zigbee???

There's the whole Zwave thing.

John

Most of that has fizzled so far, IMHO. Like usual. A success is only possible if two things happen and this appears not to be understood by the management of HA companies:

a. Reasonable pricing

b. Availability at Home Depot, Lowes, et cetera.

I deal with RF quite a bit. What I see is that companies generally roll their own 433MHz, 910MHz or 2.45Ghz stuff. When you get into qties of several thousand the pre-certed modules are just too expensive.

IIRC, Jennic has a development kit and modules that are not too expensive, like $500 for the dev kit...

Charlie

Hmm, no pricing on the site:

But it's just bare modules. When designing I don't really need that and $500 just for home automation will raise a flag with SWMBO, just like a $500 handbag would with me :-)

What body public needs is reliable and UL-certed modules to replace light switches, that unlike X10 _are_ CFL-compatible, and that preferably don't cost more than the magic barrier of $19.99 plus tax at the hardware store.

The Atmel Raven board is about $50.

John

Cheapskate! You mean your wife has no Coach purse?

Life is all about having the right toys. I am about to use the French egg poacher cups we just bought at Sur la Table :-)

We use about >5K 2.4G modules a year and that's likely to double in the next year. Getting certification for an intentional radiator is hard enough *with* a pre-certed module.

Not a flag, but I'd certainly razz her enough (she has spent $400, and I did).

So you want your light switches Internet connected? ;-)

Nope. We tend to use such monies in more useful ways. For example as a donation to Guide Dogs for the Blind, after getting a trainee dog that had to be realeased because of a medical condition and that my wife then got through the therapy dog test. Now the two are serving Alzheimer patients (wife went to training yesterday, with dog, also costs a fee), nursing homes, schools, libraries and so on. There is no monetary ROI but it's rewarding in many other ways.

Now I don't write this to brag, just so that (hopefully) someone reads it and thinks about doing something similar. Tons of opportunities.

We don't need all that stuff :-)

Hmm, last one at a client sailed through the lab without much of a fuss.

All I want is something like X10, but something that in contrast to X10 actually works in a reliable fashion.

The lab wasn't too much trouble, though an intentional radiator has to pass essentially Part-15 class-A, even if it's being used in a class-B environment. Not having a pre-certified module would have been far more expensive. Getting all the worldwide crap together, and testing, is another expensive PITA.

I've never had one go *phut*. OTOH, I don't use them often anymore (Christmas lights, etc.). Reliable enough for heat? No, but they've certainly been reliable enough for odd lighting and my pool pump (a couple of decades ago).

NOT an expensive toy...

Served up at my desk, because the desk height and firm seating are better for N's back after her surgery, than the dining or the breakfast room tables.

Bearnaise and presentation courtesy of "N" :-) ...Jim Thompson

The training that guide dogs undergo is *amazing*! Also, the relationships they have with their "masters" (: patients (wife went to training yesterday, with dog, also costs a fee),

Even a donation to pay for *food* for the animal while in training, etc. can make a difference! (costs a fair bit of effort to train a guide dog. they aren't like "widgets" that you can mass produce...)

Kudos to you and your wife for "making a difference"!

OTOH buying a bag helps a few kids in Asia to fill their bellies.

We had almost a dozen go kaputt over the years. Not by blowing up by by becoming erroneous or dead. I would never trust my pool pump to that sort of "system".

Eventually we quit replacing so some day X10 will be gone from our house via attrition.

Nice! But I'd never wolf that down at my work desk. We celebrate measl like that in our dining area. Actually all meals. Firing up the barbecue in 1/2h.

Thanks. We just came back from a memorial service and had the therapy dog with us. Can't leave her in the car because it's sunny. Amazing, she even followed the rituals like standing up when all the people were, settling down again when the people did.

Sending money to an organization where you can be sure that >80% of donations make it to the recipients in the form of food and medication helps a lot more.

The early switches liked to eat fusable links (easily reparable) when light bulbs burned out, but other than that I don't think I ever lost one.

Why? If the pump runs (or doesn't) for a day or two the loss is insignificant. It was easier than crawling under our back porch. ;-)

We replaced all of ours, except for a few appliance and lamp modules, by moving.

(Christmas

Here they became "deaf", turned themselves on at odd hours, didn't let you turn off anymore, etc. Just poor quality.

Ours has a good old mechanical timer. Those easily last half a century (one is from 1970). Just a drop of oil every few years.

Problem is if the pump doesn't come on but the sweep booster does then the booster pump will eat itself up and make a huge mess in the pool house.