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[radium02]

Hey all,

I just became the proud owner of 3 SS13A's (controller) and 3 RR501's (transreceiver).  I want to control three separate lights relatively close to each other within two rooms.  I am spreading the remotes out so that they can turn the lights on and off from anywhere in the home.  However, I'm not sure how to do this.  Maybe I'm a little confused after reading the instructions over and over again.  I only see two unit codes on my RR501's (1 or 9).  I thought I could set the remotes and TR's all on housecode A and have unit codes 1, 2, 3 to control the three TRs.  All the remotes would be "clones" of each other.

Is there anyway to achieve this?

Thanks for the help in advance!

[dave w]

You might be a little confused how X10 works and may have purchased more RR501's than you need.

Doing what you describe only needs one RR501, the three "clone" SS13s and two or three Lamp Modules. The three SS13 clones will send radio signals to the single RR501 transceiver which converts the RF signal to Power Line Carrier (PLC) and then puts the PLC signal on the homes power lines which sends the signal all over your home (sometimes this does not work as well as expected because of "Phase Coupling" issues...however lets talk about that later).

Now you plug your lamp(s) into a Lamp Module(s) and the Lamp Module receives the SS13 signal, as transceived by the RR501. Three Lamp Modules with unit codes of 1, 2, and 3 would respond to the three ON-OFF switches of any of the "clone" SS13s with the fourth switch on the SS13 controlling light brightness level.

The single outlet on the RR501 can only be set to  Unit 1, or Unit 9, and the RR501 can not dim, it can provide only OFF-ON function to the device plugged in to it. In this respect the RR501 acts as an Appliance Module which can only be set to Unit 1 or 9.

The primary function of the RR501 is to convert the radio signal from "Slimline" wireless switches, motion detectors, or the hand held  "Palm Pad", "Keychain", and "Credit Card"  remote controls to a PLC signal for distribution over the homes power line.

[radium02]

Well I just want to have control of three lights from all of the remote controls and I want to put the remote controls in a different room.  Hence in my bedroom, I can control the light in the living room and hall way and the bedroom itself.  In the living room, I can do the same with the second controller and so on.

It looks like I need transceivers that are able to have 3 unit codes? Am I correct?  If so, which one would I buy?

[Dan Lawrence]

Well I just want to have control of three lights from all of the remote controls and I want to put the remote controls in a different room.  Hence in my bedroom, I can control the light in the living room and hall way and the bedroom itself.  In the living room, I can do the same with the second controller and so on.

It looks like I need transceivers that are able to have 3 unit codes? Am I correct?  If so, which one would I buy?

X10 does not make a transceiver that has 3 unit codes.  The TM751 has no such selection and the RR501 can be on any one of the 16 housecodes, but only two unit selections, one and nine.

[radium02]

But the remote only works with one housecode at a time.  ie, i can't have housecode A on the first button and housecode B on the second, right?

Simply, I want to control the same three lights from the three remotes that I have.  These three lights are in different rooms and so I assume each of the lights needs some kind of plug in thing so that it can be controlled.

Would three of these work? (AM486)
http://www.x10.com/automation/x10_am486.htm

I appreciate your efforts in helping me figure this out.  Thanks so much.

[Dan Lawrence]

The easiest way is 3 RR501s, each on its own housecode, one in each room controlling a module, lamp or appliance.

[Brian H]

You can have more than one remote on the same House Code.
Each House Code can access 16 Unit codes. So you can have one lamp on lets say B1. All three remotes if they are on the House Code B will control those lamps if the unit code of 1 is set.
So technically you can control 16 unique unit code with the same House Code and one transceiver. Transceiver's limits are TM751 is Unit 1 only and can not be controlled by a power line signal from another power line controller. The RR501 has units 1 and 9 and a power line receiver so they can also be controlled by a power line controller.

Also if two modules are on the same address Unit and House Code both should follow the same commands. Both on or off at the same command.

[radium02]

Hmm, looks like I'm not doing a very good job explaining my issue. 

Here's a new question:  How can I set the three buttons on my slimline controller to different housecodes.  IE:

BUTTON 1 - > A1
BUTTON 2 - > B2
BUTTON 3 - > C3

[x10dude]

hey Radium,

Like you, I just jumped on this X10 stuff (little more than a month ago.) I must admit that it all sounded cool. The ads on the site really make you want to buy it all, don't they? 

Unfortunately, things are not as simple as they seem. X10 does a good job at selling hype. With the little understanding that I've gathered so far, I'd say that you will need some "intermediate" mechanism to do what you're trying to do.

Here are the reasons why:

* all remote controls work on only one housecode, but can control more than one unit (device) w/in that housecode
* the transceivers you have also only work with one housecode, but as you know, with two unit codes (either 1 or 9, but not both at the same time)

In short, with the stuff you have now, you can only do a 1-1 match. In other words, you can control lamp A1 (or A9) on transceiver A with remote A. You can control lamp B1 (or B9) on transceiver B with remote B and so on.

Note that it may be possible to turn on/off all 3 lights on all the transceivers with one button, but I know that's not what you want to do.

To get what you want to do, you'd need something to "bridge" them all together. For example, if you had the alarm console (PS561), it would act as the bridge to glue them all together. In that case, you'd be able to use one remote to control up to as many lamps as there are buttons. At that point though, you wouldn't need the transceivers. You'd need a lamp module (or wall switch, appliance module, etc.) for each lamp you'd like to control around the house.

Another option is to have Active Home Pro, which is X10's software that acts as the "control center" for all home automation. You'd also need the CM15A usb two-way transceiver to go with that and more..

I know, I know. It's more than you cared to know, but I hope this helps explain your questions.

caveat: I'm also a newbie on X10, so if I missed something, I'm sure someone will correct me.

BIG NOTE: lamp modules do not work with CFL  (compact fluorescent lamps) or non-dimmable hallogen lamps in case you decide to go that route.
Frank

[Jsnlong]

Hmm, looks like I'm not doing a very good job explaining my issue. 

Here's a new question:  How can I set the three buttons on my slimline controller to different housecodes.  IE:

BUTTON 1 - > A1
BUTTON 2 - > B2
BUTTON 3 - > C3

You cant set up the slimline to do that. It has to be the same house code and the buttons have to be in order 1,2,3


So set the lamps to a1, a2, a3 and then set the RR to house code A.  and if the Buttons don't work try plugging the second RR in another outlet at the same house code... Your house has 2 phases so not all outlets will get the signal from one RR unless you have a phasecoupler....... but adding the second RR to a outlet on the other phase should help you with that problem also. It Will also help you with the range of the slimline controller.


You can control 12 units codes off of one Housecode. A1-A16 and yo Can have more then one lamp module with the same unit code..They will just come on and off at the same times.

[Brian H]

Isn't A1-A16 16 unit codes? 14 if you don't want to use Unit 1 and 9 that the RR501 uses.

[BVD]

Hmm, looks like I'm not doing a very good job explaining my issue. 

Here's a new question:  How can I set the three buttons on my slimline controller to different housecodes.  IE:

BUTTON 1 - > A1
BUTTON 2 - > B2
BUTTON 3 - > C3

Radium02,

Let's take this one step at a time and let each step sink in before proceeding to the next step.

1. You have 3 SS13A Slim Line Switches. Each of those switches may be set to any ONE of 16 House Codes A-P, with the default being A. To assure it is A remove the CR305 battery from all 3 of these units, leave them out for a couple of minutes, and then put the batteries back into the switches. That will reset them to the default House Code of A.

2. Each of those switches may have it's top switch set to any ONEof 13 Unit Codes 1-13. The center switch is automatically set to top switch house code +1, and the bottom switch is automatically set to top switch house code +2. By performing the reset in step 1 on all three switches the top switch is House Code 1, the center switches is House Code 2 (1+1=2), and the bottom switches are set to House Code 3 (1+2=3).

3. Set the House Code switch on all three RR501's to A and the slide switch to 1. Plug the RR501's into the receptacles you plan to use. Plug a lamp into each of these RR501's (3 lamps total). Press the top ON button on one of the SS13A's. If you are lucky all three lamps will light. Now Press the top OFF button and assure the lamps go off. Now try the same thing with the other two SS13A's. You should get the same results as with the first. Don't be concerned if all lights don't come ON.

4. From your favorite X10 supplier purchase 2 LM465 Lamp Modules (if you want dimming capabilities 3 amp incandescent only) or 2 AM486 Appliance Modules (if you don't want dimming capabilities 15 amp any type bulb)

5. When received set the House Code on both modules to A. Set the Unit Code on one of them to 2 and the other one to 3. Unplug the lamp connected to which ever RR501 you would like to control with the center switch on your SS13A's, plug in the module set to A2 close to the RR501 and plug the lamp into that module.
Test to make sure the lamp turns ON and OFF from the center switch on all three SS13A's. Now unplug the lamp connected to which ever RR501 you would like to control with the bottom switch on your SS13A's, plug in the module set to A3 close to the RR501 and plug the lamp into that module. Test to make sure the lamp turns ON and OFF with the bottom switch on all three SS13A's.

6. By doing it this way some folks might say you are wasting RR501's but since you have them you might as well use them. You also will not have to think about phase issues as the SS13A's will be sending RF signals which will be picked up by all three 501's and put on the power line close to them and the module they are going to control.

I hope this clears up any questions you might have had. Good Luck!!

Bob