just purchased x-10 home...help??

[camelot]

So, i recently purchased a home that's equipped with the X-10 system, however, the former owner has no idea how it works! The lights and heat work off the system...i have a few remotes, but nothing is labeled. Where do I start?

[Brian H]

Welcome to the world of X10 Automation and to the forums.

Do the Lights go on and off at certain times by themselves?
Do the Lights go on and off when you enter or leave a room?
Do any outside lights go on and off with motion in the yard or at dusk and dawn?
The remotes can they turn the heat and accessories on and off? Along with some lights.
Are there any modules with antennas plugged in to the wall outlets?
Are any of the lights or appliances plugged in to modules connected to the walls?

Any module you can find in an outlet should have a model number sticker on it. Post those numbera as well as the model numbers on the remotes.
Any numbers you can find will help in finding out whet you have.

From your description you house may have a central controller. Maybe an ELK or similar system. Anything in a wiring closet or mounted on the wall? Maybe a keypad or touch screen?

[eagle]

As Brian has asked already, you have to give a description of the system with as much detail as you can to enable members and experts to help you.  Try to describe what behaviors (lights/sounds) you've observed; devices you know of and think that are part of the system, etc. 

Go to these pages: 

http://www.x10.com/home_automation/index.html

http://www.x10.com/products/ 

There are links and descriptions for x10 devices there.  See if you have any of those devices in your house.

Let us know what you've got and folks here can better help you.

r,
eagle

[camelot]

Brian,
  Yes, lights do go on and off by themselves at times. And the heat is controlled by the remotes, however, at this point, i'm only able to turn it on or off...i cant seem to regulate it. There are a couple modules with antennas and I recently purchased a maxi-controller. Each room has a 4-button keypad. There are 4 PCS LM4 lighting modules and 1 LM1 lighting modules. I'm able to get most of the lights on and off with the maxi, but the heated floors and furnaces(electric) are still a mystery as I have none of the house or unit codes. I'm wondering if there's some sort of (easy)computer program that I could hook up to this system to figure out what controls what. I'm at my wits end!
                                                                                  Mike

[Brian H]

PCS? You mean Powerline Control Systems?
If this is the manufacturer of your system. It is not X10 it is UPB [Universal Powerline Buss] and is 100% different from X10.

They do make a UPB to X10 interface. By chance is there a PCS PW513 or XPW713 module somewhere in your setup? They allow a UPB system to also control X10 modules.

The LM1 and LM4 are UPB type from what I see on their web site.

Here is a link to the PCS UPB Documentation.
http://pulseworx.com/Downloads_.htm

You may want to go to a more generic automation site like the Cocoontech forums.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/

[JeffVolp]

PCS? You mean Powerline Control Systems?
If this is the manufacturer of your system. It is not X10 it is UPB [Universal Powerline Buss] and is 100% different from X10.

Actually, PCS was one of the manufacturers of high-end X10 equipment until they discontinued that product line some time ago.  I found references that the LM4 may indeed be a X10 compatible module.

Jeff

[Brian H]

Good to know Jeff.
All I ever saw was the present UPB stuff.

So my previous post, about UPB, may not apply. If your modules where the high end X10 compatible style.

[camelot]

Ok, so what should I do now?

[camelot]

This is a very high end, one of a kind home, so i'm not surprised. The former owner had to leave on 'less than good terms' and I got a great deal on the home. As a result, NO information was left on how to run any of this. Local electricians are very reluctant to mess with it, and I cannot afford to fly in a representative to re-program my house.javascript:void(0);

[Brian H]

Can you find any automatic controller, computer on 24/7 or maybe a touchscreen that may control the system?

[dave w]

Ok, so what should I do now?

If you checked the X10 links you see in general how X10 works. The PCS stuff is high end but uses the same "House Codes - Unit Codes"
Start investigating at your end, because we can't at ours.
Are the remotes all X10?

Since you have lights coming on and off with out your action (and I am excluding obvious light triggered by motion detectors) it may have a computer running the show somewhere. If a computer isn't obvious, look for an interface hidden somewhere. Could be X10, or Smarthome (small white plastic box), or something larger attached to a wall,  usually in garage, basement, or utility room i.e.  Oscelot, JDS, etc. Thes examples can be programmed by a computer and then run atonomously.

As for the floors and furnace, you are talking high power so there has to be some X10, PCS, Smarthome modules controlling power to these units. Have you located anything like that?

As far as a computer program. The X10 home automation interface CM15A and AHP software will monitor the powerline in the home and tell you all the X10 codes on the powerline and the time the code was sent. You may be able to use that to tell you what X10 codes are controlling what lights, fans, furnace, floor, etc. But it will be a laborious project. When something changes state you will have to check the Activity Log to see what the code sent was.

[dave w]

Sorry Brian I just stepped on you again. I think we are both going down same road. Camalot just needs to do some investigating.

[Brian H]

No problem as you added things like the names of common controllers that I did not have in my message.

camelot. You may also want to see if you can identify the thermostats controlling the heat. Some could be interfaced with the controllers dave w mentioned.

[camelot]

Yes, i just purchased a maxi-controller...there was already a mini-controller(a-p, 1-16). In some of the outlets are Radio Shack plug n power...powerhouse powerline interface...and powerhouse tranceiver module. In the control room, in addition to the black PCS boxes, is a circuit board labeled Home Base Pro. I found another device near an outlet(not plugged in) labeled Lantronix  UDS-10. On it is a port for cat 5...the other side has a port/adaptor with a Null Modem port.

I hope you all can understand my layman's way of describing these devices, i've never worked with this equipment before. I would love to just have an assigned code for each device.

Also, there are no thermostats in the house! As stated earlier, i use the mini and maxi controller to either turn on or off the heat so it's either very cold or very warm. There are however, these 'mystery boxes' in two of the rooms that look like they could be thermostats, only there are no switches, sliders or temp settings on them. It's just a 2" by 3" tan plastic box with circuits/wiring inside.

Is this ANY help? LOL

[dave w]

Home Base Pro is the controller. It had both direct wired and X10 PLC capabilities. It is old, I can not find information on it which may indicate they are out of business. I can not remember the company that made Home Base...maybe HAI? and I think it used HAL for software. HAL was an early voice recognition controller software which is still around.

There should be a  RS232 serial connector on the board for computer hook up (may be USB but as I recall was an old serial connection).  The "Powerhouse Powerline Interface" is the interface that couples HBP to the powerline for X10 control. There is a "traffic" LED on the powerline interface, does it flash when you push a button on a remote? Any LEDs on the HBP board lit up? If the Home Base Pro is still operational it will have all the X10 modules HCUC in the database. Also it COULD be controlling your HVAC and it will likely be hard wired to thermometer(s) in the home. Hopefully somewhere there should be a CD of the HAL software because it is fairly expensive to purchase.

HBP may be controlling your furnace by direct wire to the furnace thermostat terminals. Otherwise you might have a X10 Universal Module near the furnace controlling it, but X10 signal has always had reliability issues so HVAC control was usually a hard wired portion of the system. Does the Home Base Pro board have a bunch of wires (likely twisted pair, thermostat wire, telephone wire, or Cat 5) going to it? Those wires (depending on number,  could be for security, HVAC, phone line interface, etc.

Hope this helps some, you have your work cut out.