X10 Community Halloween Edition!

Posted October 14, 2002

Notable Entries As submitted by X10.com Visitors

Entry 71:
Setting up an "X" door greeter: you must have two cameras and two video receivers, one X10 remote control and two TV's. First, set up a small TV as the face or head of a body outside your door, connect one video receiver to it and plug in one camera. The outside camera will send the signal to the inside tv/video receiver so you can see faces and costumes of the kids and what they are doing. (Note: the outside camera and inside receiver must be on the same channel, but different from the second camera and receiver.) Second, plug in the second camera and connect the second video receiver to the inside TV. Then, have someone help you determine a specific place where you will sit in front of this camera each time you have a trick-or-treater. Make sure you can see the inside TV without having to move your head too much. The kids can tell if you have set this up right. The positioning of this camera and your face should be about the same each time you use the X10 remote to turn on and off the face and voice of your door greeter. An added bonus for me is that I set out goody bags of candy under a table. I never have to answer the door. I just tell them where to look and to only take one because I am watching...... -- Sloan Gill

Entry 95:
I have always had a big Halloween party, and always had electronic devices, but could never control them easily until this year when I bought the 12-piece RCA gift box plus the ActiveHome kit + 3 EagleEye motion sensors. For Halloween I have EagleEye motion sensors that turn on a tape recorder that screams and a spotlight that shines on a scary mask. I use the appliance modules to turn on fan motors that spin fake hands and a head over a grave in the yard. This year I am adding a 6000 volt jacobs ladder (ascending spark) controlled by, guess what? an appliance module! I carry a keychain remote to turn spotlights on my dad's old truck, outfitted with 'monsters' in it. An X10 controlled fountain squirts out of a dummy's arm water with red food coloring (add liquid detergent for a neat effect). All of the outside lights are controlled by X10 lamp modules, and even the dog pen has a light in it that turns on at dusk and off at dawn to keep the dogs warm, but I change out the light colors with season changes - blue on Halloween and red other times. The front porch has a motion sensor with a loud fan motor and lights to greet visitors. When it's not Halloween, the front porch lights, Christmas lights, and landscape lights are always turned on at dusk (they greet me when I arrive home) and off at 10pm. My son loves his 'automatic' room light, an EagleEye sensor controlling a lamp. X10 switch modules turn on the porch lights every evening and the fireplace lights (with plants in it) every morning. Please accept my order for a Firecracker kit, as I am running out of channels and need a new housecode! -- Fred Rowe