Posted: April 27 2004 at 11:21 | IP Logged

Okay....I'm ready for the next phase of my PowerHome experience.

I've done the Christmas lights (which I won an award for BTW!), I've done the house lights, cameras, I've even got my pager going off when someone DARES invade MY >space< called the "office".

Now I want to get into remote control of devices and I've seen the RedRat3, and I've read up on the Ocelot but I'm having trouble envisioning what exactly I might need and how I might use it.

The Powerhome PC isn't very centrally located.  The "office" is located in a finished basement location in the NW corner of the house.  If I were to purchase a RedRat3 and slap it on that PC, I would only be able to control infrared devices in that office area, correct?  How would I go about extending that out to other areas of the home?

I defer to your greatness, Dave and Tony :)

Posted: April 27 2004 at 13:11 | IP Logged

Pete,

I beat Tony for once !!

If you were to purchase a RedRat3 and locate it in the office, you could direct its output to an infrared extender such as the pyramid ones that X10 sells.  This is basically two pyramid shaped units, one an IR receiver and the other an IR transmitter.  The RR3 would beam IR to the pyramid receiver.  This signal is then converted to RF and transmitted.  The other pyramid picks up this RF and converts it back to IR and blasts it out.  You can use multiple IR transmitters to blast multiple areas.

This is what Ive been using in my home to control most of my IR equipment in the living room and a second pyramid to control IR equipment in the bedroom.  There are some problems with this arrangement however.  If someone walks in front of the pyramid when it's transmitting, the signal could be lost.  I also seem to have a problem with the RF portion of the pyramids.  Sometimes when Im sitting on the far end of the couch, the RF doesnt seem to reach the transmitting pyramid...I'll have to shift my body slightly and repeat the command in order for it to work.  I don't have to tell you what a pain that is .  It could be that I just have a defective unit but Im not so sure.

Anyways,  just last night I finally started integrating my Ocelot into my permanent PowerHome setup.  It seems that the new VOOM HDTV satellite service I got conflicts with my 4DTV big dish receiver.  They're both made by Motorola and apparently used the same IR commands.  This has pushed me to need "zoned" IR control which Im using with an Ocelot connected to SECU-16IR.  Im sure I'll be using the RR2 (havent hooked up the RR3 yet) in addition to the Ocelot however since the RedRats are so easy to download and plug in unique codes for.  If you were to choose an Ocelot / SECU-16IR solution, you could connect the Ocelot up next to the computer and then hook the SECU-16IR up to the Ocelot using Cat5 twisted pair and locate the SECU-16IR right next to your IR equipment.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll do my best.

Dave.

Posted: April 27 2004 at 14:55 | IP Logged

Thanks Dave!!  You've given me a great start.......

Posted: April 27 2004 at 20:14 | IP Logged

Dang! Yup, ya beat me, Dave!

The Powermids (X10 #PM5900, $39.99) do support external emitters (X10 #RX569, $12.99), so, you could put them closer to your equipment. Unless the Ocelot / SECU-16IR is a better way to do it! Opinion?

I never thought about using IR extenders with the RedRat. I figured I'd get one of those powered USB extension cables. I need to check which way is cheaper.

Posted: April 29 2004 at 15:17 | IP Logged

Im probably going to use the external emitter solution with a Powermid to control my TV since I don't want to hardwire from the Ocelot .

The Ocelot is great when you need zoned control.  You wouldn't be able to get that with the pyramids or a single RedRat or similar.

The USB extension would probably be more reliable.  The Powermids work for the most part, but I occasionally have problems with what I can only guess is interference.

Dave.