Hi All,
I have been thinking - I have a few x10 switches and controllers but nothing fancy, just a quick dabble to test home automation. Best so far was switching on the Christmas lights on every day/night. Even that is not always spot on, sometime the light go on, sometimes not. (wife-approval-factor=low)
After reading a bit on the internet, I gather that x10 is not that reliable, and I thought I would ask the hardened and experienced home automation users for some advice.
What technology would you invest in now?
This is what I have:
What I would like, is to set lighting, and appliance control for ease and also energy saving. Nothing fancy, but keeping options/upgrades open.
Ah, and the other factors are:
1) Cost should be low, since this is a hobby, not essential for life.
2) It should be wife-proof: tech should work, always and simple.
Would extending my x10 setup be the way to go (cost=low, wife proof factor=low) or should I be looking into something completely new, since tech always change?
What are your thoughts on this?
I have been thinking - I have a few x10 switches and controllers but nothing fancy, just a quick dabble to test home automation. Best so far was switching on the Christmas lights on every day/night. Even that is not always spot on, sometime the light go on, sometimes not. (wife-approval-factor=low)
After reading a bit on the internet, I gather that x10 is not that reliable, and I thought I would ask the hardened and experienced home automation users for some advice.
What technology would you invest in now?
This is what I have:
- Some x10 kit (wall switches, plug-in modules, CM15pro, Alarm system with x10 home automation build in [ESP Infinite prime])
- CCTV camera at front door running off a stand alone application for motion sensing/recording/alerting (XPWebCam)
- Windows 2008 R2 Server - always on running web server, application etc, with years of Windows server experience
- .Net programming skills with C++ and C#
- iPhone and Android phones need to work with the system (I can do a website for this)
- CurrentCost electricity monitoring (with Techtoniq Energy Station)
- I live in the UK
What I would like, is to set lighting, and appliance control for ease and also energy saving. Nothing fancy, but keeping options/upgrades open.
Ah, and the other factors are:
1) Cost should be low, since this is a hobby, not essential for life.
2) It should be wife-proof: tech should work, always and simple.
Would extending my x10 setup be the way to go (cost=low, wife proof factor=low) or should I be looking into something completely new, since tech always change?
What are your thoughts on this?
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