X10 Community Forum
💬General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Oldtimer on January 12, 2009, 04:14:03 PM
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I searched the Forum, but didn't find anything on this. My apologies if I'm duplicating anyone else's posts.
Just before Christmas I received a catalog from Home Depot that invited me to go to www.homedepot.com/smarthome. This surprised me since I thought Smarthome was a copyrighted name and a lot of the equipment in the catalog and on line is very familiar from their catalogs. As you'll see on the first web page it refers to a project of the same name at Duke University.
I also did a search on "smarthome" using Google and turned up this interesting reference from Nokia http://smarthomepartnering.com/cms/ plus a lot of others.
Anyone care to comment on all this?
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umm.. very interesting... i am planning to do more research on this. Thank you for the heads up...
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I too had noticed this while in my local store!
Althought the devices here are not X10 compatible,some can be made to work with X10 like the cameras!
>!
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It's something involving Duke University, not Smarthome, the X10 (and other automation) store we all know.
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There is an Electronics control category. Home Depot now appears to be handling Leviton, X10, Intermatic and Smarthome (Insteon) products.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Navigation?Ntk=AllProps&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ns=P_Topseller_Sort|1&N=4294926877+90401+501997&No=12&rpp=12&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&style=B
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Looks like most of the Home depot stuff is online only......but it is only matter of time before it will be on their shelves. With more and more powerline type controls , wireless control and cheaper and cheaper prices it should have its own spot in the big box home improvement stores soon.
I can't wait cause we don't have local automation suppliers around dayton Ohio. It will be nice to have a idea and just run to Home depot to pick up what I need.
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Looks like most of the Home depot stuff is online only......but it is only matter of time before it will be on their shelves. With more and more powerline type controls , wireless control and cheaper and cheaper prices it should have its own spot in the big box home improvement stores soon.
I can't wait cause we don't have local automation suppliers around dayton Ohio. It will be nice to have a idea and just run to Home depot to pick up what I need.
Do not count on the X10 stuff to ever be on Home Depot shelves. Lowe's used to carry X10 items on the shelves and sales were so slow (let's face it, how many of us using X10 were introduced to it by another user (usually a friend who was introduced themselves). Unfortunately, X10 never has been mass marketed. Sears was supposed to sell it, I never saw it in a Sears store in Baltimore. My first interface was a CP290 which I bought at a Heathkit store on Joppa Road in the late 1980's.
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I'll bet at least half of my modules say "Plug n' Power" on them. They came from the local Radio Shack which always stocked them. I had no idea what x10 was, until I started custom ordering modules from the shack.
These things have been mass marketed in the past, but they still didn't catch on like wildfire.
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"Plug n' Power" was Radio Shack's name for X10. All their modules were made in the same factory in PRC as X10's modules and worked exactly the same. Radio Shack dropped the entire "Plug n' Power" line last year or so, as, guess what, the line didn't sell a lot. Oddly enough, Radio Shack never carried interfaces like the CP290 or the CM11A ever, just the modules and some oddball security items that also weren't not sellers either. Radio Shack was a good place to pick up modules quickly.
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These things have been mass marketed in the past, but they still didn't catch on like wildfire.
It seems that for reasons I will never understand... the masses aren't really attracted to Home Automation. Although when I show off my setup to guests I always get reactions of astonishment and awe... I don't think it's generated any X10 customers.
I also have Plug n' Power, RCA, and Black & Decker (aka: FreeWire) modules... even though I haven't been automated for as long as many of the other old guys here at the forum.
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I think you guys might be thinking to much in the past :' rofl . Automation in home or industries is on a clime. So back in the 80's and 90's automation wasn't in the for front and alot was pretty pricey. Being in the Automation field I would put money that you will see more and more home automation at your local depots as the price goes down and it becomes more and more easy for anyone to use.......Now being X10 I don't think they will be the ones but the others like Insteon and such that tend to have a better look and operation. ( I still like my X10 ;) )
If stores like home depot and Lowe's are stocking them online and in some stores. That usually means that they are testing the waters. They did the same thing with the wireless cams and now they have 4-5 to choose from on their shelves. The fact that they just started the Duke smart home page and partnership suggest to me that they are now looking at automation as a easy product to market and a good price.
The future is here and smarthomes are going to stick around.......soon I'll be installing installing robots at your houses rofl rofl
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Where are you? I'm in Baltimore and none of the Home Depots or Lowes carry X10 on the shelves. Lowe's did, bit as I posted earlier, they stopped due to almost no sales. Radio Shack (AKA Tandy Corp. dumped the Plug'N Power line.
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...........If stores like home depot and Lowe's are stocking them online and in some stores. That usually means that they are testing the waters. They did the same thing with the wireless cams and now they have 4-5 to choose from on their shelves.
I sure hope your right! I know Walmart was carrying some nice little security cameras... then stopped. Recent technology now allows for doors to be keyless... with fingerprint ID, pushbutton combinations, or RFID cards or fobs.... yet I don't know anyone (even myself) to get rid of the key.
It could be... that it takes time for a paradime shift.... and it is now home automations time. Or it could be that the paradime for switches and locks have become cultural. And 50 years from now we will still be flipping switches, and carrying keys.
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I didn't say they had any on the shelves and I also said I doubt when they do start to stock them it will be x10 modules. Radio shack didn't stop selling automation. They just stop putting their brand name on it and started selling Z-wave. Sears also stopped branding their own stuff and lets face it Sears is half the store they use to be.
I will put it this way in the 90's and 80's they only people automating was us Nerds.. and the term SMARTHOME wasn't a common thing. It has become more popular now.. just look at the amount of home automation stuff that's out their now.
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..........I will put it this way in the 90's and 80's they only people automating was us Nerds.. and the term SMARTHOME wasn't a common thing. It has become more popular now.. just look at the amount of home automation stuff that's out their now.
All true! And the technology has improved AND technology itself has become more excepted. You have a good point!
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"Plug n' Power" was Radio Shack's name for X10. All their modules were made in the same factory in PRC as X10's modules and worked exactly the same. Radio Shack dropped the entire "Plug n' Power" line last year or so, as, guess what, the line didn't sell a lot.
Close, but not quite true. X10 and Radio Shack had separate (independent) factories in China, located across the street from each other. The fact that Radio Shack had their own factory and is now out of the business tells me that more and more noise makers, suckers and phase issues have caused huge customer disillusionment and corresponding decreases in sales.
It is too bad RS did not try and market (high quality, high output) coupler/amps, 15 years ago. Equally too bad that X10 did not upgrade the basic design to be more immune to noise, 10 years ago. I think X10 would be the 800 pound gorilla of home automation and remote control had those things happened.
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It is too bad RS did not try and market (high quality, high output) coupler/amps, 15 years ago. Equally too bad that X10 did not upgrade the basic design to be more immune to noise, 10 years ago. I think X10 would be the 800 pound gorilla of home automation and remote control had those things happened.
Radio shack is not making anything themselves now. I mean they can barely keep their stores open..Their becoming more of a best buy then the old DIY friendly Radio Shack we use to know.
I agree..... if X10 would have done more in the past they would be killing it now. But there are other company's that have learned from X10 mistakes and are taking this stuff to the next level but along with that comes little higher prices.
I really don't see why any store/company would want to sell X10 branded stuff cause lets all be truthful the stuff only works great if the end user helps it out. Filters and phase couplers are a must and X10 don't even sell them and 2-way modules are the way of the future and X10 has stopped making allot of them. I mean this is 2009 why do we still have to hear the clicking of a appliance module coming on lol
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.............The fact that Radio Shack had their own factory and is now out of the business tells me that more and more noise makers, suckers and phase issues have caused huge customer disillusionment ....
knightrider has a tag line: "Invented in 1975? Why doesn't everyone have it?"
I think knightrider has captured the feelings of many of us X10ers. I think, if it was just technological problems (noise makers, suckers and phase issues) that kept X10 out of the homes of the masses... my friends, neighbors, and co-workers would have heard about X10... before I told them about it.
I think most of X10 users/purchasers are people that are simply trying to resolve a problem. They want a light, the pool pump, or sprinklers on a timer. Or get tired of tromping down to the basement to turn off that light the kids always leave on. In my case... I wanted a wow factor in my home theater and figured remote conrolled lighting would give me that. I have worked with several new users that felt a need for auto recording cameras around their home and that brought them to X10.
Then... like a moth flying near a flame... we just got sucked in. Home Automation became more than a problem to solve... it became a lifestyle.
I do think.. (Jsnlong is right) there has been a mind-set change about technology. Almost everyone has a computer at home and technology terms are widely used. Sometimes technological terms are even used correctly... and understood also. Some newbies come to the forum having just heard or read of Home Automation... and are ready to buy the store. I would like to think.. this Home Automation lifestyle is on the verge of catching on.
But I have a nagging concern.. that HA will end-up being a mere series of smart-appliances, like coffee pots with timers, TV's with a sleep mode, talking weather stations (http://www.weather-station-products.co.uk/item--Meteo-Voice-Talking-Weather-Forecaster-UV-sensor--BAR323S.html), and cell phones... that do nearly everything. Why after 34 years.... why don't we all have Automated Homes.
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I'm 29 years old (yea I know most here are older then me rofl ) But I always thought home automation was to much money and it wasn't till about 2 years ago I found X10 stuff. I have always been a computer geek and gadget collector but still really never heard of X10 until I met someone I was working with who mentioned it and yes he was a older gentlemen...
So maybe alot of people are like me and just think the you need to be rich to have this much fun and they don't care to look into it
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So maybe alot of people... just think the you need to be rich to have this much fun
I think you've got it!
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It amazes me how many people are domotic-phobic. These are the same people who use a blue tooth device with their cell phones and use voice dial. Also the same people who use keypad deadbolts.
The day is coming for us pioneers of home automation, but it's going to require a paradigm shift of the masses.
As far as I'm concerned, it was a lack of promotion that did in Plug n' Power (and X10 for that matter).
When was the last time you heard X10 advertise on TV or radio?
I know x10 pioneered the annoying pop-up and pop-under with the cams, but have they ever promoted the modules and controllers?
On second thought, I doubt the FCC would approve any ads that x10 might want to air.
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It amazes me how many people are domotic-phobic.
I guess... I am as proud of the size of my domotic as any man... but not sure how it effects my HA.
On second thought, I doubt the FCC would approve any ads that x10 might want to air.
X10 would have to advertise on "Cable Only."
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X10 would have to advertise on "Cable Only."
You beat me to it Dave..I was going to say I'm sure you would have to pay to see their adds and they might be a supporter of "Girls gone wild" videos