Electrical Thoughts

This weekend was a bit of a bust for getting work done because I got sidetracked with other chores and errands. I got through some of the electrical work last weekend but had to stop when I was getting tired and almost wired two switched light circuits in series. This would have resulted in a situation where if I want to turn on the centre bank of lights, I'd have to turn on the lights accenting the projector screen first! That would have been embarrasing to say the least.

I've planned to add 6 additional 15-Amp circuits to the breaker panel. Two of them are dedicated to the computer rack which will house 4 computers, the A/V receiver and any future growth. I've planned out the remaining circuits so that the overhead lights are not on the same circuits as the outlets. That way, if I plug something in that causes a circuit breaker to trip, I don't lose lights. Also, any high power devices won't cause lights to flicker or dim. I wish the electricians who wired my house during construction had thought of that. If I plug my iron in one of my bedroom outlets, the overhead light dims momentarily. Surprising, isn't it... I actually iron.

I contemplated also installing battery backed-up emergency lighting in key areas like the furnace room and the area underneath the stairs where the sump pump is. I found them to be a little expensive and a better alternative would be to have a AC charged flashlight that is always charged and ready to go in emergencies. It'll have the advantage of portability. I think I may consider a flood sensor in the sump pit however so if the pump ever fails and the pit starts to fill with water, I can be alerted to the fact if I'm home and even if I'm away from home by sending my cell phone a text message.

That's all for now...

There's a buzz of electricity...

Well, there will be soon enough. I picked up a bunch of the electrical components from Home Depot today: electrical device boxes, outlets and four recessed lights to start. There was a new guy working in the electrical department so I had to explain to him how to install recessed lights. Nice guy, eager to learn. After the lesson, I sent him on his way to help some other customers.

Along with the electrical work, I also intend to run all the home theatre wiring. I ordered a 45 foot HDMI cable to connect the HTPC to the projector and 12 gauge speaker wire for the surround sound speakers. I got them from monoprice.com. They have really good prices and I got it delivered in about a week from the US. Both the HDMI and speaker wire are CL2 insulated which makes them ideal for in-wall installation because the insulation is slow to burn in case of fire.

I also want to install wiring for the internal sensor network that provides input to the home automation system. The sensors will measure temperature, humidity and light levels. The thermostat that controls the home HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) system will also be computer controllable and I want to have the system use the temperature readings throughout the house to help regulate the operation of the furnace and air conditioning instead of just the thermostat in the hallway. In addition, wireless motion sensors will be installed and the intention is to have the system recognize which rooms are occupied and regulate the HVAC to optimize the temperature for those rooms. The heat vents in the basement will be contollable as well so when the basement is unoccupied, the system will close the vents, thus maximizing the heating or cooling air pressure to the upstairs. It's all theoretical and I won't really know if it'll work until I try it.

I need to run some tests on a set of wall mountable microphones and an automatic mixer to see if implementing voice recognition is feasible. If so, I'll go ahead and install those for future development. That system will consist of five wall mountable microphones that are specifically designed to be sensitive to human vocal frequencies thus reducing the pickup of ambient noise. The mixer automatically switches to the microphone that has the highest level input and feeds that source to the central PC for processing.

Waterworks....who wants to look at my pipes?

Plumbing in new houses is really easy. Water supply is run through plastic pipes called Pex. This flexible pipe allows you to run a line from the main water line, which is 3/4", to the fixture using a 1/2" line. The flexibility allows you to make one continuous run with no elbows as there would be with copper pipes. Elbows cause turbulence which then hampers the water flow. Here are a couple of photos showing the white Pex for the washroom and wet bar fixtures. I'll attach them to the water supply in the utility room after the fixtures are attached. This all took me 2 or 3 hours.

Every Saturday morning, I've been getting wood...

...from The Home Depot. (Sorry, I had to use that at least once!) But now, those days are coming to an end. This weekend I completed the last of the rough framing. There may be the odd item here and there that I'll discover I need to do to for attaching drywall but as it stands now, I've got everything built that I intended.

Here's a photo of the false wall that will support the projection screen of the home theatre. That big rectangle is where the screen will attach and measures 92 inches wide by 51.75 inches tall. I've put the sub-woofer in its position to test the fit.

I've built a cover for the window that's up in the upper right. My original plan many months ago, had the screen built on a box over to the left but I finally decided to just build an entirely new wall so the screen could be centred horizontally. This definitely looks much better.

Next task: plumbing for the washroom and wet bar.