X10 Community Forum

🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Troubleshooting Automation Problems => Topic started by: jamesjr on December 29, 2010, 11:21:34 PM

Title: 4 way wire length
Post by: jamesjr on December 29, 2010, 11:21:34 PM

www.x10pro.com/pro/pdf/3-4way.pdf   

After reading the above instructions from a link in an older post i see that the maximum total wire length for the 4 way switch combo is 80ft.....anyone had any luck going longer than this? I was hoping to install one master PLW02 and three slaves PCW03 in the exterior light circuit on my shop and one of the slaves is in my house garage 125 ft away...plus the shop is 55 ft long......is this a lost cause? Maybe i can cut out the switch in the house.....and just use an x10 signal?

Thoughts?


Thanks

James
 

Title: Re: 4 way wire length
Post by: Brian H on December 30, 2010, 06:07:58 AM

I have never seen this 80 foot restriction until you found it.
The companion switches just send a trigger signal back to the master and it is a very low current.
The 80 foot restriction says travelers parallel to each other. Which would be typical wires in an outer covering.
My educated guess is the wires in parallel act like a small capacitor and the signals can be coupled back to each other and false trigger things.

I hope someone here has used a longer distance and posts results.

Title: Re: 4 way wire length
Post by: jamesjr on December 30, 2010, 09:08:40 AM

I will give it a whirl....i read a long post on some help for another fellow with the wiring and i think i understand how it all works...so that will be my new years weekend project....

once again Brian, thanks.

Title: Re: 4 way wire length
Post by: jamesjr on January 03, 2011, 02:05:49 PM

Update - All wired up and working. The companion switch in the house is about 125ft from the shop and the master switch and all is working well.

James

Title: Re: 4 way wire length
Post by: Brian H on January 03, 2011, 03:16:15 PM

Thank you for the update.