iLincPro Application Note #1: Email or SMS Text Msg. Alert

[ilincandy]

iLincPro Application Note #1: Email or SMS Text message Alert on a iPhone Ipod/Touch.

Since iLinc Pro can read the status (on/off/dim) of an Insteon responder then you could
construct a very low cost Home Monitoring System using iLinc Pro. The skills you need for
this task is software programming, some electronics and microprocessor software
design.

Imagine your basement is flooding, or someone opened up your garage door or entered your
home while you were away. By installing an Insteon TriggerLinc with a garage door switch
or an Insteon IR motion detector in your home or a TriggerLinc / IO Link in the basement
with a water/flood sensor you could be alerted immediately on your Iphone to these alarms
and you could read the status using iLinc Pro.

Basic Design Overview:
Have your Motion Detector or TriggerLinc activate an IO Linc relay contact (dry). From this
dry contact it is connected to a very low cost micro which is connected to the PC via USB.
Then have some data acquistion software, scripting software or application software like
Visual Basic read the micro and send an Email message or SMS (160 char) text message to
your Iphone. By having the ability of reading Insteon status using iLinc Pro, you could create
a very low cost home monitoring system without paying a monthly fee to the likes of Brinks
or ADT.

Design Note1:
It is also possible, on some carriers, for non-subscribers to send messages to a
subscriber's phone using E-Mail. AT&T, T-Mobile[28], Sprint[29], Verizon Wireless[30] offer
the ability to do this through their websites' mail servers. For example an AT&T subscriber
whose phone number was 555-555-5555 would receive e-mails to 5555555555@txt.att.net
as text messages. Sending a message this way is free but subject to the normal length
limit. Primus Canada is one carrier that lacks this feature

Design Note2:
Gmail and ATT/Yahoo email requires SSL. (Secure Socket) Finding the proper software so
your email can be sent using SSL was the biggest design problem I had with this project.
You be surprise how many ip cameras, data acquisition programs and other software and
hardware that cannot function because they cannot overcome this SSL send email
restraint.

For more information or questions? ... reply here

[AdminWes]

Sounds like a great concept!

Another option would be to use the ActiveX control that ships with SDM and write a monitoring software app that sits on the PC with SDM. Have the monitoring software listen for trigger events as posted by SDM to the PC app through the ActiveX control and send out an email or txt upon receiving a trigger notification from one of the monitoring Insteon devices. That way you bypass the need for a middle-man micro controller and USB interface.