Re: X10 Problems

["John J. Bengii" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My wireless MS13A unit's batteries typically last almost two years or
more.

I have about 15 of these units. Some are really flakey and some are
fairly consistent. The nasty part of the whole thing is the wireless
plug-in receievers. They broadcast "all lights on" code every month or
so. I have four of these units so I know it isn't just one flakey
unit. I come home with all the lights on from time to time under each
house code in usage.

On a few occasions I have founbd the system locks up also. This is due
to the wireless receievers flooding the powerlines with noise.
Unplugging them and back in again resets the units and away they go
just fine for another few months.


I thought I could economize on electrcial energy usage but have found
with so many unit left on all night from time to time, I doubt the
economy is happenning. I have many macros to turn everything off about
3 times per day as the system cannot be trusted. The outside motion
detectors PR-511 frequently get turned on and will not turn off
without sending an X10 code from another unit.


"Chuck" <chuck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:13nkufbfn8so795@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> X10 Issues - am I the only one?
> I recently Purchased some items from X10, as I went to use them I
> ran into
> various shortcommings.
> 1- When using the ActiveHome Professional Kit Part# CM15A-SP-ISSO
> and the
> software that was made available on their web ( they forgot to send
> it to me),
> it seemed easy to program however, the s/w continued to hang my
> Media Center
> Edition SP2 OS.
> 2- When trying to use the Socket Rocket Smart Screw in Lamp Module,
> they
> failed to list on the instructions you needed to program this
> seperately prior
> to trying to use the item from #1 above.
> Later this was sucessfully programmed with a code to activate the
> device.
>
> Ok, so now I have a s/w package and device to remotely control the
> Rocket
> Sockets and the ability to program the Rocket Sockets - time to use
> the
> sensors.
>
> 3- I purchased multiple ActiveEye Motion sensors. They are wireless
> and simply
> take 2 AAA batteries.
> I placed 1 then 2 then 3 of them on my back porch with different
> zones or
> angles between them and tested their range before the motion would
> set them
> off. Great the seemed to work, I had them simply activate a lamp
> with an X10
> Power House Transceiver Module (TM751). This allowed me to test the
> sensor
> with a visual feedback of the lamp on/off. All seemed well, Again,I
> placed it
> on the rear porch with the other two sensors - each with their own
> area of
> coverage. Then over the next few days I experienced the following
> problem.
> Wind would set off the motion sensor. More over, two sensors would
> be
> activated and the lamp would continue to stay on ( it seemed as if
> the
> Transceiver got confused), I also have an X10 Manual Remote Control
> CR12A and
> I would have to use this to turn off the lamp. After a day or so of
> this
> problem, I defaulted to only using 1 sensor on the rear porch.
>
> 4- Final Straw, after approximately 2 weeks of using the single
> sensor with
> the lamp and fewer problems with the lamp being left in the on
> state - I
> noticed I would walk by the motion sensor and it would not activate
> the lamp.
> I would have to place my hand within a few inches to activate the
> sensor. I
> concluded the cause for this was the batteries. Note I live in
> Tucson - so it
> should not be the cold weather or else these would have an extremely
> limited
> area of utility in the US. And if the battery life is less than 2
> weeks - I
> have no use for the entire set of items.
>
> Comments welcome.
> Chuck
>