Hi Thomas-- X10 is an ancient protocol, even predating the internet!!
By far the best way to monitor and control things is through is a simple LAN system. Your existing sensors are perfectly usable and you have the benefit of internet interface and control if you want it ... eg a temperature sensor (or whatever) is out of the range you preset, so the system sends you an email, maybe turns on a video server camera, or automatically starts a ventilator ... basically whatever you tell it to do. This is the way industrial control systems are put together ... never with X10 :-) This link oi-cellennium-thailand.telemetryview.com/thcell4 is to a page that provides monitoring of a solar power system that I'm currently in the commissioning process for. A much more basic example. Regards/Roger, in Bangkok regards/Roger, in Bangkok On 3/30/07, Thomas Hillson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Stuart, The last area of greenhouse automation I am going to cover with this discussion in one where I have no positive comments. When I started working with this stuff I thought it would be a great way to control various misting and watering systems in my greenhouse. I hate to say this, but under my conditions X-10 hardware is junk. I have some interference in my home electrical system that interfere with the communication between X-10 hardware, so it can not communicate with each other. If you are not familiar with it X-10 hardware uses your home electrical wiring to communicate to turn devices on and off. Unfortunately, X-10's support is pretty worthless. They told me my problem was interference in my electrical wiring, they were not willing to offer any help in figuring out what was causing the interference or how I could figure out how to eliminate it or filter it out. I could not figure out what was causing the problem, so I sold the X-10 stuff I had. They have lots of stuff for home security and monitoring, it you are interested, get their basic test kit with the controller you hook into your PC and the controller you can use to turn on and off a device. http://www.x10.com/automation/ck18a_s_ps32.html is the web address where you can buy the basic starter kit for home control from your PC. I cannot say anything good about the company, but I have friends that love them. I know there are probably lots of other things that people are using to monitor or control their greenhouses. If you have any comments on what I have posted or on other equipment, get into the discussion on ODG. I hope this has given you some ideas on how to automate your greenhouse. Tom Hillson [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
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