Chris Hellyar commented: > Home automation systems are not attractive to home buyers unless they are > geeks, and lets face it, we're a minority. Even having comprehensive > structured cabling in a house can be seen as a negative by realestate agents > and a fair percentage of 'Average' buyers.
That depends on how it is presented. *Any* alteration that looks amateurish/DIYish will detract from the value. This applies to geeky wiring, lean-to sunrooms, DIY carports/sheds, whatever. The advantage of getting the sparky to install it when the house is being built is that it will look like it belongs there and not tacked on as an afterthought. It also depends on how it is marketed. When you describe the features of a house you are selling, don't use terms that make non-geeks' eyes glaze over. Instead market it in terms of useful things you can do, eg turn on heaters half an hour before you get up. The simplest form of automation is a bunch of timers in the 2nd switchboard (you can get DIN mounted timers the width of 2 MCBs that are easy to set). The set-up I outlined in my previous email can start with something as simple as timers, and be expanded to relays controlled by computer, or the relay outputs on a security alarm, or anything you like. Note on safety: Most DIN mounted relays provide 400V insulation between the extra-low-voltage coils and the mains terminals, so it is safe to connect the outputs of any Arduino-type device to the relay coils. Just make sure any wires from your device going into the switchboard are rated for mains voltage, even though you are using extra-low-voltage (eg double insulated conduit wire). Yuri
