# Home Automation



## bjfunke (Apr 21, 2005)

Has anyone done any home automation? What brand did you use? Is it fairly easy to instal/setup? How pricey on average was what you went with?
Thinking of adding mostly light/ceiling fan switches for now to be able to shut those off when my kids and wife leave the house for school/work and "forget" to turn them all off.


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## HIJACK (Aug 10, 2005)

I put in the iris system from lowes, it was a gift for fathers day and its ok. I have both of my thermostats and the alarm system. I also have 1 outside camera and one inside camera hooked up and 3 light switches. I also installed the door locks with it. The system is very easy to install but the alarm is not the best. I love the ability to check temps in my house and adjust the temp when needed and also check the doors and make sure there locked. all in all not a bad system but it can get expensive. I have had it about 2 years and slowly add stuff as I go. I am about to add two light switches upstairs because my kids leave lights on all day and when I am at work or on my phone I can check them.


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## troutkiller69 (Feb 24, 2011)

HIJACK said:


> I put in the iris system from lowes, it was a gift for fathers day and its ok. I have both of my thermostats and the alarm system. I also have 1 outside camera and one inside camera hooked up and 3 light switches. I also installed the door locks with it. The system is very easy to install but the alarm is not the best. I love the ability to check temps in my house and adjust the temp when needed and also check the doors and make sure there locked. all in all not a bad system but it can get expensive. I have had it about 2 years and slowly add stuff as I go. I am about to add two light switches upstairs because my kids leave lights on all day and when I am at work or on my phone I can check them.


How well does Iris camera work at night.


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## HIJACK (Aug 10, 2005)

It is one of the better cameras as far as clarity. I have a regular DVR system as well installed on my house and this camera blows it away. One problem I have with the camera is that the plug is outside of the camera and if the camera is within reach it is easily disabled. The camera works off of your wifi so it has to be within range of your router or it can be hard wired. again that wire is unsecured and easily disabled.


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## GoneSouth (Jun 4, 2010)

I have had several Nexia systems for 3 years. This was at first Schalge that was sold by lowers. Schlage later sold or changed to Nexia. Since lowes switched to Iris I put in that about a month ago. The Iris system has more features but is very buggy. The nexia system operate the water main, ice machine, AC, water heater, all doors, most lights and 4 cameras. The Iris system is more alarm oriented than the Nexia. Both work but the Nexia is more mature and work with less problems. Lowes used to sell it. I now order everything from Amazon. They both use the same switches and monitors. Nexia is striclty Z Wave. I think Lowes is combination Ziggby and WiFi. I think Iris will get their bugs worked out but for now I prefer the Nexia system better. On both systems the camera are wifi or hard wired.

pm me if you need help. I have a lot of experience with both systems. And no I don't do this for a living lol.


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