Colin,
The unit from Talkingthermostats.com is very nice.  I have two of them, one 
at home and one in my office.  The home installation (heating and AC) was 
just a case of replacing the existing thermostat.  The installation at work 
took a little more effort because it was necessary  to interface with a 120 
VAC control circuit but the owner of TalkingThermostats.com provided the 
necessary advice.  He used to work for Honeywell and now runs Talking 
Thermostats.

BTW, he has some interesting water detectors -- I use one near my sump 
pump -- and even a thermostat that interfaces with the phone line so you can 
call and adjust your heat by touch tone.

73,
Jim KY2D

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 4:54 AM
Subject: OT: accessible thermostat


this is pretty off topic, but much of the list traffic is so i don't mind
posting it here.

does anyone know of a talking home heating thermostat? or perhaps one that
is programmable and usable without sighted assistance?
Most of the automatic programmable ones ive seen  have LCD displays and
buttons to set them.
This isn't much of a problem, but i would like to find one that is less
complex and that one can consistently set and program without depending on
eyes.
Also, since i know next to nothing about these things, can I simply hook a
new unit up to my existing system, bypassing the existing single slider
controlled old style thermostat?
Can i simply take the old one off the wall, hook the wires up to the new one
and have a programmable thermostat?

thanks for any thoughts on this

73
Colin, V A6BKX