Re: HomeEasy Wireless Home Automation - Review

[Mal Lansell <mal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Heh - not sure I like my xPLMonkey apps being referred to as
"baffling
Windows nonsense", but I guess I should appreciate the shout at least
;-)

But on the subject of HomeEasy and PC control, I've bought pretty much
every HomeEasy device, and have been testing with the RFXCOM receivers
and transmitters.

It seems that every dimmer or switch module can be controlled by the
DomiaLite (aka KlikOn-KlikOff) protocol as sent by the RFXCOM
transmitter.  This makes sense, since some of the HomeEasy remotes use
this protocol too (HE-200 Timer Remote and the HE-403 Outdoor PIR).
This means you can already control everything with an RFXCOM
transmitter, in the same way as you would X10 RF devices - i.e
on/off/bright/dim.

However, if you want to be able to send a command to set a dimmer to an
exact level (rather than just dim / bright commands), that requires the
use of the second RF protocol employed by all the other HomeEasy
transmitters (keyfob, stick-on wall switches, Ultimate remote etc).  A
new RFXCOM transmitter should be available in the near future which will
be capable of sending commands in this format.

The RFXCOM receiver will pick up commands from the DomiaLite-compatible
HomeEasy transmitters (HE-200 Timer Remote and the HE-403 Outdoor PIR),
but not the others which use the new protocol.  With that in mind,
HomeEasy looks like a great budget solution operating independently of a
PC, but with the PC able to send out it's own commands.  If you don't
need every user command to go via the computer for potential blocking or
modification, then HomeEasy may well be the X10 replacement you've been
waiting for.

Mal









Mark McCall wrote:
>
> Submission by Ant (in his usual entertaining style!)
>
> This morning I was primed to settle down to a normal day's work when
Chaos
> on the UK Home Automation IRC Channel mentioned something about
"B&Qs
> HomeEasy automation stuff", and that pretty much put paid to the
rest of
> the morning. We turfed up the website but there was precious little
> information on there besides the usual marketing guff. So, time for an
> in-depth review for Automated Home. Is this the successor to X10 I've
> been looking for? Read on to find out and check out the rest of the
> photos and the video...
>
> http://tinyurl.com/3bxbjv <http://tinyurl.com/3bxbjv>
>
> M.
>
>