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[snydley100]

Has anyone tried one of these to replace an X10 TM751 transceiver? I have 2 TM751s in my system, both set to housecode A, one in my house and one in my barn approx. 30 feet away, to control devices in both places. THEY ARE VERY UNRELIABLE! Today I removed the TM751 from the barn, and now all of my X10 stuff in the house works great, but I can't access the lights on the side of the house from the barn because my barn remotes won't "reach" all the way to the house to the TM751 there.
I think the solution to my dilemma is a "whole house" transceiver and while searching the forum, and the web I came across the EZX10RF from 
http://simplehomenet.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9357342313 . I was hoping someone else has tried one here and would comment on how well it works, before I go and spend some MORE $$$ and have it possibly not work out for me. 
I like the idea that I can plug it into an outlet instead of me crawling into the attic, (just a crawlspace accessible only from a hole in the ceiling of a closet), and wiring a circuit to the attic to power a V572A whole house transceiver.
Today I also installed a Homepro Signal Bridge, http://www.smarthome.com/4815AC/X10-Signal-Bridge-HomePro-CP000/p.aspx , and now I've got things working on the other phase of my house wiring.
If anyone has any comments, or advice on the EZX10RF transceiver, the V572A system, which would be better, or whole house transceivers in general I'd sure appreciate any tip you might have!!!
Thanks,
Snyde

[Brian H]

Don't confuse All House Code Tranceiver for Whole House Coverage.

Both the EZX10RF and the V572 are All House Code modules. That transceive all 16 House Codes and Unit Codes. Basically they act like 16 TM751s or RR501s each on a different House Code.

If you connect an EZX10RF or V572 to the same outlet as the TM751 was in. It will probably be about the same coverage as the TM751 was doing.
Putting a TM751; RR501; V572 or EZX10RF in a higher place may give you added remote coverage. Also a V572 in the house; with just the antenna mounted in the attic may give you much better coverage. There is another active thread here on using a V572 with an antenna in the attic. I believe they where going to use a Radio Shack antenna to get even better coverage over the stock one in the V572 kit.

One reason the TM751s you had maybe flaky. They are not polite. So in some locations both may have been receiving the remote and scrambling the power line signals. RR501s are polite and may have worked better. The V572 and EZX10RF may also be polite but I am not 100% on that. Others may have added data for you.

I have an early firmware EZX10RF as I have a mixed X10 and Insteon system. It may have had a slightly better range than the older TM751s, but they messed up the X10 All Units Off command and it was sent on the power line as a All Lights Off. This may have been corrected in later firmware as I brought the glitch to their attention.

V572 when I had one in use in the attic. Was better than my CM15A with antenna mod.; RR501; older TM751 or EZX10RF in the Living Room.

Using a V572 in the house with the antenna in the attic maybe the best way to go in your situation.

[snydley100]

Don't confuse All House Code Tranceiver for Whole House Coverage.

Both the EZX10RF and the V572 are All House Code modules. That transceive all 16 House Codes and Unit Codes. Basically they act like 16 TM751s or RR501s each on a different House Code.

If you connect an EZX10RF or V572 to the same outlet as the TM751 was in. It will probably be about the same coverage as the TM751 was doing.
Putting a TM751; RR501; V572 or EZX10RF in a higher place may give you added remote coverage. Also a V572 in the house; with just the antenna mounted in the attic may give you much better coverage. There is another active thread here on using a V572 with an antenna in the attic. I believe they where going to use a Radio Shack antenna to get even better coverage over the stock one in the V572 kit.

One reason the TM751s you had maybe flaky. They are not polite. So in some locations both may have been receiving the remote and scrambling the power line signals. RR501s are polite and may have worked better. The V572 and EZX10RF may also be polite but I am not 100% on that. Others may have added data for you.

I have an early firmware EZX10RF as I have a mixed X10 and Insteon system. It may have had a slightly better range than the older TM751s, but they messed up the X10 All Units Off command and it was sent on the power line as a All Lights Off. This may have been corrected in later firmware as I brought the glitch to their attention.

V572 when I had one in use in the attic. Was better than my CM15A with antenna mod.; RR501; older TM751 or EZX10RF in the Living Room.

Using a V572 in the house with the antenna in the attic maybe the best way to go in your situation.

Are you saying I might be able to use 2 RR501s both set on housecode A and have things work ok? This would be an easy way out for me if possible. Putting one RR501 in the house and one in the barn will give me the RF "coverage" I need too, as long as I can put both of them on housecode A.
Thanks for the help,
Snyde

[everydayflyer]

I have 2 TM751s in my system, both set to housecode A, one in my house and one in my barn approx. 30 feet away, to control devices in both places. THEY ARE VERY UNRELIABLE! Today I removed the TM751 from the barn, and now all of my X10 stuff in the house works great, but I can't access the lights on the side of the house from the barn because my barn remotes won't "reach" all the way to the house to the TM751 there.

As Brian poited out two TM751s on the same setting are not going to play well together. As to range I have a TM751 in my shop along with two Appliance  Modules and two Eagle Eyes to automate the Shop lighting and I have no problem controlling the lighting, manual mode with a Palm Pad HR12A form the house 100 feet away..

Does your barn happen to be metal? I had a Door / Window Sensor in an aluminum out building which was 70 feet away and after trying a passive antenna and several other tricks gave up and moved the Sensor to my shop and ran 40 foot leads to the storage building's door switch and it works like a charm.

[snydley100]

I have 2 TM751s in my system, both set to housecode A, one in my house and one in my barn approx. 30 feet away, to control devices in both places. THEY ARE VERY UNRELIABLE! Today I removed the TM751 from the barn, and now all of my X10 stuff in the house works great, but I can't access the lights on the side of the house from the barn because my barn remotes won't "reach" all the way to the house to the TM751 there.

As Brian poited out two TM751s on the same setting are not going to play well together. As to range I have a TM751 in my shop along with two Appliance  Modules and two Eagle Eyes to automate the Shop lighting and I have no problem controlling the lighting, manual mode with a Palm Pad HR12A form the house 100 feet away..

Does your barn happen to be metal? I had a Door / Window Sensor in an aluminum out building which was 70 feet away and after trying a passive antenna and several other tricks gave up and moved the Sensor to my shop and ran 40 foot leads to the storage building's door switch and it works like a charm.

My barn is wood, BUT it has a metal roof and both floors are insulated with metal coated foam insulation board. That's part of the reason why I tried 2 TM571s, one to receive the signal from remotes in the barn, and one for the house, the RF doesn't have to go through metal that way. They don't get along though. I think my next step is to try 2 RR501s. If they "get along" ok that should solve my problem. I'm having trouble finding them on X10's site though, did they discontinue them or something? Do they make anything better than a TM571 for a transceiver? The X10 site leave a lot to be desired as far as webdesign goes. Stuff is hard to find, and it's "laid out" like it was built by Jr. High school kids. Just my $.02
Snyde

[Brian H]

You probably will not find the RR501s on the X10 site. As I believe they don't offer it anymore.

Try a Goggle search for RR501. I found screens of results.

[Charles Sullivan]

I have 2 TM751s in my system, both set to housecode A, one in my house and one in my barn approx. 30 feet away, to control devices in both places. THEY ARE VERY UNRELIABLE! Today I removed the TM751 from the barn, and now all of my X10 stuff in the house works great, but I can't access the lights on the side of the house from the barn because my barn remotes won't "reach" all the way to the house to the TM751 there.

As Brian poited out two TM751s on the same setting are not going to play well together. As to range I have a TM751 in my shop along with two Appliance  Modules and two Eagle Eyes to automate the Shop lighting and I have no problem controlling the lighting, manual mode with a Palm Pad HR12A form the house 100 feet away..

Does your barn happen to be metal? I had a Door / Window Sensor in an aluminum out building which was 70 feet away and after trying a passive antenna and several other tricks gave up and moved the Sensor to my shop and ran 40 foot leads to the storage building's door switch and it works like a charm.

My barn is wood, BUT it has a metal roof and both floors are insulated with metal coated foam insulation board. That's part of the reason why I tried 2 TM571s, one to receive the signal from remotes in the barn, and one for the house, the RF doesn't have to go through metal that way. They don't get along though. I think my next step is to try 2 RR501s. If they "get along" ok that should solve my problem. I'm having trouble finding them on X10's site though, did they discontinue them or something? Do they make anything better than a TM571 for a transceiver? The X10 site leave a lot to be desired as far as webdesign goes. Stuff is hard to find, and it's "laid out" like it was built by Jr. High school kids. Just my $.02
Snyde

There are authorized X10 resellers on eBay who are likely to have the RR501 in stock and at a better price than X10's online retail piece price.
E.g.,
 http://cgi.ebay.com/X-10-RR501-2-Way-Super-Transceiver-Module-BRAND-NEW-X10-/160431556564?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255a7747d4

[Brian H]

I agree with Charles.
My search found some dealers with great prices.

Also the X10Pro PAT01 is their part number that X10 calls the RR501.

[Charles Sullivan]

BTW, I would avoid purchasing X10 items on eBay or elsewhere from other than authorized X10 resellers.  A lot of the stuff I acquired from surplus dealers or "liquidators" in the past was defective in some way, either non-working or intermittent.  My suspicion is that X-10 has no qualms about selling pallet-loads of defective or customer returns to surplus dealers. 

[JeffVolp]

I would avoid purchasing X10 items on eBay or elsewhere from other than authorized X10 resellers.  A lot of the stuff I acquired from surplus dealers or "liquidators" in the past was defective in some way, either non-working or intermittent.  My suspicion is that X-10 has no qualms about selling pallet-loads of defective or customer returns to surplus dealers. 

There are several dealers on eBay who offer excellent prices on new X10 equipment.  I have purchased a lot of stuff from them, and it has all been fine.  I know one is an eBay storefront for a well-respected automation distributor.

Jeff

[snydley100]

I would avoid purchasing X10 items on eBay or elsewhere from other than authorized X10 resellers.  A lot of the stuff I acquired from surplus dealers or "liquidators" in the past was defective in some way, either non-working or intermittent.  My suspicion is that X-10 has no qualms about selling pallet-loads of defective or customer returns to surplus dealers. 

There are several dealers on eBay who offer excellent prices on new X10 equipment.  I have purchased a lot of stuff from them, and it has all been fine.  I know one is an eBay storefront for a well-respected automation distributor.

Jeff

I ordered 2 RR501s from a reseller on eBay last night, the price was MUCH cheaper too. Hopefully I purchased them from a respected dealer. For the price, less than $10. a piece NEW, I couldn't go wrong. I'll post back how things worked out when I get them.
Thanks for all the help from everyone! This is a great site with LOTS of great info.!!
Snyde

[pconroy]

good luck - I use 2 RR501's on the same house code and don't have any problems.

well, my software sees duplicates from the CM11A, but that's another story...

[snydley100]

Don't confuse All House Code Transceiver for Whole House Coverage.

Both the EZX10RF and the V572 are All House Code modules. That transceive all 16 House Codes and Unit Codes. Basically they act like 16 TM751s or RR501s each on a different House Code.

What is the difference? I'm looking to get better RF range for my X10 remotes.
What can I get for that?
I've ordered 2 RR501s, one to put in my barn, (It has a metal roof and is insulated with metal coated insulation board),and one for the house. If this gives me the coverage I need I'm all set, if not I'll be looking for something else.
I have a WS467 connected to my front porch light, a AM466 connected to an inside light, and 2 KR19A keychain remotes.. I want to be able to get out of my car in my driveway, in front of my pole barn, 30' away, turn the porch and interior lights on and be able to see to get inside the house at night. I also want to be able to turn the interior light on/off from the bedroom on the far side of the house. I also have an exterior security light, on the house, I want to be able to turn it on from inside the barn so we can see to walk to/from the house, or to the cars.
Thanks,
Rick

[Brian H]

An All House Code Tranceiver can process all sixteen House Codes. The TM751 and RR501 can process one House Code.
Using an All House Code Tranceiver in a poor reception area will be no better than a single House Code in the same area.
Your symptoms; in the first post; sounded more like the TM751s where stepping on each other; than a distance problem. The RR501s are polite so this maybe the cure you need. One to cover each part of the installation.

You can test RF reception from varied areas; with a little leg work or a partner to watch the Tranceiver Modules Outlet. Sending an On and Off by remote to the Transceiver's Address should turn a light bulb in its controlled outlet on and off. TM751s only process RF remote signals. RR501 can be controlled by an RF remote signal or an X10 power line signal.

[JeffVolp]

What is the difference? I'm looking to get better RF range for my X10 remotes.

I have had good range with both the RR501 and TM751.  The RR501 may give you the range you want.  If not, you should consider the WGL V572A, which is an excellent transceiver.

Jeff