HA Primer - Pos and cons of X-10, Z-wave, Insteon, UPB

["echo" <shaw@xxxxxxx>]

So I already have a house chock full of X-10, but as usual reliability is
still somewhat of an issue and commands still get lost in the ether.  It
would be nice to add a level of "robustness" to the system.  So I start this
thread and hope it can become a quick primer on the newer tech versus the
X-10 or a mini buyers guide.

So what if any would be a good technology to invest in for your modern house
?  What are the simple pros and cons of Z-wave and Insteon versus X-10 for a
24/7 PC based automation system. Are there any new technologies promising to
make obsolete all the others ?

I'll open by summarizing X-10s pros and cons for newbies who might stumble
upon this and leave the Zigbee Insteon, etc for other to chime in about.

An X-10  "controller" sends a signal to a "module".  Modules can turn on,
off or dim lights etc. The X-10 controllers and modules constitute a
primitive network.

X-10 Build quality
X-10 is the company who created the first home automation products for the
consumer.  The technology was fairly advanced for its day, but that was back
in the seventies and has seen little improvement since then.  X-10 has
developed new models over the years but they have lacked the polish of a
product suitable for modern homes.  Indeed the company seems more interested
in quantity of sales versus quality. The plastics they chose degraded and
discolored readily, circuit boards suffered from cold solder joints, wall
switch contacts were fragile. There are newer models but the best ones
always seem to be made by companies other than X-10. Any serious old-school
X-10 home automator likely has a box of dead X-10 parts waiting to be
recycled when the next module dies. Home Automation got off to a rocky start
since X-10 was doomed to be a hobby for the technically inclined.  Poor
build quality was X-10s first real problem.

X-10 and powerline noise
X-10's underlying technology is part of its second problem. The homes
powerlines that the modules are wired or plugged into, are used to
distribute the signals.  The signal is one way and modules have no provision
to send an acknowledgment. More on that later.  If you had an operating TV
or motorized appliance plugged into the same circuit as a module, it was
unlikely the module would work due to noise on the powerlines.

X-10 phase coupling
Houses in North America use split phase wiring  (2 x 110volt phases = 220V).
The X-10 signal had to be able to jump across the from one phase to the
other or the signal would only reach half the outlets in the house.  A
capacitive signal bridge of the phases using a module called a "phase
coupler" helped for the most part but required wiring into a 220volt circuit
either in a breaker box or a dryer or stove outlet. This was not for the
average home owner and is the third problem.

X-10 device limitations
There are 16 House codes x 16 Unit codes = 256 useable addresses.  It was
thought that no one would use more than 16 units in their houses.  Signals
travel on the powerline up to the power pole, cross over to the other phase
and back down.  In many cases a neighbor who used X-10 could control your
lights if they share the same power pole.   So the idea was to allow each
house to use 16 modules and there could be 16 houses. Who'd have thought I
could have 16 devices in a bedroom alone. So this is surely a limitation and
X-10s fourth problem.

X-10 network speed
Commands can only be sent at the zero crossing of the AC waveform which
severely limits the amount of information that can be passed in a reasonable
amount of time.  X-10 control systems have visible lag due to the speed
limitations. The fifth problem has and can not be solved with current X-10
technology.

X-10 one-way network
A big hurdle for automators was not knowing if the signal reached the module
or not.   X-10s answer was the "2-way module".  They are not really 2-way
since they can't acknowledge a command directly but they can be polled. the
problem is that due to the slow speed of the X-10 network the polling
responses can collide with other commands being sent. X-10 2-way is not
worth the extra money or trouble. This sixth problem is also hard wired into
the protocol.

X-10 user unfriendly
I had a friend insist on dimming his stereo with an X-10 lamp module, only
to watch his amp go up in smoke taking the module with it.  Okay these are
electrical loads, and the problem is not unique to X-10, all electrical
dimmers behave in a similar fashion.  A consumer having to know what an
inductive load is a mind bender for most, if not all, non technical people.
The seventh problem for X-10.

Those are the 7 deadly sins in HA as I see it.  Yes there may be more but
lets get on to the good stuff.  X-10 has a wide product line and the
availability of unique modules not yet available with other network
protocols. An example of this might be the PR511 floodlight motion detector.
Pricing can also be a factor and X-10 seems to give stuff away killing the
smaller dedicated home automation dealers.

Please confine the comments to other technologies since X-10 has already
been covered.