Josh An X10 Weekend Warrior
This weekend I put together an X10 system for my father in law. He’s a disabled war vet and is having more and more trouble getting around. Exertion is a big no for him. Well, he loves to spend time out in his garage surrounded by his tools. Unfortunately the garage is extremely crowded with various pieces of garbage and junk which blocks the light switch from easy access. Until now he’s been creatively using a squeegee to reach across the garbage and flick on the lights.
Now I know what you all are saying… “Just clean the garage…” Well, that would take way too much work, and quite frankly I didn’t feel like spending three days for a light switch to be more accessible. Instead I dug up some switches I had laying around and grabbed a screw driver.
A few minutes later we had found the breaker and cut power to the garage. This is, of course, the most critical part of any electrical installation. I pulled out a Wall Switch Module (WS467). Easy enough to install with just wire nuts and a flat head screwdriver, we were done in under five minutes. I plugged in a Wireless Transceiver Module (TM751) and whipped out a trust keychain remote (KR19A). With a click of a button we were in business. But could I stop there? Of course not!
Who wants to waste your precious body movement on fumbling with a keychain remote when you can have a motion sensor do the work for you! I pulled out a motion sensor out of my X10 grab bag (MS14A) and set the code… then realized that I had to mount it first… So I mounted it and then programmed the correct code in. So now, when he opens the garage door, the lights turn on automatically. And, after a good 4 hours they will now turn off automatically if he ever forgets to turn them off with his remote. Happy as a clam we both walked inside and showed it off to his wife.
Just for fun I plugged in a remote chime inside so now he will always know when someone is in his garage. As a bonus his wife can now keep track of him just in case she gets worried. And that is how I spent my weekend.