On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 19:00:13 UTC, wrote:

In uk.d-i-y, Bob Eager wrote:

We occupy the house at irregular (but predictable) times each day. I
wondered if one can get any kind of box that plugs in, in place of a
normal CH controller, that allows one to program a 'calendar' of times
via a PC...indefinitely into the future. Clearly one needs a manual
override and failsafe, but the savings are potentially a lot greater
than the cost of leaving a PC on (especially if it's going to be on
anyway...)

Two places to start suggest themselves to me. One is to look at X.10 home
automation controllers: I'm pretty sure the range of stuff includes the
kind of donwloadable programmer/sequencer you suggest. The other is the
user-friendly version of programmable logic controllers, like the
Mitsubishi Alpha and the Siemens Logo! (yup, the bang is part of the name ;-)
which cost about 80quid and have calendar functions as well as all the
ANDs, ORs, timed-delay, and other automation building blocks you could
want for a small setup - allowing you to program your very own flavours
of control suited to you particular "predictable" patterns. See rswww.com
for (full) prices, or the suppliers websites for detailed downloadable
programming manuals.

Thanks - I thought of X10 but understood that it's not so satisfactory
this side of the 'pond'. But I'll look around...


--
Bob Eager
rde at tavi.co.uk
PC Server 325*4; PS/2s 9585, 8595, 9595*2, 8580*3,
P70...