Re: plea from poor X10 user

[Keith Doxey <keith.doxey@xxxxxxx>]

Hi John,

I have noted your comments about the get together and will keep you and
everyone else posted.

I know exactly what you mean about some of the numbers involved.
I am in the fortunate position of being able to play with a lot of this
stuff as part of my day to day job. I am also in the unfortunate position
that the majority of it is outside my budget. I know exactly what I want if
I had the money, but my chosen video projector is about 21 grand at retail
(Barco Graphics 808S) which is about 3 grand less than my house is worth. I
dont have a 3 bedroom semi....just a 2 up 2 down total area about 500sq.ft.

My fastest PC is a Cyrix 266. I would love to have the latest P3 550
throbber sitting on my desk but I cant afford it or justify the expense.
Also the machines I have are fast enough for what I do on them anyway. (The
one thing I am totally useless at is playing computer games !!)

My automation at the moment is pretty limited consisting of
1 x CM12U
3 x Lamp Modules
2 x Appliance Modules
and a HomeVision which isnt properly used yet as I am still experimenting
with its many capabilities.
And yes.....my washing machine, tumble drier and dishwasher are all on
timeswitches and have been for about 8 years.

The whole point of MP3 is that it is much cheaper and infinately more
flexible than a CD Jukebox.
You only encode the tracks you like, and you play what you want, where you
want. If you only have a single PC then use that, If you upgrade to a new
machine then you can use the old one, the new one or both if networked and
play different songs in different rooms. Run out of space...add another
hard disk, 10gig for around 100 quid giving another 2500 tracks. If they
were 20 track compilation CDs you would need a player for another 125
disks.

The whole purpose behind my involvement in Home Automation is to get all
the High End features I desire but without spending loads of money. I
intend to make some of the gadgets I design available to others to aid them
in their automation and to help finance mine. The biggest problem I have
with that is not enough time to do all the things I want to do, and the
fact that many things are only cheaper when you do them yourself. If I cost
in my time to some of the ideas I have come up with then it ends up costing
the same as the off the shelf items but to ME it is cheaper. I am looking
at ways of bringing the cost down though. For example if I build 100 of
something the component costs plummet compared to the one off price.

Please dont get disillusioned, there are many others who probably feel the
same as you. As technology advances then things do get cheaper, the biggest
stumbling block we have is that Home Automation is still very much a niche
market in the UK and until it becomes mainstream them many things will be
out of our reach.

Keith

Keith Doxey
http://www.btinternet.com/~krazy.keith
Krazy Keith's World of DIY Home Automation

-----Original Message-----
From:	JHigson222@xxxxxxx [SMTP:JHigson222@xxxxxxx]
Sent:	Monday, July 26, 1999 7:30 AM
To:	ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Cc:	JHigson222@xxxxxxx
Subject:	[ukha_d] Re: plea from poor X10 user

Hi all

Don't take this the wrong way fellas - but -
TVs at ?4995 - all this tech talk about MP3 - houses which look like rivals
to Buck palace!

is there anybody on this group a bit more down to earth - like with a 3 bed
semi - a simple X10 mini-timer with 4 appliance units & the odd stand
alone
plug-in timer from B&Q
not to mention a TV & video that has seen better days (probably about
to
celebrate their 10th birthday)

please, this is not a flame (though there's some jealousy creeping in a
little bit <GRIN>)

seriously though is there anybody on the list up too (or is it down too) my
level who has a few ideas us more simple souls could try and/or chat about

the idea of the HA get together sounding great fun, but I'm beginning to
think I might be a little out of my depth (coming from just north of
Manchester could I put in a vote for the midlands as the meeting point - or
even Manchester <GRIN>)

good luck with the projects lads
all the best
John
(phew - I'm glad I got that of my chest)

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