Remotely Controlling all of Your Halloween Lights

BooItYourself.com   

Here's a remotely interesting lighting tip for every holiday.

Did you know you can easily turn on or off  all of your holiday lights with the push of a single remote control button?! It's true! I've watched people run from room to room all over the house indoors and out bending over and plugging their illuminated decorations into wall sockets. You won't have to stoop that low if you want to invest in a set of X-10 Control Units. They're not dirt cheap, but you can use them for Halloween, Christmas, parties, or all the year long.

You can get started for around 50 to 75 bucks...and these devices will serve you for years to come! You'll need at least one PLUG-IN RF UNIT. This is the "Base" module. You can plug one set of lights into it. This is usually ($20). You'll also need the a remote control which may be 12 to 20 dollars. You can usually buy the base with 1 remote as a package deal. for around 30 dollars. For each area that you would normally plug lights into, you will need another different type of module. We recommend an  X10 Appliance Module 3-Pin . These are typically ($10).

Nowadays for all you super geeks... You can even get an Iphone or I-pad apps to control these babies...and you can get really fancy controlling different rooms and adding other modules like dimmer modules and timers. But let's get back to our story for us simple boys and ghouls.

When you have your base, remote control, and appliance modules, Just follow the instructions that come with each device. It should be as simple as

1) put batteries in the remote.

2) Plug in the base module into a wall socket. You may also plug in the lights in that room that you want to control INTO the base module.

3) Go to another room or location. Plug the appliance module into the wall socket. Plug the lights that are nearby into that module.

4) Make sure that the control dials on every device are at the same settings so that your remote will control these devices.

Now...with the press of the on or off button, you can control all of your lights!

A tip on where to get these:

Locally at Radio Shack, Fry's electronics, or most electronics centers.

or, search on-line for the best deal. X10.com and Smarthome.com are two popular sellers.

I love these things! I never have to leave the couch or my candy bowl!