, you’ll be glad you have a backup cable. When the wife wants to completely re-arrange a room, you’ll be glad you pulled cables to all the walls/corners in the room.
I’m going to run a bunch of low voltage wire from my control room to the windows. I’ll house the power adaptors for the windows in the control room.
Redundancy and options. For example, I’ll run one Cat6 to the south wall and one to the north wall in each room. I may even run two to each wall, making 4 per room. 
I plan to run 4 Cat6 cables to each TV, one for internet, one for a centrally located Blu-Ray player, one for future expansion, and one for backup. I’ll also run a coax to each TV with an attic antenna as a backup. Cat6 is cheap. Might as well over-do it while the walls are open.
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Is this to use the Ethernet cable as extended HDMI? If yes … I read elsewhere that this would need 2 sets of cables to get the bandwidth.
HDMI over IP … I see that it can be done at 4K … but it is expensive
Is there a cheaper way with just one Cat6 cable?
Edit:
Comparison of kit from “My Mate Vince”
TV wise I’d go with LG. I’ve a 2018 Samsung and it’s been a nightmare, particularly with recent firmware updates (no rollback).
Also there’s a proper HTML 5 browser with the LG which allows you to watch embedded videos/streams and I believe you can push notifications. I recommend at least 4 built in HDMI and in an ideal world, I would have Picture in Picture (PIP) which seems to be absent on a lot of TVS now. For example, I have my CCTV NVR input on HDMI 3. I would love to have an automation that would display the CCTV feed in the top right corner of the TV when the doorbell rings.
Open to anyone to has suggestions around this
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PS remember if you’re running HDMI over CAT 6, you’ll need 2 connections for each HDMI. So around your TV, I would recommend around 8 to go back to your comms cabinet.
Run power to your ceiling lights, you’ll be glad of them later.
Blinds battery powered are sufficient but have nearby plugs to charge them every 9 months or so.
Run a sufficient cable to the ceiling for solar if you don’t plan to install solar initially. Also a 30 amp (or so) cable to the side of the house in the event that you have an electric car in future.
Remember to install the CAT 6 in the ceiling for your Wireless Access points. Ubiquiti UniFi is a no brainer.
Server/NAS wise, I recommend a Synology NAS (or Xpenology if you plan to build your own)… changed my life. The OS is excellent and is one stop shop for your storage with apps that compete with Dropbox, Photo storage (access all your pics remotely as easy as using the photos app on your smarphone). But most importantly, it runs Docker and HA (including USB stick devices for Zigbee or ZWave)
Hope this information is of help!
Recommend 50A with 40A level 2 charger 
If you use Cat6 one wire will do. I plan to use this extender.
Even if I can’t get the absolute best 4K resolution for the Blu-Ray over a single Cat6, I’m fine with that. I’m going to have a theater area (not its own room, but projector with big screen) in my basement near the control room. I should be able to run HDMI from the receiver to the projector. If we want the absolute highest quality image we will just watch it there. I’ll probably run a few extra Cat6 cables to the major TVs and just leave them hanging in the wall in case I need them later.
I plan to build tablets as remote controls for each major TV area. I figure I can find a way to have the image pushed to the tablet much easier.
What’s the reason for this?
We will have a few windows in our great room that will be 19 feet off the floor. I plan to at least hard wire those. I might as well hardwire the rest.
I don’t think our homeowners association will allow solar panels, I’ll have to check. I do plan to run two “smurf tubes” from the control room (where the electrical panel will be) to each attic cavity. One for future high voltage lines and one for future low voltage runs. I don’t plan to have an electric car anytime soon, not really my thing. But I am planning to run some 30 amp wiring to my garage attic as well as a gas pipe. I may add a mini-split A/C with a heater or a gas heater to the garage. I’m also considering in-floor heat. Maybe a combination of all those.
I originally thought about hanging the UniFi APs on the ceiling like a smoke detector, but I;m not sure if that mill meet the WAF. We were touring new homes this summer and I noticed a home with UniFi that put the APs in the closets. Not sure what I want to do on that just yet.
I previously used this model from Startech because it didn’t require power and had IR extender… but I don’t think it will do 4K. You’ll need a separate unit for each HDMI Output:
https://www.newegg.com/startech-com-st121shd30/p/N82E16815158384
I meant to say ceiling windows! In case you want to motorize them or put in motorized blinds.
Please don’t put them in closets… that will significantly reduce the signal straight away. They’re very discreet on the ceiling and look good.
I recommend using a WIFI planning tool to ensure you have sufficient reception around the house. You can use the following software to import your house plans and measure WIFI signal around the house:
This tool will help you see what to purchase but won’t generate a heatmap. There’s one built into the Ubiquiti Unifi Contoller but you’ll need to install the software on a Ubiquiti Unifi CloudKey or A Raspberry Pi. Acutally, you can install it on windows too.
https://demo.ui.com/manage/site/office/maps/physical
Ubiquiti have a unifi demo online. Check it out at the link abouve.
Turn on Layers → Coverage to see the heatmap element of it
Hope this helps. Happy planning!
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Not sure where this is but in Arizona, USA the HOA cannot disallow solar panels
Everyone is saying to run cables, but I’d say to run conduit.
I suggested that as well, especially if you want to upgrade to fiber in the future as well as some pull string in them or mule tape.
Why run two cables instead of one?
Because it shouldn’t cost that much more to do two rather than one, when you’re doing the initial install. And it can cost a fortune later. (4 is even better than 2 
) If I were building a place for myself, with no real budget limitations, I’d be getting raised flooring to make redoing power and cabling easier.
Also, cat 6 is good for more than just ethernet. As people ar saying, you can use converters to take hdmi to cat 6. (It can be done with a single cable, for 1080p. I’m using a set of £30 converters to do it at work, for 10 screens, over around 40 meters.But they’re not running anything but monitoring screens, so I’m unsure what kind of frame rate they’re doing.)
I’m going to run conduit (smurf tube) from the control room to all attic cavities. I think I may also try to run it to the primary TV viewing areas.
I figure the future of TV will be streaming. Cat6 should handle anything that comes out in the next 15-20 years, I would think. I may also set up a few “satellite control rooms”. Like have a closet within 10 feet of the living room TV where I’ll run smurf tube from the TV and have a place I could house a Blu-Ray player and streaming boxes to avoid clutter behind the TV.
When my place was built 15 years ago, I did a pretty good job of making my house smarthome ready. As others have said, you can never run enough cat6. Beyond that, you want power outlets everywhere.
- are you going to have smart blinds? You want power outlets nearby
- do you want to control your door locks? Having power to control the bolts can’t hurt.
- what about your doorbell? You absolutely want wiring and at least low voltage power terminating at the doorbell. Check with your electrician about what’s feasible and up to code. At a minimum you will want at least 3 twisted pairs available.
- don’t forget your garage door. Put a doorbell there too.
- where are your runs terminating? You should have a professional (I found a guy on Craigslist) connect the ports on both ends. This is not a job you want to DIY if you’ve new to crimping. Do you know what type of patch panels you’re going to use? What about switches? Do you have enough ports? You don’t want to underestimate them, but at the same time you don’t want to waste money, do you have enough power outlets nearby? Do you have room for shelves?
- What about overhead lighting? You will want high quality cans that are sealed to prevent heating/cooling loss. I’m not sure what it’s called, but there is some rule about overhead spotlights in terms of the number to use and how they are arranged. I strongly recommend you talk with the architect and ask if he knows anything about this. It should be 101 stuff for him.