Integration and consolidation is the name of the game for
all technology. It used to be the
smaller the gadget the more chic, but now it is how many functions you can
limit to just a few areas. It began with
the monolithic home computer that began to allow you to watch movies and listen
to music. As we began to port those
functions to our portable devices and iPhones people saw the possibility for
integrating functions only packed to the recesses of our imagination, or at
least late night cable channels.
The
iPhone has proven its ability to also act as a remote for limited features on
your iTunes’, but now outside developers are trying to break it out of the
shell of tradition it has conventionally been trapped by. Home Automation, which is the integration of many
electrical features in the home, may be the next step for bringing the iPhone
into absolutely every area of daily life.
Home Automation can mean a number of different things, such
as bringing together all the heating and cooling controls of your house or all
the entertainment centers. Lighting is
an area that is often difficult to conceive of for Home Automation as switches
are found standard in most homes. X10
Home Automation has been developing technology for decades that can be used to
basically control these power center in your home.
What the X10 Home Automation technology does is ask you to
set a base controller, which as they state “can be any number of things
including a simple plug-in device, a wireless remote or motion sensor and transceiver
or even your PC.” From there the
information it sent to power lines to instruct the different functions on your
electrical grid to do what your wish.
This sounds like a much more complicated process than it
ends up being as you basically use different integrated product from X10 to
create a network that is the size that you actually want. First you can purchase a device from X10 to
connect directly to a light source, such as free standing lamp. There are a variety of these under the industry standard of X10 that transfer the information with radio frequency bursts.
From there you get an X10 controller to
connect to your computer, from which you use associated server piece on your
computer so as to actually control the device attached to the light from your
computer.
The final stage of the X10 Home Automation process is really
to download and install their iPhone application that will connect to this
software and then follow its controls down the line to the object you want to
control. This iPhone application states
you that you can control up to sixty items in your home right from your iPhone,
but you have to have the proper X10 equipment for each device to make this
work. What this iPhone application
actually does is allows you to control all of these X10 devices through the
central hub of the server piece, which then in turn control the home features
they are attached to.
This is not cheap or incredibly easy, and once you actually purchase
all of the X10 equipment you will have to go in and spend $9.99 on the iPhone
application (X Commander). The price is not, however,
the main thing that should be considered here (try MobiLinc Lite for free).
If you will be able to make this work then you really have integrated
the iPhone into your home operations in a way that is beyond what even the more
high end users are doing. You may want
to keep this limited to things like main lights, televisions, and garage doors
at first, but after a while you may be able to even get kitchen appliances on
board!
Care to see advanced lighting control with iPhone? Check out Luminair app (DMX lighting control). You never know what kind of ambient light you will need in your dorm room or apartment. Keep in mind this app requires different set-up compare what we described above, not X10 but DMX.
Resources to get your iPhone home automation project started:
1. List of requirements for X Commander control software. Before you buy anything just make sure that you have everything organized and you understand requirements.
2. You can order components (controlers, X10 plugs, server) at x10.com. Word of caution they sell their stuff like late night infomertials with Crazy Eddie’s flare
3. Learn more about DMX light control here. This is more expensive option for iPhone light control compare to X10, but you can see from the video above that results are amazing.
4. Read our article on How To Turn Your iPhone Into The Ultimate Remote
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Legacy iTunes Download Archive
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Complete iPhone Jailbreaking Guide 
Complete iPhone Specification Matrix 
X10 would be great if the quality of their switches was something akin to what you buy at a hardware store, but they’re not. I gave up on them after 2 of the 3 switches I’d installed in my walls had plastic pieces fall off after less than a year os light usage. WHen I put a switch in my wall I expect it to last a _long_ time.
I had X10 died on me about 20-25 switches on and off. The device wasn’t made to last. Initially it was cool but if you want something to last, you better go find something else or you’ll be sorely disappointed when it doesn’t work.
X10 Signal integrity in a normal home environment is terrible. Insteon is much better.
WARNING: I am the author of “INSTEON: Smarthomes for Everyone”
Look at INSTEON with MobiLinc Pro. I have 100+ devices on it and it’s a lot more reliable than X10 at only about twice the price of the cheapest X10 equipment. I control my entire house with my iPhone on a daily basis using it, total cost for a typical home would be <$2000. Not bad considering what it does.
X10 is terrible! Works one day and not the next.
Z-Wave or Insteon. Only.
You’re trying to say that DMX is a reasonable alternative to X-10? Coming from the theatre world I know the price of this and the unique challenges that it sets forth. I wouldn’t recommend trying to run DMX in a household setting.
You have a good point, just wanted to point put to alternatives.
We gonna do separate article on the Insteon.
Good suggestions, we gonna write separate article about Insteon.
I am an industry professional that provides technical support to end-users that have purcahsed these types of products.
First, this article is really missing a lot!
There is a huge gap of information in the “From there you get an X10 controller to connect to your computer, from which you use associated server piece on your computer so as to actually control the device attached to the light from your computer” line.
This is the one piece that will tie your iPhone to your X10 system … how could you omit it???
Also.. no one here is mentioning UPB as a viable alternative to X10. X10 does work, but if you dont understand how it works (and why common problems creep up), and dont understand how to prevent those problems .. it will appear to you like the technology is crap. It is not, it just takes more effort than most users are willign to take (it is NOT necessarily plug and play).
Z-wave is the best technology out there next to X10. More expensive, but more features and easier to use, and does not suffer from common X10 problems.
UPB is the next step up- more expensive still, but far more feature than X10, Insteon, and Z-wave can shake a stick at combined. And it is far more reliable than any technology. It is the installing dealer’s go-to when they need a system to work the first time and work well.
I suggest you post a follow-up to this article detailing how you actually control X10 with your iPhone .. because this article is not complete until you do!
That is really Amazing. Now we can control the Electrionic Equipments with the help of the Iphone.
Yeah, I’d thought about that but then it’s just one more thing to clutter up my keychain, etc. I always leave the linux box running anyway so I can access it remotely from work, etc. if I need to. And this also lets me remotely control things from virtually anywhere, not just within a few dozen feet of the front door.
Hi I just got the the x10 starter system for 99.00. Its ok but the biggest flow in this article and x10 advertisement is the forget to tell you that in order to control any appliance light or other device, IT HAS TO BE ON THE SAME CIRCUIT AS THE COMPUTER THAT HAS THE USB MODULE. In other words, if you have you computer in one room and try to control a lamp in another room you better pray that your house was build in 1900 and only has 1 circuit for the whole house. This lack of information sucks on x10′s part and also on this article. Yes they sell you a transiever that works in other rooms via a radio frequency, but they never tell you that in the initial sale of the items. Which then makes the light bulb unit obsolete unless again you are on the same circuit.. Thier advertisement should read. “Do you have a home built 2 centuries ago when only 1 circuit took care of business, then we have a motivating product for you to control your entire house from our great system.”
WOW PURE LAZINESS! IF THIS IS THE FUTURE, RICH MAN WILL BE THE FIRST TO DIE FROM LACK OF OXYGEN TO HIS LEGS. IF HES STUGGELING TO REMEBER TO SWITCH ON & OFF THE LIGHTS OR SHUT THE GARAGE DOOR THEN THE DOCTORS IS THE BEST PLACE TO VISIT. OTHERWISE LEAVING THE DOOR OR THE LIGHTS ON IN THE HOUSE WHEN YOU’VE GONE OUT SHOWS YOU ARE ONE OF THE MANY PEOPLE ADDING TO GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE. REDICULOUS CRAP BUT TIS FUNNY LOL
Wow, had no idea that this technology was around. Obviously there are few flaws here and there, but imagine in a few years how easily it will be available.