On 8/8/2012 7:58 AM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> ... Getting someone to do a regular check is very unlikely. Switch
> controls such as Insteon or Z-wave can be signaled by a controller which
> can be stand-alone or programmed from a PC or smartphone. A simple
> programmable controller can be had for under $100. More sophisticated
> ones at about $300.
I've had X10 devices controlled by programmable controllers for decades. The
current controller is a simple, white box
that lives in a wall plug and gets hooked up via USB maybe once or twice a
year. It has battery backup of 4 AAAs, as I
recall.
I only use it to control lights and fountains, but there are many other uses.
The x10/Smarthome software to program it
is only slightly odd, and that only when you start doing fancy stuff. It knows
about the annual changes in daylight, and
can adjust for that, as well as randomly vary on off times from that, so stuff
turns on and off in un-patterned ways.
It's on all the time, whether we are here or not.
The X10 web site is awful, full of over the top promo stuff, apparently run by
marketing types on steroids. OTOH, the
stuff works fine.
As to bridging the two legs of 120/240, there are commercial bridges, a macro
work-around, or the scarier solution of a
simple capacitor. My late brother, a serious electrical/electronics wizard*,
simply connected a 1600v ceramic capacitor
across the entrance breaker box of his house. He's been gone about 20 years,
but the capacitor is still there and still
working.
Smarthome software and the controller allow making macros that relay commands
using RF from the controller to an
X10/etc. wireless receiver on the other leg, so the command goes out both ways.
I see there's all sorts of other automation stuff out there, some using the
same old X10 codes. There's a pretty good
looking comparison here. At least it might get you started on the pros and cons
of the various options.
<http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/18390-insteon-vs-zwave-vs-zigbee-vs-upb-comparison-2011/>
X Ten Moose
* He had a wizard hat he had been given by users in the IT center he ran for a
UC department. :-) He reworked an early
X10 manual controller to control more than one house code at a time - and light
up which code was active at the time.
His last years were spent as a freelance computer designer.
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
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