A Day in the Life of a House

September 17, 2001 - Chris Weaver likes to tell his story to anyone who will listen. A story that he calls "A Day in My Life with ActiveHome." Chris has owned ActiveHome and other X10 products for many years, and each year he simply keeps adding to it, making his home more hi tech than George Jetson. So let’s read that story, "A Day in the Life of Chris’s Active Home."

At 5:00 AM, thanks to the Thermostat Set-Back Controller, ActiveHome adjusts the temperature throughout the house for the waking hours. If it’s summer, the Thermostat Set-Back turns up the air conditioner, or if it’s winter, then it turns up the heat. And if it is summer, and it’s watering day, the sprinklers start up at 5:00 AM to give the grass some much needed water.

At 6 AM, thanks to an ActiveHome "Morning" macro, National Public Radio starts out softly though the house stereo, and the lights in the bedroom flicker ever so slightly. Over the next few minutes, the lights brighten and the stereo volume increases.

At 6:20 AM, NPR is now coming through loud and clear. The lights are up full throughout the house, in the bedroom, the bathroom the hallway, and the kitchen. This lights the way so that Chris can let his dogs out. Downstairs in the kitchen, the "Morning" macro has started the coffee brewing, filling the house with that rich, awakening aroma.

During the day, HawkEye Motion Sensors monitor whether or not anyone is home and adjust the temperature accordingly. If the motions sensors don’t sense any movement for longer than fifteen minutes, then they adjust the temperature, turn off the lights and stereo and sit quietly waiting for the family’s return that evening.

By 5:00 PM, thanks to the "Evening" macro, the water fountain erupts into life, the temperature in the house again adjusts, the exterior lights come on and the bug zapper is activated.

At night Chris hits the button on his PalmPad, which he has attached to the alarm clock. This button activates another macro that turns off all the lights, and brings up the music of Enya, softly lulling the family to sleep.

At midnight, the "Art Bell" macro switches on Art Bell on the radio, making for some interesting dreams! But sometimes, as does often happen with couples, Chris and his wife feel a little romantic. So Chris says "I also have a romantic button that dims the lights and starts the appropriate music on those nights when my wife and I are together."

Chris also uses his ActiveHome to control many other systems in his house. Let's use his home theater for example. In his home theater, just one push of a button both turns everything on and gets it ready for viewing, or if they’re done watching their movie, it turns everything off. Also with that flick of a button, the drapes are drawn to keep out of all external light. The lights dim, and the movie begins. Or conversely, the curtains open, the lights come up, and the movie stops. Needless to say this feature is a hit among his friends.

Chris also says, "I use my Touch Tone Controller so I can call the house and make adjustments if necessary." Which includes remotely controlling the stereo and lights even while he’s outside talking on the cordless phone. "Also when I’m outside, if someone rings the doorbell or if the telephone rings, the patio lights flash," Chris says. And his system logs all activity to a file, which is accessible to him over the Internet so if he’s not home, he can log on and see if anyone has come by.

Chris has also interfaced the XCam2 and NightWatch into his system so he can record who has stopped by during the day. From there, he can view that information over the net.

And that’s "A Day in the Life of Chris’s ActiveHome." It’s a very busy day indeed, and not a single day goes by that Chris isn’t making adjustments, and keeping up with things around the house, even if he’s not there. Whereas some people take their work home with them, Chris takes his home to work with him. And he loves that. Thanks to ActiveHome, Chris can be at home wherever he is in the world.

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