RE: RE: REAL HA!

["Ian Lowe" <ianlowe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On a more serious level - I wouldn't actually do that. I tend to think
that
any appliance capable of generating a lot of heat (so toasters, ovens,
little heaters etc) are a slightly dodgy choice for automation...

Throwing more current around, I always just have the thought that the risks
of a component failure causing problems are higher.

Point in case - my fish tank was automated (lights, heater etc), and had
worked for *months* - when my wife and I went on holiday for some reason
the
module locked up, and stayed on for the entire time: only two fish out of
the tank survived, and we came back to an incredible algae bloom.

My thought would be... what's the effect of running your oven for eight
hours? Is it safe? If the contents burned, would the kitchen just get
smokey, or is there a danger of something else catching fire?

In terms of doing it, it should be easy enough for a "regular"
oven with
dials etc, rather than a "smart" oven - one of the higher rated
Appliance
modules would do the trick nicely, and from there it's a more simple one -
can you control the (already automated) appliances in your home from a
mobile phone... answer - yes.

Send an SMS Message into the home number (there's an old nokia 6210 hooked
up to COM1 on my HA server), an app picks it up and fires off a wee xPL
Message, which sets a variable in xplhal and runs a script.

It's not too friendly, as I use a nasty format for the messages, but it
works. Normal use - turning on the electric blanket on Jen's side of the
bed
(which has an automatic turn off after 75 minutes, so I consider it safe
enough) when we head home from a night out, so the bed is nice and toasty
for getting home.

Ian.

-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Tim Fletcher
Sent: 17 March 2006 08:49
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] RE: REAL HA!

So, I'll take that as a NO then.

FYI my oven is a new NEFF fan oven which is lovely but is in no way up to
temperature in 2 minutes - I have never used an oven that heated up THAT
quickly.  Ignoring the "watched pot" syndrome I will start my
oven from cold

and report time taken to reach 220C - I will judge that it has reached the
temp when the "heating" light goes off, and report back.

Tim.