Neil,

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:05:31 -0400, Neil Cherry wrote:

I'd said:

> >> Overall I've found the X10 products to be very "bitty", with no real
> >> clever thinking in the design.  For example, pretty much all the
> =

> You are not impressed by the analog technology used in the late
> 1970's? Boy are you spoiled! ;-) For the time the design is very
> cool, of course all this can be pretty easily handled with a PIC
> (but now we could also throw in ACKs). =


I'm not unimpressed by the X10 idea and its technical details, but by the s=
tagnation in actual products.  Most of the standalone controllers look like =

they were designed in the USA in the 1960's (controllers in a brown plastic=
 box with cream-coloured pushbuttons, for example).  They are also not =

very reliable - I've had a PC interface fail completely, and a Mini Timer t=
hat appears to send commands, but they are ignored, so I assume something =

in the data/mains interface has packed up.  Any ideas how to debug this?  I=
t would be handy to be able to "see" the data on the mains, but I don't =

have a way to isolate a 'scope.

And they all fail to improve on what has gone before, with controllers only=
 able to switch 4 devices with a single button-press, despite the system =

catering for 256 devices (16 "House Codes" and 16 device numbers).

And there seems to be a lack of common sense in some of the designs - there=
's a thing called a "micro module" which fits behind a lightswitch:  =

http://www.laser.com/?page=3Dshop/flypage&product_id=3D164&category_id=3Ddb=
f4aa47dce7821619f9811277a1d3a8&  and has two channels to connect to =

two switches on the plate in front of it.  The first channel also has a con=
trol module, so you can connect one light to that and have it controlled by =

the switch and by X10 commands.  The second channel just sends X10 commands=
, to control a light elsewhere.  But the stupid thing is that the second =

channel always has the address of the first one, plus one.  So if you want =
to implement the typical hall/landing setup, where lights at the top and =

bottom of the stairs can be switched from upstairs or down, you're stuck.  =
If the addresses could be swapped, it would work fine, but as it is it's =

almost impossible without a lot of extra wiring (surely one of the adantage=
s of X10 is to use existing wiring?) and having a unit mounted somewhere =

else, such as under the floor.

Then there's the cost over here - the micro modules I mentioned are about G=
B=A370 each, so even if it would work it would cost US$280 to automate =

just these two lights...

>Take a look at this if your curious:
> =

> http://www.linuxha.com/athome/common/mTW523/index.html
> =

> I won't claim it's perfect, I seem to recall that I ended up with
> two pages with the important information split between then. I
> really should clean that up.

Looks like Good Stuff to me!  I would have liked more detail as to what you=
r modification does, and where the 120/230V and 60/50Hz changes would =

be needed... but then I'm greedy!  :-)

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England



-- =

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