Re: The problems with X10 ...

["accidental plumber" <aplayerinla@xxxxxxxxx>]

X10 troubleshooting, or it should actually be X10 essentials.

If you get an X10 kit and try it out, most likely it would work
beautifully.  But if you expand to any non-trivial system around the
whole house, I can guarantee that it would not work reliably.  The
troubleshooting from X10 are well hidden or very distorted.  A few
years ago it's difficult to find any info in the net though the
technology is from the 70's.  Now there are two much troubleshooting
info over the top, without perspective.  Mostly likely something simple
will make you system work reliably.

1. Check your wiring if you are not in a new house.  It just take one
moron in the past 10 years before I took over the house to wire a wrong
socket and disabled half the house from X10 control.  The socket is
well hidden, never used, but it will work as the neutral is wired into
the ground.  A few dollars for a 3 pin tester will get the sockets
tested pretty quick.

2.  You need at least one 5A "noise" blocker and two will be good for
most people.  One for your TV and all the home theater gadgets around
it.  Other for the computer and the gadgets around it.  The devil are
electronics especially higher power ones.

All electronics need to reject power line noise and fluctuations.
Basically they all attenuate the X10 signals, which is noise to the
power signal.  The higher the power, the more difficult the job is,
while the easiest way to do it is to use a by pass capacitor.

The TV alone doesn't cause any obvious trouble but the load of all the
boxes add up.  The lights near the TV and home theater cannot be
switched on half of the time.

Since usually you have a single extension where all your devices are
plugged on, you just need to plug in the blocker to the wall socket
first, and then plug in the extension plug over it.  But check if 5A is
enough for all your devices.  If not, either buy a higher amp one or
plug  some of the lower power devices directly into the electrical
sockets.  A blocker is basically an inductor in serious so the whole
extension are isolated from the rest of the house electrical circuit
via a high impedance.

The other cluster a home may have is a computer.  My 400W switching
supply is OK.  On the same extension, I have cable modem, wi-fi router,
scanner, printer, and many more because I needed two extensions with
between 15 to 20 sockets.

The devil is the D-Link wi-fi router.  Strangely it has a DC adapter
rated at 2.5 Amp !!  It alone will kill off any X10 action in the same
electrical circuit.  I replaced it with a 500 mA and it still works
reliably as a wi-fi router.  Once it's sorted out, I don't even need a
blocker for the lights to work reliably.  But since these things add
up, I suggest to add another blocker here.

The moral is, if you plug in a crap battery charger somewhere in your
house, your whole system could be compromised.

3.  If your house has 3-phase 240V circuit split into two separate 120V
circuits, x10 doesn't work across the two circuits.  I have 3-phase and
I thought I had the same problem.  But after I found out what a moron
had done, now I can control every socket and light in my house, a
typical 3-bed Cali house.  Anyway, the problem is easily detected and
the solution is simple.  There's a adapter plug type of thing to couple
the two phases.  You can still plug in your 3-phase appliance over it.

One even cheaper way is to add another transceiver on the other circuit
that come to you bundled and almost free, that you never needed.

4.  Noise and interference from outside of your house.  I don't think
the problem is that common.  x10 house codes are supposed to solve the
interference problem.  Unless your neighbor has something strange in
their house, the outside noise is similar to the inside noise you
generated in your own home.  I would invest in a pair of testers before
committing to find a qualified electrician to do the job according to
Cali code.

5.  Noises - overrated.  The big blower of the central system, no
problem.  Washing machine and drying machine, no problem for x10, even
though the wi-fi performance suffers.  Ceiling fans, washing machine
and fluorescent lights, all no problem.  But the truth is, they are
never turned on all at the same time.  Very unlike the electronics.

6. RF range.  I never have any problem with the range.  The exception
is when the security console is in the install mode, the range is much
shorter probably due to old age of the device.  I make sure that the
backup battery is charged and bring the console near to the detectors
one by one to "install" them.

Another exception is when there are two transceivers on the same phase,
listening to the same house code.  The range appeared to be very short,
but the cause of unreliability is probably the collision of x10 power
line signals.