X10: LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
With the upcoming release of new firmware for Vera, which is expected to include X10 interoperability via an Insteon PLM (modem), I want to get ahead of the game slightly by starting this thread for the following users and reasons:
- Those of us who own (and wish to implement) lots of X10 modules and accessories
- Those of us who are migrating from existing X10 installations to Z-Wave systems
- Hobbyists who are not afraid to test experimental/new hardware configurations
- Z-Wave / ZigBee newbies who want/need X10 compatibility before purchasing Vera
- Itinerant beta testers who can’t wait to pound on Vera’s new-found X10 functionality
- Frustrated and former X10 users who gave up on home automation due to the continual failure by hardware manufacturers to (a) eliminate complexity, (b) support their products, (c) update firmware and software, (d) respond to consumers, (e) remain in business.
Disclaimer: I fall into all six categories, but think #6 describes me best, as I steadily dismantled my home’s X10 system after my trusty GE HomeMinder (vintage 1986) died, and later experiences with a CM11A and its ActiveHome software left me wanting so much more.
THE X10 DREAM, RENEWED?
I figure I can’t be the only one with drawers full of X10 interfaces, remotes, modules, transceivers and controllers … just aching to put some of them back into service! Sure, I lived through the “1.0” times when all home automation was hard-coded and regimented, and all hardware was single-purpose. Back then, Radio Shack was our best friend and product failure/obsolescence was commonplace.
I plodded along happily with the advent of X10.com and SmartHome in the “2.0” days, when HAI, HomeSeer and other promising upstarts came along to round out our expectations of what’s possible using flexible firmware and enhanced interfaces. Entire hobbyist communities rallied around the concept of home automation as “integral” rather than “afterthought.”
WELCOME TO MI CASA
Now, we’re clearly living in “3.0” times, when folks like Mi Casa Verde - recognizing the power of open source architectures and the synergy created from robust user feedback - can build a sensible home automation system from the ground up using the latest technology, offer it at a reasonable price, and (at least on paper) go forward with a very audacious game plan. But companies like MCV face a chicken-and-egg conundrum the same way Z-Wave technology - its very soul - does: Which comes first, the users or the products? That is, the presence of a need (e.g. home automation) does not guarantee the success of any solution (e.g. Vera), because today’s savvy users are fickle, margins are incredibly slim, and expectations so incredibly high that developers can easily be derailed both fiscally and philosophically.
(For a seminal example of a product, which offered such promise on the drawing board, being doomed by limited investment capital and later crippled by wayward development and too-slow adoption in the real world, just Google “Dash Express GPS”.)
The minds at MCV have wisely chosen as “sustainable” a platform as possible with Vera, giving her a brain and a heart, leaving the guts and sinew time to flesh out over time with the help and guidance of avid users and early adopters. Us! At the same time, Vera is so extensible and flexible that countless alternative uses - a good portion of which may wind up dead ends - will be considered by MCV. Just look at all the items already on users’ wish lists! And I believe, thus far, MCV has shown admirable resolve to “finish what we’ve started” before embarking on the more esoteric features being suggested. They’ve even gone so far as to place cash bounties on new coded plug-ins, effectively telling co-developers, “You want it? You make it!”
ENTER X10
Every time a new home automation technology sprouts up, it is expected to grow into a superset of all prior technologies. Since the advent of electricity - when skeptics asked, “Will it light like an oil lamp?” - each innovation is greeted with a checklist to assure nothing got left behind in the name of progress. Over the last 100 years, we’ve grafted clocks onto toasters, photocells onto lamps, CRTs onto keyboards, triacs onto light switches, buzzers onto washing machines, and LEDs onto clocks … and now we’re hoping Z-Wave can be grafted onto X10 to “make it better” and breathe new life into a stale technology.
If this upgrade is to succeed, we tinkerers need to adopt a methodical approach to testing our old equipment and providing feedback, thereby helping MCV iron out the kinks. Or else we risk throwing a very heavy anchor over the side of their brand-new canoe.
I hope this forum topic can be our “Home Base” for trying out X10 with Vera! If you’re like me, you can’t wait to dust off your old X10 gadgets and put them to the test. When you do, please report back here and let us all know how things turned out. THANKS! - Libra