Who is Looking Forward to this.......Global Cache Flex

[Idealhomes]

I received this little snipbit in an email this morning and are super excited about this little piece of hardware, GC can pretty well much automate a whole house and work seamlessly with Demopad.........I like it alot

"Global Caché Named as CES Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Award Honoree


New York, NY and Jacksonville, OR, USA – November 12, 2012 – Global Caché, the leading independent manufacturer of IP and WiFi connectivity products for the control and automation market, today announced it has been named an International CES Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree for the soon-to-be launched iTach Flex. Products entered in this prestigious program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting edge consumer electronics products across 29 product categories.

Global Caché's iTach Flex, an industry first, is a smart end-point that WiFi or network enables electrical devices instantly. The Flex adds intelligence to the enabled device, allowing events and tasks to be triggered with simple macro commands. In addition, the Flex supports HTML for web browser control from anywhere in the world and includes a real-time clock to support timed events for true automation.

The Flex's extremely small footprint, slightly larger than a pack of gum, is ideally suited for transparent coupling and seamless integration to any device in homes or businesses. The Flex's unique hardware form offers the ability to bridge products and systems in a way never available before by featuring a WiFi or network connection and a standard 3.5mm jack that supports almost any type of protocol using Flex Link cables. Additionally, the 3.5mm jack supports sensor input, connecting off-the-shelf sensors to the network, the Internet, and the cloud instantly. Almost any state change, including temperature, power, security alarms, and more, can be sent over the Internet to inform the user that an event or status change has occurred. For example, a text message can be sent to an end user informing them of an open garage door or a serious water leak in the home."

[hengenl]

If I got it right you can control every device in your household by connecting it was an itach flex? Right? Is the itach flex just one product or will there be several modules for different applications? When will this product be released. It sounds very promising as the current itach's are working very well at my home. Right now i I can't imagine how the itach flex will be attached to a device as there are hundreds of different connection types?

[Idealhomes]

If I got it right you can control every device in your household by connecting it was an itach flex? Right?

That's how I read it too, a product like that would be a useful thing to have.....press a button in Demopad and have the unit turn your electric blanket on AT 6.45pm

Is the itach flex just one product or will there be several modules for different applications? When will this product be released. It sounds very promising as the current itach's are working very well at my home. Right now i I can't imagine how the itach flex will be attached to a device as there are hundreds of different connection types?

I am now waiting patiently for more info on this too...

[hengenl]

This could really be a game changer in home automation. I am wondering that more information can not be found on the internet. I only found the CES Press release which you posted here. I really hope there will be more information very soon. I am really excited on this one. I am already imagining how many itach flex's I would need/want in my house .

[dansonamission]

That's how I read it too, a product like that would be a useful thing to have.....press a button in Demopad and have the unit turn your electric blanket on AT 6.45pm

That can already be done with the Global Cache Relay's. You'd have to switch another relay with it as the Global Cache can't switch 240v.

[DemoPad]

Just want to assure everyone that we are in the loop with Global Cache on this. We'll give more information when we can.

[hengenl]

The excitement is killing me . Thanks Andy for your information.

[Idealhomes]

That's how I read it too, a product like that would be a useful thing to have.....press a button in Demopad and have the unit turn your electric blanket on AT 6.45pm

That can already be done with the Global Cache Relay's. You'd have to switch another relay with it as the Global Cache can't switch 240v.

You can switch on a 240vlt socket using a dinn mounted relay or some sort of relay at the wall plate, but you cannot set it to turn on at 6.45pm as Demopad are yet to have a "real time clock", that is something that I would really like to have. If this Flex unit can control appliances and the real time clock can be set inside the Demopad app, full home automation just got real and at a fraction of the cost of full systems like C4.

[dansonamission]

That's how I read it too, a product like that would be a useful thing to have.....press a button in Demopad and have the unit turn your electric blanket on AT 6.45pm

That can already be done with the Global Cache Relay's. You'd have to switch another relay with it as the Global Cache can't switch 240v.

You can switch on a 240vlt socket using a dinn mounted relay or some sort of relay at the wall plate, but you cannot set it to turn on at 6.45pm as Demopad are yet to have a "real time clock", that is something that I would really like to have. If this Flex unit can control appliances and the real time clock can be set inside the Demopad app, full home automation just got real and at a fraction of the cost of full systems like C4.

Oh yeah, good point about the clock.

[hengenl]

So, when will the real time clock be implented in Demopad?

[cv27]

So, when will the real time clock be implented in Demopad?

+1 on real time clock... Absolute necessity if one pushes DemoPad beyond a simple TV remote

[DemoPad]

The problem with having a real-time clock in the app is that for it to work, the app must be running (ie not multitasking in the background), and indeed the iOS device itself must be on. Unless the iOS device is plugged in, with the sleep timer off, and the DemoPad app locked in running mode, the timer functions would most likely fail. Very few installations would work like this - most people use their iOS device for other things.

Installers who require timed functions are currently using an AV processor - which is built to be always on. The new global cache flex units allow you to program timed events also, as do some lighting / other systems.

We are aware of these issues....

[cv27]

Thanks for the explanation as to the difficulties. Personally, I would be very satisfied with the ability to simply interrogate the real time clock, hour and minute, as an action in a button action list. This obviously would mean that the device is one and DemoPad is a foreground task.

For example, this would meet my requirement: if I could set a number variable to the real time clock 'hour' value and another number variable to the real time clock 'minute' value, then I could manipulate that number variable with custom actions. Another approach would be the concept of global variables set by DemoPad, 'Global_hour' and 'Global_minute'.

[DemoPad]

Ah ok - sorry I was assuming you wanted to do things like:

turn the outside lights on at sunset...or
turn all TVs off in the kid's bedrooms at 11pm

There's most likely a way to get date/time information from a web server somewhere & parse the feedback to get the current time, but agree it would be a little more helpful to have it all built in...we'll look into it.