Re: Do these exist: "Instant on" or very rapid start CFL???

["Robert Green" <robert_green1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Mark Lloyd" <mlloyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> On Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:41:46 -0400, "Josepi" <J.R.M.@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> [snip]

> >I had a long and happy run with X-10, and was indeed an early adopter,
> >probably late 1970's if I had to guess up until the late 1990s for the
> >truly useful and reliable operation. I would call that a success, and
> >thus I had no problem taking it down. Some stuff still remains, and I
> >occasionally look at the Insteon stuff and think about starting over
again.
> >
> >Then I take a deep breath and put down the Smarthome catalog and come to
> >my senses...........
>
> When I tried Insteon, it was MUCH WORSE than X10. Often, a device
> would work the first couple of times, until I added another device.
> Then it would get weird. I'd never know if pressing a button would do
> nothing, turn the desired device on, turn another device off, or
> something else. It keeps behaving as it was about start working,
> something a lot worse than not working at all.  I tried it about a
> dozen times, in different rooms (including one where a limited X10
> system works almost perfectly). Smarthome still owes me about $90
> (failed to credit returns).
> --
> Mark Lloyd

That's too bad about not getting a credit.  They've been OK with me,
money-wise.  Much of their stuff, like the solar powered CCTV camera I
bought, were laughably poorly made and barely functional.  Still, they
survived where the Sharper Image, IIRC, didn't.

Insteon wouldn't have been the choice I would make to replace X-10 simply
because of the "sole source" problem.  The problem they had with their first
runs of dimmer switches and relatively large loads flashing convinced me
(living in a house with fragile but still serviceable cloth covered wire) I
did the right thing.  Torque old wiring around enough and you're asking for
a lot of fishing, drilling and plaster work.  Nothing I hate more than a
wire breaking without enough left to even wire nut a pigtail.  I'm not in a
position to alpha, beta and gamma test a manufacturer's new product line.
Not if I am paying for the stuff, anyway.

Zwave showed some promise but I don't hear about it much anymore.  UPB seems
to still be alive but nothing appears to have the market share that X-10
does or the same low price per load.  Ethernet control is probably the way
HA will eventually go.  The wired and wireless "transport" layers are all
public protocols and cheap as dirt now for 24 port hubs.  Cable is mostly
standard and not hard to pull, device numbers virtually unlimited, collision
detection and avoidance built in.

Smarty's right.  What's not to like?  A lot of A/V devices are coming with
Ethernet ports.  Laptops come with wireless networking and I'm assuming that
everything's on one or two chips now.  As TV's, game systems and disc
players come with networking built-in, the stoves, furnaces and washing
machines of the world will follow.  IIRC, you can already buy networkable
refrigerators.  Ethernet will probably drive out the proprietary HA
protocols in a decade.  It's just too ubiquitous to conquer.

--
Bobby G.