Re: Is there an easy way to tell if it is a phase problem?

["BruceR" <brNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The lines from both boxes come together at the meter. What you need is
bridge between the two 110 volt legs which can be done at either panel -
not both. Given that you have two panels I'll guess that your home is
larger than 2000sf so I would recommend an active repeater/coupler
rather than a passive unit. You can use one that plugs into a 220volt
dryer outlet or one that wires into one of your panels.  There are a
number of sources for these but they can all be seen at
www.smarthome.com for convenience.
 As far as knowing which breaker is on which leg, they alternate from
top to bottom. That's why a 220 volt circuit will have two breakers
stacked. Trying to keep everything on one leg isn't really practical.

From:surethingthistime@xxxxxxxxx
surethingthistime@xxxxxxxxx

> This might be more of a home wiring question (for an x10 beginner)
> I have two circuit breaker boxes in my house.  Each box has 220V.
> I tested a Radio Shack appliance module and it worked in a couple
> outlets that were wired to one box but not to the second box.  My
> understanding is the there should be 2 - 110V lines to each box and
> that an x10 signal will propogate along only one phase.
>
> 1. Is there an easy way to tell if switches/outlets are on the same
> phase?  I think if I pull the cover off the circuit breaker box, I
> should be able to see which breakers are tapped of the same line in -
> correct?
>
> 2. Are the the two phases on each circuit box likely to be connected
> as far as the x10 signal goes or might I theoretically need 3
> repeaters to link the four.  It could require a lot of testing to
> isolate problems like this and I'm not sure it is worth it to me.  I
> don't even know how I might link two separate boxes????
>
> TIA.