I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on X10.
Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED maybe)
whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will know" - but
the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to know whether it has
been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for the water to get to the
shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--
Brian

Brian Staff wrote:
I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question
on X10. Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an
LED maybe) whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the
house.
I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will
know" - but the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to
know whether it has been on or off, because it takes a few minutes
for the water to get to the shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Check out here. They have a lot of the hardware and enough information
about it to help you figure out if it will do what you want. If you are
doing the controlling from a computer the software will handle it.

http://www.smarthome.com

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

Don't know about x10, but Leviton's line of line carriers has an LED which
shows that the "on" signal has been sent. It doesn't however prove that the
receiver is functioning



"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on X10.
Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED maybe)
whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will know" -
but the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to know whether
it has been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for the water to get
to the shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--
Brian

OK - I understand. That would satisfy my needs.

I already have some remote X10 devices, so I guess I'm looking for a new X10
compatible control device which has LEDs...anybody?

--
Brian
"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
...
Don't know about x10, but Leviton's line of line carriers has an LED which
shows that the "on" signal has been sent. It doesn't however prove that
the receiver is functioning



"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on
X10. Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED
maybe) whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will know" -
but the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to know whether
it has been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for the water to
get to the shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--
Brian

X-10 is not a two way communications. The sender sends the signal to turn
on, but does not know if it actually turned on. Possibly you need a relay on
the pump to send a low voltage signal back to a LED in an appropriate
location to actually show what is happening.

"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
OK - I understand. That would satisfy my needs.

I already have some remote X10 devices, so I guess I'm looking for a new
X10 compatible control device which has LEDs...anybody?

--
Brian
"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
...
Don't know about x10, but Leviton's line of line carriers has an LED
which shows that the "on" signal has been sent. It doesn't however prove
that the receiver is functioning



"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on
X10. Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED
maybe) whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will know" -
but the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to know
whether it has been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for the
water to get to the shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--
Brian

I believe there were some X10 devices which could be polled
for their state, so a computerized controller could indicate it.

OP - a temp sensor on the water pipe could activate an LED.

comp.home.automation better covers his kind of topic.

Bob

"EXT" wrote in message
anews.com...
X-10 is not a two way communications. The sender sends the signal to turn
on, but does not know if it actually turned on. Possibly you need a relay
on the pump to send a low voltage signal back to a LED in an appropriate
location to actually show what is happening.

"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
OK - I understand. That would satisfy my needs.

I already have some remote X10 devices, so I guess I'm looking for a new
X10 compatible control device which has LEDs...anybody?

--
Brian
"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
...
Don't know about x10, but Leviton's line of line carriers has an LED
which shows that the "on" signal has been sent. It doesn't however prove
that the receiver is functioning



"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on
X10. Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED
maybe) whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the
house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will
know" - but the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to
know whether it has been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for
the water to get to the shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--
Brian

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:27:08 -0700, "Brian Staff"
wrote:

I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on X10.
Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED maybe)
whether a remote device is on/off?

This won't be much help for you, but my car's burglar alarm, when used
with the fancier more expensive remote, beeps back to acknowledge
receipt of a signal**, and also changes the icon in the remote's
window to show that the system is armed, or not, and that the
vibration detector is on, or not. And also beeps when the siren goes
off, which is what I wanted.

So, they plainly make what you want for other applications.
Probablywouldn't be worth getting an alarm like this and trying to
adapte it for your home.

OT **The remote has 5 buttons, but the only two beeps I know about
are 1 beep for arm, 2 for disarm, 3 for arm if one zone is violated,
and 4 for disarm if the alarm has gone off since it was last armed.

And my complaint is that if the regular remote is last used to arm or
disarm the car, etc., it doesn't send out that signal to fancy remote.
So if a man and his wife go out and the the one with the simple remote
activates with the alarm, the fancy remote with the screen will say
it's not, etc.

I wanted to leave the fancy remote by my bed, to know if the goes off
while I'm sleeping, but if I use the cheap remote it won't do that.

So I bought from JCWhitney for 50 more dollars something that is only
a remote beeper when the alarm sounds. At least that works, although
I had to put a time delay on it so that it wouldn't go off when the
siren in the car beeped on arming and disarming. What a pain all this
can be.

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will know" - but
the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to know whether it has
been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for the water to get to the
shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Brian Staff wrote:

I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on X10.
Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED maybe)
whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will know" - but
the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to know whether it has
been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for the water to get to the
shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.


X-10 is one-way, no 'ack' signal is sent. It's 30 year old power line
technology that is useful for non-critical apps.

Post in:

comp.home.automation

For the newest solutions.

EXT wrote:

X-10 is not a two way communications. The sender sends the signal to turn
on, but does not know if it actually turned on.

Au contraire. Some X10 controllers do read back status.

Nick

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:27:08 -0700, "Brian Staff"
wrote:

I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on X10.
Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED maybe)
whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will know" - but
the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to know whether it has
been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for the water to get to the
shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

A better bet would be Z-wave. It has a positive acknowledgment back to
the transmitter and the display on the remote control wont change
until the ack is received. If the ack isnt received, there is usually
ablinking led on the remote for a few seconds indicating that fact.

dickm

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:23:41 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:

I believe there were some X10 devices which could be polled
for their state, so a computerized controller could indicate it.


It you use those, you're likely to have problems with collisions. X10
protocol has very poor collision detection and retransmission.

OP - a temp sensor on the water pipe could activate an LED.

comp.home.automation better covers his kind of topic.

Bob

"EXT" wrote in message
tanews.com...
X-10 is not a two way communications. The sender sends the signal to turn
on, but does not know if it actually turned on. Possibly you need a relay
on the pump to send a low voltage signal back to a LED in an appropriate
location to actually show what is happening.

"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
OK - I understand. That would satisfy my needs.

I already have some remote X10 devices, so I guess I'm looking for a new
X10 compatible control device which has LEDs...anybody?

--
Brian
"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
...
Don't know about x10, but Leviton's line of line carriers has an LED
which shows that the "on" signal has been sent. It doesn't however prove
that the receiver is functioning



"Brian Staff" wrote in message
...
I apologize if this is not the correct forum, but I have a question on
X10. Is it possible for an X10 "control box" to show (say, with an LED
maybe) whether a remote device is on/off?

I would like to control my water heater re-circulating pump (or garage
drive-way lights) - devices I cannot normally see from inside the
house.

I'm sure someone will just say "switch it on/off - then you will
know" - but the notification on the re-circulating pump is useful to
know whether it has been on or off, because it takes a few minutes for
the water to get to the shower.

Will "Insteon" solve my problem? or anything else?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--
Brian








--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"All your western theologies, the whole mythology of them,
are based on the concept of God as a senile delinquent."
-- Tennessee Williams