This is another chapter in the total computer conrol of our house using
various X-10
products. The automation server is an IBM Aptiva with a 350 AMD K-6
processor. The server is running 24 hours a day and uses HomeSeer
for both regular X-10
control and HomeSeer Phone for integrated
voice-mail and automation control as well. I've been using HomeSeer
for over a year and a half and have found it to be flexible and powerful
enough to do everything I want with my home automating needs. With
all the knowledgeable users of HomeSeer
discovering new ways to use the program, I have never turned away an idea
I've had using HomeSeer and
X-10 products to acomplish
my final desired outcome.
Read and look on at my latest project
which has finally come to an end on 1-21-01 after many months of spending,
planning and building.
This is what I started with. A big mess!
500' of Cat 5 cable, a box of of overstock speakers from MCM
Electronics , 1000' of phone cable and several packages of RJ-45 connectors.
This is my dedicated web browser that I do everything
else on, which includes all my experimentation and discussion about
anything to do with Home Automation.
Here's a peek inside the box I made to contain all the
gear I use to distribute the audio from HomeSeer
Inside you'll find the whole house audio amp, the power supply for the
amp, a terminal strip to distribute the audio and an
X-10 universal module to shut the audio off to the house when needed.
I have everything inside the amp box controlled by an
X-10 appliance module to shut the amp off at night to give it
a little down time. It makes it a lot nicer to work on and cleaner
to the eye to have it all organized like I have it. Plus, in the
future if I do need to diagnose a problem, everything is right there at
knee level to work on.
A close up view of the amp--> An ELK-800 paging
amp. I can't say enough about this little gem of a find! It
was less than $30 from Hosfelt
Electronics It's a 10 watt single channel amp that is capable
of driving multiple speakers and it's 2 ohm stable to boot. Oh yeah,
I almost forgot, you can use 22 ga. phone cable for the speakers
so you don't even have to buy expensive $$$ speaker cable.
I have 8 overstock speakers through the house that I bought from MCM
Electronics for $2.50 each!!! They're Ford left-overs from
what looks like a rear speaker application. The speakers have a perfect
slant to them which fit right in to whichever room they're mounted in.
The amp is connected directly to my sound card in the computer running
HomeSeer
Nothing really special to see here. Just the back
view of my server running HomeSeer
Here's a picture of some more of my goodies. A Logitech
USB video capture device, a Motorola
cable modem and my LinkSys
4 port router.
A view of
one of my wall speakers
Same speaker---> different view.
Here you have
it, folks. The final picture...... A dedicated home automation server
running HomeSeer , with audio throughout
the whole house to hear the voice output wherever you are.
I guess that's it for now. My wife loves the new
audio set-up now as she can shut all the house speakers off except the
bathroom's and listen to MP3's of her choosing while soaking in the tub.
It's a good thing she enjoys this home automation stuff, heck she's right
there next to me helping pull cable through the house or lending a hand
whenever I need it!
On to the next project......Whatever that may be???
A view of
one of my wall speakers
Here you have
it, folks. The final picture...... A dedicated home automation server
running HomeSeer , with audio throughout
the whole house to hear the voice output wherever you are.
