Honeywell has a cool plug-in module that allows you to control any device with a standard two-prong plug by pressing a button on your alarm keyfob.
In our new house, we do not have nearly as many electrical outlets in each room as we did in our old place, and some of the ones that we do have are not in the most convenient spots. As a result, over the past few weeks, we have been climbing behind furniture to turn our Christmas tree lights on and off.
Last night, I plugged all of our Christmas lights into one of these modules and programmed it into the keyfobs
that my wife and I use to arm and disarm the alarm. It took no more than 10 seconds to set-up and now all of our Christmas lights can be turned on or off by any of our keyfobs, from inside or outside the house.
In the vast majority of new homes that we are wiring, the lighting system is fully integrated with the security system (as well as just about every other system in the home). However, in older homes, this product is an easy way to add a convenient feature without having to mess with your wiring at all. It literally took less than 10 seconds to get working and can be controlled by up to seven different keyfobs. In addition, you can have multiple modules all set to turn on or off at the same time, throughout your house.
Beyond creating the ultimate lazy persons’ automatic Christmas tree lighter, this product actually does offer some security and safety features. For example, if there are a number of lamps throughout your house that you would like to automatically turn off every time that you arm the alarm in stay mode when you go to bed, or turn on every time that you come home and disarm your alarm, this module will allow you to do that. You will need one module per lamp or other device that you wish to control.
The limitations?
This module is only designed to control devices that can be plugged into it… so it won’t be able to turn off room lights.
Another feature is that you do not need to have an actual alarm to use this product. All you need is the module itself and at least one keyfob… either one that fits on your keychain or as I described in an earlier post, that can be mounted on a wall.