We always enjoy reading how customers have used X10 to make their life more convenient, comfortable and safe. Here is the story of a couple – husband who is technically minded and wife who needed convincing. Read on to find out what happened.

Mr and Mrs F. live in a typical suburban home near a major city. They had their home custom built, and they have improved it progressively according to their desires. Today they have 200 m2 on two floors, a large veranda and a garden, and a swimming pool which they built for their grandchildren. With this comfortable home, what benfits could home automation add? The home is very functional with its motorised shutters, the latest household appliances and electronic equipment, purification and heating of the pool water when there are off-peak hours, and a security system. First, Mrs F was unconvinced of the benefits brought by X10. However, now, she thinks X10 makes her daily life easier, in the morning she gains precious time when she is busy, and she feels secure with the X10’s products. What happened? A short survey of Mrs F. lifestyle reveals she found many advantages with centralised control of the motorised shutters: "before X10" she was obliged to go to 4 different rooms to open / close the 4 shutters individually. She lost about 8 minutes each morning and 8 minutes each evening to do this. With the centralised command, located in her bedroom, today she is able to open or to close the shutters with one touch "It is more convenient because of the saving of time. Each morning I have to catch the 08.10 train and those 8 minutes mean the difference between a frantic rush, running to the station, or a nice morning stroll. All shutters are instantly closed and we don’t think about them anymore! " .Very easily Mr F. replaced each shutter wall switch with an X10 SW 10 switch, set up the opening and closing for each shutter and gave it a specific code. Then he set up a shutter code for each key of the remote control.

The double living room located on the ground floor is not equipped with a chandelier but with two table lamps and one halogen lamp. Thanks to the remote control (HR12E) and to one lamp module (LM12) for each light, it is now possible to switch on/off or dim/bright all these lights from the sofa, without moving to reach each lamp.

Mrs F. can control each lamp individually or all the lamps together when she leaves the living room. She can use this remote control to open the living room shutters, in the morning and in the evening, or when the sun is too bright in the afternoon: all electric appliances are conveniently under command ! Once again the saving of time and the gain in convenience is noticeable.

As an engineer in a big electronic company, Mr F. is equipped with the best audio video equipment ( TV, DVD-CD driver, radio…).The equipment is high featured and high performance, with the system stocked in two parts of the double living room. When he is comfortably installed in his sofa he cannot command the hi-fi with the IR classical remote control because the hi-fi is located in the other part of the living room. In fact, the IR message can not go through a small half partition wall. Now Mr and Mrs F. use a couple of IR remote control extenders named PowerMid, which has been put on both sides of the wall. The result is that Mr F. , or any other person, can command the hi-fi from the sofa. How does this solution function? With a universal remote control, an IR message is sent to the first PowerMid, which transforms the message into a radio message and sends it to the second PowerMid, located in the second part of the living room. The message is reconverted into an IR message and sent to the hi-fi. There is no delay between the sending of the message and the moment when the hi-fi executes the order. Mr and Mrs F had no difficulty getting familiar using their new products. First they placed reminders behind the remote controls, but now they remember without reference.

Other applications will be installed: opening and closing of the shutters and garden lights (garden, pool) according to the programmed times, separate control of the under floor heating. In the security area, a X10 console will be installed on the first floor. It will control the existing system located on the ground floor. The X10 console can be activated by phone and transmit orders to the different electric appliances. But this is another story, which we will talk about later.