House has 2 electric "Mains"

[romeyn]

Hello,

I am taking my first foray into the world of X10.  So far I am loving it!  I have a problem, however, in that my house's electric system was wired oddly.  Most modern service panels have a single "Main" breaker that kills the rest of the house.  Everything "inside" that Main is connected.

My house has a rather old "Pushmatic" system.  I have a single breaker box, but there are TWO "Mains" at the top of the panel: one on either side.  Simply put, my house has two "sides", and early experimentation with X10 reveals that modules on one side can't be controlled from a transmitter plugged in on the other side.   

Is there any way I can "bridge" the two electrical sides of my home so that I can control anything, anywhere?

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Most modern houses are wired with 2 phases.  The single main breaker kills both at once (it's really like two breakers tied together).

Is it possible you have this same wiring but just with two separate breakers, each killing one phase?

If so, a search on "phase" should help you out.

[lodtrack]

Regardless of the main switch configuration, any device requiring 220 volts will be connected to opposite legs. The two "hots" on these circuits can be bridged with a device to couple X10 the signals. The "device" can range fro a simple rated capacitor ( for a buck) to coupling modules for many bucks...either way, phase coupling is key to getting off to good start with X10.

[romeyn]

Most modern houses are wired with 2 phases.  The single main breaker kills both at once (it's really like two breakers tied together).

Is it possible you have this same wiring but just with two separate breakers, each killing one phase?

If so, a search on "phase" should help you out.

I don't think this is the case.  When I turn off one of the Mains, all of the breakers under it on its side of the breaker box go dead.  The ones on the other side are still live.  And vice-versa.  Or maybe I don't really know what I'm talking about.  I'll read up on phase-related posts as you suggest.

An X10-using friend suggests I can buy the basic plug-in Transceiver module and plug it into the "B" side with my ActiveHome Pro module plugged into the "A" side.  I thought the AHP only sent module controls out over the electrical wires, but he says it can send them over the air too.  So if the "B" transceiver is set to B1, I could set up a Macro that would tell the AHP to send B1 the command to turn on B3, for example.  My reading suggests that the AHP does NOT work like this, however...

Thoughts?

[romeyn]

OK...I just did a ton of reading on split-phase power and now understand what's going on!

Methinks a phase coupler is in my future.  I'm going to try a plug-in kind because my dryer is located right next to my panel.

[dave w]

Methinks a phase coupler is in my future.  I'm going to try a plug-in kind because my dryer is located right next to my panel.

Get the active repeater model, not the passive coupler model. The repeater model because it boosts the signal on both phases, will give you a higher degree of noise immunity. The passive coupler actually reduces the X10 signal as it couples to the other phase.