RE: The SWMBO is RIGHT! RE: Power triggering

["Kenneth Watt" <kennwatt@xxxxxxx>]

This makes the point rather well actually.

No matter how you want to slice it, we (for the most part) have kit in
our homes that is not the accepted norm. To operate in this environment
you need some technical knowledge or expertise and to most laypersons
that are beyond them at the moment as they either cannot see the
benefits or simply do not want to.

Visitors to my house are told, "Just walk into a room and the lights
will come on and there is no need to touch a switch". At the last
party
we held the shower was switched off and I got a hell of fright one
morning (almost followed by two clangs as bits fell off me), some clown
thought that the pullswitch was for the lights and wondered why they
would not switch off. So what hope have you got if people cannot even
adhere to one simple instruction?

To be fair though SWMBO has gotten used to the fact that she hardly ever
needs to switch on lights etc. especially when she is carrying about the
kid now, so she now realises the benefits more than she did a year ago.
She also very much likes the security aspect of the house looking
occupied, which was one of the reasons I started on X10 stuff.

As for house sitting...I shudder to think how I'd organise that with
anyone other than a couple of mates that do know how to use the system.
But then, it's almost totally automatic (which was the point) so a house
sitter is not *really* needed.

K.

> those ten days show my point...
>
> On day 3, the TM12 locked up, disabling all the HR10s. The appliance
> module
> in the TM12 was running the fishtank lights, which stayed on for the
next
> week, causing an Algae bloom, and killing three fish. The housesitter
had
> no
> idea how to switch the lights off, and the complexity of the house
made
> them
> fearful of "breaking something"
>
> Day 5 someone made a mistake and closed the curtains manually at
night, so
> the "toggle" schedule threw them out of sync, and the
confusing fact
that
> the curtains were off when the button was pressed again left the
occupants
> confused, and annoyed. The curtains were still out of sync when we got
> back.
>
> On day 7, the NT Server crashed, disabling the MP3 jukebox, email etc.
The
> housesitters had no *clue* what was wrong.
>
> I remember someone interviewing airline pilots flying the new glass
panel
> A320, and the pilots frequently commented that they had no idea what
"it"
> was doing. They actively distrusted and disliked the plane because
they
> felt
> that they were not in control of it.
>
> My experience of non-UKHA members in an X-10 house is pretty much
that:
> they
> feel totally out of control, as "it" does things around
them, like it
or
> not.
>
> Ian.
>