Homeowner Forum / Home Automation / November 2003

I'm having an inground pool put in and the cost of the in-house
controllers is staggering. Is there any way:
- to get a good interface that can control items
 for less than the many $1000's I've seen?

I forgot to add this.
I have a 3way/4way switch setup for my living room. There are 4 switch
that control the single light. To control this light with x10, do I
just add a single 3way x10 switch or module?

Anyone working with the Leviton’s HCPRF Plug-In Transceiver, all house code
(I think) 2-way with silent relay outlet?  I need to clear out the nest of
TM-751's.  Are there better ways to go?
Eric

I have some of the new Smarthome 6-button wall switches.  I like them,
but the paper labels that fit under the plastic buttons are useless.
The LED doesn't highlight the icon, but washes it out completely and I
see the back-lit paper fibers, not what's written on it.

We've recently complete some remodeling to create an open floor plan between
our dining, kitchen and living room. I'd like to create the abilty to manage
scenes using two master wall plates and a remote in addition to the controls
for the individual lights.

FYI - Just saw that asiHome has it for $279. That looks like a pretty
good price. I use this handy gadget all the time. Link is
http://www.asihome.net/monmoninan.html
Walt

I am in the process of building a new home and I have decided to do
all the structured wiring myself.  In my research, I have found a
cable manufactured by Belden called Belden 7913S HomeChoice™
Banana Peel™ Composite Cable, which is comprised of 2-Quad

OK, here's the situation. I've been using an old ( I mean old pc ) to
interface with my ( also old ) cp290 without any problems for many years. So
today I thought, hmmmm, maybe for once in my life I'll plan ahead and move
the cp290 to a new PC and let the old clunker go to the junk ...

I just bought an IOM-142 module from phanderson.com but I am not sure
how to correctly hook up the opto-isolator inputs. BTW, the module is
awesome; I highly recommend them. The Dallas 1-wire temperature
sensors work great and the serial communication with the board is

I am doing a new house where we are planning on Cat5e wiring all over
(smile).  We want a multi-zone multi room whole house audio system,
with my vast collection of music on harddrive being the primary
source.

Microsoft Client
this is the latest version of security update, the
"November 2003, Cumulative Patch" update which eliminates
all known security vulnerabilities affecting

*sigh*
My house is complete in three weeks, drywall is on, paint is on, floor
is in today and I just realized I missed a major low voltage wiring
run.  I wired the hell out of the place and want to thank all the

I'm using a pc with a lynx-plc for a spa automation project. I was
successfully using a um506 (universal module) to control a thermostat relay
for the spa heater. I finally had the time to get an electrician come over
and hook up an inline module for the filter so I could control ...

I got a cool setup where I have a PLC controlling the garage door, the
garbage disposal and the doors (for security).
The only thing is I expect to make changes all the time to the PLC and
it's getting old havig to replace hard-coded values.  It would be neat

Does anyone know if the Powerlinc (either RS-232 or USB) can receive
extended codes?   The few documents that I have seen mention extended Tx and
Rx but I wanted to know for sure before purchasing one.  I have
Also, any other operational or programming caviats (or WWW pointers) on