Re: [vcf-midatlantic] The Swap Meet was great!
I'm a lurker here, but stopped by the swap meet because it's 3 miles from my home. Picked up a few little things -- total expenditure a big $16! But maybe I'll have stuff to sell by next year. The swap meet was very well organized. I appreciated how spread-out it was, as I'm not sure of my immunity to COVID-19 yet. (I actually had to leave the swap meet early to get my second shot today.) Bruce NJ On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 7:03 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I agree with Bob, it was a wonderful day, even though I came home sunburned.
I too found things that I didn’t think I needed but I was happy to pick up fairly cheaply.
I sold quite a few large and heavy items and a lot a little things also, so I am happy!
I did tell Jeff Brace that he did a great job organizing this and to everybody else who is involved the same.
Surprisingly there were a few Ham Radio guys actually selling ham radio equipment which was a nice addition! I would love for someone to poll them and find out how well they did.
Overall it was a very good day, I hope we can do it again in a couple of months.
Mike R.
Fyi I cannot make it to tomorrow’s workshop Need a day to recuperate.
Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Apr 24, 2021, at 6:36 PM, Bob Applegate via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I was only there for a few hours, but it was so nice seeing people in person again! I wasn’t a big buyer but did snag a couple things that I had not expected to find, and found homes for some items I brought with me, so I came home quite happy.
The weather was perfect, of course. There were enough vendors so the buyers could spend time looking for treasures, and I heard from multiple vendors that they were happy with their sales.
An excellent day, indeed!
Thanks to everyone who volunteered and worked so hard to make it a success!
Bob
Hello! It was indeed well organized. The first item I bought was a board containing an astonishing 1 Megabyte of Magnetic Bubble Memory. (One item rescued from the barbarian hordes known as the scrappers.). the next two were assorted networking items, actually three. Now to find a good application for the Power-Line networking devices, and hope my apartment is properly wired! Mike did you see a chap wandering about wearing a dark hoodie and a green cap and wearing a knapsack that might have been used for carrying stuff, and a Husky tool bag? That was me. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8@gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again." On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 7:12 PM Bruce via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I'm a lurker here, but stopped by the swap meet because it's 3 miles from my home. Picked up a few little things -- total expenditure a big $16! But maybe I'll have stuff to sell by next year.
The swap meet was very well organized. I appreciated how spread-out it was, as I'm not sure of my immunity to COVID-19 yet. (I actually had to leave the swap meet early to get my second shot today.)
Bruce NJ
On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 7:03 PM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I agree with Bob, it was a wonderful day, even though I came home sunburned.
I too found things that I didn’t think I needed but I was happy to pick up fairly cheaply.
I sold quite a few large and heavy items and a lot a little things also, so I am happy!
I did tell Jeff Brace that he did a great job organizing this and to everybody else who is involved the same.
Surprisingly there were a few Ham Radio guys actually selling ham radio equipment which was a nice addition! I would love for someone to poll them and find out how well they did.
Overall it was a very good day, I hope we can do it again in a couple of months.
Mike R.
Fyi I cannot make it to tomorrow’s workshop Need a day to recuperate.
Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Apr 24, 2021, at 6:36 PM, Bob Applegate via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I was only there for a few hours, but it was so nice seeing people in person again! I wasn’t a big buyer but did snag a couple things that I had not expected to find, and found homes for some items I brought with me, so I came home quite happy.
The weather was perfect, of course. There were enough vendors so the buyers could spend time looking for treasures, and I heard from multiple vendors that they were happy with their sales.
An excellent day, indeed!
Thanks to everyone who volunteered and worked so hard to make it a success!
Bob
On 4/24/21 7:51 PM, Gregg Levine via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Now to find a good application for the Power-Line networking devices, and hope my apartment is properly wired!
OMG you bought the X10! ;-) Do you have a computer interface? Or do you just plan to use the manual controller. See below to see why I'm interested. ;-) You should be okay with the electrical. But if you need to jump phase you might have fun. Some apartments are not split 120 but 2 legs of a delta or wye 3 phase setup. Those get tricky. In my home I've removed all power line comm equipment (X10 and Insteon) as all sorts of thing mess with the impedance of the AC line. A number of modern appliances (computers, TVs, etc.) filter the 'noise' to ground making them a black hole for X10 signals. There are ways around this and people still use X10. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
On 4/24/21 9:44 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Now to find a good application for the Power-Line networking devices, and hope my apartment is properly wired!
OMG you bought the X10! ;-)
Do you have a computer interface? Or do you just plan to use the manual controller. See below to see why I'm interested. ;-)
You should be okay with the electrical. But if you need to jump phase you might have fun. Some apartments are not split 120 but 2 legs of a delta or wye 3 phase setup. Those get tricky.
In my home I've removed all power line comm equipment (X10 and Insteon) as all sorts of thing mess with the impedance of the AC line. A number of modern appliances (computers, TVs, etc.) filter the 'noise' to ground making them a black hole for X10 signals. There are ways around this and people still use X10.
Ahh, fond memories of X10. I don't use it anymore (my current living arrangement isn't conducive) but I ran it for many years. I bought many modules and accessories from Pigs Electronics in Baltimore in the early 1990s. I still have most of that stuff. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 9:55 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/24/21 9:44 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
OMG you bought the X10! ;-)
Do you have a computer interface? Or do you just plan to use the manual controller. See below to see why I'm interested. ;-)
Ahh, fond memories of X10. I don't use it anymore (my current living arrangement isn't conducive) but I ran it for many years.
I still have X10 in my house and I use it every day. The living room ceiling fixture and upstairs hallway are on a 3-way switch, and the dining room chandelier is on a single switch. I may have noise problems because every couple of weeks, one or more lights turns on by themselves. Mostly I use one of the universal remotes for turning lights on and off, but I also have one of the Radio Shack VFD display timer units, and a CP-290 computer control w/Commodore-64 serial cable. I haven't used the C-64 interface in years but the CP-290 still works just fine. What really limits me is having to look for LED bulbs that are compatible with dimmers. I only have 1-2 CF lights left but some of the cheaper LEDs don't like dimmers. I've converted the basement 4' bulbs to LEDs but those are all on manual switches. I'd have to put them on appliance modules for strict on-off. -ethan -ethan
Or was great to see so many people at the swap meet today! I was only able to spend a few hours in the morning due to work schedule, but the number of vendors and guests was a sight to see and the selection of goods was just over the top. Things went beyond my expectations, and it was also great to see faces I haven’t seen in awhile. Thank you to everyone for making this such a successful event! Tony Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 24, 2021, at 11:27 PM, Ethan Dicks via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 9:55 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/24/21 9:44 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote: OMG you bought the X10! ;-)
Do you have a computer interface? Or do you just plan to use the manual controller. See below to see why I'm interested. ;-)
Ahh, fond memories of X10. I don't use it anymore (my current living arrangement isn't conducive) but I ran it for many years.
I still have X10 in my house and I use it every day. The living room ceiling fixture and upstairs hallway are on a 3-way switch, and the dining room chandelier is on a single switch.
I may have noise problems because every couple of weeks, one or more lights turns on by themselves.
Mostly I use one of the universal remotes for turning lights on and off, but I also have one of the Radio Shack VFD display timer units, and a CP-290 computer control w/Commodore-64 serial cable. I haven't used the C-64 interface in years but the CP-290 still works just fine.
What really limits me is having to look for LED bulbs that are compatible with dimmers. I only have 1-2 CF lights left but some of the cheaper LEDs don't like dimmers. I've converted the basement 4' bulbs to LEDs but those are all on manual switches. I'd have to put them on appliance modules for strict on-off.
-ethan
-ethan
On 4/24/21 11:27 PM, Ethan Dicks via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 9:55 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/24/21 9:44 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
OMG you bought the X10! ;-)
Do you have a computer interface? Or do you just plan to use the manual controller. See below to see why I'm interested. ;-)
Ahh, fond memories of X10. I don't use it anymore (my current living arrangement isn't conducive) but I ran it for many years.
I still have X10 in my house and I use it every day. The living room ceiling fixture and upstairs hallway are on a 3-way switch, and the dining room chandelier is on a single switch.
I may have noise problems because every couple of weeks, one or more lights turns on by themselves.
That annoyed my wife so out they came. I have much better reliability with the ZigBee, Z-Wave and WiFi devices. The only time I have a problem with the system is after a Samsung update (SmartThings hub - always reboot it after an update) and after power outages when everything is still coming back up.
What really limits me is having to look for LED bulbs that are compatible with dimmers. I only have 1-2 CF lights left but some of the cheaper LEDs don't like dimmers. I've converted the basement 4' bulbs to LEDs but those are all on manual switches. I'd have to put them on appliance modules for strict on-off.
I've always found dimmers to be a bit destructive leading to shortened life span of the bulbs. I don't use them very often and I do need to check the garage porch lights. That switch location killed bulbs with X10 and Z-Wave. Might be a different problem. I do know that X10 dimmers do shorten the life span of the bulbs. But this becomes suspect for the Z-Wave outlet there now. I also try to avoid the cheaper bulbs as they tend to overdrive the LEDs leading to shortened life span. They dim a little bit at a time. I also tend not to like the color quality. I have notes on that as my wife really didn't like most of the bulbs as the tended to be too 'blue' ( -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
CDL is running into similar issues with the track lighting and LED fixtures in the studio. * The LED light bars are daylight @ 5000K – 6500K. * The track lighting (formerly fitted with MR16 halogen lamps) were replaced with GE 4.5-Watt LED warm white @ 3000k The track lighting is closer to the color temperature of a tungsten lamp, and a bit easier on the eyes. Martin On 4/25/2021 9:42 AM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also try to avoid the cheaper bulbs as they tend to overdrive the LEDs leading to shortened life span. They dim a little bit at a time. I also tend not to like the color quality. I have notes on that as my wife really didn't like most of the bulbs as the tended to be too 'blue' (
Are u guys still working there? I just woke up. Couldn’t find my phone last night. woke up and looked on the window to see it on top of my car! But it works!? I should be there by 1. Maybe earlier but need to chill a minute. That was scary 😝 Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Sunday, April 25, 2021, 10:04 AM, Martin Flynn via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: CDL is running into similar issues with the track lighting and LED fixtures in the studio. * The LED light bars are daylight @ 5000K – 6500K. * The track lighting (formerly fitted with MR16 halogen lamps) were replaced with GE 4.5-Watt LED warm white @ 3000k The track lighting is closer to the color temperature of a tungsten lamp, and a bit easier on the eyes. Martin On 4/25/2021 9:42 AM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also try to avoid the cheaper bulbs as they tend to overdrive the LEDs leading to shortened life span. They dim a little bit at a time. I also tend not to like the color quality. I have notes on that as my wife really didn't like most of the bulbs as the tended to be too 'blue' (
I still have X10 in my house and I use it every day. The living room ceiling fixture and upstairs hallway are on a 3-way switch, and the dining room chandelier is on a single switch.
I used to use it, but a cheap DLP projector would block the signals. I then moved to this automation hardware made by a company called AMX. You write software for the controller and can design screens for the touchscreens that interact. There are tons of add ons and a lot of it is cheap now. It can do simple TCP/IP IO on the network, and the controllers usually have at least 6 RS-232/422/485 ports. They can do digital IO, IR blasting (with a database system of codes for devices) and all kinds of other stuff including their own rs-485 bus that links all the stuff. I scaled it back, but I used to use it to push over serial and TCP to Cyclades PDUs and Baytech PDUs for my AV components. In our hackerspace in Norfolk I ran the lights and arcade games on PDUs tied to AMX along with video and audio matrix switches, the projector and plasma TV and RGB LED lighting on DMX-512. It's just so damn flexible. At home I currently only use the AMX system to remote control Z-Wave plugs via the RS-232 to Zwave box. Mainly for my arcade machines and pinball machines. You could do the same if there is a RS-232 to X10 box of any sort. Maybe some of the smarter controllers can do it? I made one of my AMX interfaces a bot that joins an IRC channel, and I can read the Zwave garage door status and outlets and stuff, but never figured out this Zwave box that is reading the current on the main wires in the breaker panel. That one escapes me. There was a Crestron controller at the swap meet. If anyone buys that at the next swap meet hit me up and I can give you the software to develop for it. But I know nothing about it, I'm an AMX fan cause of the flexibility. Friends told me I would be dissapointed with the Crestron stuff, can't do IRC bots and stuff with it as easily.
I was the one selling the CRESTRON controller and the Gentner DSP. Crestron controller does have ethernet And the usual complement of IR, serial port, IO and relays. It’s an older box certainly not by current 10-15 years or better, But Is still capable. Funny that you mention AMX, because I gave away all of my AMX stuff about a year ago. I had it for sale at Festivus in 2019 but nobody seems to want it. I currently use a CRESTRON processor with wireless touch panels to control my A/V stuff the way I intended. I still have access to CRESTRON’s database. I’m sure there is a X 10 card out there for it. I never really looked into that, considerinG CRESTRON and AMX are usually used in a educational and corporate environment. But I guess anything can be used anywhere, isn’t it what hacking is all about? Mike Rosen Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Apr 26, 2021, at 9:40 AM, Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I still have X10 in my house and I use it every day. The living room ceiling fixture and upstairs hallway are on a 3-way switch, and the dining room chandelier is on a single switch.
I used to use it, but a cheap DLP projector would block the signals. I then moved to this automation hardware made by a company called AMX. You write software for the controller and can design screens for the touchscreens that interact. There are tons of add ons and a lot of it is cheap now. It can do simple TCP/IP IO on the network, and the controllers usually have at least 6 RS-232/422/485 ports. They can do digital IO, IR blasting (with a database system of codes for devices) and all kinds of other stuff including their own rs-485 bus that links all the stuff.
I scaled it back, but I used to use it to push over serial and TCP to Cyclades PDUs and Baytech PDUs for my AV components. In our hackerspace in Norfolk I ran the lights and arcade games on PDUs tied to AMX along with video and audio matrix switches, the projector and plasma TV and RGB LED lighting on DMX-512. It's just so damn flexible.
At home I currently only use the AMX system to remote control Z-Wave plugs via the RS-232 to Zwave box. Mainly for my arcade machines and pinball machines. You could do the same if there is a RS-232 to X10 box of any sort. Maybe some of the smarter controllers can do it?
I made one of my AMX interfaces a bot that joins an IRC channel, and I can read the Zwave garage door status and outlets and stuff, but never figured out this Zwave box that is reading the current on the main wires in the breaker panel. That one escapes me.
There was a Crestron controller at the swap meet. If anyone buys that at the next swap meet hit me up and I can give you the software to develop for it. But I know nothing about it, I'm an AMX fan cause of the flexibility. Friends told me I would be dissapointed with the Crestron stuff, can't do IRC bots and stuff with it as easily.
I was the one selling the CRESTRON controller and the Gentner DSP. Crestron controller does have ethernet And the usual complement of IR, serial port, IO and relays. It’s an older box certainly not by current 10-15 years or better, But Is still capable. Funny that you mention AMX, because I gave away all of my AMX stuff about a year ago. I had it for sale at Festivus in 2019 but nobody seems to want it.
On SNAP! I think I know who you are!!! Too funny, next time let's talk Amiga stuff! Yea, I have a bit of AMX controller hardware and stuff but am only really looking for a few specific add ons. I have my pile of excess on ebay with 0 bids forever.
I currently use a CRESTRON processor with wireless touch panels to control my A/V stuff the way I intended. I still have access to CRESTRON’s database.
Very cool!
I’m sure there is a X 10 card out there for it. I never really looked into that, considerinG CRESTRON and AMX are usually used in a educational and corporate environment. But I guess anything can be used anywhere, isn’t it what hacking is all about?
Yea! I actually have a board for the AMX stuff that does MIDI in/out I think! How strange is that! It's from the early days. I also have the DMX-512 one that we used to allow people in IRC to do HTML color codes and it would set the RGB LED wash lights in the space to that color. It was cool. - Ethan
Hello! Actually Neil, these things are Linksys Powerline networking modules. I wish they were family members of the X10 crowd. I'm more concerned about the MBM stuff. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8@gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again." On Sat, Apr 24, 2021 at 9:44 PM Neil Cherry <ncherry@linuxha.com> wrote:
On 4/24/21 7:51 PM, Gregg Levine via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Now to find a good application for the Power-Line networking devices, and hope my apartment is properly wired!
OMG you bought the X10! ;-)
Do you have a computer interface? Or do you just plan to use the manual controller. See below to see why I'm interested. ;-)
You should be okay with the electrical. But if you need to jump phase you might have fun. Some apartments are not split 120 but 2 legs of a delta or wye 3 phase setup. Those get tricky.
In my home I've removed all power line comm equipment (X10 and Insteon) as all sorts of thing mess with the impedance of the AC line. A number of modern appliances (computers, TVs, etc.) filter the 'noise' to ground making them a black hole for X10 signals. There are ways around this and people still use X10.
-- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
On 4/25/21 5:53 PM, Gregg Levine wrote:
Now to find a good application for the Power-Line networking devices, and hope my apartment is properly wired!
Actually Neil, these things are Linksys Powerline networking modules. I wish they were family members of the X10 crowd. I'm more concerned about the MBM stuff.
Ooops, my bad. Those aren't even close to the X10 stuff. From what I recall of hearing about those devices, they generally worked well. I think services like Comcast use something similar in a few places in the home. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
participants (10)
-
Bruce -
Dave McGuire -
Ethan Dicks -
Ethan O'Toole -
Gregg Levine -
laurakid -
Martin Flynn -
Neil Cherry -
Sentrytv -
Tony Bogan