Re: is x10.com dead?

["Jeff Volp" <JeffVolp@xxxxxxx>]

"Marc F Hult" <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e9ib02t6bi02siq4jlu15669ctu0420ef4@xxxxxxxxxx
>
> Another button pushed ;-) I have a Leviton 6400. Would you like it free?
> The design was defective. It _never_ worked. It was very expensive at the
> time ($80??) Leviton replaced it in the catalog with the 16400 but left
> the purchasers of the 6400 like me in the lurch.

The 6400 has been available cheap on eBay for good reason.  I did my
homework before buying, and got the 16400s from Worthington.  They work like
a charm, and there have been no failures in 3 years.

> If you have an Ocelot, that in turn has the ability to control low-voltage
> relays connected by a single low-voltage RS-485 twisted pair to control
> the low-voltage that the irrigation valves require, why do you have a
> "X-10 irrigation controller"?   What you describe is not an X-10
> irrigation controller as I understand it. It is (effectively) a momentary
> SPST input to the Ocelot carried over the AC line. Quite a different
> matter.

We use a Rain8 irrigation controller, which is commanded via X10.  It's a
great little box with built-in timeouts, and two different program cycles.
X10 can trigger a whole cycle, which is what we normally use.  But, the
valves can be individually controlled by X10 when additional irrigation is
necessary.

We live up on a ridge where lightning is a significant danger.  We had a
close lightning strike at our last house, and part of the alarm system was
taken out.  Since the Ocelot is the core of our HA system, I didn't want a
direct electrical path from it to the valves outside (RS485 link & switched
24VAC).  With X10, we have the house wiring and whole house surge protector
to provide some measure of isolation.  But, anything can be fried if we get
a direct hit.

Jeff