Big thanks to Tuicemen for his direction here. Very surprised in general that there are such a relatively small group of folks who are serious about home automation. I’ve got a big learning curve ahead of me, that’s for sure :). Very excited about the possibilities of automation on my little farm’s home/greenhouse.
My most important (immediate) project is to create a monitoring system to know when an intruder is actually entering my property. I’ve built an antenna that is quite effective with the x10 motion sensors. I’m planing to do several levels of response so an intruder knows they’ve been spotted as soon as they enter my property. As they get closer to the home, I want to ultimately have a whole house response. That said, I’m going to try to cull out false isolated sensor activity with my program. I’ve got a Simpi Safe system that when armed will call the center when someone actually attempts to enter my home. Not sure if I can integrate this into my program. I live in the middle of nowhere but we’ve had a few creepy people come in off the road and I want to roll out the UNWELCOME mat and give my wife time to get armed. If you’re on my property, you’ve jumped a gate with warning signs and cameras, so you are there for nothing good.
I work in a prison as an infirmary nurse and it’s been an eye opening experience. Many of these people will do unbelievable things even on camera… i.e. smile into a camera and then do a home invasion/murder. Getting caught is not something they are worried about when they’re charged up on drugs. My wife is from Thailand and we have a 7 year old daughter, both of whom I’m very serious about protecting. I think you get the picture here.
After this, I’m hoping to automate my greenhouse (under construction soon). I’m also picking up a welder so I can create customized machinery to perform various tasks. I’ve got another 21 months to work before I take retirement and I’m very excited to learn all of this technology for the day I “retire”.
Have picked up a Raspberry Pi which should arrive in the next few days. I was in the computer business for many years, but now I’m a clueless newbie in this world. I’m very appreciative for this forum. Thanks to all who have read this.