So i bought a sonoff basic ...hooked it up and tried to link a 433 remote... my good friend google displayed a ton of sonoff setups etc... however i learnt that the sonoff basic cannot link up to a 433 remote unless you buy the sonoff bridge which cost just under double the price... so we are back to the IDS X 64 system for remote switching.. .thank goodness there are relay expander cards.

So you may be asking why a sonoff and a 403/433 remote... the answer is simple... it can be a mission having to take out the phone (me being as blind as a bat) every time you want to switch all the security lights on/off at 3 am in the morning ...also if i need to light up my street like a stadium (as i do with my 1500 watt halogen flood light) i dont want to be fumbling with glasses and phone... 1 button booom all the lights on ... which also works as a silent panic button if held in for 3 seconds... you might also ask why silent... after chatting to a women who was being dragged around the house by her hair while being punched and kicked by the home terrorist as the siren was making a loud noise... when they decided to go back and beat her again while they ransacked the house ...this time the alarm was silent and they didnt beat her up as much ...and because they didnt know the panic had been activated they took their time and got caught in the act.

This is why this home automation thing is going to be a lot of trial and error... the goal is to build this system at the cheapest possible price trying to integrate the alarm...cctv and security lights using the least amount of different platforms.

I have also just collected point to point outdoor wireless units... setup and ready to test... gona try them out on a site where i am working... had no idea what i was looking for ...but after a couple hours with my good friend google and youtube ...i learnt enough to understand the difference between the various options available... i went with the 5.8 option...because as we know 2.4 is pretty populated in most areas... i am going use one as an access point then going to connect 3 or 4 units on other properties in close proximity ...which we cant just run a cable over the fence ... taking the cost to trench... lay a pipe and pull in cabling ...it works out way cheaper for the customer... as opposed to my home project... cables work out cheaper for me personally and i get to install power and data to each point.

Still deciding if i am gona go cheap and use gum poles sealed with old engine oil or galv poles around the garden... galv pole just look out of place... gums poles would fit in better.. soaked in old engine oil or a day or 2 they should last 100 years... yeah i know the environment and all that ...research indicates that the poison in the pole treatment is far worse than the engine oil... looking at my treated fencing which is falling apart after 9 years.