I was recently introduced into the world of home automation by a colleague at work. He showed me the Tellstick Net device from Swedish company Telldus.
Tellstick net
Basically it will allow you to control devices and read sensors that are using the 433 MHz frequency. There are a range of devices and sensors you can buy that uses this standard. A company called Nexa delivers switches, dimmers, light sensors, movement sensors etc. An a range of temperature and humidity sensors from Oregon Scientific are also compatible.
The switches and dimmers come in a variety of size and shapes. From external switches you can easily plug into your socket without any installation and simple remote controls to two channel dimmers you can build into the existing switch in your wall.
Nexa switches
I started with a simple set of three switches and a remote from Nexa. This was around Christmas and I used them to control the Christmas lighting around the house. I quickly added more of these switches, dimmers as well as wall switches.
Then I started setting up schedules on Telldus’ web site for controlling my devices automatically. There you can specify actions based on time or sensor readings. So you can lights go on and off automatically based on sunrise and sunset, or based on the reading from the light sensor. You can have the heating go on if the temperature is below a set limit etc. The possibilities are endless.
So as a developer I started thinking about what else could be done. Luckily Tellmon has created a nice public API and they even support push of sensor and device changes.
So I created Tellmon.net. A web site to control and monitor your devices and sensors.
Sensor graph
I’ve used Bootstrap, jQuery and Knockout so the page works fine on computers, tables and smartphones alike.
Tellmon on smart phone
Already a lot of people have started using the site and it’s currently monitoring over 100 location with about 350 sensors and 1200 devices.
I have a lot of plans and I add more features and devote as much time on this project as I can.
So if you own a Tellstick device have a look. You logon with your Telldus account and it’s free to use.
Tellmon web site: http://tellmon.net
Telldus (maker of Tellstick): http://telldus.com
Nexa: http://www.nexa.se/
