Re: fingerprint door looks

["Josepi" <J.R.M.@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

LOL You're a control freak!

I never gave my kids any keys. They entered through the garage with a
standard wireless keypad, into the mudroom with a mechanical, autolocking,
programmable  combo lock (was brutally expensive years ago). The only danger
in a storm or bad weather was a power failure to enter the garage. We had a
garage door key hidden under the deck for them...may be still there??...LOL

WIth the combo locks the first thing their friends do is to try to beat them
and spy when they press the code in. The kids also like to show off to their
friends and show them. First hint of that and the combos were changed each
time. They grow out of that.

The electronic Schlage ones I have in this new house take many combos. Guest
passwords are easily installed and dismissed again. It is nice to allow
deliveries into the garage but not into the house although most of my tools
are there.

A webcam with special software may be your answer. Some will "ring" the
other end when motion is detected but a monthly service fee is always the
drawback on that one.

The lighting things was mostly for stairs lights for guests staying over and
late or night lights. If you get up to pee the light turns on and the motion
det. turns it off in 2 minutes. If it is dark outside CPU sends an off
signal after about 30 seconds.

Another cool thing was a "somebody home" macro. If nobody was home that
night (based on Mot Det  and button sensing all over the house) and based on
a partial random times sequences of lights went on and off starting upstairs
and working there way down to the porch light and then back to bed again.
This worked so well a few neighbours knowing I was away for a week or two
had a meeting on our front lawn whether to call the cops when nobody would
answer the door...LOL

I am looking forward into getting back into it but the co-gen inverter noise
is a pest with this stuff. A better system is in order for sure.

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"Larry Moss"  wrote in message news:ipeluh$u2u$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I used X10 pretty extensively in the old house. I never liked it. I had all
the problems you discuss and was always working on amplifying X10 signals
or filtering noise whenever any new device got added anywhere. But at
least, with constant and careful tweaking, I kept it working. Now that I'm
moving, I want to start over with something better since there are other
options now. It's been a while since I really followed this group, so I
need to get up to speed on my options again.

Since my immediate need is the door lock, I thought I'd use that as a
starting
place. If I can find a decent lockset that integrates with another home
system, that might be the push I need toward a particular platform. I'm not
afraid of homebrew stuff for non-mission critical elements either. That
would actually make the whole process more fun. (I want to learn about
arduino or similar platforms and thought using them for a home automation
project might be a way to do it.)

You went quite a bit into motion detection for lighting. While that might
be nice, I'm actually more interested in knowing who entered the house, and
not that there's a person there. I have small kids that are just now
getting big enough to start allowing them a little more freedom. I don't
necessarily need to be there the moment the bus arrives, but it would be
nice to know that they made it home. The low tech solution is they walk in
the door and call me to say they're home, but there has to be an easy
approach to this since I'm going to be changing the locks anyway. (Keys are
not a good solution for these kids. One of them loses his glasses on the
way to the bathroom. :-) )