In the mid to late 80s I started using the first popular and affordable home automation system, called X-10. It was sold both by Radio Shack and directly from the manufacturer and other mail order houses.
Now comes the foundation education. For those with no knowledge of electrical basics, you really need to know this. Everything in technology has to be learned in a progression of steps. You can't do it out of order, or you'll be completely confused. For those who know this stuff, I apologize, you can skip ahead of it to what you really need to know.
Electric power comes in two forms:
DC or Direct Current which is the same as what comes out of a battery. It's a continuous voltage. Either it's on, or it's off. (Volts is a way of measuring electrical potential or force. Kind of like water pressure in a pipe before it's released)
AC is Alternating Current. In the USA this is what's supplied to your house. The electric current is turned on and off 60 times per second. Without getting too complicated, the voltage actually goes to positive, then to zero volts, down to negative volts back up to that zero crossing point and once again to a positive level. Over time it averages out to 120 volts AC, 60 times per second or cycles per/sec. It's expressed in Hertz (named after the physicist, Heinrich Hertz) or Hz. So our electrical power in the home is 120 VAC 60 Hz.
To be continued....
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