Home Automation DIY - Preparation II

Warning: Remember that electricity is very dangerous and will kill you in a heartbeat. Electricity can also start fires very easily, and fires can also kill you. The best way to get your home wired is by a certified professional who knows your local codes.

We have now a plan and we need to look at the design piece of our new Home Automation. The first step is to do an assessment by answering several questions:

Wiring and Networking:


What is the house status? (being built, being remodeled, old construction, new construction)
The status will affect greatly the type of wiring we will select. We had a complete home remodeling and all the walls were open. We had the opportunity to install 1" ½ orange cable tubing in every room, this allow pulling any type of cables within minutes. We have Cat6 cable, Fiber Optics, TV and audio/video cables.
Existing construction may not offer the same flexibility and going wireless will become the solution.
In old construction the quality of the power line is not high quality and will definitively impact transmission such as X10. Ask a certified electrical professional to help evaluating your existing wiring to make sure it's still meets 'code'. Don't be afraid to spend money on your electrical wiring, it will pay back later.
For this project we will choose an existing old construction with up to local code wiring. The network will be wireless as well as security and monitoring. Z-Wave being too expensive, Home Automation will be based on Insteon and/or UPB equipment.

Lighting
Planning for this section is quite easy and interesting. We need to select for each room the type of switches we need and as we will implement security, monitoring and multimedia distribution we will use a control unit to manage all functions.
Control Units - we recommend 2 different brands Cortexa Technology and HAI. The Cortexa is more IP network based while HAI is more versatile on the security part. For this project I would use HAI which offer two main lines: Lumina and Omni. The Lumina is more limited on the security side but it connects to existing security systems. The Omni offers a complete solution from lighting to security and fire system.
The Omni IIe Pro will be my choice as it has the most features and won't limit our future ideas.
Based on this control unit selection, the technology we will use UPB for lighting control. The cheaper X10 won't work very well in an old electrical wiring environment.
Now let look at the need for each room to replace existing switches.


Bedrooms - one switch and one or 2 side lamps
The switch can be dimmer or non-dimmer, side lamps will need lamp modules dimmer or non-dimmer as well.
Dining and Living rooms - one switch per room and may be some floor and table lamps with the same dimming status as for bedrooms.
Play room - two high wattage switches and may be several floor and table lamps.
Family room - three high wattage dimmer switches, several floor and table lamps and why not adding a nice LCD control panel to create lighting scenes.
...etc for each rooms including bathrooms
Outdoor lights - replace existing switches with non dimmer high wattage ones plus two or three non-dimmers modules for Xmas lights as well.

We have a list of material to purchase - but don't buy anything yet!

Heating and cooling

To plan this section we will base it on a 3 zones heating and cooling system. One for the main floor, one for the second floor and one for the basement.
First we need to verify with a certified professional that the current heating cooling system can support multi-zoning and that the house and the furnace don't need too much modification.
For this project all is needed is 6 motorized dampers, a 4 zone control panel for the furnace and 3 RC-90B thermostat as the furnace is a single stage. We can upgrade to RC-2000 with humidity control.
Thermostats will need to be connected to the furnace control panel and to the HIA control unit. Some wiring to add here.
The RC-90 and RC-2000 accept external temperature sensors. These sensors installed in bedroom will allow to adapt the floor temperature to the lowest or most important room - Master bedroom or baby's room for example - additional wiring will be required to these rooms.

Pierre Merlin owner of High Tech and More, LLC - We provide great deals on HomeAutomation [http://www.myhightechstore.com/Home-Automation/] including Home Security [http://www.myhightechstore.com/Home-Automation/Security/]

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Recommendations for Pre-Event Training Preparation - Marathon Des Stables

Paul is a 41 year old male competitive 10km runner; weighing at 80kg and 1.8m in height. In his late 20's to early 30's he was a county level runner and was within the top 50 10km runners in the UK. Nowadays he is more of a social runner; taking part in local events and attends football matches.

Paul has wanted to compete within the Marathon Des Stables for a number of years now, and has been on the waiting list for 2 years. Within the 2 year waiting period Paul has been training 5/6 days per week and has participated in challenging half marathon and full marathon events, such as 'Hellrunner'.

The Marathon Des Stables is an ultra-endurance event which lasts for 6 days and approximately 151miles of competitive running. The location is in the extreme conditions of the Sahara Desert, where the average daily temperature is around 37 degrees & with a maximum of 50 degrees. What makes this event so unique is that the competitors have to carry their own equipment such as food and clothing (tents are provided at the end of each stage). Strict rules and regulations are enforced throughout the event, such as minimum amounts of water and calorie consumption. There are stages for water where the runners must consume a minimum amount of water; this is around 9 litres per day and 22.5 litres on the 'non-stop' stage where the runners continue through the night, completing 45-50miles. The minimum amount of calories a runner has to carry per day is 1500; however the average calorie consumption is a much higher 3000-4000kcal. If the participant doesn't carry the minimum amount then they will pay with a time penalty.

In 2009 there were 228 British competitors, of which 12 did not finish. Paul has been waiting to compete in this even for 2 years and has been training hard however he needs additional support to help him acclimatise to the extreme conditions he will face, as he only has two days in Morocco before the race. Previous injuries must be taken into account, and it is noted that Paul has an injury history with his Achilles tendon. He has been doing strength exercises to help stabilise and build the tendon, but more precautions need to be taken as neither he nor his body has ever attempted such a challenging event.

The conditions will be extreme with the temperatures at 37 to 50 degrees; direct sunlight (from both above and reflected heat radiation reflected off the sand) will also cause Paul problems. One of the biggest issues he will face however is the sand and terrain he will be running on. Sand is a concern for the strain on Pauls Achilles, not only will he have blisters but because sand is not a stable surface his ankle will be under pressure to stabilise and keep him balanced when running. In order to avoid the positional risk of injury it is advisable that Paul wears an ankle brace/ strap to help support his running on the uneven ground.

The biggest factor however will be the climate at which Paul will be running in, and unfortunately he will not have enough time to acclimatise to the environment. Therefore Paul needs to train as close to the environmental conditions as possible while in the UK; a number of recommendations that Paul can use is to train in an environmentally controlled room, whereby he can train in the temperatures and humidity of the environment he will be participating in. This will give him the advantage of allowing himself to acclimatise to the environment and improve his VOa'' max.

His temperature can be measured in either two ways. For a more accurate reading Paul can use a Digestible Core Temperature Sensor Pill; this pill is a very accurate measurement of any core temperature as it gets closer readings from the heart as it passes through the digestive system. Therefore it will provide Paul with accurate readings and targets which he needs to achieve to be able to sustain the conditions in Morocco. An alternative way of measuring Paul's body temperature is through using sensors which attach to him during exercise. These sensors take the readings of the limbs, chest and core; once the readings have been recorded, by using the simple calculation for the Mean Skin Temperature (by Ramanathan 1964) = (0.3 thigh) + (0.2 shin) + (0.3 chest) + (0.2 arm)

From this calculation Paul can find his mean skin temperature and control it through the digestion of fluids i.e. water during exercise. If he over heats then he could suffer from heatstroke and be in a serious condition.

Through endurance running, the muscle fibres adapt to help with the running economy of the athlete. Therefore an important recommendation for Paul would be to train while wearing his itinerary. This will prevent overstressing the muscles when participating in the event and therefore decrease the chances of injuring himself because he hasn't adapted to the conditions he will be competing in. This will also help to strengthen his Achilles and improve his VOa'' max for the event. It is found that in previous experiments, athletes who overloaded on their fluid consumption to maintain adequate body weight will perform better when under such conditions faced in the Marathon Des Stables and provided Paul maintains the correct calorie consumption of 3000 to 4000kcals per day then he should have sufficient energy and hydration levels to finish. Paul needs to make sure he consumes 9 litres of water minimum per day, but must ensure he tries to overload on fluid consumption as although the exercise energy expenditure will be greater than calorie consumption if Paul maintains his bodyweight through this technique then he should complete the marathon. If possible he should try to keep his core temperature down by pouring water on his face, as the evaporation will help cool his skin and core temperature, helping him to improve his performance.

http://arctrainer.blogspot.com/

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