Re: XPS3 Strangeness

[David White <whitedavidp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

BruceR wrote:
>  David White wrote:
>> BruceR wrote:
>>> David,
>>> Your assumptions about the SignalLinc & Booster are correct. The
>>> Booster is a repeater and the Coupler is a passive connection.  Try
>>> turning on your oven to see if control is any better - the oven acts
>>> like a passive bridge.
>> Thanks Bruce,
>>
>> I tried turning on the oven and that seems to make no difference. I
>> also tried turning on my 240V shop heater in the garage to see.
>> Again, no difference. I will try my dryer too but I suspect that I
>> will get the same result.
>>
>> So it looks like an amplifier along with a bridge will be required.
>
> You could also try X10's recommendation which is a .01mfd 600vdc
> capacitor across the two legs as a cheapie coupler but the benefit may
> be limited and the capacitor may explode (guess how I know that).
> The expense of installing a 220 outlet should be no more than an hour of
> an electrician's time, particularly if it's located next to the panel.
> You might also be able to easily do it by your shop heater.
>
> As for Bill's recommendation to simply dump your X10 stuff, I dumped
> most of mine before the XTB was available in favor of Insteon. Insteon
> works very well and is dual mode with X10 which makes transitioning
> easier. However, now that the XTB is available, I put all the old X10
> stuff in my second home and reliability is equal to Insteon so far.  Had
> the XTB-IIR been available before I bought the Insteon stuff I wouldn't
> have had to change.  I still use an XTB-IIR with the combined
> Insteon/X10 installation at my primary home.
>
>

Thanks Bruce but I think I will pass on the exploding capacitor. I have
enough worries already :-).

I have also tested my setup with the dryer running and see no
improvement that way either. So I guess that the coupler/repeater will
be required.

There is one more cheapo alternative I might try though. Since the
garage interior lights and outlets are on different power supplies and
my testing has shown that the mini controller works from a different
location that is on the same supply as the lights, I could just move the
garage outlets to a different breaker that is on the same side as the
lights. This might work because my other stuff seems to work fine.