Re: X-10 and HA Interchangeability (was Re: Switching audio . . .)

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>From what Dave's been teaching me slowly about RF, it was never very hard to
>couple X-10 phases by wireless, either - they just didn't think of it and
>apparently, neither did anyone else.  Dave, if you're reading this, how hard
>would it be to couple X-10 via RF as Insteon has done?

Actually, a lot of people thought of it. They use two RR501s.

Other than RF range problems and potential interference, it's trivial.

One outlet on each phase, near the electrical panel solves the range issue.

Interference is easy to deal with - I wish Insteon had done what Philips has
done with the Pronto RF. It's double modulated - they modulate the 418 or
433.92MHz carrier with 40kHz and with the data envelope. Their receivers
ignore anything that doesn't have the 40kHz modulation. Since Insteon uses a
fixed frequency, when there is interference from other devices you have to
change the frequency of the other device. There are sure to be instances
where the intererer is either fixed frequency or beyond your control (i.e. a
neighbor).

The frequency issue, the potential for problems from the same signal sinks
that bedevil X-10, and the fact that extended Insteon codes take longer than
1/3 of a powerline cycle are the only weak points I see in their design. The
fact that each module repeats the PLC signal alleviates the signal sink
problems but do not eliminate them.