Can your contoller do this???

mixer911

mixer911

New member
I have hooked up all the sensors from my home alarm system to my APEX Lite. Now if any of the sensors are triggered I get notification and also I am setting it up to turn lights on in the house if certain criteria is met. It works with all the sensors, like door switches, motion detectors, smoke detectors and glass break detectors, the posibilities are endless with what you can do. I am going to use X-10 to turn on house lights and devices.

This is awesome! Just some of the advanced things this controller lets you do.
 
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Ive used a Ocelot controller for a few years that could let me do the same thing. It just is not as plug and play as what you have going on. very cool implementation you have there.

FYI... In regards to X-10, i use it daily and no issues, But there is an amount of care you need to take to make sure it is reliable. for example you have to bind both legs of your power to allow communication to the entire house. Some devices are very noisy (crt tv's are one example) and will require filter's to keep from over powering your signal.
 
CloudIX said:
Ive used a Ocelot controller for a few years that could let me do the same thing. It just is not as plug and play as what you have going on. very cool implementation you have there.

FYI... In regards to X-10, i use it daily and no issues, But there is an amount of care you need to take to make sure it is reliable. for example you have to bind both legs of your power to allow communication to the entire house. Some devices are very noisy (crt tv's are one example) and will require filter's to keep from over powering your signal.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I have been using X-10 for a few years just for my home lights and a few other things. I know what you mean with the noisy devices. My low voltages lighting is one of them too. I've been pretty happy with X-10, but it is kinda flaky sometimes when lightning storms roll in :D
 
I don't have that problem. I have a filter/booster device that binds my 2 legs of power inside my breaker box. It stops any x-10 signals from entering my house or any from leaving. I guess that's why lighting don't mess with mine. Now my wife's stupid little plug-in's play havoc with mine. :)
 
What else is really cool is you can use www.reeftronics.net to actually see when the switches were triggered. I use this alot to see when my dosing pumps come on and other tank related stuff. But now I can see if anyone has opened my house doors and what times it happened at. Will be really neet with the kids, glad my parents didn't have an apex, :lol:

here is an exaple of the logs of a few of my modules on the apex that I get from reeftronics. I have like 25 modules setup now

Front_Door
03/04/2011 07:51:51 ON
03/04/2011 07:51:55 OFF
03/04/2011 12:45:48 ON
03/04/2011 12:45:52 OFF
03/04/2011 12:47:09 ON
03/04/2011 12:47:15 OFF

Glass_Break
03/04/2011 13:14:44 ON
03/04/2011 13:14:49 OFF

Heaters
03/04/2011 01:14:31 ON
03/04/2011 02:23:08 OFF
03/04/2011 03:44:40 ON
03/04/2011 05:03:33 OFF
03/04/2011 06:18:08 ON
03/04/2011 07:39:11 OFF
03/04/2011 08:57:51 ON
03/04/2011 10:10:10 OFF
03/04/2011 11:45:34 ON
03/04/2011 12:43:39 OFF

Metal_Halide
03/04/2011 13:30:00 ON

Motion_Senso
03/04/2011 11:59:03 ON
03/04/2011 11:59:10 OFF

PowerBrite_L
03/04/2011 10:30:00 ON
03/04/2011 13:31:00 OFF

Sump_Light
03/04/2011 07:52:00 ON
03/04/2011 07:52:07 OFF
03/04/2011 09:30:00 ON
 
Well since we are on the subject of automation. I have a Geovision card that hooks up to cameras around my house. When you walk in-front of them it snaps a picture of you, texts it to me. It can also trigger event's like X-10 stuff that could do something else. I can login via my phone at anytime and watch real time feed of my house or recorded events.

I think i'm going to put a cam on my tank next so i can watch my tank on my phone at anytime. Or even set it as my desktop background at work. :)
 
Funny you mention that. I have 2 HD IP cams on the way :) I have used the geovision cards in the past and they are pretty nice. I am setting up the same thing. I will have one on my tank eventually, but for now i am just using a MS webcam and ustream to monitor the tank.
 
with the new version of the geovision software, it now works with iphones and android powered phones, How cool is that. Now if i could get a little wireless submarine with a camera on it and a way to drive and view it on my phone i would be set. :D
 
That would be sweet! Dont give me any ideas, RC is my other hobby :lol:

I still have an old Geovision GV600 card. I was going to hook that up, but decieded to do IP cams. I will have to look at their new software.
 
the new software will support IP cameras as well. ive seen the option, but dont own any myself.

Let me know if you ever figure out a way to do the sub.. Been wanting that for years also, been in RC since i was a kid.

If i get me an apex, i will make sure i send him a message.
 
I still say this is beyond the realm of geekdom and definitely gets into nerdy.

:D :p

But I also agree that its cool... :lol: So maybe I'm part nerd. :eek2: Maybe...

Brandon
 
LOL, this thread seems to bring all the nerds out of the wood work. :) lets see who else chimes in, to forever be labeled as "Nerd"

My wife knows Im a nerd, she even got me a shirt that says "nerd" on the front and Booger #69 on the back (from revenge of the nerds).
 
I played with X10 a lot 5-10 years ago. Never was stable enough to trust much IMO. Had a lot of fun for small projects. I would NEVER trust X10 for anything near my tank. Heck I barely trust the power company to provide me clean power let alone do that and act as a conduit for critical communications.

I have a bunch of INSTEON devices sitting around that I have not implemented in my new house. The INSTEON seems much more reliable overall, but still suffers from X10 to some degree. in backwards compatibility.
 
NeveSSL said:
I still say this is beyond the realm of geekdom and definitely gets into nerdy.

:D :p

But I also agree that its cool... :lol: So maybe I'm part nerd. :eek2: Maybe...

Brandon
Click to expand...

I think your a nerd :thumbsup:


MVlk said:
I played with X10 a lot 5-10 years ago. Never was stable enough to trust much IMO. Had a lot of fun for small projects. I would NEVER trust X10 for anything near my tank. Heck I barely trust the power company to provide me clean power let alone do that and act as a conduit for critical communications.

I have a bunch of INSTEON devices sitting around that I have not implemented in my new house. The INSTEON seems much more reliable overall, but still suffers from X10 to some degree. in backwards compatibility.
Click to expand...

I 100% agree. I am just using it for house hold lights and such. But like CloudIX is saying, if it is a real x-10 integrated correctly and not the plug and play type, there is stability with it. I have to agree as our house in FL had it integrated and it worked pretty much flawlessly.
 
INSTEON is more reliable then x-10 for sure, Both can be made reliable. 99% of the time people experience issues with x-10 is due to noisy devices in the home or noise entering the home from outside. I know that a flaky transformer on the pole can cause issues. If you filter these devices out then its worth using. Nothing can beat a hardwired set-up.
 
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