Homeowner Forum / Home Automation / November 2003

What is the best lighting control that can go inside onQ cabinet?
What's the best security system to go inside onQ?

I don't know much about surge protectors, but I want to protect my
office set-up.
I've got an iMac, cable modem, fax machine, phone, and television.
I don't need to have a power backup for the computer. (I do nothing so

I'm planning on running new phone lines to new wall outlets from a central
indoor location. This means I need to buy an outdoor quality cat5e cable to
run from the outside phone box into the house to that central location. The
question is, will that cat5 cable handle 4 separate ...

I am prewiring my media room (sheetrock goes up next week) and want to
rough in for two potential subwoofer locations.  One run is about 30',
the other around 45'.  What is the best cable to use for this?
I'm thinking a RG59 or RG6 coax and then I can terminate with RCA

I have a Xantech XAV61 IR amp hooked up to HV. It has worked great
over the years. I just replaced a a/v receiver with the same brand but
newer model. The setup worked well with the old receiver by just
directly plugging in a 1/8 mono cable. Now when I plug in the IR plug

Anyone have any ideas how to test a module's threshold sensitivity?  I
envision some sort of filter with a potentiometer that can attentuate the
X-10 signal to a point where the module being tested doesn't register.  I
can accomplish this in a primitive way by moving around the ...

This may seem like a dumb question but....does the X10 wall switch act like
a regular switch along with responding to X10 commands? In other words, can
I walk into a room and use the switch to manually turn on a light without
having to send an X10 command from some remote control or ...

Please help, anyone.
Must change to XP in my office because of bussiness software, but
cannot find xp drivers for my Geovision GV200 surveilance system.
Have tried the manufacturer page, but there is only GV250 and higher

New house (16 yrs old) has quad (untwisted, 4 wires) telephone cable strewn
about the outside of my house with drill holes straight thru the siding. I'm
going to run the main phone line from the outside phone box up thru the
attic into a central closet and then run new lines from ...

i have a request information:
 i want "develop" just a simple site to collect experiences,software
evaluations,to exchange opinion from automation world, existing sites +-
equals  (not company sites) ?

I am thinking about wiring my house with Cat 6 cable. Should I use a 110
block? What can it do? I know what a switch can do but have no idea what
a 110 block can do.

My brother is disabled and wants to have a simple switch
(http://www.tashinc.com/catalog/s_soft_yet_strong.html) control the
favorites button on his Motorola digital cable box.  I read on an
email list that it is possible to solder the jack from the switch to

I want to leave my PC in the lounge, and occasionally sit in the study
with the keyboard, mouse and monitor to do a bit of quiet work. I have
an IR keyboard/mouse at present so doing the wireless ir thing
shouldn't be a problem. What I'm having trouble with is the monitor. I

I was wondering...
I'm looking to put together a small home theater/automation pc and to
keep the cost down, I was wondering if there was any software for home
theater/automation that could run on linux, to be more specific,

First, I know nothing about PLC's, but I was wondering is there a way
to extract data from a SQL database file, feed that to a PLC is some
manner, and then have the PLC trigger a diverter gate based on the
value in the table exceeding a certain value, to divert parts to