What You’ll Need for This Article
In addition to being the owner of a PC running Windows XP Media Center 2005, we’ll assume that you already have some X10 equipment. Unfamiliar with X10 home automation? To make a long story short, X10 home automation equipment controls devices such as lights and appliances via the X10 protocol. X10 signals pass through the home’s existing electrical wiring. This article also assumes that you’re familiar with how to use the X10 FireCracker kit, and that you have some of the parts included in the kit (CK18A). The FireCracker kit runs about $40 purchased direct from X10.com. (However, you can usually get some good prices at eBay; just do a search for x10 firecracker kit. I’ll be covering X10 in detail in a later article.)
These are the specific parts we’ll be using from the FireCracker kit (CK18A):
- FireCracker computer interface (CM17A)
- Lamp module (LM465)
- Transceiver module (TM751)