2943 Intelligent/smart houses

Not us anyway, but if you decide to go ahead with it, I hope you'll post your results. I'm sure there a lot of us who would be interested if it works well.

Hi,

Try [url]www.X10.com[/url]. The products work properly and are secure. I have wired a chalet for remote operation via the telephone and the internet. I don't know if they have 220V products.

Frank

[QUOTE=Robert]Has anyone set up a system for switching on heating (or anything else electrical for that matter) remotely? I am in touch with a company in England who will sell me the stuff but am reluctant to go to the trouble of understanding it well enough to explain to my rural Italian electrician and to buy it unless I am sure it will work. The aim wd be to call the house on my mobile from Stansted so the house wd be warm when we arrive.
For £100 odd and with a stone house and freezing cold winters this seems a decent investment.[/QUOTE]

Hi Robert, people have mentioned it on this forum before in relation to pellet stoves (what is a pellet anyway) and the technology seems to be up and running here too. My experience with cold mountain houses is that you need a couple of days before it begins to feel truly warm.

Good luck.

Thanks for the replies
Frank-I have checked out that site & called them.They don't sell the remote system in Europe unfortunately.
The company I have spoken to is Simply Automate who I hope will come up trumps but as i say i wd love to hear from someone who is using this technology in Italy.Frank is right that it is called X10 but I think the idea of being able to operate it in Europe from a mobile is quite new.
On another Forum I was told of a guy who has it but I can't get hold of him

Hi Robert,

I just spoke to my tech. who wired the chalet. He indicated to me that the X10 products for Europe can be optained from the following site.

[url]www.x10europe.com[/url]

The controller you need is the following "SC9000" which can be obtained from them.

P.M. me if you require additional info.

Rgds...

I just looked at Simply Automate web site. They sell the same unit.

The guy I spoke to at x10 told me, having checked the Europe site link you have just given, that they did not suply what i wanted for use in Europe. However having looked at that link it seemd he may have been wrong. I will call them again but wd still love to talk to someone with experience of fitting and using one. In fact Simply automate recommend 3 separate devices.

Robert,

The unit we used was similar. A master control unit and receivers for the various devices..themostats, lighting, etc.. In fact the SC9000 does not require you to be very technical.

[QUOTE=Robert]Has anyone set up a system for switching on heating (or anything else electrical for that matter) remotely? I am in touch with a company in England who will sell me the stuff but am reluctant to go to the trouble of understanding it well enough to explain to my rural Italian electrician and to buy it unless I am sure it will work. The aim wd be to call the house on my mobile from Stansted so the house wd be warm when we arrive.
For £100 odd and with a stone house and freezing cold winters this seems a decent investment.[/QUOTE]

I was looking for deadbolt lock that can be unlocked via internet/sms and found this site, hopefully it may help.
Still looking for a smart deadbolt lock

[url]http://www.letsautomate.com/[/url]

Would it not be easier and cheaper to have someone pop in and turn the heating on??

There are some models of Pellet Stufa - I believe that you can telephone in advance to turn them on!

[QUOTE=DavidandLinda]Would it not be easier and cheaper to have someone pop in and turn the heating on??[/QUOTE]

hehehehehehehheheh, forza Italia!

Why take the technical route when you have buddies to help out? Great response.

I agree - its better to be local and integrated than too independent -where in Italy - people like to help out - if you are in the country you are not in suburbia -

But if you are in the middle of nowhere - some automation maybe acceptable

I wouldnt get to hung up on X10 - two of my bulb adaptors - blew up after about 6 months - yet another experiment I did.

[QUOTE=GlenB]I agree - its better to be local and integrated than too independent -where in Italy - people like to help out - if you are in the country you are not in suburbia -

But if you are in the middle of nowhere - some automation maybe acceptable

I wouldnt get to hung up on X10 - two of my bulb adaptors - blew up after about 6 months - yet another experiment I did.[/QUOTE]

You are absolutely right we are very lucky to have such lovely neighbours, but I don't like to keep bothering them every time someone goes over to the house.
Even thought they keep telling us "it's our pleasure".

[QUOTE=Robert]Has anyone set up a system for switching on heating (or anything else electrical for that matter) remotely? I am in touch with a company in England who will sell me the stuff but am reluctant to go to the trouble of understanding it well enough to explain to my rural Italian electrician and to buy it unless I am sure it will work. The aim wd be to call the house on my mobile from Stansted so the house wd be warm when we arrive.
For £100 odd and with a stone house and freezing cold winters this seems a decent investment.[/QUOTE]
These exist and are available in italy unsuprising that in a remote rural place they are little used/heard of but check out on italian pages of the net and you'll find it,it's popular stuff in the north of italy..so i wouldn't necessarily bother with importing the gear..

Thanks for the replies
Of course I cd ask the neighbours but frankly I am going to be asking them to help in so many other ways that I thought this was one thing I cd do independently.Also I don't know whether the neighbours being hardy retired farmers would understand why us soft Londoners want the heating to come on a day or two before we arrive.
I am in touch with two Italian companies who i think supply the technology.

Buy yourself a pellet stufa then - for the first day of being there!!!

You fill it up when you leave - phone it the day before you arrive - and your house is warm - we are coming into Summer now - there maybe other things on your mind now!!!