Re: X10 Manual Control

[Keith Doxey <keith.doxey@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Raymond

Lamp modules and appliance modules both have local switching to turn the
unit ON. To turn it off you have to send X10 to it although a lamp module
can be reset by turning the power off on the wall socket. An appliance
module will remain in its pre-powerfail state so you cannot reset those
except by X10.

Using local control does not stop it from receiving X10 but if you are
controlling from something like Homevision that tracks the state of X10
then you could have problems.

If a module is turned off by an X10 command then HV would register the
fact. You then use local control to turn a lamp on, HV still thinks it is
off as there was no X10 activity. You then tell HV to turn it off and it
does nothing because it "thinks" it is already off. Homevision
has FORCE
commands which will send an OFF command even if it thinks it is already
off. Some other systems may also have similar features.

What are you trying to control it with?

What appliance have you got in the appliance module?

If it still draws ANY power whilst apparently switched off then the
appliance module will not detect the change on the output of the mdule to
indicate that you want to override it. The same may also apply if the load
draws too little current in its ON state.

I personally havent experienced any problems with local control other that
wanting an appliance module NOT to have local control and removed it using
info found on the internet. Took about 15 minutes......12 minutes to find
the small screwdriver and 3 minutes for the mod ;-))

HTH

Keith

Keith Doxey
http://www.btinternet.com/~krazy.keith
Krazy Keith's World of DIY Home Automation

-----Original Message-----
From:	Raymond [SMTP:Reb.barnett@xxxxxxx]
Sent:	Friday, August 20, 1999 11:23 AM
To:	'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
Subject:	[ukha_d] X10 Manual Control

Could somebody explain how local manual control of X10 units is supposed
to work?

I ask because I thought that the lamp and appliance modules were
supposed to offer a degree of local control - you can manually switch on
a lamp by switching the lamp's own on-off switch off then back on again,
which should cause the X10 unit to switch on.

However I've never been able to get this to work with an appliance
module. The lamp module in the dining room stopped working automatically
last night, and since I was busy I didn't try to identify why it didn't
come on, but instead switched the lamp off and back on again, which
successfully switched it on. However the X10 unit then completely
stopped responding to X10 events - when we went to bed it did not switch
off. The resolution in the end was to switch the X10 lamp module off at
the wall, and then back on - effectively 'resetting' it - it now works
find again.

Is this the way they are supposed to work? i.e. once you've activated
manual control they don't respond to any X10 events, and hence require
resetting? It's a pain since my modules aren't terribly accessible
(which is why I've used them in some cases).

Ray.

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