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I have been interested in "Home Automation" and all that entails for quite some time. We have been
moving around quite a bit over the years and have never really dug in and put a lot of effort
into getting it right until now. We are going to be in this house for the forseeable future
and so it's time to start working on this.
As a quick overview of the basic system it makes use of a lot of X10 modules with an Apple Macintosh PowerBook running Mac OS X as the house controller. (this machine has a broken hinge and instead of being permanently retired it found a new purpose as the house controller where it didn't really need to be able to open and close) The X10 controller software is XTension which is quite possibly the best and most flexible home automation software available for any computing system at all.
Article Index
XTension version 5.2.3 and later has a new mechanism for attaching a script to mutliple units. It's no longer necessary to put a call to LogMotion() into the ON script of every single unit you want to display in X2Web. Improve XTension performance and response on slower or busy Macs by running it at a higher priority. Tracking down intractable, X10 signal killing, powerline noise. The saga continues, but with a happy ending. Updated: 10/24/2004 with yet another source of misery. Updated: 8/12/2005 more CF problems and computer power supplies as sources of problems. Detailed instructions for constructing temperature sensors, connecting a Weeder Analog Input board to your Mac and the software necessary to get that data into XTension. Quick bit of documentation on using an X10 3 way switch to replace a 4 way or more than 4 way set of wall switches.
A lesson in X10 signal debugging. Or, how preconceived idea's about the
different parts of your system will yield difficult or unhelpful
conclusions while debugging. Information on wiring electrical outlets for best X10 performance and what I found when I tore open one of those fancy new pigtails sold as a shortcut to socket wiring. Using an X10 controlled low voltage power supply from one of their remote cameras to drive a Solid State Relay for switching high power or non-incandescent loads. |