Re: Local control of x10 modules

["Ian Lowe" <ian@xxxxxxx>]

>From: "Dan" <dtoma@xxxxxxx>
> Hi Ian,
> This is not acceptable.

Just as a note on english usage, that's a rather hostile way of phrasing
that Dan, I'm assuming you don't mean anything confrontational, but it
would
be better to say something like "that method isn't good enough".

>This is not the momentary operation mode?
> How can you locally control the brightness?
> More.. if you left the lamp off locally, then you cannot start it
again
> using X10.
>
> Any other ideas?

Yes. Buy an LD11, and wire it up in a small electrical box (there are
plenty
help files available online as to how to do this). This provides far
greater
features than you would get from a lamp module, even when modded. (like
turning on at a preset dim level)

The lamp modules are some of the crappiest manufacture you will ever find:
they are produced at precisely the same quality point as 2 quid radios and
children's electronic toys. I tried modding some of the US ones to operate
at 240v, and was so unconvinced about the safety of the modules that I
simply wouldn't trust them to work without me standing over the switch.

Modifying a mains appliance is not to be taken lightly at the best of
times,
and there is a considerable amount of variation in the internal wiring of
these modules. I have seen at least three different PCB versions inside the
modules I have here, as well as variation in the actual components used.
These modules are not built to a pattern as much as thrown together with
what's in the bucket, then tuned to be "kinda" right. Phil was
talking about
the work done on the X10 curtain controller, which improved enormously (an
order of magnitude if I remember correctly) on the production X10 modules.

Remember, these devices do not have a "proper" power supply: they
bleed
power from the mains through an X-rated Capacitor, and the entire circuit
is
at mains potential. It's an absolutely horrific circuit, and one very prone
to problems. Without a complete and accurate circuit diagram, how are you
to
know that the specific module you have won't try to draw too much power and
blow the cap if local control is enabled? or, whether the switch for local
control could become live?

There are great areas to experiment with HA, but one that will kill you in
a
millisecond if you make a mistake is, in my opinion, not one of them...

I.