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[BeCool]

I live in an apartment where I run X10. I'm not willing yet to replace the entire system with Insteon or any other package yet because of cost. I have 2 questions.

1. My apartment had a thermostat before I moved in. It was disconnected and was replaced by some knob by the floor that has to be turned from 1 to 8 to obtain heat. I'm guessing that management didn't want heat to automatically turn on, as they pay for heat. The apartment has 2 AC Through the Wall units. One in the living room and one in the bedroom. The newer one in the living room has always been run on X10 via an HD243. Is there anyway to have this unit turn on automatically when it gets to 90 degrees?

2. My other problem is that it has recently become a bit difficult to turn on the living room AC (running on the HD243), requiring several tries by my X10 remote, but I am awaiting more HD243s in the mail this week and will see if simple replacement will solve the problem. I have noticed this problem with some lights in the house, as well. You turn on the 2 lights on either side of the desk (House Code A3) or the bed (House Code A2) and you may have one light turn on or off, unless you use the All Lights On or All Lights Off function. Any idea why this is happening?

This is a simple small apartment. I don't have a load of controllers going on here, but I don't know what has happened over time to cause this issue. BTW, sometimes using the Telephone Responder for some of my lights works better than the handheld remotes. Anyway, any suggestions or help would be much appreciated, as it is already baking in here.

[Brian H]

1 You could get a simple thermostat that has a cool setting to close the input pins of a PowerFlash module set to send the on code to the HD243 when the temperature is where you want it to go on.

2 Any changes to the apartment. Like new TV or cell phone charger? As it sounds like you have got power line noise or signal suckers. Since it is an apartment it could also be something in the building has changed. You may find the new HD243s will be about the same as the originals.
http://jvde.us/x10_troubleshooting.htm
http://forums.x10.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=fia4somvt646m1f9ar60hogk94&topic=7951.0

[BeCool]

Thank you so very much for your expedient help. I will look into all that you've suggested. And, yes, with as much technology that has been added by me, as well as by my neighbors likely, I expect that there could be several reasons why things aren't working like they used to. Cell phone chargers, wifi, printers. I'm just about certain that I was the only person here who knew about X10 when I first installed it many years ago and I wouldn't be surprised if I am still. Do you feel that some of the newer options like Insteon offer a better barrier to outside noise and interferences? Although I'm not willing to replace X10 just yet, I would still like to know. Don't worry about answering it, as I should be scouring the net about the differences myself. Also, I didn't think that a new HD243 would function any differently. I just worried that if the module went bad, I wouldn't be able to get anymore.

[Brandt]

You may need something on your breaker box that prevents signals from coming and going between your apt. and your neighbors.

[Brian H]

Oh I have spares of most ever type of module I use myself. 

[BeCool]

Pomprocker, I'm hesitant to start fiddling with the breaker box or do any time of hard wiring editing here. I am a tenant and not only do I not want to start toying with things that would piss off my landlord, but everything I have here, including my Nortel Venture phone system was purchased with the idea that I would have the ability to unplug and go if and when I decide to leave. The closest I have come to doing any hard wiring is swapping out some old outlets for newer ones when I suspected some electrical issues. I haven't even finished installing my 2-way wall switch for the staircase (or is it 3-way, as I can never remember). Heck, don't even know if that's part of my problem. I don't know if that is installed incorrectly, as the downstairs switch will not turn the light on. I've got the instructions somewhere here, so I'll figure it out.

[Brandt]

Well you're playing blindly in the dark unless you get an X10 signal meter.. I recommend the XTBM