[Shop-talk] left the light on? (One more to think about.)

[Steven Trovato]

Well, there is some risk with IOT, but I don't think the exposure is 
that great with this situation.  What would the hacker do, blink my 
workshop light?  Anyway, I am familiar with X-10.  What you are doing 
is controlling the light like any timer would, with the added 1 
minute extra activation.  This is still not doing what I asked for, 
which is to notify me if I forgot to turn the light off.  BTW, the 1 
hour was really more of an example than an estimate of shop 
usage.  Just like my garage door, I get a warning if the door is open 
for an hour.  Then that repeats on an interval until I close 
it.  That doesn't mean I don't leave it open all day if I am doing 
something.  It just means my phone alerts me periodically that the 
door is open.  It isn't a big deal to ignore it in those 
cases.  Actually, as far as hacking IOT goes, the garage door is a 
greater risk than controlling my light.  A hacker could theoretically 
open my garage door.  I guess one would have to balance the risk of 
that against the likelihood of accidentally leaving the door open all 
night.  I'm pretty surprised that in this world of home automation, 
there are lots of ways to control my lights, but there doesn't seem 
to be a way to get a warning if the light is left on.

-Steve

At 11:40 AM 1/20/2023, eric at megageek.com wrote:
>First, I am not a fan of ANY IOT device, solution, etc.  So I don't 
>put anything like that anywhere in my home networks.
>
>Next, sometimes old school is best.  There are X-10 devices that are 
>way out dated (and hence, no one is trying to hack them, not like 
>they can without accessing your AC current on your side of the 
>transformer.  If someone can do that, you have bigger 
>problems.)  They can also be bought for pennies.
>
>Anyway, there are lots of switches and relays and such to control 120 vac.
>
>There is also a serial (read- NOT NETWORKABLE) interface.  You need 
>an old computer to run it (and it can be a stand alone machine.)
>
>You program the interface to activate in anyway you want to or even 
>run marcos.  Then the computer can be turned off.
>
>What I would do would be you program the main 'X-10' switch that you 
>use when you want to turn on the garage light.  The macro would do this...
>-Turn on light G-1
>-Wait 60 minutes
>-Turn off light G-1
>-Wait 30 seconds
>-Turn on light G-1
>-Wait 1 minute
>-Turn off light G-1
>
>The second 'turn on' would be if you were under a car or 
>something.  You know your 1 hour is up when the light goes off, you 
>can get up, the light will come back on, you walk over to the switch 
>and press it.  This will start the macro all over again.
>
>Note- I'm having serious questions about your 'shop status' if you 
>ONLY need a light on for an hour in your shop.  8>)
>
>Just an old school solution with new world security considerations.
>
>Moose


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