RE: Local control of x10 modules

["Phil Harris" <phil@xxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stuart Billinghurst [mailto:stuart@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 25 May 2003 12:24
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
>
> I was hopeing to also be able to dim them.

Then select and use the appropriate module for the job ... In your case you
want a module that supports on/off/dim/bright control with a local switch
as
well as X10 control...

...selecting from the appropriate modules I would go for an LD11 in a small
DIN housing.

In all seriousness, this is the kind of question which makes my days
difficult - "How can I modify x to do y?" - and I probably get
asked it two
or three times a day on average.

The modules do what they do and they generally work fairly reliably but
understand that we (as a group) are at the "bargain bucket" end
of the home
automation market here because X10 is where it really starts, not finishes.
We are trying to replicate the control offered by systems costing six
figures but only want to spend a thousandth of that.

Call me a pessimist but I do fear for the day when we hear on the group
that
a member or someone else has been hurt or even killed by modifying modules
because it seemed easy. I'm lucky ... I have had several good belts from
mains through my own carelessness but I seem to be inherently "high
resistance" and although by no means pleasant most of the belts I've
had
have been no more painfull than a cramp - other people seem to find that a
whack from the mains hurts a shitload more. In either case IMO it's not
worth saving a tenner and risking it unless you are *ABSOLUTELY* sure of
what you're doing - and starting to modify a European module when all you
have to refer to are photos of a US module is not what I call a good place
to start.

Phil