Re: Water heater eating X-10 signal

["Jeff Volp" <JeffVolp@xxxxxxx>]

"Dan Lanciani" <ddl@danlan.*com> wrote in message
news:1338655@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> In article <LXPWh.68402$VU4.57947@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> JeffVolp@xxxxxxx (Jeff Volp) writes:
> | "Dan Lanciani" <ddl@danlan.*com> wrote in message
> | news:1338640@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> | > In article
> <9iqVh.322422$5j1.206155@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> | > JeffVolp@xxxxxxx (Jeff Volp) writes:
> | >
> | > | That was an easy test to do - just confirmed an old Leviton 6299
> | > does flip the phases.
> | >
> | > That certainly confirms the behavior I saw.
> |
> | I wanted to follow this up.  The SmartHome SignaLinc 4816H apparently
> | consists of nothing more than a 1.uF capacitor and 18 uH inductor in
> series.
>
> Is that a .1uF capacitor?  That would give about the right resonance
> frequency with standard components.

Yes.  Incidentally, it is exactly what I recommended here:

http://jeffvolp.home.att.net/x10_info/x10_couplers.htm

The XTB and XTB-II use .22uF and 8.2uH.

> | So, that drives both legs in phase.
>
> I'll bet it would have worked a lot better for me than the 6299.  I
> also noticed that we went through approximately this same discussion
> 10+ years ago, e.g., see:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.home.automation/msg/7e7815cbb7cae2e8
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.home.automation/msg/e2ec87fedbbecadc
>
> which suggest that either there was a different 6299 or else Phil Kingery
> wasn't aware that it flipped the phase.  Oddly, in the Hometoys article
> Dave referenced earlier in this thread, the simplified schematic of the
> passive coupler appears intended to flip the phase but Phil still talks
> about the problem of 240V devices as if it did not.

Interesting.  My Leviton 6299 is an old unit I picked up some time ago on
eBay.

That was not a simplified schematic.  The two blue blobs are MOVs.  The
series caps are .22uF 360VAC (yes, VAC).  The small caps are both 1000pf.
The inductors are little tunable transfomers, like those used in X10
modules.  I re-checked the 6299.  It is definately out of phase, and peaks
at 134KHz.  That probably means the tunable transformers weren't quite
adjusted properly.

The Leviton 6299 and X10 XPCP used to be identical.  X10 recently changed
the XPCP to a "Decora" form factor.  The older version is still available on
eBay.  The new one is riveted closed, so I don't know what is in it.
However, it is IN-Phase, and peaks at 118KHz.  It still has a 4-wire
connection, and both output lines must be connected.  Also, reversing the
output flips the phase, so it must still have transformer coupling.

It looks like X10 decided that in-phase is the way to go.

A side note - street prices for the old XPCP and SignaLink are similar.  The
XPCP / 6299 would seem to be a better deal.

Jeff