RE: SWMBO and HA

["Rob Mouser" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> What has your experience been with acceptance of HA at home?

Unless you have one of those rare "geek" wives.....Give up now!
;-)

> I have dabbled for a few years now with X10 and various multimedia
> features, we even use a Kiosk PC in the kitchen for recipies etc.

Nice try, going with the recipe angle but alas probably futile :-)

> I am currently starting to commission various features with a second
> user Comfort system. I Think it is all great but I am struggling with
> SWMBO.

You mean you only struggle with SWMBO on HA? What about all those other
things such as loosing your socks?

> I guess the first problem was leaving the mother in law's phone
> number as the first dial out. It was three days before she told me my
> alarm had been calling her about some "trouble or other"
every 30
> min, for days! I had not installed it yet, it was under my desk!
> things could get worse! If she failed to call even me never min the
> police I gues this feature has limited value!

Are you mad? Using the outlaws for any form of backup or redundancy is
doomed to failure! Just comfort yourself with the knowledge that when
SWMBO gets old she will look like her mother.

> Also she is less than impressed that the house looks like a Swiss
> cheese, I have dry lined walls and I promised it was easy to hide the
> odd CAT5 cable but I have made quite a mess in some places :-)

Mess? This is your role! Has she not read any of the manuals? RTFM!

> I guess my main problem is trying to do things myself as this is more
> a hobby than anything else at the moment, trying to produce a decent
> result in a few spare hours a week is difficult with a young family
> always asking for time.
>
> Also looking further ahead I think that my home HA will be thinking
> more of Turing off appliances that are not being used than any other
> form of intelligence! What got me started in the first place was the
> fact that SWMBO could not understand that a light switch can be
> turned off as well as on!

There is a very simple solution to the light turning off
solution........give her the electric bill to pay from her own money :-)
When I lived with my parents I never turned off a light, now I have to
pay the bill I turn them off continuously!

> That brings me to the ultimate in HA
> facilities, has anyone designed a SWMBO feedback traffic light ( for
> what ever purpose) that gives a clear green/amber/red feedback
> solution. This would be worth its weight in gold! :-)

Ok, Ok I was just having some fun.....no really honest I was!
I think the mistake you are making is by thinking this is a SWMBO
problem. Alas like the vast majority of this list you are I fear a
"geek" or at least a borderline geek or at the very least like
99.9% of
all blokes.........a gadget freak!

I do have a solution:

All decisions regarding HA need to wrapped up in a few simple points:

You need my simple Dr Rob three step plan.....

- It must appear to add aesthetic value to your home. I.e. You don't
want intelligent lighting for ensuring SWMBO turns the light off, you
actually want it for scene setting, dinner parties or helping with
tasks.

Secondly.....

- It must delivery genuine time savings or improve "us" (or in
your case
"family") time. I.e. You need the laptop in the lounge so you
spend less
time in the study.

Thirdly.....

- It must deliver financial value. I.e. Those appliance modules will
save X pounds in bills which you can instead spend on *** (Insert
something SWMBO wants or desires).

What I'm really trying to say is you need to remember the absolute
golden rule of selling....

"Sow the seed create the need" it's the foundation of
"customer needs
related selling". Oh and one last point, remember the golden rule of
marketing....

"repetition, repetition, repetition" Or in other words "nag
the feck out
of her until she just gives in and agrees for a quiet life!".

Thank you for posting a question that has prevented me for another 5
minutes from actually working on the contract I'm writing.

Right where's the Chablis.....

Rob