X10 Community Forum
💬General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dave4720 on May 07, 2010, 01:34:16 PM
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Space heaters, spa pumps, garage doors, coffee pots … how much risk do you take such that if an X10 glitch occurs, it could have dangerous or disastrous consequences?
Me? I'm non-critical only.
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non-critical as well here.
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Having designed fault-tolerant high reliability systems for military and aerospace applications, even at reliability approaching 100%, I don't think X10 alone is appropriate for applications where a single missed command could have disastrous consequences.
I did use my beta CM11A for years to turn on my coffee pot at work before I came in. It worked flawlessly. The only problems were a few nasty notes from securtiy guards when I had forgotten to unplug it on the Friday before a Monday holiday.
Jeff
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noncritical.
My system is like 99.99% relable but maybe one or two times a month. I have one module that misses a command.
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I keep x10 on a very short leash.
It's well behaved in it's current job scope.
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Before I X10 anything I have two questions:
What happens if it doesn't turn ON?
What happens if it doesn' turn OFF?
So I don't control sump pumps with X10 and only have careful control of space heaters and coffee maker.
Also when we are not home, multiple times a day, the home control system, sends OFF commands to everything that should be OFF.
In the old BSR days I would come from work home, after a Florida lightning storm, and find every X10 module in the house ON. All fans, lights, stereo, etc was very ON. It was a common problem. X10 is a lot better than it was about turning on after power restoration, but every once in a while after a power outage where the power comes back slowly or flickers, I still have things come ON. I'm still paranoid.
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Also when we are not home, multiple times a day, the home control system, sends OFF commands to everything that should be OFF.
Yep! I have a "Day Reset" and a "Night Reset" that resets "normal" every hour for peripheral items, not including room lights that I may be using at the time.
And ALL my outside motion sensor lighting is on relay wall switches, so during a storm, when everything is going off like crazy, I can turn the whole bunch OFF, and turn back ON when things have calmed. And if I’m not home and the system glitches, the "Day Reset" or the "Night Reset" will catch it within the next hour.
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Space heaters, spa pumps, garage doors, coffee pots … how much risk.... I'm non-critical only.
I am not sure. But I think with the exception of fire risk... I use X10 where its performance is critical. I like to say I use the Reagan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan) method: trust.. but verify. I trust myself to remember to close the garage door... but I use X10 to monitor the door and verify that the garage door is closed. And remind me if I forget. I know others assign X10 the duty to close a garage door left open.
I trust the local police to keep the neighborhood safe. But I use X10 to provide perimeter security for my home. Motion sensors monitor and verify the lack of activity around my home and record video and even issue a Voice Warning announcement outside (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkAwQ4KXkHA) if a tresspasser is detected.
I use a DS7000 system to monitor the security of the house. I trust the DS7000 to perform flawlessly. And if away for an extended period I will look at my cell phone to verify if the alarm had called... or not.
When I leave early in the morning or return home after dark... I trust my floodlight sensors will have detected darkness and turned some lights on. I also expect the floodlights themselves to see me... and provide me with more light.
I think... these are examples of critical risk.
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Since I X10'ed the furnace in 2007, it has failed to come on twice, and failed an off command once. I now have a failsafe to shut it off in the event of over heating, and can live with a chilly house in the event of an on command failure.
Not saying it's right for everyone, but my system is fairly reliable.
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I've had X10 since the late 1980's, started with a CP290 and DOS software. Windows software came in the early 1990's for it. Replaced the the 290 for a CM11A and Windows software about 1996 (the 290 went in the spare X10 box until one of the posters here needed one) and the CM11A went away in July 2005 when the PC got upgraded to Window XP and the motherboard was one that XP gave serial ports fits, so the CM15A and AHP came into use.
I have modules still in use that were bought for the 290 so long ago, still happily running.