Re: Light switch status

["Martyn Wendon" <martynwendon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

To solve my "light switch status" problem, I'm intending to
move to ZWave at
some point this year (once OpenZWave is finished and I can get a xAP or xPL
gateway running on a LinkSys NSLU2).

In the interim, I found that I had some X10 RF MS13E PIRs in the parts bin
that have a light sensor built in and report dusk / dawn conditions that
are
picked up with my RFXCOM 434MHz receivers.  A quick bit of scripting in xAP
Floorplan along with some careful placement of the PIRs in each room and I
seem to have achieved pretty accurate light switch status based around the
light bulb itself being on or off.

Works out quite cheap too since the HomeEasy light switches can be picked
up
for about £20 and the MS13E PIRs are around £17.....


Martyn

----- Original Message -----
From: "Martyn Wendon" <martynwendon@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 6:18 PM
Subject: [ukha_d] Light switch status


> I've been using HomeEasy RF wireless kit for several years along with
the
> excellent RFXCOM Receivers / Transmitters for PC control, but up until
now
> haven't done anything with lighting.
>
> I've started to replace my light switches with HomeEasy dimmers which
> allow
> local on / off / dim control as well as being controllable by PC.
>
> None of the HomeEasy kit supports "status" so if a
lightswitch is
> controlled
> locally the PC doesn't know that fact and this is presenting me with
some
> challenges, particularly as if I send an "On" command to a
lightswitch
> that
> is already on, it goes into a dimming cycle....
>
> I guess the above is similar to how X10 started out, so I'm looking
for
> any
> ideas on how to get the status back into the PC in some way....maybe
light
> sensors in each room....or somehow detecting the electric is on to the
> light
> in question?
>
>
> Failing that, I'm not averse to using a different technology for
lighting,
> but would want:
>
> 1) wireless RF
> 2) something simple to retrofit without requiring re-wiring (all of my
> light
> switches are switched live only, so I only have live and load at the
> switch)
> 3) local control on / off / dim
> 4) remote control on / off / dim
> 5) status reporting
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Martyn
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>



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