x10 home control software - automate appliances

X10 appliance control - smart home on a budget
'Home automation made easy'
by Adrian Biffen
Systems Administrator
AeroHOST Web Systems

Bulletin: RollerTrol™ Automation Systems is Launched!

We have been busy making and selling roller blinds and projector screens for some time, and we have decided to start selling the components at RollerTrol.com so others can do the same.
Take a look at our online store for tubular motors and other associated products - make your own custom shade or screen size that fits your room perfectly! We also have special motor kits that work with x10 automation systems.
While you're at it, check out our tubular motors with built-in radio controllers. When used with our multi-channel remotes, you can control the screen AND blackout blinds with a single remote!

End Bulletin: RollerTrol™ Automation Systems

x10 can be used to automate just about any appliance that you can think of. In my smart home, I use the products from X10 (For complementary home automation products such as lighting control and motorized blinds and shades, see our home automation DIY kit article)

My day usually starts around 5 AM and mini remote control for appliances

I like to have coffee in the morning. I like it ready when I hit the deck in the morning, but I also like it fresh, so I don't want a timer solution for my coffee pot either. Thus, I have it plugged into an appliance module and I keep a small mini-remote by my bedside so that I can turn it on when I wake up. By the time I get downstairs, it's ready.

I usually have a Jacuzzi bath in the morning as well, and I find it remote control of jacuzzi

convenient to use a mini remote beside the tub when I want to turn the jets on and off, rather than having to reach up to the wall switch every time (which was positioned by the installer on a wall requiring that I'm actually out of the tub). I find the jets therapeutic, but I also like to soak quietly at times, without the noise and vibration. By using the battery operated wireless remote, I'm also safe from any electrical hazard.

The remote sends a radio control signal to the transceiver, which in turn sends the signal along the power line to the central house controller. The controller listens for this code and responds by sending a control signal back over the AC line to a relay module (for complementary home automation products such as lighting control and motorized blinds and shades, see our home automation DIY kit article) installed in the pump motor line (it was hard wired to a junction box, not plugged into an outlet). At the same time as it receives an 'on' signal, the controller also starts a 15 minute 'countdown' timer which issues an 'off' signal at zero minutes so that the pump is turned off if it somehow ever got turned on by accident with nobody around (believe it or not, one of my cats has actually done something like this). I also have a master switch on the wall that must be on before the Jacuzzi motor will work.

I also have a steam generator installed in my shower stall which I like to enjoy after a hot bath. It is nothing more than a big electric kettle plugged into an appliance module in the cupboard behind the shower stall. The steam is piped from the spout directly into the stall, where it comes into contact with essential oils that effuse into the steam, creating very pleasant aromatics that I find help a great deal with my breathing. I use the remote by the bath to turn the steam on so that it's ready when I'm finished with the tub. It uses the same kind of controller macro to turn itself off if I forget (or is accidentally turned on).

Note that because these systems do make use of a script downloaded to the central controller (unlike some of my simple lighting systems), you must use a different address code for both the remote control and the activating module. In other words, for example, the controller receives 'on' code A10 from the remote (via the wireless transceiver) and responds by sending out 'on' code B14 to the control module. At the end of the countdown period, the controller also sends an 'off' code B14 to the control module.

I also have several misting humidifiers that come on x10 control for humidifiers

during the day to counteract the dryness of the electric baseboard heating. The piezoelectric element in the bowl generates a fine mist from the water in the bowl that picks up pleasant aromatic scents from the open jars of essential oils placed at the base.

It would also be possible to automate the filling of the bathtub by using the type of valve covered in my water page. The list of things you can do with the x10 system is endless; these are just a few of the scenarios I have created. I also have my garage door opener controlled from the built-in system in my car ...