Re: XTB - the Future of X10 has arrived!

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

UPB uses a ~40V pulse they get by rapidly discharging a capacitor. This
causes a "ringing" at the natural frequency of the system in much the same
way as a triac turning on and off. The ringing dies down after 5-10 cycles.

Insteon uses a much LOWER signal level. Their spec says "3.16 Vpp into 5
Ohms" is the minimum level. I haven't seen a maximum level spec but the
scope screenshots I made when testing the starter kit were about 5-6Vpp
IIRC.

Both get their reliability from the fact they use two-way protocols with
ACK/NAK.

Philosophically, Insteon is elegant while XTB is brute force. UPB is betwixt
and between.

I think we'll have to wait and see whether Jeff's XTB has unforseen effects.
Try roaming about with an AM radio tuned to a harmonic of 120kHz. And, I'd
like to hear from someone who tries it with a TM751 or RR501 that's prone to
the "endless dim syndrome". I think it can only exacerbate that.

And we'll have to wait and see whether Dave Rye is correct in his analysis.
I think he's whistling past the graveyard. X-10 appears to be betting the
farm on cheap and one-way. Dave's probably nearing retirement anyway. ;)

Again, don't get me wrong. If your X-10 works, I say stick with it. If
you're new to HA, look at Insteon & UPB.

The one mistake both made was in not encouraging third party software
development. There's a dearth of good low price (or free) software for
Insteon. I'm less acquainted with UPB.

"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>It may not be so much "a bigger hammer" as "finally the RIGHT sized hammer."
>What percentage of Insteon's transmission success lies in their stronger
>signal?   IIRC (and that's a big if!) don't UPB and Insteon both boost the
>voltage of the control signal beyond what stock X-10 uses?  If I could bolt
>a same sort of performance boost(percent boost per buck) in a carbureutor,
>I'd still be driving my big, ol' comfortable gas guzzler.  If a bigger
>hammer is what it takes, I say "Bam Bam!"