Re: Guest Friendly Homes

["Malcolm Lansell" <mlansell@xxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark McCall" <lists@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Guest Friendly Homes

> The ultimate goal is perhaps to need no user intervention at all and
hence
> remove the guest question entirely.
>
> M.
>

I was thinking about the things that guest will always have to deal with -
lights, sound, vision etc, not configuring the email server (I don't want
them near that)!

I'll give an example from my experience (this is a bit long, but I'm pissed
off because the X10 stuff isn't all that cheap, and it never seems to work
quite as advertised):

/rant on

I wanted to add remote controlled light dimming in the bathroom - or
rather,
SWMBO wanted it :-).  Obviously the lights also need to come on via a
switch, as well as by remote.  I chose X10 because I could apply it to
other
lights too, and have computer control for when we are away.

Because it's a bathroom, normal switches are out, but the X10 DIN dimmer
has
an input for momentary switch, so I replaced the normal on/off pull switch
for a retractive one and wired it up.

Unfortunately, the X10 dimmer has "improved" firmware, fading the
lights up
to the remembered brightness, rather than coming on full as soon as the
cord
is pulled.  Guests pull the cord again, because in the first second or so
it
doesn't seem like anything is happening.  The second pull freezes the fade
up, leaving the bathroom dimly lit.  That level is now remembered.

The next attempt was with the wired dimming module.  This doesn't have an
input from a switch, so I had to use a micromodule to send read the switch
and send a signal to the dimmer.  Now there is a huge delay, and guests
turn
the light off again trying to get it to work.

I also have an appliance module switching the transformer for the 12v
shower
light.  It's controlled by the same pull switch, but for some reason, it
treats dim/bright commands as on/off instead of ignoring them.  If someone
dims the main bathroom lights using the pull cord, the shower light goes
off.  The two sets of lights are now out of sync - operating the pull cord
again results in the main lights going off and the shower light coming on
(or vice-versa).

It leaves guests thinking that HA is crap.

If only the X10 modules worked in a sensible manner, there would not be a
problem.  All I would need is an X10 dimmer that has a switch input, and
doesn't do the fade up nonsense, but the powers that be don't make it. 
I'll
probably make my own, but it shows how what seems like a nice idea (fading
the lights up) can be rubbish in practice.  If a light is switched on by a
switch, it should come on imediately, and at full brightness (or at the
preset level), not fade up.  Fading should be reserved for remote control.

/rant off

And that's just a mere lightswitch.
I hate to think of the problems users could have with my streaming AV
setup!

Mal