I did some fairly major recoding of the Xtension Home Automation system today. Over the last several days I’ve installed 5 new Leviton X-10 switches and had to get them integrated into the system. I wasn’t really happy about the way I had integrated them, so I went back into the program and recoded everything. I also noticed that I had a lot of expired units (christmas tree, small Xmas tree, candelabra, etc) that no longer get used, so these got the axe.
Then I went through the whole database of about 80 units and rearranged their addresses so they made more sense. My downstairs lights used to be haphazardly arranged on several different house codes. This made my nighttime shutdown unnecessarily long as I had to issue an OFF command to each unit. Now I just issue one single ALL OFF on one house code and the lights all go out. Neat. This also means I can code the downstairs motion detector to switch off all the lights at once without taking up too much of the X-10 bus bandwidth.
Sorry, geeked out for a second there. To explain: the X-10 system uses the installed electrical wiring to send on/off messages to our lights/appliances/etc. The only problem is that each message takes .6 seconds. Normally the Mac, running Xtension, queues the commands up so there’s only one at a time on the line, but if we walk into a room and trigger a motion sensor while the computer is trying to send a command, there’s a collision and neither one gets through. So the good home automation geek strives for efficiency of bandwidth use. Ex: you can either tell ten lights downstairs to turn off individually and take 6 seconds to do it, or put them all on the same house code and have the computer say “everybody on house code D, TURN OFF!” and they all go at once. Nice and neat and very little chance of a signal collision.
I also reworked many wireless controls, motion detectors, and wireless keypads to make their addressing schemes more efficient. Basically, I went through the whole database and cleaned out all the crud that gets into a system that sits around for too long. Like cleaning out your closets for a garage sale (which we have recent experience with). The end result is like a clean car. It may not actually run better, but it sure feels like it. Hopefully now I’ll stick with the program and keep my space neat.
I still have a few switches to install, but I’ll keep one or two for backup. The more X-10 hardware I get installed, the more I feel like my not-insubstantial investment is at risk because we don’t have a whole-house surge protector. It would cost me about $250-$300 to have installed but could potentially save thousands of dollars worth of electronics. I need to seriously think about doing this, but it’s not a “fun” addition like another controllable switch or unit.
The house now has almost 30 controllable lights or units (like fans). Plus motion detectors in many of the rooms. I can now sit downstairs and control almost every light and fan in the house. My goal is to have the rest controllable within a year or so.
I feel like we’ve just moved into the house but it’s been 4 years this Halloween. We had originally said that we’d only be in this place for 10 years, but once we get it really dialed in we’re not going to want to leave. Time really flies.
