Cinnamon Cove Computer Club UPDATING ACTIVE HOME

Background A couple of years ago I presented an overview of ActiveHome Since then new features have been added Today I will outline the product and demonstrate its features, old and new.

What it is ActiveHome is the software that is used to program the Controller/Interface The Controller/Interface sends signals through house electrical wiring to modules installed to control lights and appliances The Controller/Interface can remain connected to the computer or can work alone. Modules typically are Lamp, Appliance or Wall Switch although there are specialized modules such as Motion Detectors.

Modules Appliance Modules use a small relay to separate the sensor from the load. Lamp Modules and Wall Switch Modules use a small current through the load as the power source and therefore can only be used for incandescent bulbs. A new Wall Switch Module designed to control fans and other higher current loads also has a relay and can be used for CFL and LED lights. It responds to the All Lights On signal which requires the use of macros.

Setting Up The All-Lights-On signal requires the use of a Macro since that signal is not part of the normal Timer process. Macros are small pre-written programs that can be drag and dropped to create a unique pattern of actions. Typical patterns would be things like turning on a coffee maker at a set time, followed by lights and other appliances. Macros require a trigger to get them started, after that they follow the sequence in which they are listed.

Setting Up In the example of the new wall switch all the Macro is required to do is send the All-Lights-On signal when triggered by a Timer. A second Macro is required to send the All-Lights-Off signal to turn the lights off when triggered by the Timer function. It is possible that there is a simpler way of doing this but this was the way I chose since I already had the timers programed.

Setting Up Active Home has a collection of components that allow you to drag and drop the appropriate Wall Switch Module icon to the Designer panel and through Buttons set the timer to turn on and off the switch. There are two Designer options, Simple and Advanced, the latter giving you more features such as dusk and dawn settings. The next slides will show how these Designer panels look.

Designer Views