The Official Smarthome Blog – All Things Home Automation

The Portable Plus Wireless Door Chime and Bell Push from Honeywell is a great solution for homes that don’t have a pre-wired doorbell for the front entrance. It will also work well with apartments, travel trailers, back entrances, garages, dorm rooms and offices. The bell push unit communicates with the chime module via radio frequency (RF), and each are powered by battery, so no wires or professional installation is required. There are four different chime sounds available with an adjustable volume setting. A blue LED visual indicator has been built in to the chime module which helps those that are hard of hearing. The chime sound and LED light can operate together or independent of each other. The chime module is free standing so you can take it wherever you go in the house up to 150 feet away from the bell push module. The bell push module is rated for outdoor use and has a UV resistant plastic housing with a rainproof push button. It can be mounted with included screws or double-sided tape. The modules have been individually coded to prevent interference with other transmitters such as PIR movement detectors and telephone ring detectors. The bell push module is powered by an included CR-2032 lithium battery, the chime module is powered by three Alkaline C batteries, sold separately.

• 150 foot wireless RF communication between chime module and bell push module
• Four distinct chimes
• Adjustable volume control
• LED visual indicator
• Price: $29.99

Read more

The Venstar Wireless Thermostat (also part of the Wireless Thermostat Kit), requires the use of two AA Lithium batteries for operation. This Battery Eliminator is an optional plug-in power adapter that will replace the need and hassle to replace costly batteries. It simply connects to the wireless thermostat and plugs into any standard wall outlet.

• Convenient alternative to replacing costly batteries
• Compatible with Venstar T1100RF wireless thermostat, sold separately
• Price: $24.99

Read more

The USB 2.0 Manual Share 4 Port Switch is a great computer system adapter that allows up to four computers in the same home access to the same peripheral device such as a printer, scanner or mass storage hard drive. It can be used to create a network printer that is shared by everyone or even as a way to share multimedia such as music and videos. Simply connect a USB peripheral device of your choice to the input of the switch, then connect up to four PC computers to the output of the switch via USB. For long runs of USB cable from a computer to the switch, a USB balun is sold separately. No software is necessary for installation; each computer will recognize the switch automatically, which is confirmed by a solid LED light on the corresponding switch input. Accessing the shared peripheral is as easy as double clicking the ‘Hot Key’ (Scroll Lock) from any of the connected computers. A small investment in this switch saves you money in long run, as you won’t have the expense of purchasing, maintaining and consuming energy from the same type of peripheral device for every computer in your home.

• Allows up to four computers to conveniently share the same peripheral device
• Compliant with USB 2.0 specification
• Switch among computers by using a ‘hot key’ from keyboard
• Provides bus-power of 100mA per port
• 4 LED (green) port status indicators
• Price: $19.99

Read more

If you work on two different computers in the same work area either at home or at the office, the 2 Port PS/2 KVM Computer Switch will allow you to work from each computer while using only one set of a keyboard, mouse and monitor, eliminating the need to have multiple sets of these devices around. There is no interface card or software to configure; installation is as easy as connecting cables between the switch and your computers. Switching between computers is as easy as pressing a button on the front panel of the Keyboard Video Mouse (KVM) switch or using a hot-key command or hot-key commands. The switch also maintains excellent video quality up to 1920x 1440 with bandwidth of 200Mhz. This product is the ideal solution for a home or office setup where there are multiple computers being used in the same space; providing quick and easy switching from one computer to the other and allowing each computer to use the same keyboard, mouse and video monitor.

• Reduce desktop clutter by letting multiple computers share one keyboard, mouse and video monitor
• Hot-key function allows easy switching between computers
• Supports high quality video for both connected computers
• Price: $27.99

Read more