An anthill or a fortress? Building a house for the price of an apartment. 4 part. Comfort or need for gadgets at home?
Part 1. Construction
Part 2. Heating
Part 3. Power supply
In previous releases, I talked about the stages of building a house, without which it would have been impossible to settle and more or less comfortable living. This time I want to talk about devices that make life in your own home more comfortable and safer. This will include everything: from access to the world wide web to devices that signal water leaks. Make yourself comfortable, and I'll start. And for those who prefer not to read, but to watch, I made a video.
')
So, let's begin. Perhaps one of the first factors for a comfortable stay in the house, after all engineering systems, is the availability of Internet access. To solve this problem, I chose a proven manufacturer of routers, which recently changed its name from Zyxel to Keenetic. I chose the Giga model. Why not Ultra? Well, if only because I do not have devices that support the AC protocol, and the speed that the Giga model provides over 2.4 and 5 GHz wireless interfaces is more than enough. But why I chose her to talk for a long time. As soon as I drove into the house, I only had a connection through the wireless provider Yota. I inserted a 4G modem into the router and the connection appeared. At least the Internet was, although the speed noticeably swam, and the white IP was not even more so. Then I found a local provider who handed me fiber. This is where the SFP port of the router came in handy and I didn’t have to use a media converter. Minus one device - minus point of failure. The SFP module connects directly to the port of the router and immediately available speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second.
But that was not the end of it. I already wrote how I set up IP telephony on the router and transferred it to this model — my own telephone connection began to operate between several houses and the calls became absolutely free. In addition, by connecting a USB DECT adapter to the router, the router also became the base station of the DECT phones, which means that almost any cordless handset of this standard can be connected to talk. And finally, so that the router did not stand idle, I connected an external hard drive to the free USB port, to which Asterisk was transferred for telephony. There I set up the work of the torrent rocking. What is interesting, even with the gray IP address that is issued to the router, you can connect via the Keenetic Cloud service and make settings or upload download links. You come home, and the freshly downloaded film is already available on the hard disk. In general, this router is a truly universal combine, and regular updates only add functionality.
Even during construction, I put on the site all-weather surveillance camera. It was she who allowed the builders to be monitored in real time and saved from several serious mistakes. She experienced the direct sun and rain well, and now she is experiencing cold weather - so far without problems. For this task, I decided to try a young brand, the daughter of the well-known company Hikvision, the manufacturer of Ezviz. The video, which was shot during the construction of the house in the splash screen was made on the model C4S. There are two modifications of this camera: Wi-Fi or PoE. The first is enough to provide power and connect it to the network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The second works only on Ethernet, but it can be powered over the same cable, without requiring the laying of additional wires with power. The dome camera, so you can twist it before installation as you like, since there is a mode that rotates the images, and the space for the microSD card allows you to put a USB flash drive and record everything in a row or according to events on non-volatile memory.
Evaluating the functionality of the camera, I took a more advanced model Ezviz Husky Air. This is not a dome, but also an all-weather device that can connect to the network via cable and Wi-Fi. But I chose the camera is not for it. It is endowed with a built-in microphone and a rather loud speaker. Therefore, if you hang it in front of the entrance, then you can watch the suitable visitors and chat if you are not at home. There is also an alarm mode when the camera turns on the siren, which the neighbors will hear for sure. The rest of the set is standard: recording on a microSD card, IR illumination for shooting at night, a hinge that allows you to rotate the camera as you like. Interestingly, the camera is equipped with antennas, so you can count on a confident reception with a decent distance from the router. By the way, it is possible to choose between a camera with a matrix of 1 or 2 Megapixels, which gives a picture in 720P or 1080P. You can also choose a camera option with a focal length of 2.8, 4 or 6 mm. The greater the focal length of the lens, the narrower the viewing angle. For the values shown, the following options can be chosen: 2.8 mm - 103 ° (horizontal), 118 ° (diagonal); 4mm - 87 ° (horizontal), 104 ° (diagonal); 6mm - 54 ° (horizontal), 62 ° (diagonal).
It should be noted that when I selected the camera, I did not have a white IP address, so I was looking for a device with cloud support. During the history of mass blocking of IP addresses by Roskomnadzor, Ezviz experts in Russia connected to the problem and fairly quickly launched the server in Russia, releasing an update of the user application, so the online viewing was not particularly affected, but the recording did not stop locally at all. This is a big plus in comparison with other Chinese cameras, the technical support of which is located beyond the Great Wall of China and it will be difficult to reach them.
When I drove into the house, it was time to equip the comfort and network infrastructure. Of course, it’s convenient to download torrents using a router, but why not have a home server with much more functionality? I already had the experience of creating a home server based on Windows, FreeNAS, but I wanted to stop servicing the device and start using it. Therefore, I moved to a ready-made solution - NAS from QNAP. I chose the QNAP TS-251A model. Initially, a small amount of data was planned, so a pair of disks should have been enough. But as the appetite comes with eating, the range of tasks began to grow: in addition to downloads, data storage, synchronization, own cloud and other things, I wanted to start a virtual machine. Then it was decided to organize a digital video recorder and write video from IP cameras to the server, and not just to flash drives.
In order not to change the entire drive, I simply added a USB drive expansion unit with 5 drives. One disk was taken as a DVR, another one for a family photo and a video archive, since even FullHD video already takes dozens or even hundreds of gigabytes for one vacation.
Thus, the home server has taken its rightful place. It is regularly updated (automatically or manually), consumes little energy, works at once instead of several devices (DVR, home server, DLNA server, own cloud, web server for business card sites, etc.) and has a capacity reserve, allowing you to count on a very long service life.
It is quite logical to move from a video surveillance and data storage system to a security and alert system. I did not become paranoid and put on the windows mechanized blinds, volume sensors and the intersection of the perimeter. I have enough cloud cameras, which additionally write data to the server. But I decided to add also a simple system of a smart home. Walking around the Securika Moscow exhibition at the Expocenter, I saw a familiar logo and walked over to the stand. On the wall were presented sensors and a smart home controller. It's nice that all devices are perfectly integrated with each other. The fact is that Ezviz, about which cameras I wrote above, released a set of wireless sensors and sensors for security. I got a starter kit, which includes the controller of the smart home, the opening sensor (on the door or window), the IR motion sensor and the radio control. Separately added to it a siren and a water leak sensor.
Interestingly, when a sensor is triggered, a dependent action can be made for another device. For example, when the opening sensor is triggered, the siren will turn on and the photo from the attached camera will fly to the smartphone. To avoid accidental operation, there are different modes of operation (night, at home, at work, etc.). Once the water leakage sensor really saved: it was installed in the bathroom, and when the shower hose that was in the inaccessible area blew off, it worked and turned on the alert on the smartphone. Then it cost only a flooded bathroom and no more. By the way, the connected siren yells in such a way that it can stun a little near, and its neighbors will surely hear it.
I would add that I would like to see actuators, such as a tap of a water lock or an electronic lock, but these are devices from a completely different price range.
I believe that for a comfortable stay in the house, in addition to the basic needs, you need some automated systems, but just enough of them so that life in the house does not turn into their maintenance. Therefore, I tried for myself to pick up devices with an optimal ratio of functionality, reliability and cost. I would be glad if someone in the comments tells you what else I have missed and without which I’m not comfortable enough now. Or vice versa, my system is redundant and could be made easier and with less effort. Also ready to share experiences and answer questions. Living in your home after living in an apartment is a special pleasure!
Part 2. Heating
Part 3. Power supply
In previous releases, I talked about the stages of building a house, without which it would have been impossible to settle and more or less comfortable living. This time I want to talk about devices that make life in your own home more comfortable and safer. This will include everything: from access to the world wide web to devices that signal water leaks. Make yourself comfortable, and I'll start. And for those who prefer not to read, but to watch, I made a video.
Router
')
So, let's begin. Perhaps one of the first factors for a comfortable stay in the house, after all engineering systems, is the availability of Internet access. To solve this problem, I chose a proven manufacturer of routers, which recently changed its name from Zyxel to Keenetic. I chose the Giga model. Why not Ultra? Well, if only because I do not have devices that support the AC protocol, and the speed that the Giga model provides over 2.4 and 5 GHz wireless interfaces is more than enough. But why I chose her to talk for a long time. As soon as I drove into the house, I only had a connection through the wireless provider Yota. I inserted a 4G modem into the router and the connection appeared. At least the Internet was, although the speed noticeably swam, and the white IP was not even more so. Then I found a local provider who handed me fiber. This is where the SFP port of the router came in handy and I didn’t have to use a media converter. Minus one device - minus point of failure. The SFP module connects directly to the port of the router and immediately available speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second.
But that was not the end of it. I already wrote how I set up IP telephony on the router and transferred it to this model — my own telephone connection began to operate between several houses and the calls became absolutely free. In addition, by connecting a USB DECT adapter to the router, the router also became the base station of the DECT phones, which means that almost any cordless handset of this standard can be connected to talk. And finally, so that the router did not stand idle, I connected an external hard drive to the free USB port, to which Asterisk was transferred for telephony. There I set up the work of the torrent rocking. What is interesting, even with the gray IP address that is issued to the router, you can connect via the Keenetic Cloud service and make settings or upload download links. You come home, and the freshly downloaded film is already available on the hard disk. In general, this router is a truly universal combine, and regular updates only add functionality.
Video surveillance system
Even during construction, I put on the site all-weather surveillance camera. It was she who allowed the builders to be monitored in real time and saved from several serious mistakes. She experienced the direct sun and rain well, and now she is experiencing cold weather - so far without problems. For this task, I decided to try a young brand, the daughter of the well-known company Hikvision, the manufacturer of Ezviz. The video, which was shot during the construction of the house in the splash screen was made on the model C4S. There are two modifications of this camera: Wi-Fi or PoE. The first is enough to provide power and connect it to the network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The second works only on Ethernet, but it can be powered over the same cable, without requiring the laying of additional wires with power. The dome camera, so you can twist it before installation as you like, since there is a mode that rotates the images, and the space for the microSD card allows you to put a USB flash drive and record everything in a row or according to events on non-volatile memory.
Evaluating the functionality of the camera, I took a more advanced model Ezviz Husky Air. This is not a dome, but also an all-weather device that can connect to the network via cable and Wi-Fi. But I chose the camera is not for it. It is endowed with a built-in microphone and a rather loud speaker. Therefore, if you hang it in front of the entrance, then you can watch the suitable visitors and chat if you are not at home. There is also an alarm mode when the camera turns on the siren, which the neighbors will hear for sure. The rest of the set is standard: recording on a microSD card, IR illumination for shooting at night, a hinge that allows you to rotate the camera as you like. Interestingly, the camera is equipped with antennas, so you can count on a confident reception with a decent distance from the router. By the way, it is possible to choose between a camera with a matrix of 1 or 2 Megapixels, which gives a picture in 720P or 1080P. You can also choose a camera option with a focal length of 2.8, 4 or 6 mm. The greater the focal length of the lens, the narrower the viewing angle. For the values shown, the following options can be chosen: 2.8 mm - 103 ° (horizontal), 118 ° (diagonal); 4mm - 87 ° (horizontal), 104 ° (diagonal); 6mm - 54 ° (horizontal), 62 ° (diagonal).
It should be noted that when I selected the camera, I did not have a white IP address, so I was looking for a device with cloud support. During the history of mass blocking of IP addresses by Roskomnadzor, Ezviz experts in Russia connected to the problem and fairly quickly launched the server in Russia, releasing an update of the user application, so the online viewing was not particularly affected, but the recording did not stop locally at all. This is a big plus in comparison with other Chinese cameras, the technical support of which is located beyond the Great Wall of China and it will be difficult to reach them.
Home server
When I drove into the house, it was time to equip the comfort and network infrastructure. Of course, it’s convenient to download torrents using a router, but why not have a home server with much more functionality? I already had the experience of creating a home server based on Windows, FreeNAS, but I wanted to stop servicing the device and start using it. Therefore, I moved to a ready-made solution - NAS from QNAP. I chose the QNAP TS-251A model. Initially, a small amount of data was planned, so a pair of disks should have been enough. But as the appetite comes with eating, the range of tasks began to grow: in addition to downloads, data storage, synchronization, own cloud and other things, I wanted to start a virtual machine. Then it was decided to organize a digital video recorder and write video from IP cameras to the server, and not just to flash drives.
In order not to change the entire drive, I simply added a USB drive expansion unit with 5 drives. One disk was taken as a DVR, another one for a family photo and a video archive, since even FullHD video already takes dozens or even hundreds of gigabytes for one vacation.
Thus, the home server has taken its rightful place. It is regularly updated (automatically or manually), consumes little energy, works at once instead of several devices (DVR, home server, DLNA server, own cloud, web server for business card sites, etc.) and has a capacity reserve, allowing you to count on a very long service life.
Security and Alerts
It is quite logical to move from a video surveillance and data storage system to a security and alert system. I did not become paranoid and put on the windows mechanized blinds, volume sensors and the intersection of the perimeter. I have enough cloud cameras, which additionally write data to the server. But I decided to add also a simple system of a smart home. Walking around the Securika Moscow exhibition at the Expocenter, I saw a familiar logo and walked over to the stand. On the wall were presented sensors and a smart home controller. It's nice that all devices are perfectly integrated with each other. The fact is that Ezviz, about which cameras I wrote above, released a set of wireless sensors and sensors for security. I got a starter kit, which includes the controller of the smart home, the opening sensor (on the door or window), the IR motion sensor and the radio control. Separately added to it a siren and a water leak sensor.
Interestingly, when a sensor is triggered, a dependent action can be made for another device. For example, when the opening sensor is triggered, the siren will turn on and the photo from the attached camera will fly to the smartphone. To avoid accidental operation, there are different modes of operation (night, at home, at work, etc.). Once the water leakage sensor really saved: it was installed in the bathroom, and when the shower hose that was in the inaccessible area blew off, it worked and turned on the alert on the smartphone. Then it cost only a flooded bathroom and no more. By the way, the connected siren yells in such a way that it can stun a little near, and its neighbors will surely hear it.
I would add that I would like to see actuators, such as a tap of a water lock or an electronic lock, but these are devices from a completely different price range.
Conclusion
I believe that for a comfortable stay in the house, in addition to the basic needs, you need some automated systems, but just enough of them so that life in the house does not turn into their maintenance. Therefore, I tried for myself to pick up devices with an optimal ratio of functionality, reliability and cost. I would be glad if someone in the comments tells you what else I have missed and without which I’m not comfortable enough now. Or vice versa, my system is redundant and could be made easier and with less effort. Also ready to share experiences and answer questions. Living in your home after living in an apartment is a special pleasure!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/442548/
All Articles