💬General Category > Announcements

ALL NEW SR751 RF SMART REPEATER!

(1/4) > >>

Walt2:
ALL NEW SR751 RF SMART REPEATER!

The "older" RF Smart Repeaters looked like a mini-controller.   This "all new" RF Smart Repeater looks like a large module.

The "older" RF Smart Repeaters were actually two different designs.   Of course, X10 didn't change the part number.   One could tell the difference by the house code used in test mode.   Rev 1 of the design used house code "A".   Rev 2 of the design used house code "M".

This "all new" RF Smart Repeater uses house code "M" too.   Does that mean it is really new (Rev 3)?   Or is it simply a repackaged Rev 2?

The difference between the "older" RF Smart Repeaters is that one rev used a daisy chain configuration if you needed more than one to cover an even larger area, and the other rev used a star configuration.   Honestly, I forget which is which anymore.

Does this "all new" RF Smart Repeater use a daisy chain or a star configuration?

Also, while the "older" RF Smart Repeaters worked with the CM11A and the CM14A, they never seemed to work quite right with the CM15A.    Does this "all new" RF Smart Repeater fix that (thought I really assume the fix would be needed in the CM15A, not in the Smart Repeater)?

Thanks!

Brian H:
The new SR751 has just been released.
I am not sure anyone has them to test yet.
I know Tuicemen has reported having two being shipped to him. I would imagine a full test will be done and reported on.
http://tuicemen.com/forum/index.php?topic=774.0

I see the sales page has a manual link on it. I downloaded it to see how it is used.

Tuicemen:
The manual doesn't give a whole lot of info. B:(
The new repeater was developed from a older unit the new owners discovered in a box of old X10 devices.
I'm not sure which Rev was found but it sounds like Rev 2.
Improvements were made I'm told in the operational range (maybe a stronger receiver and or transmitter)
Once I have my units I'll post my findings.
 >!

Walt2:
I downloaded the manual too, before posting here, and found it pretty brief.   It certainly didn't answer any of my questions, other than the test mode used house code "M" like the old Rev 2 units.

It been a long, long, time since I actually played with these, and that was with testing with M.C..

If you look at any of the Smart Repeaters, they get set an unique ID of A, B, C, or D.   These aren't house codes.  When it repeats an RF signal, it appends its ID to it.

The daisy chain ones will repeat any RF signal, even one from another Repeater.   When it repeats an RF signal from another Repeater, it replaces the ID with its own.   Basically, an RF signal can get passed from the originating Remote, to a Repeater, to another Repeater, etc, until it finally gets passed onto the Receiver.

The star configuration ones will repeat only a "virgin" RF signal from a remote.  It ignores any RF signal from another Repeater.   In this configuration, the Receiver is suppose to be in the center, and the Repeaters spread around it.   Possibly, given there is a max of four Repeaters, one can be placed 50+ feet north of the Receiver, one south, one east, and one west.

The CM14A and the various X10 Transceivers seem to be able to correctly handle these RF signals with the Repeater ID appended into them (I think by ignoring duplicates-by-repeat).   The CM15A doesn't seem to do as well.  That's why I am wondering if such was fixed, though it sounds like "no".

dhouston:
This goes back several years so my memory is rather faint and any documentation I have is probably on a long retired Windows 3.1 PC's HDD but I recall that both Dan Lanciani and Edward Cheung documented and discussed the repeated RF codes both on their websites and on Usenet's comp.home.automation newsgroup. Archive searches might turn up something. Here's a sample...

* http://compgroups.net/comp.home.automation/x10-rf-repeaters-psx01-and-sr731-and-coa/452435
That said, they never worked well, merely adding unnecessary complication to the fundamental problem without any hope of actually solving it. The fact that this is the first new hardware released by the new X-10 is a clear sign that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page