RE: Re: Motorola Homesight Wireless Easy Start Kit

["Ian Lowe" <ianlowe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Got one of these today from PC World - quite interesting, but
ultimately no=
t
that useful I fear.
=20
I'm being quite delicate with mine, as it will probably find itself on
ebay=
.
=20
On the face of it, not a half bad product actually - the install was
painless enough, with the usual Run CD, plug in USB. the base station has
t=
o
be plugged in and configured first. Once the base station is up and running
(with a helpful status LED to tell you so) you can begin registering
devices. I purchased the add on key pad unit (19.99) along with the starter
kit.
=20
The software goes into discovery mode, at which point you press the
"discover" button on each sensor. it finds the new serial number
then
registers the device with the system. the wireless camera registered okay,
and popped a picture of my shed up pretty much as expected. the software
ap=
p
lets you enable or disable the motion sensor (each camera has a PIR).
=20
the magnetic door sensor works nicely too - a magnet is supplied that lines
up with the "hot" area on the sensor - it's not actually marked,
which is a
little odd, but it's easy enough to figure out.
=20
The keypad isn't actually a keypad at all, but an ibutton interface with
tw=
o
keyfob ibuttons supplied. These are also registered with the system, so it
won't just roll over for anyone with an ibutton. the keypad is a bit
confused. you press your ibutton which activates the panel (the event log
o=
n
the software shows this happen, but annoyingly, you can't actually raise an
event on a button being "read") at which point,  you can press
"home" or
"away" buttons, which will either arm or disarm the system.
=20
Ultimately, the problem is the software. It's hideous, a clunky affair that
just doesn't do enough. There's no way to interface this to anything else,
so it becomes yet another closed system that doesn't do enough on it's own,
and refuses to talk to anything else!
=20
there are options to send an SMTP mail when events happen, which might give
a (one way) mechanism to interact with the system, but even there the
event=
s
that you can trigger an email on are limited.
=20
Annoying, as it could easily have been a great addition to an HA system...
if only they would open it up. It looks like their business model is pretty
much "lock in" - except that their range simply isn't wide
enough. I have
approached Motorola to ask about an SDK that allows the system to be opened
up, but it's not looking good. others have met the stonewall in the past,
o=
r
been sent to the (short) list of add on components.
=20
A quick google seems to show the classic story - this product was
introduce=
d
at the =A3200 mark, failed to attract any attention at all, dropped to a
mo=
re
reasonable price and introduced a couple of extra modules but was still
"just another lock in", and is now being disposed of at clearance
prices
through PC World, whilst quietly shuffling to the back of Motorola's
websit=
e
under the "ginger stepkid" section.
=20
It might suit someone who was happy to have disparate systems doing their
own thing and not really coming together, but as a more general home
automation component... next!
=20
Ian.
=20


_____=20=20

From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Mark McCall
Sent: 25 August 2006 10:01
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Re: Motorola Homesight Wireless Easy Start Kit



Thanks Eddie - added this deal to News page.

M.

> http://www.automate
<http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/article1719.html>
dhome.co.uk/article1719.html
>
> I've never used one myself, I've been put off by the requirement to
> have a windows pc on 24/7.
>
> Cheers
>
> Steve



=20


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