Re: XTB II Review

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Jeff Volp" <JeffVolp@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:GRcmh.621713

<deserved praise snipped>

> Thanks to everyone who has supported me in this XTB project.  While the
> XTB-II is probably as far as I can go down this road, I hope to offer
> additional devices in the future to address specific issues.

My vote would be an RF signal strength meter with some sort of display that
reads X-10 signal strength on an LED bargraph.  Now that the XTB has solved
the signal strength problem, I need a solution to the all-too-frequent
"stuck" button problem.  It happened again today.  Although I ran it to
ground as soon as I applied deductive reasoning instead of rote
troubleshooting, I just *hate* wasting time that way.

A little meter with some sort of directional antenna would do the trick.
Wouldn't need a
bargraph led, either, just one that blinked faster with stronger signals.  I
can't be the only X-10 user in the world that's been plagued by "stuck"
buttons.  (I'm using quotes to try to conceal that it's not a fault in the
equipment, but in the operator.  The majority of stuckees have been me
mislaying a Palmpad and something else on top of it.)

Today, following my "X-10 Protocol Disaster Document" that I was writing
mostly for my wife but which has become quite useful for me and my senility,
I:

1) plugged in the Monterey, saw an endless stream of BSCs (but very POWERFUL
ones, thanks to the XTB!)

2) Began unplugging TM751's one by one.  This sometimes gives directional
cues as to the location of the transmitter since any one RF transmission
probably *won't* reach all of my TM's.  No such luck.  No location seemed to
be revealed.  (It turned out that the stuck transmitter happened to be about
equidistant from each TM-751.)

3) When I unplugged the next-to-the-last TM-751, I began to see a steady
stream of B6 OFF signals

4) I then wasted a lot of time looking at all the switches that control B6 -
the dog room.  It turned out to be just a randomly stuck button in the long
run, but the clues pointed elsewhere so I followed them.  In circles.  (-:
No stuckees.  I even hauled out the AM radio.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.

5) I began to curse X-10, since I now had to disable all RF transceivers to
restore PLC functionality.  Even though the transmitter was sending just B
commands, it was also jamming all other housecodes.

6) Then I though of F1 racing superstar Michael Schumacher, who never wastes
a moment on anger and instead turns that energy toward solving the problem,
I considered the human factor.  Where was I between the last known good X-10
command and the failed one?  Ah!  I was taking care of a doggie disaster!!!
Little Rocket began leaking rocket fuel and I scrambled to get a clean-up
kit.  I had started moving stuff around on the bench and had inadvertently
put something on top of a Palmpad that I had been replacing the batteries
in.

Interestingly enough, I discovered that the Control Linc Maxi's default to a
"polite" mode and would not transmit while the TM-751's were picking up the
stuck key.  I believe there's a setting for that which I will change.  If I
used a lot of macros, I would leave it at "polite" but I would rather have a
local PLC controller be able to "blast" through any interference and operate
the lights in that room even if there was noise on the line.  When something
like this happens at night, it's more than a little annoying.

Though I hate to admit it, this is at least the 6 or 7th "stuck key"
problem.  (And before the "X-10 nah nah" crew cuts in, let me remind them
that ANY control system is vulnerable to something leaning on a control
button!)

Build it for less than $50 and I'll vote for you as Home Automation Man of
the Year for both 2006 AND 2007!

--
Bobby G.