MisterHouse / x10 /home automation

[Merv Curley]

On December 3, 2003 10:11 am, Mailing List wrote:
> Has anyone used x10 or home automation in
> their house?  Where is a good place to
> shop for x10 stuff?  Any recommendations?
>
Taking some time to get caught up.  I have been using this stuff, first from 
Radio Shack, now X10 for almost 20 years.  Starting with an 8 bit computer 
as controller, now this machine.  It isn't the most reliable but does ok in 
the home.

Some of my lamp/appliance controllers are at least 15 years old,  others 
have only lasted a short while.

There is a Linux program to control this stuff called  Heyu.  Like  'heyu -  
turn off the light'.  I have it controlling about 10 lights around the 
house via cron.  It does just about everything that the Activehome software 
does but not yet via a GUI frontend.  

Rad. Shack still sell the modules but I have found a nearby electrical 
distributor with a pretty decent stock for less  $$.  There are always 
bargain packages available at the U.S. site if you want to order that way. 

The only caution is, the X10 signals don't get across the 2 phases in the 
house reliably.  Heyu supports more than one controller so you can have one 
on each phase or you can with a bit of magic, help the signals with a 
bridge.  Now bridge isn't the right word but its the best I can come up 
with right now.

Cheers

Merv   
 
-- 
Merv Curley

Scarborough,  Ont

Libranet Linux  2.8   KDE 3.1.4   KMail 1.5.4


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