What's the simplest, cheapest way to time a porch light to go on at a certain time?
...I'm afraid of trying the software... ...AHP...
Unfortunately any "challenges" people have with AHP are going to be yelled while the praises may needed to be hunted out. That doesn't mean that AHP and X10 are "bad".
The fact of the matter is that X10 and AHP hands down provide the best home automation option for the money. It would be hard to find anything as useful for twice the price.
I've been using X10 products for around 30 years and AHP since it came out. In additions to tons of problems that have already been solved here, you're in the right spot for help if you have any questions. Think of this forum as a place to search for FAQ.
A timer can turn to light on and off.
AHP can turn the light on 30 minutes after dusk, dim it to 60% and randomize on and off times. Add a sensor and AHP can turn on the light when someone comes to the door.
e.g. 364 days of the the year my front light dims to 50% a little after dusk. When someone comes to the door the light brightens to full brightness for 5 minutes and I'm notified inside that I have a visitor. On that magical night of the year, Halloween, the same sensor triggers my award winning
Halloween display.
That said, the suggested minitimer and an X10 wall switch could be a great starter option. You could still use the minintimer if you updated to AHP later.
e.g. I had a job that required me to wake at different times in the morning. I used AHP to set up a wake up macro. I then set the time I wanted to wake up on a bedside minitimer. It avoided having to change times in the computer every day.
