Homeowner Forum / Home Automation / January 2007

I am need of some help & this is where I hope to get it.
I bought these 2 projectors on ebay but remotes / operating manual
were not included. (I presumed  damn! I presumed and now I have learnt
my lesson)

Yesterday the UPSes were complaining and the lights were flickering much
more than usual at my house. Since I live off the side of a side street
and it was cold, wet and icy I figured that the problem was external to
my house. Rather than call the utility on a wet weekend I ...

I am searching for a basic home surveillance system but have no idea what
are good systems and what are not. I am wanting a wireless system with just
your basic cameras which can either be used with a TV, VCR or PC. I'm not
sure exactly what I need to look for but some cool features ...

Today's NYT has an excellent article on energy conservation.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/business/30diet.html?ref=science
Caveats: Users of X-10 and Insteon know there's the additional cost of
filters to factor in for CFLs and utility companies know that wind turbines

I've got ghosts! My X10 hardware is not working. My ESM1 says it sees
valid and strong X10 signal (and is quiet the rest of the time for the
most part) but the device next to it fails to work (same power
strip). I've used 3 different modules and 3 different transmitters.  I

I used to go to a big home automation show in Orlando Fl by Reed Expo.
They either don't do it any more or I just couldn't find it.
Where can I find the largish home automation shows?
Larry

I purchased a set of skylights and now wish to purchase just a keypad
on the wall that will control 3 of them. The company that sold me the
skylights is Insuladome, and now does not sell the low end keypad
controls.  I have to spend like $1200 to just open and close them using

I have Time/Warner digital phone service for one telephone line.
I'd like to go from the phone modem to my patch panel and distribute the
line to multiple rooms.
I had this up and running for a while, no problems.

I have several Toshiba ip wireless cameras and am using Active Webcam
for recording to my
hard drive.
Active Webcam just isn't cutting it for me - too unreliable. What's the

I am currently building a new house. I am almost to the point of
insulating and sheetrock so before i made that step i wanted to ask
here if there are any suggestions as to extra wiring i should run to be
ready to add some home automation equipment in the future. I have

I wrote another application named "Power Button".  It is designed
to give you the ability to automatically start/stop the external
hardware associated with a desktop application just in one click, as
you usually start that application (like winamp or windows media

After the ice storms and outages my X10 Protector Plus security console
battery low indicator came on (powered the unit for probably 4 total
hours).  When I replaced the 9v the light continued to be on.  Looks
like a wiring problem from the battery harness or else a surge fried

I don't like the X-10 web site but their products sound interesting.
They have a kit with 3 cameras and say you can view them over the web.
What I can't find out from their site is how exactly things work.  Can
I view all 3 at the same time tiled on the screen or must I switch from

Know this has been asked but lost the answer.
What value of capacitor is a good choice for the power line bridge?

I have a wood shop in my basement and would like to automate the
startup/shutdown of my dust collector unit.  It is a 220v unit plumbed
to 4 separate power tools (3 are 110v, 1 is 220v).  My ideal
configuration would be to have the dust collector start immediately