Making The Train Run On Time

I have a few INSTEON modules and a 2412N controller. I've been experimenting with home automation for awhile, and this year I thought I'd do something fun.

I unpacked the model train that goes under our family tree and connected the power box to an INSTEON lamp module. Using Belphanior, my not-quite-yet-fully-released home automation core, I wrote a short script that drives the train for a few seconds (timing is a little sloppy, as it takes several seconds for the 2412N to respond to HTTP requests from the 2412n servant, but it does the job).

"cycle train" script

With the script written, all I had to do was fire it every two hours. Fortunately, there is a Belphanior servant that can monitor an iCal-formatted calendar and notify the butler to run scripts in response to calendar events. I pulled up a Google Calendar that I keep for this purpose and populated it with a cycle of the train every two hours (except at night, to save power).

Belphanior calendar, showing "cycle train" command

The result is shown below. I'm pretty satisfied with it; simple, but effective!