Re: A mentor / Advisor ?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dean Roddey" <droddey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message > "Robert Green"
<ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> > I wouldn't invest in Zwave based on those comments and not a single one
of
> > them was made by Dave (or me, for that matter).  They were, in fact made
> > by
> > Dean Roddey, Rich of Homeseer and others.
> >
>
> To be fair, some of my negative comments were refuted, and they are based
on
> first generation stuff. As I said in that thread, maybe things have gotten
> better.

I should have made it *very* clear I wasn't looking to be fair.  I merely
wanted to dispute the claim that particular thread consisted of "mostly
positive" comments.

> You don't HAVE to use a laptop to carry around, it's just one of the
> options.

Quite an option.  Along the lines of the old saw: "It's not a bug, it's a
feature."  What's that Monty Python line: "but I don't want ANY spam!"  Nor
do I want to run around the house registering any modules for any reason.

> The other is to just carry around a Z-Wave remote control,
> add the modules to it, and then replicate that to the PC (which is
> acting as a static controller.) The remote remains the master
> controller.

I helped a very non-techie set up a peer-to-peer W2KP network recently.
"Static controller" would glaze her eyes over as quickly as any pull down in
the Network dialog of Control Panel.  One of the reasons HA hasn't
penetrated the masses is that it's too techie.

Running around with anything (my remote, my laptop or my johnson)
registering modules is, on the face of it, a step backwards.  What I found
particularly damning about this method of network configuration is that it
appears when a module fails, you get to do the re-registration dance all
over again.  Perhaps they've fixed that but it seems to have been a ritual
too oft repeated for my tastes.

> Z-Wave is far from perfect, but I think I'd choose it over Insteon. That's
> not based on personal experience (well not with Insteon, I do use Z-Wave),
> but just on reading a lot of threads on the relative merits of the two by
> people who do use them.

That's damning with faint praise!  It works out, IMHO, to saying "I'd choose
death by hanging instead of electrocution because hanging doesn't leave burn
marks."  I'd choose neither because, at the moment, and with the help of
Jeff Volp's XTB, my X-10 things are OK the way they are, maybe for the first
time in ten years.  I'm still remarkably impressed by how much the XTB has
improved my HA setup.  It's like comparing a 40MB full height Seagate
desk-shaker of the late 80's with new 500GB SATA drive.  See this site for a
tour of some golden oldies:

http://redhill.net.au/d/d-a.html

For folks that love scenes, dimming, macros and lots of other HA curlicues,
these new technologies offer substantial improvements over X-10.  Not for
me.  Especially not when it comes to having to torture nearly 70-year-old
wiring once again to switch switches in and out.

> Ideally, I'd never use any wireless or powerline scheme for something as
> important as lights and thermostats and such. But, I live in a small
> apartment and can't do otherwise for now.

I'm in total agreement.  However PLC interference *usually* can be stopped
far more readily than RF interference so I'd go PLC over RF if those were
the options.  Next time around I probably will go with a hardwired
technology, especially if I build new.

For now, X-10's dual mode approach once again serves me quite nicely.  If RF
ever becomes a problem, I can install PLC controllers where I am currently
using RF ones without heartbreak.  Since I was able to buy a carton of
minicontrollers for under $3 each, I could even wire up my own tiny
pushbutton at the side of the bed and lead the wires to a remotely hacked
minicontrollers.  That would replace the credit card controller I have
velcroed under the nightstand to control the porch lite.  I think it will be
a long time before ZWave becomes popular enough to offer a $3 controller.

So far, neither Insteon, ZWave, UPB or anyone else comes within miles of
X-10's breadth of product offerings or their price.  When that equation
changes, or when the XTB can't muscle its way through the noise anymore,
I'll look around again.

By then, ZigBee might come to life.  Bluetooth was once frowned upon here as
never going anywhere but ironically, now it's everywhere.  The HA race will
go to the protocol that gets embedded in appliances *at the factory.*
Current sensors wrapped around TV cords and washer cords just aren't going
to cut it for the non-technical users of HA.

The basic problem of X-10 technology in the new age of CFL's and switching
power supplies has been signal strength.  Jeff's invention solved that very
neatly for me.  My only complaint is that X-10 hasn't tried to boost the
signals on stock modules, although they may be size constrained if I
understood Jeff correctly.  The components needed to generate a strong
signal are too large to fit in a standard transmitter casing like the
maxi/mini controllers and the CM11A.  But that's a minor issue since I can
"turbocharge" my existing transmitters for a price that's very attractive
compared to switching to a new protocol.

I've not had any device failures using the XTB other than the failure of a
Decora AHT RF module, but that probably had to do with it taking a nasty
fall from the top of a bookcase to hardwood floor!  It was a blessing in
disguise because a very nagging "turn back on" problem with the bathroom
lights disappeared when the Decora unit died.  Maybe Jeff's XTB's are like
STNG's "exocomps."  They realized the Decora was screwing up the works and
they pushed it off the shelf.  Maybe I've been watching too many repeats of
"Small Soldiers" with my nephew.  (-:

--
Bobby G.