I am wondering if anyone out there has found something that works with x-10 to automatically open doors. No I'm not that lazy - but pretty close hehe.

I have a fireplace with a recess on top of it for a tv. I want to put my tv in there and cover it up with a painting that I have in a frame. I want to put the frame on hinges and some how be able to open it up with a remote control. I have looked several places and havent found anything. Any ideas would be helpful

thanks
Mike

on ebay there are "linear actuators" for like $150 and they range in strength and stroke... I saw a 7inch unit that did 1000 lbs... so opening a "door" would be simple... circuit wise you could just build a relay setup that accomodates X10.. off the top of my head you could simply make a circuit that had two limit switches to shut off the motor... I never realized how hard it is to put a circuit into words...

let's see... two 120V plugs, one is x10 switched, ,the other is on all the time... use 120 to 12V DC inverters on both... wire the always on circuit to close the "door" and have it always attempting to close the door and only stop when the closed-door limit switch is flipped... on the x10 120v line after the 12v inverter wire it to open the door, but have relays that disrupt the "close door circuit" and supply the linear actuator to open the door and have the open-door limit switch stop the actuator... then when you shut power with the x10 the close door circuit would take over...
(try to put a circuit into words and you'll see that it is tough to do... :-)

this could be done for probably $200... maybe somebody has a better idea?? where were you thinking the painting would go?? swing up?? to the side??

[Link: solarshadingsys.com]

These things work very nicely! Prolly now what your looking for but just a thought.... you can build them for 1/10th the price....