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[steven r]

Thought I'd start a thread for the most unusual X10 application.

I have a therapeutic device that is designed to circulate ice water over an area of the body. I acquired it during a hospital visit last fall. I fell about 15 ft from a latter to my driveway. The water coils were wrapped in the leg brace to help alleviate pain and reduce swelling. Anyway now that I'm walking again, I've put the water coils in my pillow and put the unit under AHP control. No more flipping my pillow in the middle of the night for the cool side anymore. I just push a button to run it for a few minutes. Even room temperature water is cool to the face.

Can anyone top that for an odd application?

[dave w]

stevenr
Has your pillow ever sprung a leak?
Which is the straight faced lead in for my slightly unusual X10 application.
We lived in a country house with a deep well as water source.  I began to suspect I had a slow leak somewhere in the system. I connected a 240V/12V transformer across the pump with the low voltage side triggering a Powerflash module. My home automation system then logged the run times of the pump. By watching how long the pump ran, how many times a day it ran, and at what specific times it ran, over the following 90 days I determined I did indeed have a leak. It worked well (pun) enough that I scripted some monthly calculations in the automatiion program to estimate, by total running time of the pump, how many gallons of water we used monthly.

[steven r]

Has your pillow ever sprung a leak?...

Fortunately, no. The water coils are built for therapeutic use in a hospital setting so they're pretty heavy duty. I figure if I can keep my cat away from it I'll be ok. 

...I determined I did indeed have a leak. It worked well (pun) enough that I scripted some monthly calculations in the automaton program to estimate, by total running time of the pump, how many gallons of water we used monthly.

So did you ever find the leak?

[dave w]

Yes I found the leak;  a pin hole leak in the "air" side of the holding tank. Took a while to figure it out because it was so suttle. The pump was running more frequently but for shorter periods (I did not realize that point until I began the logging). Wasn't actually losing water, only the air which kept the bladder under pressure.
Wierd.....

[Rocket J Squirrel]

I figure if I can keep my cat away from it I'll be ok. 

I have a cat-related application. It's not so unusual, but it's a main motivator for me to use X10.

The cats' litter box is in the bathroom. It sometimes gets a little ripe in there. I replaced the bathroom exhaust fan's wall toggle switch with a Leviton fluorescent/appliance wall switch. Now AHP turns the bathroom fan on 6 times a day for 15 minutes at a time. Sure helps rid the place of cat, um, aroma!

[steven r]

...The cats' litter box is in the bathroom. It sometimes gets a little ripe in there....

Clumping litter is good for that also.
I've been tempted to get one of those automated litter boxes. They rake the litter after the cat leaves and seal the collection away. I just wish they weren't $150+. I use an interesting litter box I call the roll and collect system. You simply roll the litter box on its side and the waste goes in a tray that you pull out. (You have to see it to believe it.)
 
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441775494&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302025601&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023690&bmUID=1146086173357&itemNo=11&Ntt=litter+box&In=All&previousText=litter+box&N=2


Used with clumping litter and emptied regularly I don't have much odor problems. I only have 1 cat right now, however.

[ericb]

I haven't heard good things about automatic litter boxes from anyone who's owned one. Something like this seems much simpler and just as fast:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sifting+litter+box
http://www.asontv.com/products/1077327147.html

[Rocket J Squirrel]

I had one of the automatic motorized scooping litter boxes. It was cool in theory, but awful in practice. The rake isn't 100% reliable in getting all the clumps. The lid which is suppposed to cover the receptacle often doesn't seal, leaving you with a collection of highly concentrated cat waste which smells worse than an ordinary litter box. And finally, the plastic receptacles don't last forever so you have to keep buying more of them. Two paws down.

[steven r]

...Two paws down.

Thanks! I'll take it off my wish list.

[Mystyx]

Teach the thing to use the toilet !!!

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Teach the thing to use the toilet !!!

The problem with that is that once they learn to flush, they find it so amusing they flush over and over and stare in fascination at the rushing water.   

Anyway, I apologize for hijacking what started out as an interesting thread and has now gone to the dogs, er, cats. 

[TommyHo]

The post by Dave W caught my interest - I can do the same thing, but rather than monitor a pump in a well I would monitor
appliances that I suspect are using more power than they are worth - the refrig in my garage, my central AC, etc.

Thanks for the inspiration!!

[JimC]

I have a small fish pond in the back yard and have had problems with critters getting to the fish. I connected a small pump to a hose full of holes and ran it the length of the pond. I plugged the pump into an appliance module that was controlled by a motion sensor pointed at the pond. Every time some unwanted animal goes near the pond the pump turns on and sprays water which usually scares them away. For the first couple of days after setting this up I found my own cat was wet. She learned quickly and no longer bothers the fish. Now if I could only remember to turn the darn thing off when I go down to do work on the pond.
 

[steven r]

...She learned quickly and no longer bothers the fish. Now if I could only remember to turn the darn thing off when I go down to do work on the pond....

Are you saying your cat is smarter than you? 
(Sorry I couldn't resist.)

[dave w]

TommyHo

Thanks, I would like to take credit from that idea, but it came from Michael Ferguson of Sand Hill Engineering, www.shed.com.

In the '90s Mike and his brother developed "XTension".  A X10 home control program for Macs. Mike has some of the most incredible ideas that he freely shared with his XTension discussion group. I don't know how many X10 modules Michael controls on the ranch, but I bet he has used up all 256 codes. Not only does control just about everything electrical, but it also kept precise records of such things as electricity, and well water usage, and  expendables. Mike had a bar code reader tied to a Mac in his kitchen. As he used grocery items, he would read the bar code of the package when he tossed in garbage. Weekly, "XTension" would print a shopping list...way too much HA fun!!!!

So Mike deserves the thanks.