You may notice our Smarthome button available on all pages. We have not spent much time talking about them. Smarthome is a computer that specializes in home technology…including surveillance, lighting and appliance control, and so on.

They come to our mind today because we called in an electrician to fix the lighting system we’d failed to succeed in installing ourselves. The system uses X1o-based technology.

X10 is a standard that uses signals sent along the power lines. One can also use radio transmissions to trigger the powerline signals. X10 devices include dimmable lamp modules, appliance modules, outlets, and light switches…as well as a variety of control mechanisms.

One of X10’s problems is that is prone to interference from other devices. However, it remains popular despite this. The most common X10 switches are the inexpensive ones sold by X10 Technology, Radio Shack, and even Smarthome itself. These switches are easy to install, but are prone to failure. They are however a good starting point if you just want to experiment.

For reliability, try Leviton or Smarthome constructed X10 switches. They are a bit more expensive, but come at varying levels of quality…all of which are more reliably. Smarthome itself has been promoting its Insteon line of products. Insteon products are backwards compatible with X10, so you don’t have to rip out your existing wiring, should you have it. But they also send radio signals which are repeated by every Insteon device.

However, setting up Insteon is a bit more expensive than their X10 offerings, and their older X10 only lines are being discounted now…so it is a good time to click the link above and buy.

Thus, we come to the reason why we called an electrician. We have no trouble installing single switches, however,  three-way and four-way switches(where two or more switches control a single light) continue to elude us. That and the fact that whoever wired our home originally did it in an…as the electrician put it…”unconventional way.” We hope to master the skill someday. Fortunately, with the diagnostic assistance of the electrician, everything is working perfectly.

We take a targeted approach to home automation. It is set for certain lights. The lights on our exterior porch are set on a motion sensor that trigger the inside hall lights. In one room, remote switching is used to avoid installing a second switch in the room. When combined with a security system, we could extend this even more.

Give it a look. Feel free to comment with your home automation stories or questions. We may feature them in future posts.