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[kellyllek]

Hi, New here and hope this is the right location to post.

I live in a large one-room in-law suite. My bedroom, office, living room and kitchen are all in the same area. Every aspect of living here requires a different lighting profile. I would love to make a one-click lighting option to set the lighting for the task at hand. I have five profiles in mind: Working, Watching TV, Cooking, Cleaning and Bedtime. For example, if working I’d like to click a button to turn on the desk lights but turn off the kitchen lights, and if I’m watching TV I’d like it to turn off the desk lights and set a couple other lamps on dimmed.

Plus I would like to have this accessible from a remote control. Actually it’s not so much that it has to be from a remote as that I have to be able to access it from different places in the room. Say a controller at the couch, the desk, the entrance, etc...

Right now I have lamps and various house lights in all corners of the space, and I run around dimming them or turning them off and on depending on the situation. When I leave I have to run around to turn them all off.

Is this possible? And short of complete dimmable one-click profiles, what would be the easiest option to simply turn a bunch of lights on and off from a controller?

I could hook up it all to my computer but frankly I do so much on the computer already I’d hate to put this system on it. Plus, I’d prefer to have the multiple controller locations. 

Your thoughts appreciated. I’m lightly familiar with X10 but hoping this post will put me a step forward in figuring it all out.

[Knightrider]

Kellyllek,

It is possible with smart macros and AHP.  What kind of equipment do you currently have?

[kellyllek]

I have nothing at the moment. Most of my lighting though is plug in lamps, in all corners of the room and desk. I assume adding dimmer receivers to them is a lot easier then replacing in-wall light switches.

I also happen to have an iPhone that is on my person all the time. I just noticed they have program called X10 Commander that people are raving about, but it works through the computer. My bed is right next to my desk though and I need to have the computer off at night.

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

kellyllek,

This sounds like a job for Active Home Pro (AHP)!

With AHP and a palmpad controller, you can "reassign" the palmpad's buttons by triggering macros that do what you want.

If you want to get really fancy and lose the remote, you can run BVC on your computer and just speak commands!

You can always do both and give the computer a rest at night. 

[kellyllek]

Thanks Bill,

so even though AHP uses the computer to set up the macros I wouldn't have to keep it running when I'm using the palmpad controller? Sounds pretty good.

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Thanks Bill,

so even though AHP uses the computer to set up the macros I wouldn't have to keep it running when I'm using the palmpad controller? Sounds pretty good.

Correct!

I assigned a whole house code (H for hand-held) to be used as triggers from my palmpad controller, then created macros that trigger on H1-H16 On and Off signals, so that each button can be assigned whatever function you like.  Then saved the macro setup to the CM15A (included with AHP) controller.

For instance, pressing the palmpad button that actually sends "H1 ON" is translated by the macros stored in the CM15A into "L1 ON" which turns on my living room lamp.  That way, later I could decide that button was more convenient for something else and simply change the AHP macros to reassign the functions of the palmpad buttons.

Of course the macros can be much more sophisticated than just translating addresses! 

[HA Dave]

We should point out that steven r wrote a nice post on re-directed commands <Link that explains the setup completely.

Home Automation begins with the simplest of tasks... which I think would be turning on a light via a remote. But there really are no limits as to how far you can take the automation. I hesitated on purchasing AHP (Active Home Pro) myself... I wasn't really sure I would need or actually get much use out of it. But AHP really opens up a whole big world of automation.

I can't imagine giving up the automation now.... it's part of how I live. My home signals me when visitors pull in my driveway... Tells me when the garage door is opened and reminds me if it is left open for any length of time. I am also warned of any foot-traffic near my home... camera views would automatically be displayed on my TV if tresspassers were detected.

The house does more... I am an avid BVC user (and Fan) so my home even listens to me.... and responds to my requests. Its almost like the house is part of the family.