This is the first blog post about my installation and use of X10 home automation technology. I am hoping to discover interesting things about both X10 as a technology and home automation in general.
my background
I actually work for a company (Tendril) that engineers and sells home automation technology. However, you would never hear us call it that because the phrase home automation is normally used by vendors who focus on coordination of home devices for the purpose of comfort, convenience, and safety. Technologies such as X10 and Insteon are common in this arena.
Tendril’s home automation is instead focused on energy efficiency and energy grid optimization. Meaning, we build gear that helps consumers monitor and moderate their energy use. Also, in cases where consumers have opted into a program, utilities can make use of this automation to curtail demand during periods of critical grid load. This isn’t a blog for my employer, so I will end my explanation here - more details are on our website if you are interested.
The reason my employment is relevant is that we use a wireless technology called ZigBee to coordinate the activities of home devices. ZigBee is used heavily in the energy space, so it is the natural choice for our purposes. But from time to time other technologies are discussed, from wireless (e.g. Z-wave, wifi) to wireline (e.g. HomePlug). The firmware engineers at Tendril are well versed in these technologies, but me as an enterprise software platform engineer have been so far left out of that party.
The Journey
I decided to start trying other home automation technologies just to see how things go. Additionally, I wanted to play with traditional home automation outside of the energy space to see what I have been missing.
Which, long winded, arrives at the point of this blog post. I am embarking on such a journey with X10 equipment. I have purchased my gear, and will start posting notes as I make progress (or lack thereof). No surprises if you see a lack of activity with this hobby. I fully expect to pick this up in waves, just like everything else in my busy household.
No comments:
Post a Comment