Home Automation

Adorn your garden pathway with an old-fashioned lantern that flickers without fire. The Renaissance Lantern w/Flickering Light is a solar-powered light that simulates an actual candle by flickering all night long. Made of glass and metal, the solar light’s stylish design is attractive day and night, and thanks to its photocell, it turns on automatically at dusk and off at dawn. Set this solar light up in a variety of ways. Stand the light up on a table, plant it in the ground, or hang it on the included pole. The included stake is sectional to allow various heights up to 33 inches.

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Solar Powered Renaissance-style Candle LanternRead More »

Besides having a cool name (LukWerks – sounds like a Star Wars R&D shop), the LukWerks Digital Video Surveillance Kit allows you to place cameras anywhere that you have power outlets. The camera’s power adapter also transmits images to the PC over existing powerlines with no networking needed! You can monitor up to 6 cameras realtime and view full color video on PC or over the Internet.

How cool is that?

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LukWerks Digital Video Surveillance KitRead More »

Yes, wall nuts are the Gizmo of the Day! Why? Well, the worst part of doing electrical work around the house is connecting wires together in a j-box. Well, that and getting shocked!

I hate using needlenose pliers to twist a couple of strong solid copper wires together and then use the old style wall nuts. What’s even worse is when you don’t have pliers and you twist the cable with your fingers. This will gnarl up your fingertips everytime.

Well, I ran across the coolest little gizmo that lets you secure the connection by inserting the wire into the housing! This is great for installing new ceiling fans, light fixtures, extending electical boxes and installing dimmers and other powerline home automation switches. Why didn’t I think of this?

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Wall NutsRead More »

105 LEDs! Talking about a true night vision camera, with 105 LEDs you’ll be able to record even in the darkest of conditions. In addition to night vision, the camera features a wide angle lens and a heavy-duty metal body. This is a perfect as part of a DIY (and better) security camera solution.

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150-Foot Night Vision Camera w/105 LEDsRead More »

The 70’s have been over for a couple decades so why would you use home automation technology from then? X10 was created almost 30 years ago now. Even though there have been enhancement products such as phase couplers and signal enhancers, the technology has issues.

Several different technologies have been created especially in the last five years or so including some of the most promising candidates including Zigbee, Z-wave, HomePlug and INSTEON.

Today’s Gizmo of the Day is a complete starter’s kit for INSTEON including two SignaLinc RFs, tabletop controloer and 2 LampLinc V2 Dimmers. It’s instant on and robust networking will amaze you if you’ve been using X10!

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Plug-In Dimmer INSTEON Starter KitRead More »

Piece by piece, you can turn your home into something that’s straight out of a science fiction movie. Here’s one more piece: turn your faucet into a touch-free, automated one. The EZ Faucet simply appends to your existing faucet and uses an infrared sensor to detect when you put your hands in front of it and turns on. I love it. Take the step after that and get a hands-free soap dispenser too!

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EZ Faucet: Hands-free Water FaucetRead More »

Prevent unauthorized access to small enclosures, such as cabinets or drawers. The 80-Pound Electromagnetic Lock mounts to a small enclosure, keeping it securely closed until you release the powerful magnet manually through your hardwired security system. You can also control the 80-Pound Mini Maglock with a standalone RF transmitter and receiver system.

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80-Pound Mini MaglockRead More »

I know this is meant to be an outdoor motion sensor but I can see so many different applications for this product. First of all, you could use it for its intended purpose such as putting on the inside of a gate or fence to sound an alarm when someone breaches your space. You could also place out near your plants that deer tend to eat to scare the deer away. If you leave your garage door open, you can keep various critters from coming inside your garage.

Some other useful applications include practicing your cat burgular skills by setting up a couple in your family room and performing various gymnastics moves to circumvent the IR beams.

When it comes to work you could always use these as a security alarm for when you’re surfing at work and don’t want someone to sneak into your office or cube. Better yet, you could place this inside a stall in the bathroom… imagine the hilarity when someone who really has to go opens the door and gets blasted by a 70dB piezo sounder!

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Outdoor Dual Beam w/Piezo SounderRead More »