http://www.instructables.com/id/Control ... ia-MythTV/

I just read an instructable on Home Automation using MythTV. The video looks very cool. It looks like there would be a lot of possibilities. I tried to find info here but without much success. Have seen a few videos on youtube aswell.

Im from Australia and am having trouble finding X10 modules. I found a small kit from DSE but it was around $250. This only had the transceiver, lamp module and serial port interface for the computer and remote.

Has anyone in Australia given this ago with X10 or maybe something from clipsal etc. Also where you get the parts cheaply. Its seems in America they are fairly reasonably priced.

Yeah, we get ripped off over here. I've been looking into this stuff for awhile, but the price always deters me from going ahead with trying it. http://smarthome.com.au/ comes to mind, and there's another place which escapes me atm, I'll let you know when I find it.

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Take a look at:

MythTV + X-10 Home Control

part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAZH6keM ... re=related

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vePJymXT ... re=related

part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma9Uc9HD ... re=related

edit: I see now that these are linked to that article.

x10.com is a good source here. If you watch you can get serious markdowns on no name or branded controllers (I picked up a bunch that are marked RCA that are x10 components inside) for a real bargain.

I use several x10 components through out the farm here. Chicken lighting, baby goat heaters, Merc Vapor yard lighting, Big Halogen Floods (300 - 500W each) I turn on when I hear a noise out there, like a predator, and of course bring a slew of lights up in the house when we come home.

I haven't integrated it with my Mythboxes yet. Looks intriguing though

Probably the only drawback I have seen is how they actually work.
Most of the Light Bulb controls, that also have a dimmer function (any that aren't an actual Relay) draw a small amount of power all the time. It is miniscule but it is there. an example would be in a quiet area you can hear a faint hum from the bulb. I believe this also attributes to shorter life span for that Incandescent bulb.

There is one other issue. Household wiring here in the states is 2 legs of a single phase. If your controller (sender) is on one leg and the controlled device (receiver) is on the other leg, it won't always work. Has to trace all the way to the transformer for the signal to pass to the other leg.

Otherwise they are nice 2 use and I haven't really had any trouble with them.

My Outside stuff is as far as 300 feet from my Main controller, and all those lights function fine everyday for almost 4 yrs now. They have timed settings.

Hi,

Automatation is always fun stuff to play with I think. Not being from the "down under" however there is a gent out in Minnesota (USA) that has been doing home automtion and ton of other tricks for years. Most of the scripts are perl but be warned, you can spend HOURS in the library reading the scripts and documentation

try misterhouse.net (will take you to: http://misterhouse.sourceforge.net/ ) for some ideas. One way of getting control from the com ports is to build a simple uart module. I use to use the AY-1013 I think it was, which drove a speech syntheses chip. The kids loved having the games talk at them You could also use the printer port, do a search on "linux making a coffe pot" for interfacing ideas. 10 cent transistors, couple of relays and you have a switch. I think this is a link to one of the original articles http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/H ... Coffee.pdf

Using RS232 is good for several hundred feet, need more, then use RS422.

Mike

AFAIK, most Australian installs use Clipsal C-bus, which uses separate cabling for the control signals (there is also HPM iControl, but I don't know of anyone using it). These are OK if you are building a new house, but hard to retrofit.



I haven't tried any of these yet, but here are some retro-fittable technologies

http://www.control4.com.au
Replacement light switches/dimmers that can "wirelessly" connect to a controller

http://www.smarthome.com.au
Good range of X10 products


And, a good overview site:
http://www.digihouse.com.au

_________________
| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

Here is another nice control package using "HEYU"

http://www.mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2749

A while back I posted an X10 home automation How To on the Wiki:

http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... tion+Howto

I have been using this for a long time now and I don't know how I would live without it. One of my favorite parts is using the X10 wireless remote control so I can control my MythTV box from anywhere on my property. And being able to turn my printer off and on with my TV remote is pretty nice also.[/quote]

http://plutohome.org/

This setup might be pretty neat. Haven't tried it, but have followed the project for 3 years or so and it's still evolving. If I had the money, I'd definitely do this. It uses mythtv for the media center portion of the appliance.