Re: X10 replacement?

[Joerg <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Marc,

>
> [Good ideas on circuit design snipped.]
>
>>It doesn't have to retail at $12.99 a pop. $19.99 is usually the magic
>>threshold beyond which consumers become a bit hesitant. As long as those
>>extra $7 buy a substantial reliability improvement I believe this could fly.
>
> Exactly! As in, "$19.9x is _exactly_ the cost of an INSTEON ICON dimmer" !
>

If it works reliably that would be a deal. However, to be honest it'll
be an uphill battle. First, it needs to pass muster in communities like
this newsgroup. Then it has to remedy the perception with many potential
customers that HA "doesn't work" because all they were exposed to was
X10 and that often didn't work.

Also, I strongly believe that any new stuff must be available through
hardware stores. X10 mostly wasn't and that's IMHO one of the reasons
for its low market penetration.

>
>>>Lightolier introduced the concept and sold the Compose PLC (X-10) system
>>>based on large, expensive hardware to filter and segment the home AC
>>>distribution.
>
> http://www.lightolier.com/index.jsp?FLASH=1&FL=releases/PRComposePLC.htm&A=208&B=233
>
>>>It was (see this thread's subject) an evolutionary "X10 replacement".
>>>
>>>My limited perspective is that it seems to have had a short run in the
>>>marketplace and then seems to have mostly declined. I don't have any
>>>experience with it. Maybe someone in c.h.a else does and can pipe up.
>>>
>>
>>That link didn't work but the Lightolier site is still up. For controls
>>it points to this site:
>>http://www.lolcontrols.com/
>
> Works for me.
>
>  [snip]
>
>>Sure. But most of the folks who'd buy this are also married ;-)
>>
>>If I came home with $1000 worth of stuff and tell her that it'll
>>(hopefully) work better than this X10 I'd be read the riot act...
>
> Trick is to combine your house and *non-toy* HA infrastructure investment in
> the same mortgage. In that context, $1K is below noise threshold in the price
> range for median US/Canadian/European homes.
>

If is is 100% reliable I agree, at least for upscale homes. However, in
the retrofit market there must be a lower entry level. Plus a pathway to
operate legacy stuff (X10) through Insteon. It will be very tough to
convince someone to toss $300+ of accumulated X10 gear on the promise
that it'll be better. Now if you could say "hey, you can keep using the
old stuff for a while but you'll see the difference in reliablity" that
would be a strategy that could work.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com