Re: 32 years using x-10

[artie <artie.m@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In article <dk8k14p46mq3vr7e8e2ik645ea1krs8utp@xxxxxxx>, greenpjs
<greenpjs@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> (I posted this in alt.home.automation yesterday.  I thought I would
> try this group today.  Any input?)
>
> Background:
>
> I've been successfully using X-10 for 32 years now.  Like many of you,
> I have had my share of issues but always managed to use filters and
> phase couplers to solve them.  Again, like many of you, the last five
> years have seen the level of intermittent operation increase.  Every
> new piece of electronics brought into the house usually requires
> another day of troubleshooting.  I managed to swap circuits around in
> the breaker box such that all X-10 equipment is on one side of the box
> thereby eliminating the need for a phase coupler, but problems still
> occur.  Of the 16 modules in use (all on one house code), 14 work all
> the time while the other 2 work most of the time.  It's that "most of
> time" that drives me nuts.  (By the way, our house is a little over
> 1300 sq ft in size plus a basement so I don't think my issues are
> caused by excessively long runs).

Hey Pat--

I've "only" been using X-10 for around 28 years...  A friend who is in
the high-end AV residential design/install business was visiting a few
weeks ago, looked at what was on one wall, and told me I really should
move off of X-10.  My response?  Why? It works, it's paid for, and the
new stuff is a whole lot more expensive. Yes, the new stuff offers more
capabilities -- capabilities I don't use. Turn the lights on around
dusk; turn them off at bedtime. Turn them off a few more times during
the night for kids who leave things on. Turn on outside lights during
the holiday season. During weekdays in the school year, turn on some
lights for a period in the morning.

I've had the intermittent problem as well.  Borrowing signal strength
equipment shows that it's low signal strength, rather than
hash-generating gremlins.

My experience has been that most of my problems have been caused by the
(EMI) filtering built into gadgets with switching power supplies --
which is just about everything these days.

If you think about a gadget that generates noise, and about putting a
filter between the gadget and the power line, there are two things you
can do (singly or in combination).  You can introduce a high impedance
between the line and the gadget at everything other than the power line
frequency.  Or, you can introduce a low impedance across the gadget at
everything but the power line frequency.  The first approach doesn't
let the noise pass to the line.  The second approach shorts out the
noise at the gadget.

The problem (for us) is when a filter in a gadget also places a low
impedance across the line at other than the power line frequency --
snuffing out our X-10 signals as well as any other noise on the line.

The cure, for me, is to identify those devices and put them behind a
plug-in filter (it's a Leviton part) that provides some isolation at
X-10 frequencies.

--
Namaste--