Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ginger75]

Installing my new security system today, but before I get started, how far can the wireless XCam2 cameras be from the receiver? I'll also be installing an Eagle Eye Motion Sensor... how far can the sensor be from the transceiver? 

[hawk1]

This really depends on the individuals surroundings.  If and I do mean If you have a clean line of sight or nothing to interfere with radio frequency then you could get 100' or better.  Most users do not have the perfect surrounding and have trouble with range of cameras and motion sensors.

Most users have to mod their cm15 or other transceiver antenna to get any range at all with the motion sensors.  Or purchase another receiver like the v572 from wgldesigns.

On the other hand a lot of users don't have any problems at all getting the 100' as advertised.   The best thing to do is test one out and if it doesn't meet your range requirements ask the forum members for help on a work around or solution for you.  Hope this gives you a little insight on your questions, but it really is kinda hard to determine what range you will get.   

[dave w]

Installing my new security system today, but before I get started, how far can the wireless XCam2 cameras be from the receiver? I'll also be installing an Eagle Eye Motion Sensor... how far can the sensor be from the transceiver? 

Murphey's Law on X10: 10 feet less than what you want.

hawk is right, it is impossible to predict. For example how many walls between the camera and video receiver. How many walls between the motin sensor and the tranceiver? Brick, wood, metal? Etc. etc. etc. Root through the threads, a number of users indicate the distances they are NOT getting, which may help.

[Brian H]

Also if there are any 2.4Hz devices like cordless phones or networks can interfere with camera signals.

Receiving antenna is directional so cameras on the back side of it will be effected.

Only one camera can be on at a time and are controlled by a power line signal. So it has to get to all the addressable power supplies.
They use the same House Code and Unit codes in groups of four. 1-4,5-8,9-12 and 13-16. Turn one on the other three go off.

Did you get anything more than the cameras, transceiver and motion sensor?

Most of the Motion sensors have a dusk dawn feature. That send an on at dusk and an off at dawn using the next X10 address above the motion sensors address. Like a motion sensor on C1 would use C2 for dusk dawn.

[hawk1]

I can tell you this, I purchased a v572 and modded one of my motion sensors with a "blow dart" antenna and I can reach about or around 150'.  Not a spokesman or affiliated with the product in any way.  Just got tired of fighting the range problems.

[ginger75]

Got delayed but finally got around to installing everything. I'm majorly disappointed. I can't use the cameras because if they are on, my wireless network stops working. The motion sensor works fine if the transceiver is no more than 6 feet from it, which doesn't fit my needs. I was just trying to cover my driveway because my vehicles keep getting broken into every few weeks. Police know who it is, but can't seem to do anything about it without a confession or catching them with something they stole. So my plan was to record them and have their face on video. The motion sensor was to alert me when they entered the drive way. But you can dance in front of it and it won't set off the chime. There's nothing between the motion sensor and the transceiver but air, and they are only about 30 feet apart. 

[hawk1]

Ginger75, you might want to try a passive antenna on the motion sensor (9 1/2 inch piece of coat hanger or other solid wire)  Attach with tape to the left side of the motion sensor.  You can also try this with the cm15 tranceiver if you have it.  I don't know if you can do this trick with the cm19 though.  This might give you the range you want.

Your wireless router should be able to change channels, try a different channel and see if the cameras work. Or, you can change the channel on the cameras and the camera video receiver.  The little rubber plug on the front of the camera is the switch to change frequencies.  Just pull the little rubber plug and then you can see the switch.  The switch on the receiver is on the bottom, has letter codes on it (A,B,C,D)  make sure the letter code is set the same for the cameras and the receiver.  Hope this helps.   

[Smokin Paul]

Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz channels
http://tinyurl.com/yhqvjrc

X10 channels
Channel A: 2.411 GHz
Channel B: 2.434 GHz
Channel C: 2.453 GHz
Channel D: 2.473 GHz

X10 Channel A is approximately Wi-Fi channel 1
X10 Channel B is between Wi-Fi channel 5 and 6
X10 Channel C is approximately Wi-Fi channel 9
X10 Channel D is approximately Wi-Fi channel 13

Each Wi-Fi channel is 22 MHz wide but spaced only 5 MHz apart.
The rule of thumb in Wi-Fi is to have 5 channels (or more) of spacing between each WiFi network in order to avoid interference.

I assume you were having trouble on the default X10 channel A so try switching to channel D. Your router should be able to find a clear channel automaticlly however if you know how to change the Wi-Fi channel your router uses you could change it to one farther away from the X10 channel your using.

Hope this helps