Re: A mentor / Advisor ?

["news.comcast.net" <acoutinhobass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Running around with anything (my remote, my laptop or ...)
> registering modules is, on the face of it, a step backwards.

I have to wonder how often the average user will need to remove a module
from his system.  Just about any system will require initial registration of
all components.  I can see a DIYer periodically adding a component or three.
But removing modules should be a rare exercise for *most* users.  If it
takes 30 minutes in a big system and you have to do it once every few years,
that doesn't seem much of a problem.  For the vast majority, even adding
modules isn't going to be a frequent event.

On the down side of Inteon is the serious lack of third party manufacturing
support.  Any proprietary product that is available only through a single
source is a ticking time bomb.  Sooner or later they *will* drop the line.
When they do, every Insteon project becomes an over-priced X10 kit.

BTW, I resent the implication of Mr. Houston that my recommendation of Zwave
are profit-motivated.  He deliberately misled the other poster since he is
aware that I don't market Zwave.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

========================>
Bass Home Electronics
Online DIY Alarm & Automation Store
941-866-1100
www.BassBurglarAlarms.com
=========================>






"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:zKudnaetRZiFpc_YnZ2dnUVZ_vCdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx
> "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.
>
 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.
>
>
>
>
>