Reader Nick Bicanic writes in about another remote controlled electrical outlet system, this one from the same company behind those loathsome X10 spycam popup ads (who knew they even made anything else?):
Here’s a link to a more useful kind of remote (one I’ve been using for a few years – both in the US and the UK) – the base system is called X10 – which albeit mightily annoying with its webcam popups courtesy of x10.com – is also a power line communication protocol – superimposing small errors on the sine wave of AC electricity while allowing signals to be passed along short ranges without disrupting non-X10 appliances…
Each appliance/light/electrical outlet you wish to control is assigned a number and requires a plastic block to be attached to it (which is essentially a large relay that “listens” for that AC error).
If you are a total geek you can replace all the sockets/outlets in your
house with X10 compatible outlets – which means you can do away with the
plastic blocks…
It’s been pretty popular in the whole home automation field (though in the
UK this is often synonymous with Home Theatre) (we did a thing back in the office in London where we slaved it to WAP – allowing us to reboot servers via WAP to avoid having to send engineers in) – but in any case….as a Universal remote – which can also do your lights/TV/etc…it’s a cool idea – looks a bit ugly – but works well and is easy to install…
Nicest solutions are the IR learning remote with RF X10 capability – which
can replace ALL your remotes and do X10 switching…aswell as the keychain remote – which is good for the wow-factor when you’re walking towards your house with friends and your lights turn on (or more importantly when you start the car and realise that your house lights are still on).
Read – Normal learning remote (includes RF and IR capabilities)
