Re: XPS3 Strangeness

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"David White" <whitedavidp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> 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.

I find that once you have a marginal area where one phase doesn't reach
another, it's only a matter of time before that area spreads and others
appear.  It may be a cell phone charger, a new laptop, a CFL bulb or some
other demon, but eventually, you'll plug something in that kills the X-10
signal.  It always seems to happen when you're short of time to chase down
the problem, too.  The stock X-10 five to ten volt signal is just not enough
"oomph" to power through the clogged electrical "streets" of a modern house
anymore.

I chased my tail for years doing exactly what you're doing - finding
connection paths that seem to work for a while.  I had a good excuse though,
because Jeff had not yet created the XTB-IIR.  My experience is that X-10
now works as well as it did in the early 80's when there were few or no
switch mode power supplies in general use.

Sorry to sound as strident as a reformed smoker looking for converts, but I
wasted a lot of time and money trying to keep one step ahead of the X-10
demons before I installed the XTB and killed them all.  Very high SAF, too,
once the installation was complete.

I understand the price issue, though.  Only you can make the final call
about how much system reliability is worth.  For me, it was falling down the
stairs when a motion controlled X-10 light went on and then off as I was
descending very quickly.  I had been using multiple transceivers on
alternate phases to compensate for lack of even a passive coupler but that
turned out to be an extraordinarily bad workaround.

I've always felt the need to futz with the main breaker panel to achieve
maximum performance was a real inhibition to HA growth (which was mainly
X-10) for the last 20 years.  I hope Z-wave and some other protocols truly
kill the panel beast.

I'm not sure what I would do at your stage.  Obviously I didn't do what I am
preaching now and have a nearly $300 power line signal analyzer to prove it!
(-:  I kept avoiding the circuit box solution for a variety of reasons, the
lack of an XTB-IIR among them.  It sounds like it would be pretty easy for
you to adapt to a pattern that works - for now.  But from what we've seen
here, if you see problems now, they'll only get worse, not better without
some sort of coupler/repeater.

--
Bobby G.