The Official Smarthome Blog - All Things Home Automation

This kit will prepare adults and children (ages 8 and over) to learn how magnets, electricity, electrical currents, and electromagnets affect basic everyday surroundings. It is an ideal teaching and learning tool for exposing and educating people on the relationship between magnets, power and electricity. The Electricity and Magnetic Combination Kit is a Learning Mates™ product that guides the user through the design and build of a compass, various electric circuits, power generation, electromagnetic power and using battery power to turn a generator into an electric motor. A colorful instruction booklet with diagrams and illustrations is included to make experimenting with magnets and electricity fun and easy to do.

This product is also available as an Electricity Kit only, sold separately.

• Recognize how magnets act
• Design and build several different electric circuits
• Understand how simple electronics and magnets work together
• Easy to follow projects included with manual
• Rated for ages 8+
• Price: $29.99

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In the event that an accident, emergency or natural disaster takes place and leaves your home with a water or gas leak, you may not have enough time to wait for the utility company to come out and save your home. Protecting your home and family from possible damages requires a special tool. The Emergency Gas and Water Line Shut-Off Tool, is part of the Watermaster® line of products made by Orbit®. It is a heavy-duty, professional-grade tool designed to open standard and Texas meter covers and will shut off the main valves for your water and gas lines. The tool has a strong metal build and a comfort grip made of rubber, designed for reliable use when you need it most.

• Flexible watering schedule with two independent programs available
• Six cycle start timers per program
• Back-lit Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen
• Interactive text in five different languages
• PC Programmable
• Remote control with docking port
• Price: $159.99

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Programming your lawn and garden irrigation cycle is an excellent way to preserve resources, conserve water when restrictions have been imposed in your area, and to maintain the look of your lawn and garden while you are away from home. The Touch Screen Sprinkler Timer is a Signature Control timer by Orbit® that is specifically designed to do all of these things by automating up to six stations of your watering system. It offers dual programming letting you set a schedule to water the plants every day and the lawn every other day if you prefer. It has a large back-lit LCD touch screen display that operates day or night in English, Spanish, French, German or Italian. If you find it easier to program and monitor your timer from a computer, you can connect them via USB cable, for a convenient PC programming interface.

• Convenient, easy to read touch screen LCD display
• Flexible watering schedule with two independent programs available
• Program up to six stations
• Interactive text in five different languages
• PC Programmable
• Price: $99.99

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Programming your lawn and garden irrigation cycle is an excellent way to preserve resources, conserve water when restrictions have been imposed in your area, and to maintain the look of your lawn and garden while you are away from home. The Solar Powered Wireless Rain/Freeze Sensor by Orbit® Irrigation Products takes this a step further by wirelessly communicating weather conditions to your Sprinkler Timer with Wireless Remote. Its primary function is to keep your irrigation system from starting or continuing after rainfall, conserving water. The unit has adjustable settings to let you determine the appropriate amount of rainfall needed for the timer to shut down. Secondarily, it can notify your sprinkler timer to shut down when freezing weather takes place. This will prevent standing water from turning into ice and posing a hazard on your driveway, sidewalk or patio. There is a manual override button that can be used if you wish to run your irrigation system even when the sensor has been activated. Additionally, the Wireless Rain/Freeze Sensor has a solar cell attachment that supplies power to the rechargeable battery. Saving water when the sensor is activated and using the sun for energy makes this a true eco-friendly product.

• Prevents sprinkler timer from watering after rain or when temperatures drop below 37° F
• Communicates via radio frequency (RF) up to 200 feet, eliminating wires
• Powered by a solar cell and a rechargeable battery
• Price: $59.99

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Do you have a budding nature lover in your home? Help your kids learn about science and society with the AntWorks® TVQuarium™, a self-contained environment for an amazing species of insect. Far more advanced than an ordinary ant farm, the AntWorks TVQuarium houses ants in a space-age gel that was originally formulated by NASA to test how ants successfully tunnel in a zero-gravity environment. It has a modern look with a slightly contoured black frame and blue LED lights illuminating the gel. Getting started is as easy as poking a few holes in the gel and adding ants, both of which can be done with the included tool. The AntWorks gel is complete with nutrients to promote healthy growth in the new colony. As your ant architects create a network of 3-D tunnels, you can enjoy observing them up close with a magnifying class or extreme zoom lens, both included.

• Stylish black frame
• Blue LED illuminates ant farm at night
• Ant farm houses ants in an edible gel
• Watch as ants tunnel through their habitat to create an ideal environment
• Price: $33.99

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The corrosive effects of water and the outdoor elements limit the amount of exposure a standard monitor can take. However, with the 42″ Weatherproof LCD HDTV/PC Monitor by Nanov Display, you can now watch and listen to your favorite movies or programs almost anywhere. This product can be used in rainy, wet, damp or steamy conditions without the worry of deterioration over time. You can feel comfortable mounting one on your patio, by your pool and spa, or even installing one on your boat,. This product also offers the added benefits of operating as a high definition television (HDTV) and as a monitor for your PC at the same time. The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen has connections available to support a multitude of devices, from an HDTV receiver, cable box, DVD player, gaming system or home computer. You can manually adjust the settings with control buttons on the front of the unit or with a water resistant IR remote control that floats. Manufactured to high weatherproofing and safety standards, it is designed to entertain at home, in the backyard, or on the boat.

• Designed for use in rainy, wet, damp and outdoor conditions
• Polycarbonate filter and conformal coating to protect against water and scratches
• High Definition (HD) picture
• Personal Computer (PC) compatible
• Price: $6735.00

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Indigo 3.0 is home automation software designed specifically for the Macintosh (Mac) operating system. With support for INSTEON-compatible products, the software can control all the devices over the existing electrical wires in your home, including lights, sprinklers, security systems and more. You can program specific action events to occur based on a variety of variables, including time. For example, you can program any lights to turn on and off at specific times, or at sunset. You can also use an optional time randomizing feature for an at-home look while you are at work or on vacation. Indigo 3.0 gives you access to your home automation system from anywhere in the world using the built-in Web server. With this innovative Mac home automation software, you can even create delayed actions (i.e. turn off lights after 10 minutes of no motion being detected). Your Mac will become an intelligent home automation server, offering unprecedented control of your INSTEON or X10 devices via computer, remote control operation, and timed or conditional variables. Using Indigo 3.0 to manage the use of your lighting, appliances, HVAC, sprinklers and more, can help reduce costs for your utilities and conserve energy at the same time.

• Client/server application can remotely control and configure your home automation system
• Works with INSTEON- and X10-compatible products
• Compatible with the PowerLinc USB
• Price: $199.95

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This kit will prepare you to learn about the life cycle, insect biology, and caring for living praying mantises. It is ideal for exposing and educating adults and children to the world of live insects. Watch as the eggs grow into nymps, the nymps will grow and shed there exoskeleton several times, and eventually mature into beautiful winged mantises. This WORLD aLIVe™ insect kit made by Fascinations®, has been designed to provide you with everything needed to create a successful habitat for the development of praying mantises. A large net is supplied for viewing your habitat from all angles, with an easy access top. A magnifying glass is included for close up observations, a pipette for feeding the insects, and padded tip tweezers for moving the insects. Follow the insect life cycle with an instruction book (written in English, Spanish and French) leading you through the steps for maintaining a thriving habitat and feeding your insects. Once the mantises have reached maturity they can be released into nature.

• Interactive kit for building an insect habitat and learning about the life cycle of a praying mantis
• Tools for observing, feeding and moving the insects
• Multi-lingual activity and instruction book
• Price: $18.99

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The cost of electricity is rising, and the only way to bring it down is to use less energy. For the average person, identifying how much power various devices are consuming can be a somewhat difficult task, until now. The Save-a-Watt™ Energy Meter, is a portable plug-in device that allows you to connect home electronics and appliances to assess at a glance how much energy they are consuming and how much that energy is costing you. By observing and measuring how energy efficient your electronic devices are, you can pin-point which electronics are sucking the most power, letting you decide which electronics should be turned off or used less to prevent the long-term waste of electricity. With three easy to use buttons and large LCD display screen, you can quickly scroll through several critical units of electric measure, monitoring power consumption (to 1/1000 of a kilowatt), power quality, and cost. Accurately measuring energy consumption and making changes to the amount of time you run your electronics and appliances will not only help you save money but helps the environment by using less of our energy resources.

• Automatically computes energy consumption and cost
• Helps to identify the real energy abusers in your home
• Overload indicator light
• Three simple to use buttons and a large LCD screen
• Displays eight critical units of measure
• Price: $24.99

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