X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Topic started by: rickschuff on August 20, 2011, 09:18:26 AM
-
Relating to providing environmental control for my quadraplgic son. He has an environmental control unit capable of voice control of X10 and infrared remote units.
Have a automatic door opener which operates by (I think) an Radio freqeuncy remote control (like garage door opener?). The unit is powered by 12volt plug in transformer and I don't think just plugging this into appliance control module will do trick. Ideas?
-
Have a automatic door opener which operates by (I think) an Radio freqeuncy remote control (like garage door opener?).
You don't know what causes this door to open? Or are you saying you don't know if it is RF or IR? Either way, it is very difficult to interface X10 to the door remote. You might be able to use a X10 Universal Module to short across the switch contacts of a second remote.
You need to find out if the opener has a manual wired switch input, just like a garage door opener usually has a hard wired door bell button next to the inside door. If so you might be able to use a X10 "Universal Module" to control that wired switch line. Any instructions for the opener? Who makes it? What is model number?
We can make suggestions but we don't have crystal balls, need a better description from your end.
-
I second dave's request - give us the pertinent details and we might come up with something.
Is this a sliding door? I recall one that was used by a quad I became acquainted with several years ago. He had voice control of it (or maybe a hand operated switch on his wheelchair - he had some use of one hand) but, as I noted in your other thread, it's been too long for my 70 year old brain to recall details. He was an engineer injured in a diving accident and some of the aids he had were of his own design or modification.
Also, how was your son injured?
-
I had considered [at one time] of creating an X10 finger. The idea was to use a solenoid to move a hand shaped finger cutout. The finger could then be used to press any remote control button without having to hack the remote or its controlled unit using a Universal Module (UM506) (http://www.x10.com/automation/x10_um506.htm) [the standard method].
IR devices... I voice control using BVC (Bill's Voice Commander) (http://www.wgjohns.com/bvc.htm) and the USB-UIRT for IR control. Here is a YouTube Video (http://www.youtube.com/suitmanIM#p/u/0/KN9_JH7MZV0) of me setting up a voice controlled fan.
There are other IR options as well. As the lowly old VCR commander might even work for an IR controlled device. And some Voice Controlled TV remotes (http://www.youtube.com/suitmanIM#p/u/1/vE5rm-O1zG0) also work well for IR control with the PowerMid type devices (http://www.x10.com/products/x10_pm5900.htm) (generally less than $20).