this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Home Automation

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Home automation is the residential extension of building automation.

It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.

Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.

Warning: Working with electricity can result in injury, property damage, or even death if it is not done properly. Please keep this in mind while assisting others. If you are not sure about what you are doing, hire a licensed professional.

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Has anyone used the x10 home automation/security system? How did you like it? Any problems?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I still use it -- lights and fans plugged in and cron-driven from my central Linux system with firecracker/bottlerocket -- but, as others have said, it is rather sensitive to, not only interference from line noise, but changed line reactance as well (such as, plugging in a turned-off vacuum cleaner on an extension cord). There are parts of the house it won't work in; when something that did work stops working, I go looking, usually to find that someone moved what outlet a gaming computer is plugged into; that's enough to jam it.

The radio part of it (bottlerocket to receiver-module) is subject to noise too. Here again, the last two decades have seen a substantial increase in interference, in this case from devices on wifi or just radiating switching harmonics: the wallwarts used to all be Type-2 analog, now they're switchers.

Bottom-line recommendation: go ahead and play with it, setting things up for conveniences. If it works, great. Don't rely on it; don't use it for anything mission-critical. Since I prefer not to add to the local QRM (manmade radio noise), my thinking now is IoT using ethernetted ARM boards (an A20-Micro only eats 5W even with HD) to drive devices directly or over USB/RS485 lines. I wish I could tell you different.