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Solution of the Week
Never Walk to Bed in the Dark Again
 The dishes are done, the kids are asleep, and you've finally finished reading the paper. But before you hop into bed, you'll have to go downstairs and turn off the lamp in the family room, as well as the front porch light. By the time you've stumbled through the dark house on the way back upstairs, you're wide awake again. Sound familiar?
Relief is closer and easier than you think. With just a few smart lighting control products, you can turn off any light in the house from your nightstand.
| | | The Solution | |
Although every home is set up differently, we've found that the most common lights that Smarthome customers want to control remotely are:
An overhead light fixture in the family room
A plug-in lamp in the family room
The front porch light
The overhead kitchen light fixture
All of these devices can be managed from your bedside table, even turning every one of them off with the single press of a button!
| | | The Shopping List | |
To control the overhead light fixtures in the family room and kitchen, as well as the porch light, you'll need in-wall dimmers; to control the family room lamp, we recommend using a LampLinc V2 plug-in dimmer. To complete the system, you'll need a controller (to turn off the lights from your nightstand and to program the dimmers). Altogether, your order should look something like this:
Two SignaLinc RFs (to create the dual-mesh INSTEON network)
Three SwitchLinc V2 Dimmer (for the overhead lights in the family room, kitchen and front porch; if your kitchen light is fluorescent, use the #2476S instead)
One LampLinc V2 3-Pin (for the family room plug-in lamp)
One INSTEON ControLinc (for the nightstand and to program the system)
| | | The Setup: Getting Started | |
SignaLinc RFs create your dual-mesh INSTEON network by simultaneously transmitting and receiving INSTEON messages across both radio frequency and your home's existing wiring. The SignaLinc RFs also couple the two different electrical phases of your home. Once you've acquired the equipment, simply install the switches according to the directions here. Next, plug the lamp you want to control into the LampLinc module and plug the LampLinc V2 into the outlet.
Linking the SwitchLincs and LampLincs to the ControLinc is easy. Put the ControLinc in setup mode by pressing any of the five ON buttons for 10 seconds, and then press the set button on the module you would like to control. That's all it takes to link the ControLinc to any module! There are no awkward wheels to spin.
| | | The Setup: Extended Control | |
You don't need to turn off all of these lights individually. With a single button press, the ControLinc V2 will turn off every light in the house with their individual fade rates, so even if you keep your ControLinc next to your sofa in the den, you'll still have enough time to walk to your bedroom safely before the lights turn off completely. Setting up a scene like this using a standard X10 controller is also possible, but you'll have to create a scene in order to do it, and the connected modules will have to be scene-ready. Scene-ready X10 devices include the dimmable LampLinc 2-Way Lamp Module, the ApplianceLinc 2-Way Appliance Module, and the Decora-style or ToggleLinc 2-Way Dimmer.
Please be advised that in addition to ease of use, another important advantage of using INSTEON-enabled products is their exceptional speed and greater reliability. Complete your INSTEON network with two SignaLinc RFs, wireless repeaters that make sure commands are transferred from one electrical phase of your home to the other.
| | | The Setup: X10 Control | |
If you already have X10 products installed in your home, you can also control those devices with the ControLinc. Linking the X10 products to the ControLinc is almost as easy as linking INSTEON devices — just follow the instructions in the ControLinc quick-start guide. If you want a controller that controls X10 devices exclusively, we recommend the ControLinc Maxi, which has five user-programmable buttons that eliminate having everything on the same house code.
You can put different controllers in every room in your house if so desired. Other available X10 controllers include the X10 Mini Controller. You'll need to assign individual X10 address for each SwitchLinc, ToggleLinc or LampLinc you want to control remotely. X10 addresses consist of a "house code" (represented by the letters A-P) and a "unit code" (represented by the numbers 1-16). It doesn't matter which X10 addresses you use, so long as they begin with the same letter. We don't recommend using house code "A" because that's the default house code and the one your neighbors are most likely to use if they ever get a similar system.
Turn off each light individually. Alternatively, these controllers each offer an "All Lights Off" feature to turn off all lights with the press of a button.
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