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[navarre]

I spend well over 8 hours trying to hook up a multiple wireless camera system at my mom's (2 XC18A and 5 BW xcam2) and could only get all of them them to work within 7' from the PC. This home has a very open layout (no wifi internet) and the PC is right on top of the stairs on the loft. Even when I put just two cameras and a transceiver at the bottom of the steps (about 25' away from PC, no walls) one camera would override the other and no switching would occur. (yes I spent some time on phone with support too and that wasn't very helpful) If this already is a challenge I don't have any faith whatsoever in monitoring 3 separate rooms.
I decided to pack it all up and ask for an RMA number and ship this box of frustration back and just forget about it. The lady on the phone said that the 920Mhz cameras are about to come out and that those are much better and would work for sure and they would exchange the current ones for the new ones free of charge.
When I came home I unpacked the x10 stuff I had lying around since 2006 or something and was able to switch of a light using AHP on my pc but when I programed the timer for this same light it didn't work.....seriously?!
I am usually very determined when it comes to solving PC problems (used to be a system admin) but when I started reading other people's stories here about random functionality of timers and my own experience with the camera system I am very hesitant to accept the 920Mhz camera switch offer. In addition to this there is a power consumption monitoring system that operates on 900Mhz and I wonder if that will cause interference.

So I guess my question is; will this 920Mhz system be a great improvement of range and performance or should I just accept that x10 is not more than a fun collection of toys you should not depend on?

[dave w]

Since no one has them yet, your guess is as good as ours. Flip a coin.

[Noam]

... When I came home I unpacked the x10 stuff I had lying around since 2006 or something and was able to switch of a light using AHP on my pc but when I programed the timer for this same light it didn't work.....seriously?!

Your lamp modules are likely the older "non-SoftStart" ones (since you said they were from 2006). Unfortunately, when they changed the module design around 2008, they kept the same model numbers. However, the new ones don't work exactly the same way as the old ones.

What version of AHP did you try using?
Version 3.314 is the latest - you can get is here: http://www.x10.com/support/support_soft1.htm (The "check for updates" function hasn't worked for several years - download and install the update manually)
Starting with version 3.302, X10 changed the default behavior for "Lamp" modules, to use the Extended Dim commands supported by the newer SoftStart modules.

Try changing the "Type of Module" to "Old Lamps - No SoftStart", and then selecting the specific module you have.
That should get the timers working.

[navarre]

Thanks for the reply Noam, was using v3.3.1.3 and just changed setting to old lamp module with no success. Will try update to newest version and see if that makes a difference.
My main concern is this camera system though.
From what I understand the transceivers are responsible for turning the wireless cameras on and off in a multi-camera system. If this doesn't work in the current setup, exchanging the cameras for 920Mhz ones is not going to make a difference since the transceivers are the issue and not the cameras, correct?

[Brian H]

Yes the addressable power supplies are power line controlled. So if the power line commands don't get to the power supplies, they will not switch. When powered up they default to on. So powering up all of them. Will have all cameras on until switched off.
They all have to be set to the same House Code and Unit Codes in groups of four. 1-4,5-8,9-12 and 13-16. Turn one in the group on the other three go off.

With more than four cameras in use. You need the remote {CR13A} that can do larger groups of cameras or the software has to handle the extra commands. If you go out of one group to another group. An extra Off to the presently sending camera is needeed to turn it off or it will step on the camera turned on in another group.