Re: On and off topic... recovering a pine table and when Home seerfailed...

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx>]

Mark,

Phew! what a saga...

A couple of things...

Mini-timers on the bedside.. - Agree totally, they are not configurable
enough to use as a standalone alarm clock. I use mine purely as an
interface
to my wake-up alarm, which is an event in Homeseer (I have an announcement
speaker hidden behind my headboard). this gives great flexibility - I
already have seperate weekday/weekend settings, and an easy method of
cancelling the next days alarm (say for instance if I am having a day
"working at home" during the week) - I just have to remember to
press the
button when I retire the previous evening, and the following days alarm is
cancelled. I also have a method of reprogrimming the time from the
minitimer, which works, but is not particularly friendly:- I use an event
triggered by one of the minitimer buttons, which then speaks the current
alarm time, and subsequent presses of bright/dim advance or retard the
alarm
time by 15 minutes, speaking the new time after each press... That's OK for
changing by an hour so, but can get laborious to make longer adjustments.
Also I can't set the alarm to *any* time I want, just 00/15/30/45 mins past
the hour... (but that's been good enough for me so far!)

Homeseer PC crashing: - it's a fact of life, PC's are not 100% reliable,
PC's running Windows especially so. The only thing you can do is to accept
that, and devise a strategy to handle it. In my case, I have built a
rudimentary "cluster", by which I mean I have a second instance
of Homeseer
installed on another PC which is also on 24/7 (my main LAN server), the
sole
purpose of which is to monitor the function of the HA PC. This it does by
"pinging" it with an X10 signal (so it verifies the CM12 as well,
which can
also be prone to locking up). The HA PC *must* reply to the
"ping" within 30
seconds, or it is deemed to be down. If the monitoring server decides the
HA
PC is down, it:
a) tries to reboot it, - the HA pc is on an AM12, so the monitoring PC
power-cycles it, waits 10 mins (for the boot to finish), and then starts
"pinging" it again...
b) If it can't resurrect the HA PC by a power-cycle, it takes over all the
critical functions itself. - I configure identical events on the monitoring
PC (actually I just copy the original HDV file), which are all set as
disabled. when this PC decides it has to take over, it just runs an event
which re-enables all those events.

There are a couple of limitations to this...

I can't duplicate events on the monitoring PC which are dependent on
hardware, such as IR events, Comfort events, temperature events, and so on,
as I have not duplicated all that hardware on the monitoring PC. - I have
deemed those to be non-critical anyway. What I am able to ensure continues
are things like security lighting programs when I'm away, visitor logging,
waking me up, TURNING THE IRON OFF! and so on...

I do have to make sure that if I configure any new events on the HA PC, and
i want them to continue in the event of a failure of that PC, I must
remember to also configure an identical event on the 2nd PC, and set it as
disabled.

All the time the 2nd PC is functioning as the HA PC, it is still continuing
to "ping" the main HA PC, and if it sees it come back online at
any time,
then it will "fail back" to standby mode by just disabling all
those events
again...

In this way, I can be pretty sure that I will always have a functioning HA
pc taking care of the core critical functions, even if I lose the
"fluff",
such as the Jukebox, voice announcements, and so on.. - the chances of both
of those PC's going down simultaneously must be pretty slim, and most
likely
to be caused by external factors such as a house-wide power failure anyway,
in which case the whole point becomes moot.

Food for thought?....

Paul G.





>From: "Mark Hetherington" <mark.egroups@xxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
>To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
>Subject: [ukha_d] On and off topic... recovering a pine table and when
Home
>seer failed...
>Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 23:44:53 -0000
>
>Although some of this is off topic, the prevention is very relevant so
I
>thought I would share this with everyone.
>
>Today I had to fly to Denmark for a meeting. The flight was due out of
>Luton
>at 8.30 am so the boss had the great idea of meeting at work at 5am to
>begin
>the journey. I guess it made sense because of traffic and that but it
was
>the first factor in this sometimes stupid, sometimes tragic story and
yet
>lucky story.
>
>I went to bed earlier than normal, and as is always the case when you
>*have*
>to get up on time, sleep was more than usually elusive and the hours
ticked
>by with me getting none. The (normal) alarm clock was set for a 4am
wakeup.
>Since I was up when the house began it's auto nighttime modes I was
aware
>of
>the fact that the HA PC was no longer in control of the house. What it
was
>doing who knows so this merely adds to the jumble of thoughts running
>through my mind. I plan to reboot Holly when I get up so it will be
back to
>normal.
>
>Anyway, at some point I finally managed to drop off and awake to find
the
>alarm clock attempting to play a none existent radio signal. I had made
the
>mistake of enabling buzzer and radio (which isn't tuned) and the radio
>decided to take priority. Now I have minutes to do everything I need to
>before leaving the house but it is still doable... just.
>
>As always when in a hurry I couldn't find things and had to rush
more... my
>mum saying 'more haste less speed' runs through my mind but is neither
help
>not comfort :)
>
>The only decent trousers I can find desperately need ironing so sleepy,
>rushed and well I guess a little panicked, I decide to try and iron
>trousers
>at 4.30am. The iron wouldn't steam didn't seem to get up to it's usual
>temperature and made very little impact on the trousers... yet another
>'what
>else can go wrong already' and me praying this was not a sign for the
day.
>
>...
>
>The ellipses are important since it covers the rest of the mad panic
>between
>me ironing and the rest of the day. It will make sense later.
>
>I am finally ready to leave and when I come to start the car, I find
that
>we
>had a night of freezing rain so the windscreen is covered in a thick
layer
>of ice. So now I need to find de-icer and scrapers. OK, I know,
everyone
>has
>done that so I won't go into the pain of it... lost the best part of 30
>minutes to the damn stuff.
>
>So finally I arrive at work to meet up with the others and we begin the
>journey. I should have wondered why I didn't have that usual forgotten
>something feeling but didn't.
>
>Part way down the M1, "did I turn off the iron" springs to
mind. I had no
>way to check and there was nothing I could do about it for a long time
and
>amazingly I managed to put it out of my mind.
>
>While waiting for the plane to be de-iced, I thought about it again and
>mentioned it to someone, joking that I hoped the house would not catch
fire
>but inwardly hoping that being a reasonably modern iron, the iron would
>fail
>before any serious damage could possibly occur. The guy I was talking
to
>laughed at my "joke" but was no reassurance.
>
>Best get to the point I guess <g> ...so we get to Denmark, come
back and in
>the end it takes me another hour before checking the iron.
>
>Now the ellipses come into play :) It was left on. I had imagined that
I
>had
>left the iron on it's end but either I didn't or it fell over. In my
rush I
>was using the dining room table rather than getting the ironing board
out.
>I
>lift up the iron to find a perfect iron shaped black burn on the
>tablecloth... removing the tablecloth shows a seemingly very effective
iron
>shaped burn in the solid wood pine table that was my dining table. The
wood
>was very hot but for whatever reason had not reached flashpoint, so I
guess
>the happy ending is that a combination of sleep, stupidity, speed and
>laziness for the sake of speed did not lead to the potential disaster
it
>might.
>
>Why do I share this "I am a twit" story with you all?
>
>Well, a few reasons to get us straight back on topic:
>
>1) Had Home seer not crashed, locked up, given up, whatever it did...
it
>could have turned the iron off along with other appliances it had
chosen to
>ignore. (I am not sure exactly what it did since the first thing I did
>tonight was a power off reset). If you know the controller crashed,
reset
>it
>now not tomorrow.
>
>2) To be honest 1 would rely on me having used an appliance module and
>having a useful way to allow it to be turned on at an arbitrary time
like
>say 4.30am. This very socket has an AM12 sitting on the shelf nearby
that
>is
>dedicated to it but rarely used due to lack of being able to have a
decent
>local method of turning it on and being able to forget it later.
>
>3) Mini timers suck as alarm clocks since they are not very
configurable
>(i.e. no more than your average alarm clock) but would be a great way
to
>interface to the main PC from a "local" source if they were
more
>configurable. Separate weekend settings at a minimum (daily for best
but
>should be optional since most people need weekday/weekend differences),
yes
>this can be done with a more intelligent controller but the mini timer
>seems
>ideally placed to offer a local simple interface. A just for
today/tomorrow
>setting that would be lost after use. Throw away old alarms clocks in a
HA
>installation so you do not rely on even worse technology than that on
which
>you spent all this money installing.
>
>Both of these show a major failing of HA either in my implementations
or my
>view of what is possible/usable within the house. Every advantage that
I
>want from HA that I can implement I have tried to, but I try not to
>automate
>something in such a way that makes it harder than a manual method
(hence
>the
>lack of an active AM12 to prevent today's events. Even with an AM12 in
>place, the HA PC crash unautomated my entire house in a single stroke.
So
>my
>HA implementation requires more reliability and redundancy. Comments on
how
>others have achieved reliability/redundancy are requested.
>
>
>My immediate (and OT) problems are a ruined table cloth which I know is
>sort
>of "irreplaceable" since it was an IKEA purchase and I know
from when I
>tried to obtain a "spare", they had stopped doing the range
as they tend to
>do for anything you want to have spares/extras of.
>
>The iron is likely damaged beyond repair. I thank Morphy Richards for
>whatever (if any) protection mechanisms cut in during the last 18 hours
to
>not burn down my home but since it did not seem to be working properly
when
>I was using it this morning, it could well have already had a fault
rather
>than it being a protection mechanism so maybe I am thanking them for it
>breaking this morning but either way it seems part of what saved my
house.
>
>More importantly however, the table although not antique is quite old
so in
>the "indeterminable interim" and definitely not your modern
rubbish either
>but is (or was) a *very* solid pine table (which probably also helped
>protect me). However, the most important thing is it is not mine but on
a
>sort of long term loan. If anyone has any idea how to recover/restore
the
>damage, please let me know.
>
>BTW, I have never claimed for anything on home insurance and only
looked
>into one thing that was not covered (garden fencing) but found things I
had
>paid for myself were covered (burst pipes etc). Any thoughts on whether
the
>house insurance will pay out (i.e. give me back some of my ongoing
premiums
>I have no choice about paying while never being able to claim even
though
>other people seem to get new carpets out of home insurance just because
>someone sneezed three streets away in it's general direction) in
>compensation for this event? If so, should it affect premiums?
>
>If I ever pick up an iron again in my life (I hated it anyway and now
>nearly
>burned my house down with one) I have a few basic safety rules just
based
>on
>today that I will never forget:
>
>1) Obviously turn the damn thing off, but most of the list is how to
>prevent
>not doing so from causing too much damage.
>2) Iron the day/night before... you won't get up and ironing sleepy is
too
>risky.
>3) Always use an ironing board - even if not completely fire/burn proof
>they
>are more so than other surfaces and ultimately it is metal underneath.
>4) Always stand an iron on it's end and make sure it always stays
there.
>(Not sure today whether it was me or a tipping of the iron that led to
it
>being face down.
>5) If you want to break the rules, use a solid pine table and a
possibly
>faulty iron and you have around 18 hours of grace with minimal damage.
>6) If you burn a pine table make sure it is your own.
>7) When you are halfway to Denmark and know that someone has the
ability to
>go round to the house to check (key and alarm code), just ring them and
ask
>them, don't think it would be too much trouble or how foolish it would
seem
>if you hadn't. It would probably have saved me a table at least and in
>worst
>case the house.
>8) Automate the iron and make it impossible to operate in any other
way.
>Even with the worst control system in the world, safety first.
>...
>The list goes on but I think it is obvious I am now paranoid about the
iron
>:)
>
>Anyway, I think I have got it all out of my system for now. To anyone
who
>reads all of this, thanks. Comments and responses to my questions are
very
>welcome.
>
>Mark.
>
>P.S. Since it came up in the story, I did have a very good day in
Denmark
>but talking about it would take me even further off topic so I tried to
>minimise such content.
>


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