Homeowner Forum / Home Automation / February 2004

I am looking for a water sensor which is all solid state (no floats),
must have Class C contacts (relay) for inputting into my DSC Security
System and Home automation system, might have some sort of self
contained alarm, might run off an internal battery or external DC

My wife and I have been in the planning stages of building a new house
for quite some time.  We were planning to build and I had read dozens
of books on home automation and knew exactly how many wires I was
going to run, where they were going to go, etc.  That changed

i just purchased a box of 4-conductor wire. it will run from central
control panel to the wall mount control.
is it possible to use this same 4-conductor wire to run it from the
wall mount control to the speaker, using only 2 conductors, ignoring

Anyone have a Roomba vacuum?  Can it clean under tables & chairs without
getting messed up in the legs?

Does anyone know where I can find a LED or LCD display (2 lines x 24
characters, 1" or .5" high characters) that is TCP/IP enabled?  It
would be great if it accepted telnet or had a webserver on it.  I
would like to be able to telnet in and type in a message.  Oh and

For anyone interested, Worthington is having a sale on the Monterey
Instruments Powerline Signal Analyzer for only $199.99.  The Monterey
Powerline Signal Analyzer shows commands, average signal strength, signal
dissection, noise, and transmission logs.  MIPLSA Monterey Instruments

Take a look at this article:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114831,tk,dn021804X,00.asp
Compared to the cost of hard disk cd servers, those prices are great.
CJ

Off topic I know, but I am running out of ideas.
There is a product that is like a balloon with double sided tape on one
side. The idea is to stick it to a surface you intend on drilling , and it
catches the dust. Anyone know where I could find it?

I am looking for a complete kit to construct a USB relay with a number of
ports. I can buy the finished product for about $1,000 and then I have 96 io
ports... but there has to be a cheaper option.
It is essentially a device connecting to the USB port, and offers 96 IO

I'm planning to install some cameras in my house. I noticed that bullet
cameras can be mounted in a variety of manners - If I were to feed video
from a bullet cam that is mounted upside down, how does the server "flip"
the video to the proper orientation?

This is an announcement (Ad, ADV) from Smarthome(TM).
Smarthome announces the immediate availability of our ToggleLinc(TM)
2-Way dimmer switch with built-in BoosterLinc(TM)PLC/X10 Signal
Booster.  This feature is very similar to our plug-in BoosterLinc

I do have some noise problems at home with a number of 110-> 12 V
electronic ballasts. Basically the commands from controllers don't
reach the receivers, and lately some receivers are turning
spontaneously "on". (all x.10 gear is Leviton's)

I have been successful in repairing my two broken Maxi-Controllers
(SC503).  Here is a write-up:
http://www.edcheung.com/automa/maxi_repair.htm

Does anyone have a UR41A Beer Buddy/TV Buddy IR remote they'd be willing to
donate or sell cheap?
I had one that came free with some X10 promo a few years back and it was
ideal for my elderly mother.  She's in a Nursing Home and can't manage the

I was wondering if anyone has tried the PTZ Camera they have at
http://www.ptz-camera.com  ?
It seems very low priced for all the features.    They also state that a lot of
DVR cards do not support the proper rs-485 Pelco P or Pelco D signals.  Anyone