Home Automation DIY

Here’s the link to Super Secret Black Friday Deals at SmartHome.com. These deals will last for only 4 days starting 11/27 through Cyber Monday on 11/30.

Featuring:

• a Sale on INSTEON products
• Free Shipping Offers by Brand
• Dollars off when checking out via eBillMe or Google
• Gifts with purchase

Get the coolest Christmass gifts for your favorite geek in the family, parents or friends from the brand name store — SmartHome.com. There’s something for every one!

Smarthome^™ Introduces New ApplianceLinc^™ INSTEON^® Outdoor Plug-In On/Off Appliance Module

Irvine, CA – November 23, 2009 – Smarthome announces the release of the new ApplianceLinc INSTEON Outdoor Plug-In On/Off Appliance Module. The new INSTEON product not only allows for remote On/Off control of lights and appliances, it has also been tested and rated for outdoor use, offering protection against precipitation and extreme temperatures.

“This product is expected to arrive just in time for the holidays,” commented Laurie Maroni, Vice President of Marketing at Smarthome. “INSTEON users can now remotely control outdoor holiday lights, landscape lighting, fountain pumps and other high-wattage plug-in devices with their INSTEON controllers.” (continue reading this article and leave comments here…)

I stumbled upon this, a rather lengthy, post that brings up some valid points on the CFL technology as a whole and the trade offs you’ll have to consider when upgrading your incandescent fixtures, especially in regards to home/lighting automation.

In wanting to lower my carbon footprint, I tried switching to CFLs myself a while back, but found too many drawbacks in present generation of this technology and opted for replacing all (or most) switches in the house with dimmers and setting their default level to about 80%. The effect on my electricity bill was immediate, the solution was less pricey considering that no fixtures had to be replaced and keeping integrity of my home automation system intact.

Here’s a snip of that post with a link to follow at the bottom… (continue reading this article and leave comments here…)

Smarthome^™ Introduces New LampLinc^™ INSTEON^® Plug-In Dual-Band Lamp Module

Irvine, CA – November 16, 2009 -Smarthome announces the release of the new LampLinc INSTEON Plug-In Dual-Band Lamp Dimmer Module. The new product is a full-featured plug-in dimmer than can be remotely controlled by powerline and radio frequency (RF) INSTEON controllers and also doubles as an Access Point, relaying RF and powerline signals to other INSTEON-compatible devices.

“Our new Dual-Band LampLinc Dimmer continues our efforts to provide our INSTEON customers with the most complete and reliable home automation network on the market,” commented Laurie Maroni, Vice President of Marketing at Smarthome. “Adding dual-band functionality to this device allows it to not only receive commands from all INSTEON controllers, including RF controllers like RemoteLinc, but it will also relay RF and powerline signals to other INSTEON modules, making the entire INSTEON network stronger.” (continue reading this article and leave comments here…)