Easy to Use?

[SAS]

I am considering purchasing Homeseer and beginning the journey of automating my home. My wife is skeptical to say the least.

Is there anything I can do to make it very simple for my wife (and kids) to use. My wife is not particularly computer savvy so the easier the better.

Thanks in advance.

[Rupp]

Welcome to the bulletin board SAS. One of the most intuitive interfaces and most affordable interfaces to HomeSeer (HS) is the free TouchPad interface that is available via the HS updater. It comes out of the box looking OK but with a little CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) work it can be made to look quite good. The step up from this is either the new Maestro Touch screen interface or the MainLobby plugin with the 3rd party MainLobby suite. My wife uses the touchpad interface on my laptops around the house to control all aspect of my automation. Let us know if you have any other questions.

[griffined]

To add to what Rupp said, my 81 y.o. father uses both the Touchpad interface and the MainLobby screens I created, on a touchscreen flat panel. He also uses an X10 Palm Pad remote and some of the X10 switch on switches. He doesn't know how to use Windows, or work with Homeseer devices, events, or scripts like I do.

I keep asking him to attend a computer class at the Senior center, but that would help more with rebooting and restarting stuff when I'm away on a trip, than using the home automation stuff.

He likes the text to speech stuff I've setup. Voice recognition works for me, but I think he sometimes forgets the specific commands and responses needed, and thus doesn't use it much.

Ed

[SAS]

Thank you both for your responses. I will research the options you mentioned above. I am sure I will have more questions soon.

[zippy]

I recently just got into HS and I have to tell ya it's simple! And with this board as back up there is noting you can't figure out. The members here are great and are all about helping each other achieve what they set out to to.

Couple months in and I have 15 switches(zwave), x10 RF doors sensors, three motion sensors(zwave), an ocelot and secu16 for ir control., a ton of events and scripts for automating everything.

And also got into MainLobby for touch screen interfaces. You will find the same kind of help on the MainLobby board.

Good luck and have fun!

[Bkphillips]

I third the Mainlobby interface it is a masterful way to get you hands-on to your home with a custom touch and really be able to control everything without having to know/remember anything special. Owning an actual touchscreen is a very clean direct interface to your needs in home automation. I have one mounted in my kitchen wall now. Looking back - I have no idea how I managed a few years without one. Even my girlfreind gets right on it and looks up recipies - sets up the sirius radio to her preset - sets the whole house volumes the way she likes it - changes the dimmness levels of lights - (and my favorite thing) she consults the posted evening weather as to if she needs to take along a coat out to dinner..

As you can see - controlling EVERYTING in the house from a central location will be your biggest assest and will certainly get you ahead of the game with the other members of the family, without too much learning curve.

[xlucent]

This is easy?

I'm just starting to use Homeseer myself and am pretty much totally confused. Are there any good books available that explain how to use this software? I have several Insteon devices (LampLincs, SwitchLincs and a ControlLinc) which I've managed to get Homeseer to recognize thanks to the latest Insteon plug-in but that's about all I can make sense of.

I also have some X10 KR19A Slimfire remotes and an RR501 transceiver that I figure out how to get set up in Homeseer.

Since I want to use Insteon for lighting I got a PowerLinc USB controller to use as an interface. Can that work with both Insteon and X10 devices or do I need to get a separate X10 controller?

All I seem to be able to do at this point is to sit at my computer and turn some lights on and off. I know that Homeseer is capable of really great stuff but the documentation seems to leave a whole lot to be desired. I'd be happy to buy a book that explains how to actually use this software if one exists. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Rupp]

I'm just starting to use Homeseer myself and am pretty much totally confused. Are there any good books available that explain how to use this software? I have several Insteon devices (LampLincs, SwitchLincs and a ControlLinc) which I've managed to get Homeseer to recognize thanks to the latest Insteon plug-in but that's about all I can make sense of.

I also have some X10 KR19A Slimfire remotes and an RR501 transceiver that I figure out how to get set up in Homeseer.

Since I want to use Insteon for lighting I got a PowerLinc USB controller to use as an interface. Can that work with both Insteon and X10 devices or do I need to get a separate X10 controller?

All I seem to be able to do at this point is to sit at my computer and turn some lights on and off. I know that Homeseer is capable of really great stuff but the documentation seems to leave a whole lot to be desired. I'd be happy to buy a book that explains how to actually use this software if one exists. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

That controller can send X10 and Insteon signals. My suggestion is to post a question at a time and we can work you through getting started. The HomeSeer help files also are an excellent source of information for getting started. You should be able to simply plug your RR501 into the wall and start pushing the remote and see the signals in the HS log. Then once this is working you can set up an event to trigger on the incoming X10 signal. For example press a button on the remote A1. Then setup an event that triggers on A1 on that speaks "Hey! you just poked A1 on". You imagination is the only limiting factor here.

[xlucent]

That controller can send X10 and Insteon signals. My suggestion is to post a question at a time and we can work you through getting started. The HomeSeer help files also are an excellent source of information for getting started. You should be able to simply plug your RR501 into the wall and start pushing the remote and see the signals in the HS log. Then once this is working you can set up an event to trigger on the incoming X10 signal. For example press a button on the remote A1. Then setup an event that triggers on A1 on that speaks "Hey! you just poked A1 on". You imagination is the only limiting factor here.

I guess the reason I was asking about books on Homeseer was because I have soooooo many questions I don't want to make a nuisance of myself. Everyone here has been great about helping but I'd hate to get to where I'm just annoying people by asking dozens of no-brainer questions.

The specific question I have regarding the X10 devices at the moment is:

I set the RR501 house/unit code to O1. I also set the KR19A remote to send ON/OFF to O1. When I push the buttons on the remote I can hear the RR501 making loud clickiing noises as the switch is thrown so I assume those two devices are talking to each other. However, Homeseer does not seem to just recognize that a code O1 is being sent. (At least nothing in the log indicates that a signal was received.) So I tried to add a device to Homeseer called "Slimfire remote" on code O1. Although HS let me do it, still there was nothing in the log to show that it "heard" the remote being pushed. How do I get HS to notice that I just pushed the remote ON or OFF button?

I really appreciate the help everyone here has given me and the patience ya'll show. I'm mostly totally in awe of all the knowledge you guys have and wish I knew enough to at least ask intelligent questions.



Bill

[Bkphillips]

The remote is sending RF. The module is clicking because it is receiving the RF commands. HomeSeer will need an RF interface in order to log these events, since the module will only receive commands (X10 or RF).
Does that help?

[xlucent]

The remote is sending RF. The module is clicking because it is receiving the RF commands. HomeSeer will need an RF interface in order to log these events, since the module will only receive commands (X10 or RF).
Does that help?

Ummmm....I'm not sure. I thought the point of the RR501 Transceiver is that it both receives and transmits. (Hence, transceiver). If all it does is receive the signal and click, it doesn't seem terribly useful.

I guess I totally misunderstood the documentation on the transceiver. I thought that, since the transceiver is plugged into the powerline, it received the RF signal from the KR19A keypad and then transmitted that signal out across the powerline where it should be accessible to the PowerLinc USB controller.

[Rupp]

Ummmm....I'm not sure. I thought the point of the RR501 Transceiver is that it both receives and transmits. (Hence, transceiver). If all it does is receive the signal and click, it doesn't seem terribly useful.

I guess I totally misunderstood the documentation on the transceiver. I thought that, since the transceiver is plugged into the powerline, it received the RF signal from the KR19A keypad and then transmitted that signal out across the powerline where it should be accessible to the PowerLinc USB controller.

You have this correct. The RR501 receives RF from one house code and puts that signal on the powerline. If HS and your X10 interface isn't seeing the X10 command then it's probably a phase issue in your home. To test this, plugin the RR501 into the same outlet that your PowerLinc is plugged into. Then push a button on your remote. If the PowerLinc/HS doesn't see it then something is more than likely not configured correctly.

[xlucent]

You have this correct. The RR501 receives RF from one house code and puts that signal on the powerline. If HS and your X10 interface isn't seeing the X10 command then it's probably a phase issue in your home. To test this, plugin the RR501 into the same outlet that your PowerLinc is plugged into. Then push a button on your remote. If the PowerLinc/HS doesn't see it then something is more than likely not configured correctly.

Rupp -

I did as you suggested and still don't see anything showing up in the log. I tried plugging the RR501 into the same outlet as the Powerlinc USB and, when that didn't work, plugged the RR501 directly into the outlet on the PowerLinc.

The Powerlinc seems like it's receiving a signal of some sort since I noticed that when I push the button on the remote to send O1, the LED on the side of the Powerlinc flashes. Homeseer doesn't show anything in the log though and a test event I created to turn lights on when O1 is received doesn't do anything.

Bill

[Rupp]

Bill,
What model of PowerLinc are you using?

[xlucent]

Bill,
What model of PowerLinc are you using?

Rupp,

Powerlinc V2 USB #2414U. I think it should be the newest one since I just got it from SmartHome last month.

Bill