Appliance Control: Making Things Do Stuff - Smart Home Automation with Linux and Raspberry Pi - page 11

The primary purpose for the LD11 is mood lighting, thanks to its support for halogens, and scene lighting,
thanks to its soft dimming and memory functions. Because they are generally placed away from the devices
themselves, you get a much cleaner install. The cost in cabling is thankfully offset by the cheaper cost of the module.
If you use the LD11 to power lighting sockets, only lamps must use them, as the dim feature will destroy many
other types of appliance. To aid in this, you can use nonconventional plugs and sockets for the lamps and LD11-fed
outlets. If your country uses square pin plugs, source some rounded pins, and vice versa.
Appliance MicroModule (AWM2)
This module uses the A prefix because it is primarily intended to control appliances; however, its function is also
suited to lights. The AWM2, shown in Figure 1-6 , sits inside a standard wall outlet and supports two switches. One
switch controls the locally connected lightbulb (and sends an equivalent X10 message onto the power line), while the
other switch sends an X10 “on” or “off ” messages to the next address in sequence. So, if your AWM2 is configured to
E2, you can also control E3 from the same switch. By installing two identically configured units at the top and bottom
of the stairs, you can control both the upstairs and downstairs lights from either location with no rewiring. And
because this is an internal module, you can use any switch facing your choose. Note, however, that this device doesn't
support dimming.
Figure 1-6. The AWM2, 46 × 46 × 18mm
Controlling Appliances
For appliances that are supplied without X10, such as teakettles, toasters, and HiFi units, a second type of device is
needed. These function in much the same way as the LM12U or LM15EB/LM15ES, whereby the device is plugged into
an existing power socket and the appliance in question is plugged into the X10 module. As mentioned previously,