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gandro73
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Joined: January 13 2013
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Posts: 1
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| Posted: January 13 2013 at 23:54 | IP Logged
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I have a unique appliction. I have an elderly father who lives 1000 miles from me that wants to stay in his home and live independently.
I'd like to set up Powerhome on a PC, add a few X10 2-way light switches in the house and
then setup some rules on Powerhome to send me an e-mail or text message if lights are not switched on/off for a period of time.
Also fearing he could fall in the stairwell to the basement, I'd like to receive an alert if the basement light is on for more than an hour.
I would then summon next door neighbors and others to check on him.
1. I'm wondering how easy this is to program with Powerhome.
2. Please recommend a high-quality and reliable 2-way X10 wall mounted light switch
3. Please recommend a device to interface the PC with the X10 network - the CM11A is about $99. I'm wondering if there are
better and/or cheaper PC interfaces (ideally with a USB interface)
4. Is there an ability to monitor the Powerhome control panel and/or change rules remotely over the internet?
I guess if necessary I could use a service like Gotomypc or Logmein to accomplish this
Thanks to everyone for their help.
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nick7920
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Joined: March 04 2008
Location: United States
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Posts: 193
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| Posted: January 14 2013 at 15:03 | IP Logged
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I think all of the above is possible.
What I have found is that Insteon Devices switches are much better than X10. ( I would not use power switches to monitor that important)
You will need controller PLM (2413U) USB or Serial version. (I am testing new Insteon HUB (would wait on that) but PLM is tested and easy to setup).
Insteon SwitchLinc Switches (you will need to find out which on will work for you)
may be Access point.
you can also speak to Smarthome and asked what hardware.
Now for Powehome :
Powerhome is pretty powerful if you have some programming skill(basics are very easy) but Here at this forum you will find many willing to help and Dave(powerhome creator) itself is very helpful.
Yes you can create trigger and Macro to monitor and send alerts.
You can monitor powehome over Internet and run Macro and lots of other things. Also users have created application for Android phone and Iphone.
Good Luck
Nick
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dhoward
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Joined: June 29 2001
Location: United States
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| Posted: January 16 2013 at 13:17 | IP Logged
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Gandro,
All of your requirements should be pretty easy to do in PowerHome. I would recommend Insteon though instead of X10 as its much more reliable than X10 and inherently 2-way whereas X10 is typically only 1-way.
So to answer your specific questions:
1. Fairly easy. If you're new to this is won't be immediately obvious but with the help of users on the forum, the effort should be relatively minor.
2. Assuming you're going with Insteon, I would recommend SmartHome.com's 2477D.
3. Assuming Insteon again, I would recommend a 2412N as my first choice (IP instead of USB...just plug into the router) and the 2413U as my second choice.
4. PowerHome has a built in webserver for monitoring and control of status. You can also change/create/delete timed events and global variables via the web interface. More complicated actions such trigger and macro editing would need to be done via something like Logmein or Teamviewer.
Hope this helps,
Dave.
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dhewison
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Joined: February 28 2008
Location: United Kingdom
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Posts: 25
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| Posted: July 10 2013 at 10:36 | IP Logged
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Hi,
I've just started looking into Insteon, my current control system is fairly basic x10 and PowerHome. For me, I've invested quite a bit of time in writing scripts for PowerHome and I'm happy with this as a control system.
From what I've read I could move to an Insteon controller/modem (whatever the correct term is) and control my existing x10 devices then future devices could be Insteon. Today's questions are:
1. Can PowerHome interface through through the Insteon 'hub' as this seems to be the only thing available in the UK, 2412N appears to have been discontinued.
2. I can guess the answer to this but, do the PowerHome x10 functions work using an Insteon controller or would the existing scripts need re-writing?
Many thanks,
David
Edited by dhewison - July 10 2013 at 10:36
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Topic: monitoring light switch activity & alerts
