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[john]

I may be encountering a range or weak battery
situation, but I don't think so.  I'm having
difficulty locating my transceiver so that
the remote works for ALL devices.  Is it
possible to use multiple transceivers around
the house, all set to the same house code?
Would that cause interference, or would it
extend the range of my remote?

[Brian H]

Do you have a phase coupler. It is possible
that the tranceiver can't send the powerline
signals to the other phase of the home.
Rough test. If you have a 220 volt device
like a dryer or stove. Turn it on and see if
the problem gets better. It couled also be a
RF Range Problem. How far are you trying to
go. The smaller Tranceiver TM751 is not
polite so if two of them receive the same
signal they could both step on each other.
More than one maybe ok if thay are out of
each others range, hit or miss. Some here
report good luck with more than one. Is
there a controller like a AHP cm15a in the
mix?

[john t.]

John,

I installed a V572A all housecode transceiver
with a TW523A (to couple to power line)
because of poor RF range on CM15A.

One caveat. On V572A you can disable / enable
housecodes. You want to enable only those
housecodes/unit codes of your RF remote
devices. THEN, on CM15A, be sure to set those
housecodes to NOT transceive. That will avoid
interference problems.

Worked great for me. Range of V572A is excellent.

John T

[john]

The transceiver I have is a TM751.  I had
thought that the problem might be related to
the phase, but it does not seem to make a
difference which phase the transceiver is in.
I have a 220V hot tub, and I believe that
may be acting like a phase coupler.   Like
you, "Uncle Phil Kingery," in his articles
implies that 220v appliances may do that.
The distance to the transceiver may at times
be up to 60' with intervening walls.  The
weird thing is that sometimes it allows me to
activate SOME devices and not others, then if
I relocate the transceiver and use my remote
from another location, I get a different set
of successes.  But, it still seems to work
ACROSS the 2 phases.

John, you said,
"I installed a V572A all housecode transceiver
with a TW523A (to couple to power line)
because of poor RF range on CM15A"
Can you elaborate a little on these three
devices?  Thanks.

[john t.]

I'll sure try....

First, I need to make sure you understand
that the CM15A is both RF and Powerline. I
found the RF range to be unsatisfactory.
So, I installed the V572A (RF only
transceiver see below).

The V572A is, as stated, an RF only
transceiver. I'm actually only using it as
a receiver for my RF remote devices (motion
detectors, palm pad, slim switch, etc). I
have all those devices set on D, H & J
housecodes. So I have enabled only the D, H
& J housecodes on the V572A.

When the V572A gets a command via RF from a
remote, it has to get that command onto the
power line so the CM15A can see it and
figure out what to do. That's where the
TW532A comes in. There's an RJ11 serial
cable between the V572A and TW523A. The
V572A relays the command it receives via RF
to the TW523A over this serial link and the
TW523A puts that command out on the power
line.

The potential problem here is that both the
CM15A AND V572A might see a remote RF
signal and there could be some confusion
created when the CM15A sees it via RF AND
gets it from the TW523A on the power line.

You can set the CM15A to transceive only
certain housecodes (just like the V572A). I
made sure my CM15A was NOT set to
transceive on D, H and J. Hence, no
collision issues with signals coming in
from the V572A / TW523A.

So, I get the benefit of the better RF
performance and no interference.

Excuse me....I elaborate too much. Anyway,
that's what the V572A and TW523A do....and
quite well.

John

[john]

Thanks, John.  You must have an impressive
setup.  First, the silly question:  I have a
CM15A. I bought it in the bundle of X10
cameras I got several years ago.  We had used
the system in our store (and caught a thief
in the act).  At the present time I'm not
using it.  But the V572A and TW523A -- I've
done a search on the X10 and the Home
Automation websites for those model numbers
with no success.  Where do I get them?

Now for the less silly question (I hope):
Why do you use 3 housecodes?  Is there any
reason to not have everything on the same
house code, providing there are enough device
codes?  I may eventually run out and have to
use a second house code, and at that time
would a second TM751 work without
interference with the other?  (Although if I
set it up like you suggest, I won't need it.
Just curious.)

[john t.]

The V572A and TW523 (same as PSC05) I
bought at SmartHome.

Here's why 3 house codes. H is reserved for
Motion Detectors. I have four of them
implemented on H1, H3, H5 and H7. Unless
you disable it, the detector will also act
as a dark/light sensor on the unit code
above its main address, i.e. H2, H4, H6,
and H8.

My palm pad uses Housecode D and all
sixteen unit codes.

I needed three additional codes for my slim
wall switch device, so I arbitrarily picked
J. On that device, you set the house code,
then you set the unit code of the first of
the three switches and, but default (no
control over this) the second and third
switches use the next two unit codes. So, I
picket J14 for first switch and next two
use J15 and J16.

I am not at all familiar with the TM5751.
The V572A is an all house code transceiver
on which you can disable or enable any
housecode and unit range 1-8 and 9-16.

Re: my setup. I just wish I had read all
the forums before purchasing anything. I
was attracted to the X10 CM15A because of
the Software Development Kit. It is fine,
except for the RF range performance.

To me, my most valued application is a
motion detector that senses a car entering
(or leaving) our garage. If it is after
sunset, it turns on the outside lites, the
garage fluorescent lights and the entry
hall lights in the house and leaves them on
for six minutes. It's nice to pull in after
dark and have the lights come on.

However, my wife is still laughing at me.

John

[Tom F]

John,
Have you tried locating the transceiver in
the attic of your home ? Perhaps a location
above all the floor area would work better
than the horizontal coverage you are getting
now. I have a TM751 and it is located in the
ceiling of my garage in the outlet next to
my garage door opener. It's up about 8 ft.
off the ground and seems to work fine. I
have a 3000 sqft house and it's all the way
to one side.

[john t.]

Hi Tom,

My V572A is located in an upstairs bedroom
sort of central in the house. It's actually
lying on the floor and the antenna is jury
rigged so it is vertical. RF wise, it works
pretty well from most anywhere in the house.

John

[john]

Tom, That's a good idea.  All locations would
have at most two barriers to go through,
namely the floors, instead of a varying
number of walls.  I'm also dealing with a
"bus-side" problem, I think, so I'll also
want to get a coupler.  Sometimes a remote or
slimline WILL NOT work for a particular unit
until I once activate or deactivate it from
the wall switch.  That sometimes fools me
into thinking it is an issue of range.