Re: Stargate Vs other home controllers?

[MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

On 6 Jul 2005 10:28:22 -0700, "Mark Thomas" <mrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message  <1120670902.754961.79020@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

>> Stargate has analog inputs and (last I knew) the HAI line (Omni etc)
>> doesn't.
>> ...
>> HA controllers with analog inputs are intrinsically much more
>> powerful than digital-input-only controllers in my opinion -- all else
>> equal.
>
>Ah yes, I'd forgotten to mention this... this is a biggie. And in fact
>one of the reasons I eventually went with the Ocelot--a $75 add-on
>gives you 16 analog inputs.

Right. And with the Ocelot comes the need to do microprocessor programming
in an arcane proprietary language (C-max) which makes it unsuited for the
vast majority of homeowners.

When the Elk M1 -- an HAI competitor -- was introduced, I assumed that it
would have analog inputs like the Elk Magic Modules (MM443 etc). But
apparently it doesn't.

The HA controller and software systems I know of 'out there' that allow
programming of analog inputs with English language point and click from
within the main HA automation software environment are Home Control
Assistant  http://www.hcatech.com/elk.htm and Savoy's CyberHouse with Elk
MM443's. The former software has significant structural limitations (in my
dated, cursory experience) and the latter  is more than six years old --
and ~four years since it was available to end users. (I am no longer
current on Stargate JDS and other controllers with analog inputs.)

The reasons that most commercially successful HA offerings avoid analog
inputs (and analog outputs for that matter!) largely revolve around the
economics of user support of anything other than an "event" model of home
automation.

HAI/Omni and its ilk force the work of converting a continuously variable
(i.e., analog) world into "events" (triggers; on-off; 0 or 1; etc) on other
devices external to it.

But it's in the real, 'analog' world that much of the fun of  DIY HA lies.
....

Mis dos centavos ... Marc
Marc_F_Hult