X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Topic started by: jarett on January 25, 2006, 04:41:43 AM
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Hi,
So every house I have been in thus far and
tried my X10 gear in has had the same
problem: when you put control gear on one
circuit breaker and modules on another, the
modules can't hear the control gear. This
has been true for both standalone tranceiver
modules and the CM-15A Activehome Pro.
What's going on here? I know that noise
filtering kills X10 signals, but why on earth
would there be noise filters between EACH
CIRCUIT BREAKER in my house and in every
other house I've tried to set my gear up in?
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Most homes are split phase and the X10
signals have to get to the other phase. More
than a noise filter for noisy items. A phase
coupler or coupler repeater is almsot needed
in every installation.
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What's a phase coupler? The repeater you
linked probably wouldn't help because I am
trying to allow my CM-15A and CM-11 to
control devices throughout my house on
multiple different circuits.
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Coulpler is a device connected in the main
breaker box across a set of 220 breakers.
Couples the signals from one phase to the
other. A repeater is connected the same way
except it sends the signals on the other
phase at full voltage. The coupler sends
back the voltage level it is at the box.
Like if the cm15a is 6VPP and at the breaker
box is 1VPP. The 1VPP is coupled back to the
other phase. A repeater sends the signal
back on the other phase at 6VPP. They also
make both couplers and repeaters that plug
into an electric dryer or range outlet. If
you don't want to mess in the breaker box.
If you have a electric dryer or stove. try
it ON and then a troubled module. If it
workes better then a phae coupler or
repeater may help.
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Okay. What if there is no 220V power in my
house?
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OH. You don't have any 220 Volt Outlets?
There should be 220 volts in your main
breaker box but you probably don't want to
mess in there. Unless you have a rare power
feed of 3 phase 208 Volts in a 'Y'
configuration. I did see that once in my
life in a condo complex.
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IANAE. (I am not an electrician) :) What
realistic options do I have here?
Ideally there would be some kind of
tranceiver device that took all X10 signals
from a given line, broadcast them over the
air using a NON-X10 protocol so as not to
cause interference, and then received them
and rebroadcast over the powerlines on the
other end. Unless there is some way to
connect the two phases together without
causing Bad Things to happen.
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"Okay. What if there is no 220V power in
my house?"
Unless you live in a Coleman tent, you
probably still have 220V at your breaker
box, and two phase ("split phase", "dual
phase", etc) power distribution in your home.
Even in small homes bennifit from a "phase
coupler" making X10 more reliable. As Brian
explained a "repeater" is even better since
it amplifies the X10 signal on both phase,
not just passively coupling it.
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are there some specific URLS you can give for what I would need to get the X10 signal to be broadcast to all outlets in the house? I dont know where to find a repeater.
Thanks
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They also make both couplers and repeaters that plug into an electric dryer or range outlet. If you don't want to mess in the breaker box. If you have a electric dryer or stove. try it ON and then a troubled module. If it workes better then a phae coupler or repeater may help.
I definately do not want to mess with the breaker box. Do you know of any place that sells these couplers and repeaters? And can they be plugged into the same outlet?
OK I admit it, Im an electrical nitwit. I know plenty about computers...just not electricity :) I never studied it. But I definately would like to be able to use X10 on any outlet in the house, and just *have it work* without any big headaches. It sounds like if I had a coupler and repeater, that would solve all problems. So I am hopeful. I just need to know where to purchase them.
Thanks
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X10 makes a good repeater but it must be wired in to breaker box. Go to Smarthome.com and search for "repeater". Smarthome has a repeater that plugs in to a dryer outlet. If you do not have a dryer outlet then you are back to a wired repeater tied to two breakers in your distribution panel. Not a whole lot of options.