Homeowner Forum / Home Automation / May 2006

This is a crosspost from comp.arch.embedded, with some enhancement.
The story:
I semi-accidentally acquired a fairly large quantity of surplus ROMless
8051-class parts in DIP-40 packages. These include Intel and Signetics

Holy crap,
Look and listen to canada's greatest vandal!
Installing a lite just made matters worse.
Recording his vandalism and threats just made him do more.

I'm told the Insteon chips (both powerline and wireless) are on schedule to
ship in June. They are supposed to be quite inexpensive even in single
quantities and will be available online. I expect we will soon start to see
a lot of additional Insteon devices like temperature sensors ...

I just tried to add a timed event for a waterfall and I can't download it
due to insufficient memory in the module (HAL 11A). I had problems before
adding dusk/dawn timed events because they use so much memory.  My
resolution is set to 24.  I can't imagine this is all I can add ...

Does anyone know anything about this remote?  It's allegedly for the MP3
Anywhere kit.  I came across one today, and although it's identical to the
8-in-1 remote physically, the label on the back says "MP3 Remote Model
UR51A - For use with M26A receiver"" and the inside label says ...

Last night I "discovered" something about the ICON wall dimmers.
The ICON dimmer has a fixed ramp rate of .1s basically making it a hard
on/off operation to a preset level. However, when I applied the
instructions for setting the ramp rate on the V2 dimmer, the ICON

As a result of suggestions on another thread, I confirmed the X10 Transmit
Buffer works well with a CM15A.  I set up a ping-pong test with a CM15A
macro programmed to echo F2 whenever it received F1.  The initial command
was sent from the Ocelot via an unbuffered PSC05.  The CM15A ...

For all you newbies out there looking to do home automation via the Elk - I
just updated my blog (below) with the list of equipment I started with. I'm
integrating it with my HPTC using CQC, the intial screenshots are on the
website below.

I remember seeing one of these years ago, but I can't find it now, not
even from the same manuf.  Does anybody know of one currently available?
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Interesting article at The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/25/intel_zwave_battle/
It might be old news to some here but I haven't been keeping up on the
Z-Wave/ZigBee front.

I want to incorporate a communicating thermostat into an HA system, but
I don't see any that are a combination thermostat and humidistat, which
is what the A/C requires. Has anyone delt with this problem?
Thanks

I was looking at the Boston Acoustics HD radio. For an antenna it comes
with a 7-foot dipole.
http://www.bostonacoustics.com/home_product.aspx?product_id=325
Now I thought FM used a 5-foot dipole. And what if I don't want a wire on

I had a hard disk problem on my automation / server computer and asked WINXP
to check one of the four NTFS
disks installed on the system - which required a reboot after which it
successfully fixed the disk's lost clusters.  The computer now does a Chkdsk

I want to change the clock value in a device.
I know the unit can handle it but I wanted to ask if anyone know if there
will be an issue.
The current clock generator is an Xtal... I cannot find the correct

any idea when x10 or variant got the ability to set the house/station code
electronically, and not have to use the wheel?
im looking for name/model of the earliest device, along with any owners
manuals etc. for same.