Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[HA Dave]

My WM100 and app has now reverted to a glorified remote ……

The WM-100 was never anything OTHER than a remote! And IMHO.... it was/is the best remote control x10 ever introduced. The only thing that has changed is the way people "think" about remote control.... as it applies to Home Automation. Nobody wants to push buttons anymore. Even the NEW TV remotes often offer voice control (for program searching)…. now-a-days.

The WM-100 is a great (even awesome) 2010 device. And it was the old 2010 paradigm that lead to it's creation. 

I also no longer use AHP for any timers or macros at either place.
The PiX10Hub the community has helped put together now handles all my HA requirements.

I have also recently relegated my last CM15A to a interface and transceiver. Shutting down my Home Automation laptops.... was the most "emotionally" difficult Home Automation change/step I've ever made. There is no "transitional" process from the old to the new. I left a few macros running on a separate CM15A... as I found automated ways to perform the same "programed" tasks.... I removed the last macro and un-plugged the CM15A not long ago.

I'd switched from a big high wattage desktop PC I used to control my CM15A... to the smaller less-hungry laptop..... years ago. And I had long mulled over thoughts of using a Windows tablet or a "stick" or mini windows PC. That would have given me a smaller carbon foot-print (for those who like that term). I liked the idea of using smaller devices to do the same job that once required a big PC.

But I stalled... I hesitated... and the technology changed. Just as the WM-100 solved yesterdays (well 2010's) problems. Tiny PC's solve 2016's problems. Todays Home Automation possibilities can not be solved with home computers of any size. Home Automation has outgrown simple programs and macro's (robots, routines, or whatever you want to call the set perimeters).

But I refuse to think in past-tense. It's kills creativity and destroys any vision of what could be. I want more. And more requires X10 to involve themselves in a cloud based product.

[Tuicemen]

The WM100 is a cloud based product just unplug your router from the internet and try and use it.
All cloud base products have small computers inside (though not what many may think of as a computer) the tiny processors on the circuit boards perform the calculations of what to send to the cloud server and what to do with the info it receives back it also requires a small amount of memory to store some things.
Any PC can make use of the cloud and use that for ones HA (if one wishes to go that route) the software is there.
These tiny computers that sell for under $5 and the size of a dollar coin or two are what is required for cloud operation.
Cloud control of X10 devices has been around for a few years now. The WM100 could have and should have been using it far better then it is.

[HA Dave]

The WM100 is a cloud based product just unplug your router from the internet and try and use it.
All cloud base products have small computers inside (though not what many may think of as a computer) the tiny processors on the circuit boards perform the calculations of what to send to the cloud server and what to do with the info it receives back it also requires a small amount of memory to store some things.
Any PC can make use of the cloud and use that for ones HA (if one wishes to go that route) the software is there.
These tiny computers that sell for under $5 and the size of a dollar coin or two are what is required for cloud operation.
Cloud control of X10 devices has been around for a few years now.

Yes, 16 bit packets, processors, internet..... everyone know all that. Yet....many seem to be scared of it. But yes processors and the internet has been with us (me) since 1993.

The WM100 could have and should have been using it far better then it is.

The WM-100 appears to have tried to avoid the cloud. Which.... doesn't really work well in a modern world. But some soldiers continue to fight yesterdays battles. They just can't help themselves.

[Tuicemen]

The WM-100 appears to have tried to avoid the cloud. Which.... doesn't really work well in a modern world. But some soldiers continue to fight yesterdays battles. They just can't help themselves.

I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion Without a connection to a cloud server it quickly becomes  a door stop.

[HA Dave]

…. I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion Without a connection to a cloud server it quickly becomes  a door stop.

Virtually everything (now-a-days) is Internet connected, and accordingly, server dependent. Just like this forum conversation. The conversation (or better said exchange of text) can't exist without modern electronics..... but it uses them at the very lowest levels. This server does NOTHING to make my home smarter or better.

Even my TV can be, locally controlled without it's remote.... but I can't honestly say I remember where the buttons are located.... however that would be the lowest level of operation for the TV. But I find it much more convenient to program the shows ahead.... and let the TV (actually the cable set-top box) change channels.... if we have the set on. And not have to look around for a remote or be held captive to the programming.

The WM-100...… is "clicker-like" technology. Sure it somewhat cloud dependent... almost everything is. What good is automation if you're not connected anyway? But all lighting control has buttons and switches just like TV's. So the WM-100 turns the ubiquitous smart phone into a High-tech palmpad…. but still remains low-tech in its application.

I used the Melloware App long ago (2010-2011) and until recently.… It ran on my BVC laptop (or maybe to other one). I can't say it was awful. I liked it. And the WM-100 is great... for what it is. It's just years behind it's time.

[SkipWX10]

As much as I agree the WM100 is just an app-based/cloud-based PalmPad, I am going to swap control temporarily to the WM100 from the CM15a while I am on vacation because in the event of a power outage, I will be able to re-sync the time on the WM100 when power returns and my lighting timers will be back on track to make my house look the same as always (occupied). Even if I put fresh batteries in the CM15a, I am not sure I can depend on it to perform after an outage and my lights may be way off. I use the CM15a as a stand-alone controller.

I am starting to copy slightly different timers as reside on the CM15a (by several minutes) to the WM100 now to test...in a previous post I queried if anyone had a clue as to why adding d/d timers would not take on the WM100 but got no response, so I'm just going to put in fixed on/off timers as opposed to using d/d with offset.

The ability to log in to the WM100 and sync or adjust devices is a plus to me, even though locally I just use it as a phone PP.

[Noam]

As much as I agree the WM100 is just an app-based/cloud-based PalmPad, I am going to swap control temporarily to the WM100 from the CM15a while I am on vacation because in the event of a power outage, I will be able to re-sync the time on the WM100 when power returns and my lighting timers will be back on track to make my house look the same as always (occupied). Even if I put fresh batteries in the CM15a, I am not sure I can depend on it to perform after an outage and my lights may be way off. I use the CM15a as a stand-alone controller.

I am starting to copy slightly different timers as reside on the CM15a (by several minutes) to the WM100 now to test...in a previous post I queried if anyone had a clue as to why adding d/d timers would not take on the WM100 but got no response, so I'm just going to put in fixed on/off timers as opposed to using d/d with offset.

The ability to log in to the WM100 and sync or adjust devices is a plus to me, even though locally I just use it as a phone PP.

Unless you have a way to be notified in the event of a power outage, you'll have to constantly open the app to see if the time is out of sync. And if you're traveling to a different time zone, the time will likely be off, since the unit will sync to the time on your phone.

[SkipWX10]

As much as I agree the WM100 is just an app-based/cloud-based PalmPad, I am going to swap control temporarily to the WM100 from the CM15a while I am on vacation because in the event of a power outage, I will be able to re-sync the time on the WM100 when power returns and my lighting timers will be back on track to make my house look the same as always (occupied). Even if I put fresh batteries in the CM15a, I am not sure I can depend on it to perform after an outage and my lights may be way off. I use the CM15a as a stand-alone controller.

I am starting to copy slightly different timers as reside on the CM15a (by several minutes) to the WM100 now to test...in a previous post I queried if anyone had a clue as to why adding d/d timers would not take on the WM100 but got no response, so I'm just going to put in fixed on/off timers as opposed to using d/d with offset.

The ability to log in to the WM100 and sync or adjust devices is a plus to me, even though locally I just use it as a phone PP.

Unless you have a way to be notified in the event of a power outage, you'll have to constantly open the app to see if the time is out of sync. And if you're traveling to a different time zone, the time will likely be off, since the unit will sync to the time on your phone.

My power company sends text messages for outages, so hopefully I'll be notified. Also, no issue to call and see if the answering machine picks up or open the app to check as well. I'll be in the same time zone, just 1600 miles away, but if I wasn't I'd just change the zone on my phone to sync.