Re: X10 replacement?

[Joerg <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Jack,

>>
>>>>Cheap to start, is not the same as cheap to do all the fancy stuff.
>>>>And Joerg says X10 could be all of those, if they would only listen to
>>>>him...  ;-)
>>>
>>>X-10 has donme fairly well for about 30 years without listening to Joerg or
>>>anyone else.
>>>
>>
>>But how much better could it have done if the receivers were designed well?
>>
>
> ...
>
> "Designed well" comes with a significant cost disadvantage.  For what X10 components
> cost, "designed adequately" has always been sufficient for my wallet.
>

If they work, that is. We know a lot of people around here and the
number of households other than ours that have X10 is zero. A few folks
have tried and their response to my question was "It doesn't work".

The suggestions I made can mostly be implemented without increasing
cost. Sure, they'd possibly have to use a more modern micro controller
but that doesn't mean a cost penalty. Plus maybe one FET and a few
resistors in order to provide some kind of 120kHz selectivity but that
can be had for around 5c in quantities. If absolutely necessary it could
be done with a regular NPN transistor for less.


> From what I've read in this newsgroup, more expensive X10 compatible components
> don't always perform in a manner that justifies the higher prices.
>

True, especially since some of the varieties sold under the "pro" label
don't seem to differ from regular ones except in price.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com