Re: Switches and ProtocOls, Compared

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Brett Griffin" <bret.griffin@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> Personally in 5 years with I have never seen this. [switch resets]
>
> I use the following soft programming switches:
> Leviton HCM06 (600 Watt)
> Simply Automated 1130W (1000 Watt)

There have been enough reports of this type of behavior in the archives to
convince me that some X-10 gear without codewheels will reset itself on
occasion.

There are some areas of the US where the power blips substantially.  IMHO,
it's gotten worse, not better, as the national power grid grows more deeply
interconnected each year.  I have a whole house full of UPS's that sing all
the time in the stormy summer months as the voltage sags or gets reset.

If a house has a lot of motor appliances that start back up after a brief (<
1") outage, there will be some serious perturbations in the powerline as a
result.  Under these circumstances, it's hard to believe an electronic
switch *wouldn't* blow its mind.  If the end user runs switches in the
dimmed mode, the switchbox temps are likely to soar, further inducing
possible mayhem, especially in the summer.  In old plaster and lathe era
electrical work, cramming even a stock X-10 switch requires some real work.
There's virtually no airflow in those switchboxes.  Worse, still, they're
often in an insulated wall with a very high R-value.  Resetting to A-1 is
probably the *least* of the problems an end user might see.  I suspect a lot
of complex X-10 switches just fry themselves to death.

I'll bet that things *are* getting better, though, as controlling chips get
smaller and require less power to operate.

While I can see the benefits of soft programming a unit's addresses, there's
a lot of comfort in being able to pop a face place and see two dials.

--
Bobby G.