Recent content by speacock

I've found I favor SA switches because the green/blue LEDs are a bit more subtle than the blue/red of PCS. Definitely test them in a dark bedroom. However SA has a protruding LED tab that can be felt if you hit the upper rocker with a glancing blow. PCS 6 button keypads have an IR target that...

Google Earth 5.0 shows an Imagery date tag at the bottom of the window. Not a direct solution, but same source data.

The Elk is the panel which I favor. If you are planning for complex rule sets you may run out of room in both the Elk and the HAI. The competition for the hometroller would probably be CQC and Premise. Both can be loaded on low power XP box.

I found Insteon devices were acceptable, however I didn't care for the appearance of the keypads. If you do go Insteon I feel the ISY-99 controller is mandatory. Doing the peer-peer config is unpleasant. UPStart for UPB makes setup and changes very easy. However the manufacturers use different...

Axis makes a nice pair of units. 209FD and 209MFD. http://www.axis.com/products/video/camera/...domes/index.htm I've been happy with our installs. Sean

I find the cost is in the labor, not the wire. If you run four wire cable in a daisy chain layout you could get three sets of contacts with minimal additional cost while still allowing you to convert back to single zone if you wished. The one advantage you might gain would be the ability to...

Success. Swapped two breakers and moved another two down into open slots. Now all is better, at least until the noise generator gets moved to the other phase. :rolleyes:

Steve, Any opinion on PCS vs Web Mountain for noise immunity? PCS has some nice features, but Web mountain SW-7s are cheaper. Signal strength is not the issue. An appliance module directly plugged into the PIM with level 14 noise was almost completely unreachable. One out of eight on/off codes...

LightenUP, I checked on Fri around noon and the noise was gone. However it was back that night. Gives me hope it is a TOD thing. The building has a bunch of CFL and other lights on timers that might be the issue. If not, only five other units to check. <sigh> I bumped transmit repeats up to...

I live in a six unit condo and just installed six US1-40 and three US2-40 switches on Saturday. During install there was zero noise and comms were perfect. Monday night I got hit with severe noise, average 15-18. Plugged into an outlet under the main panel with all other breakers turned off I...

Craftmade offers a universal remote kit called the UC2000 that appears to be RF based. I'm looking at hacking it to four outputs on my Elk for fan control. Same should be possible with a UMI or two. The disadvantage is the battery replacement requirement, but no risk of dramatic mistakes...

I have the Add-a-Motor. I'd consider it decent, but not great. What you do is you set two mechanical stops on the face of the unit that flip a toggle switch. When power is applied the motor runs until it hits the stop, toggling the switch. Next time power is applied it will reverse (if it has...

My understanding is that own vs. lease is nothing more than an accounting trick to make the numbers look better. Giving away or heavily discounting boxes appears to be cash flow out. But if you lease the boxes then you can carry them on your balance sheet as equipment. No appearance of cash out...

One big issue is that DirecTV uses non-standard methods and frequencies to combine the orbital locations. You'd need custom diplexers and possibly LNBs to emulate the integrated LNB/switch unit. The older AT9 dish uses an integrated LNB for 99/101/103 with a cabled sidecar for 110/119. You...

HR20 = silver DVR with onboard OTA HD tuner HR21 = black DVR w/o onboard tuner