Don's Home Automation Passion

The concept of the Smart Home has been around for quite a few years. I recall it being discussed when working for Honeywell in the late 1980's. Well, without mortgaging the kids, what can a techno-geek do to play around with home automation?

Enter - X-10. This electrical control system sends signals on the AC power lines within your house, going from one electrical outlet (the originator) to another. There are multitudes of gadgets that can be used.

After installing X-10, we have created an adventure for our children's friends. The male-types think it is cool and go into "remote control nirvana", while the female-types just roll their eyes and laugh about the place being haunted. Apparently, this is not a unique reaction. I have learned from others who have undertaken this kind of installation that the response from males and females is consistent from home to home.

In our home, we have installed a lot of X-10 devices and are running 9-zones. We initially used the X-10 ActiveHome software package from X-10 USA, it isn't the best solution due to numerous shortcomings. For over 13 years we have used Home Control Assistant (HCA) which has an excellent customizable feature set. This is what it looks like today:

The following are actively used control units:

• WS467 - Standard X-10 Wall Switches (Light Controls)
• WS13 - 15A Wall Switch (Relay Based)
• SR227 - X-10 3-prong Wall Sockets
• LM465 - Plug-in X-10 Lamp Controllers
• AM466 - 3-prong X-10 Appliance Modules
• SC503 - X-10 Room Control Pad
• MS10A/MS13A/MS16A - X10 Motion sensors **
• DS10A - Door and Window Sensors **
• PF284 - X-10 Power Flash Modules
• SC546 - Remote Chime
• KR10A - Security Remote **
• KR32 - Security Remote **
• SH624 - Security Control Pad **
• SH10 - Security Alarm Horn
• WD13 - Water Sensors
• ApplianceLink - High-power Appliance Module
• Insteon 2441TH(z) - Wired and Remote Thermostats
• Insteon 2457D2 - Switch Modules
• Insteon 2413U - Power Line Interface
• Insteon 2852-222 - Water Leak Sensor

To maximize the capabilities of the system, I have also integrated the X10 security system with the home automation system. Interestingly, the RF signals from some wireless devices are effectively captured by both systems enabling a bit of parallel operation, as well as synchronized response. Devices on the security side include (common use denoted by ** ):

• X10 DS7000 - Security System
• KR10A - Security Remote **
• SH624 - Security Control Pad **
• MS10A/MS13A/MS16A - X10 Motion sensors **
• DS10A - Door and Window Sensors **

 Other devices that are installed or used to make the system work more effectively include:

• Leviton 4820 Amplifier/Repeater
• KC674 - Keychain Remote
• HD460 - Mini Controller
• HomePro Noise Filter
• X-10 Signal Meter

Many other neat X-10 devices are floating around including a cross-phase amplifier, signal blocker, signal measurement meters, motion detectors, RF repeaters, local noise filters and a wide variety wireless control devices.

One big step that Home Control Assistant supports is moving to voice control using Alexa (by Amazon). This is a great tool when walking into a dark area, or sitting quietly and as it gets darker deciding any room or even specific lights should be on or off.

So how big is the system now? Well, with the help of Home Control Assistant (now HCA version 9), the system is pretty large with about:
9 Active House Codes using 90 X-10 Unit Codes
97  X10 addressed controllable devices (excluding motion detectors)
37 Smart Devices (meaning not pure X10, but registered uniquely and capable of registering with the Security System)
21 Motion Detectors (in addition to the Smart Devices)
176 "programs" that respond to inputs from the many smart devices, motion detectors, ongoing/continuous processes, and triggered/scheduled events
 
This is certainly getting fairly complicated and actually reasonably reliable too. The system's sophistication has reached the point where the house system knows exactly what's going on in it, and can respond accordingly. Now that's cool!

In fact, the system is so large and with so much X10 equipment, with unique implementations, that it is a Beta Test Site to validate the effectiveness of new developments in HCA. It's a privilege to be able to contribute to this system, which has been in use at our home for 14 years, starting at v3.