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Author Topic: NOOB questions - Dimmer switches, Repeating Timers  (Read 2338 times)

alexcomp

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NOOB questions - Dimmer switches, Repeating Timers
« on: September 13, 2012, 03:14:12 PM »

I could probably answer these questions if there was a comprehensive manual for active home Pro.  If there is please tell me about it!

Q1 - I have a large home with literally dozens of dimmer switches, (the kind that you push on and off with a dial for brightness).  It seems that X – 10 does not play nicely with these devices am I correct?

Q2 - I have a small pump in my fish pond drawing much less than 15 A which is the rated capacity of the AM466.  I would like to cycle this pump on for 10 min. every hour throughout the course of the day.  It seems as though there ought to be an easier way than to establish 24 individual timers.  Is there?

Q3 - I dabbled with X – 10 A number of years ago and have a CM – 11 a serial interface, (saw a post saying these were "gold" someplace - doubtr it as it seems flaky working with a USB to serial converter).  Supposedly this has memory and could store my macros/timers so that there would be no need of having a computer running constantly.  However, I have played with this and find that the performance is "unpredictable".  Consequently I ordered the CM – 15 K USB interface after trying to find or purchase the CM 15 A with no success.  The CM – 19 a seems to send commands reliably but I believe that it has no memory and consequently I must have a constantly running computer in order to execute my hourly timers.  Is this correct?

Q4 – I have a half dozen or so transceivers – primarily 751 with one or 2 501's.  I believe I heard an X 10 representative say that you can't have "too many transceivers".  It would seem that one transceiver would be enough control any number of devices.  Should each room have a transceiver?  Does a chain of transceivers serve to strengthen the signal at the end of the run?  I guess I need to have a better understanding of how the network actually works.

Dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice-recognition software.  If something seems goofy – blame the Dragon.
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Brian H

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Re: NOOB questions - Dimmer switches, Repeating Timers
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2012, 04:20:26 PM »

Q1. You remove to original switches and use X10 replacements. The load you are controlling makes a difference with 2 wire X10 dimmers. Only incandescent bulbs work correctly. CFLs, LEDs and low voltage lights to name a few do not work correctly.

Q3 The CM11A maybe called golden over the CM15K that is a CM19A with a TM751. It is a poor fit over the CM15A USB interface that is rumored to be re released in early October.
CM15A has a Power Line Transmitter and Receiver, RF Transmitter and Receiver and memory to store programs and simple macros. Computer can be Off for them to run
The CM19A is strictly RF and no storage for timers and simple macros. Computer has to be On with AHP running.

Link to some added data on AHP and its plugins.
http://kbase.x10.com/wiki/Home_Automation
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alexcomp

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Re: NOOB questions - Dimmer switches, Repeating Timers
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2012, 05:42:27 PM »

Thanks for the informative input on Q1 and Q3.  Still hoping to learn why I might want multiple transceivers in my network.  I just installed my fish pond pump control and it seems to work well.  Did it with an SR227 instead of AM466.  Guess I'll create a bunch of timers although it still seems like the capability to say "turn on every hour for ten minutes" should be doable in some way less tedious than multiple timers.
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Brian H

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Re: NOOB questions - Dimmer switches, Repeating Timers
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2012, 06:11:58 PM »

Multiple TM751's. Can be used to add different House Codes to a system as each one does one House Code.

Some here with mixed results. Use a few on the same House Code in different parts of a home for better coverage, but if two receive the same command. It is possible they can garbage each others power lines commands. As they have no power line receivers and don't know another signal is on the power line. Impolite is what they are called.

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