Re: The problems with X10 ...

["Jim" <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

accidental plumber wrote:
> ...  are firstly, the x10.com company.  If the company sells products
> as they are, there won't be god knows how many abandoned modules around
> the globe.  On top of that, the company is one of the most hated
> company online.  I hope this is the first of a serious of articles of
> my rantings about X10, the protocol and the company.
>
> Like most users, I brought a kit for the price, tried it and felt that
> it was cool.  When I committed to it and expanded to the whole house,
> it became another infamous haunted house.  There's no way you can make
> the X10 products work reliably from the product literatures from
> x10.com.  I had many light switches and modules, three RF transceivers,
> a full security system with two PIR detectors and many door/window
> modules.  Also I have several cameras controlled by DC adapters from
> X10.  I kept on adding to the system but at the same time part or most
> of the system are abandoned.
>
> The many troubleshooting guides on the net doesn't help much.  They are
> rarely written by Electronics Engineers.  Anyway, I started around 1999
> so there wasn't that much information around.  Well, who will get into
> X10 if they know they need to install another box at the distribution
> box or consumer box, to block out noise and potential interference from
> neighbors using x10?  And they need one isolator or blocker for any
> electronic equipments including DC adapters for phone chargers?  And
> then a 3-phase coupler for most houses.  And a coupler and repeater if
> you have a large house.  How about the new RF transceiver that listen
> to all possible house codes and can generate a log for the ghost
> activities?  And a pair of testers at $100?
>
> But if I were to do it all over again, it will still be X10.  A total
> wireless system is still too expensive; every module has to have a
> receiver that is more complicated than the x10 crap.  Modules are
> selling about 1/3 on eBay compared to the x10 website.  After 7 years,
> everything still works, though not together.  Despite all the hype, I
> think I only need one blocker/isolator for the main TV and the
> electronics around it to solve the reliability problem.  The price is
> some $10 on eBay?
>
> Though my system will still be based on x10, but I would have mixed in
> a lot of other components.  For example, for rarely opened and
> difficult to enter windows, I would use a small independent alarm which
> could be as cheap as a few dollars.  The x10 cameras are crap, which
> also need short line of sight reception to be non-irritating.  More for
> the next message.


If you buy cheap, you get cheap.