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[jarleifv]

Hi guys!

My wife and I bought a 1600 sqft house last fall, 2.5 car garage, bedroom upstairs, fully fenced yard, roofed front porch, and not very much lawn (less mowing).
We remodeled the place for a few months after purchase, including new electrical to most of the house. The garage is fed off the house panel, same service.
I had used x10 (alarm) at our old apartment. I enjoyed how it announced doors opening, and knew nothing about x10 other than the alarm aspect.
I've been in the IT field for over 10 years and enjoy automating things - starting with simple batch scripts, moving on to GWBASIC, then VB and so forth.. I enjoyed automation and PLC programming, and always wanted to program the crazy christmas lights displays you see all over youtube every christmas.

So a year or so ago, I come to find out X10 is more than an alarm, and it actually interfaces with a computer! I knew immediately that I'd love this whole thing.. 

So here's my list as of 10/01/11:

Modules:
1x CM15A with antenna mod
4X SR227
6x RWS17
1x RWS18
2x RWS14 Companion
5x XPDF
1x XPFM
5x SS13a
10x KR12a
3x ActiveEye
1x Powerflash
1x UM506
2x SC546a

1x Compaq Laptop running Windows XP (Pentium 3 something)

Voice control:
Omni directional stage mic in living room (picks up most of downstairs)
Radio shack mixer
Several speakers placed on heat duct right below the main floor for discreet install

Software:
AHP

Macros:
Leaving/Arriving macro
Various for BVC
Dusk/Dawn on exterior lights



As of today, the only finished room in the house that's not x10 controlled is the office.

Living/Dining room:  Chandelier, Ceiling lights, ceiling fan light, 2x SS13a
Kitchen: Above sink, Ceiling fan, Cabinet LEDs, 1x SS13a
Bathroom: Ceiling lights
Backroom: Ceiling lights
Wife's studio: Vanity mirror (25 bulbs, 1875w), 1x SS13a
Bedroom: Headbord Lights (his/hers), 2x KR12a
Basement: Ceiling lights, Motion
Outside: Rear entry, Front porch, Flag light, Front porch motion
Garage: Garage door Magnet sensor through Universal Module, Powerflash for open/close
Office: N/A
Pantry: N/A
Downstairs closets: N/A
Walk-in closet: N/A


Future projects:
Presence awareness of residence occupants
Dimmable LED bulbs throughout
Increase mic coverage for BVC
Freezer alert
Basement moisture sensor
Motion sensor lighting in Closets
Window sensors
Exterior Door sensor
Door strikes on exterior doors and garage
Outlet module on garage door, for lockout at night

The first time my wife said "Wow, that's cool!" was after she walked down the stairs to the basement, and the lights turned on.. i thought it would come in handy with a basket full of clothes and no hands left over for the light switch.. 

[jarleifv]

I run VNC on the laptop, and can control anything from anywhere, even my Thunderbolt with a VNC client. 

[astrothug]

Very cool, just updating my home again. Very fun and I always love the wow factor

[jarleifv]

Yeah, I love this stuff! 

I've connected a UM506 in the garage with a magnet sensor on the garage door.

When the garage door opens, I set a flag, engage the chime, and a listener in BVC announces "Garage door opening".
When the garage door is fully closed, I clear the flag, engage the chime, and a listener in BVC announces "Garage door is now fully closed".
An email is also sent to me (through gmail using VBS) every time the garage door is opening/closed. I swear if i ever wake up in the middle of the night by the chime and BVC, I'm grabbing the baseball bat! 

I also have a KR12 by the bed, so that if i think i may have forgot to shut the garage door before I went to bed, I engage a macro that checks for the flag that's set when the door is opening - if it's set, the garage door will close (through a Powerflash), and BVC will announce as such. If it's closed, BVC will just announce.

I may assign this "Check garage door status" macro to the "Going to bed" macro by the stairs to the bedroom - that macro never runs unless we're going to bed, so that would be a good time to check for garage door status.

[HA Dave]

I may assign this "Check garage door status" macro to the "Going to bed" macro by the stairs to the bedroom - that macro never runs unless we're going to bed, so that would be a good time to check for garage door status.

I like the macros that just run themselves and (using BVC to make the announcement) let you know the status. Turning control over to the machine (in this case, the PC and software) is the ultimate in Home Automation (IMHO). You're doing good work.