Gadgets can keep an eye on your gadgets

BY LARRY MAGID
Special to the Mercury News 
Sunday, November 5, 2000

When my daughter was younger, she used to like to go to sleep with the lights on. That was fine, as long as my wife or I remembered to turn them off. Sometimes we'd fall sleep and leave them on all night, much to the detriment of our electric bill. And now that they're teens, the kids have a tendency to leave lights on all around the house.

In addition to educating your kids to the environmental and financial impact of wasting electricity, there is something you can do to automate your electrical use. X10 (www.x10.com) makes a number of home control devices that allow you not only to turn lights on and off, but also control appliances and surveillance cameras throughout your home.

The system works by using your electrical wiring to carry messages from the X10 controller to the various device modules throughout your home. Electrical wires -- in addition to carrying electricity -- are also able to carry a certain amount of data. The only limitation that I've found is that some homes have more than one ``phase'' in their electrical system. In my house, for example, the electrical outlets in the upstairs area of my home -- which was added after the house was built -- can't communicate with controllers located downstairs. A $40 device, which will have to be installed by an electrician, can cure this.

Each light or appliance controlled by the X10 system needs its own special switch or control module. You can buy X10 light switches to replace the ones in the wall or modules or lamps or appliances that plug into standard electrical outlets. Standard switches and modules start at $12.99. Some X10 products are available at Radio Shack under the brand name ``Plug n' Power.''

There are a number of wired and wireless controllers you can use with the system. If you decide to go wireless, you'll need a wireless transceiver module ($9.98) that takes the signal from the wireless controller and sends it through the electrical system. Once you have the wireless module installed, you can purchase all sorts of control devices ranging from ones that fit on a key chain or in your wallet or to the UltimateRemote Home Kit ($19.99), a handheld device that doubles as a TV remote control. This single remote, which comes with a wireless transceiver module and a lamp module, lets you control your lights, TV, VCR and audio system. You could even use it to start the electric popcorn maker while you're watching a movie or turn on the hot tub when the movie is almost over.

My favorite X10 device is the Slimline switch ($19.99), which is a thin (7 mm) wireless wall switch that adheres directly to your wall. You can install it anywhere -- including next to your bed -- to control up to three lights or appliances. It also has a dimmer switch.

The software that comes with the X10 computer module system doesn't just turn things on and off. It also allows you to dim lights and program them so that they turn on or off at slightly different times to foil a would-be burglar into thinking that a person -- rather than a computer -- is controlling the lights.

X10 also makes the Xcam2 wireless color camera kit that you can use to keep an eye on your kids or anyone else in your house.

The kit, which sells for $79, comes with a video camera that weighs less than 4 ounces and is small enough to be mounted almost anywhere and a receiver that you can attach to a TV or PC that's anywhere within 100 feet of the camera. Data is transferred between the camera and the module via the same 2.4-gigahertz frequency used by high-end cordless phones. If the receiver is attached to a PC that's connected to the Internet, you can view images remotely via the Net. The images are choppy -- really a series of still images that may not be all that useful.

It gets its power from either an electrical outlet or batteries, and it transmits its images and sound wirelessly up to 100 feet. The camera comes with a small base station with connectors for either a TV set or the USB port of a PC. The TV set connection allows you to monitor a room or part of your property from a standard TV set. The PC interface makes it possible to send images over the Internet. If you connect it to a TV in your home, you can both see live video and hear what's going on via the camera's built-in microphone. I don't really recommend that you use this or any other device to spy on kids other than babies or toddlers, but it is a good way to find out who's knocking at your door or monitor the baby's room.

If you're having trouble convincing your kids (or yourself for that matter) to conserve electricity, visit www.wiredfamilies.com/electric.htm where you'll find a number of useful links. One, from the Environmental Defense Fund, shows you where your electricity comes from and how much pollution you help create. Another site from the California Energy Commission shows how your electrical use compares with others in your ZIP code. There's a PG&E page that shows much it costs to run typical home appliances and link to the Environmental Protection Agency's Explorer Club Web site for kids ages 5 through 12.