Recent content by erasei

I just wanted to chime in to this very old thread and thank the people who commented and shared this great idea. I just implemented this on my own over the weekend and it turned out great! I wrote up a full post on it on my own garden blog over at erasei.com. As you can see in the photo, i'm...

Oh... something else I thought about.. maybe someone with some x10 clue can help me out. The x10 cm17a firecracker is just a little serial dongle.. any ideas if it is possible to pass arbitrary data into the cm17a to be transmitted out, and thus picked up by the w800? Something like Housecode:S...

I figured as much, but thanks for confirming. Based on that.. I think I have to fall back to Plan B. Make it myself. I have the w800 which receives all of the 32-bit x10 codes. I went online and tracked down a variable 300-933mhz transceiver IC module that retails for $12. Couple that with a...

After having my HA system set up about a year now (w800rf32, cm11a, linux server, motion sensors, window/door sensors, various lights and appliances, and garage doors) it's time to start on Phase 2 of the master plan. Environmental awareness and landscaping control. As with my current setup...

My wife loves the new american gladiators.. so the big daddy server is called Titan, and the sexy htpc is Crush. On the web interfaces for both I have a picture of the american gladiator they are named after. THis works well for all concerned.. she gets to visually see the server she is...

Hey, I did the same thing you did. I bought the firecracker kit on x10.com many years ago, and I played around with it a little here and there, but I was either still living at home with my folks or in various apartment buildings where the electrical system was hit or miss. Now that I'm...

Thanks for that link, it certainly explains the raw data coming out of the serial port. Using 'heyu monitor' i get something different.. I get this.. 07/06 21:32:25 Poll received unknown value (96 bytes), leading byte = ff 07/06 21:32:25 Poll received unknown value (1 bytes), leading byte = 9f...

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, whether or not you were celebrating anything :o I spent mine with a concrete saw and a jackhammer.. running plumbing for a new bathroom remodel in the basement. Wheee. Anyway, in my downtime I'm working on getting the W800 set up. I run a home linux...

Honestly I don't know if we have just a fan. We just bought the house May 1 and I'm already in the middle of a bathroom remodel.. changing the downstairs half bath into a full bath, complete with having to jackhammer a drain trench across the floor.. wheee. Great ideas though. It would make a...

I've looked over the HowTos but I'll go back and do more indepth reading. Thanks for the pointer in that direction. Those would probably work well. I really only need about an inch of travel, then just hold it for a few minutes, and release. I haven't tested it but i don't see why not. My...

Oh I definitely have to consider the WAF, but thankfully my Acceptance Factor is pretty high. She's not as avid a geek as I am, but she is definitely a geek. For 'private' areas of the house its pretty much anything-goes.. I really only have to 'reel it in' when its in the entertaining areas...

Yeah, battery leaking would be really bad on the cigars, but drilling into my high dollar humidor is almost as unpleasant, and its a 'sure thing' and the leaking battery is 'might happen someday' thing. I figured I would investigate sealed batteries to see if I could use one of those. I might...

After writing this post, I realize I get a little 'far out' in some of my questions or thoughts. I don't know if there is a 'dude you're too weird for us' section in this forum, but mods can feel free to move this post if they so choose. Do any of you guys roll your own control interface for...

I thought the powerflash module just detected stuff coming on and off? Would an Appliance module not do the job? I'm not well versed on the different modules just yet. I'd been considering something kind of like this but actually using an auger hadn't occured to me. Not at bad idea at all. I...

I'm not really into the whole 'weather' thing yet, so all those Oregon Scientific sensors don't appeal to me. I live in a fairly large city so the local internet weather is accurate enough for me. My "garden" consists of a 10x4' raised bed.. so it isn't exactly hard to keep track of (ie, i don't...