"Room On" button

[Knightrider]

I've been playing and discovered a potential problem.  I mounted an old tablet on the wall of the bedroom by the door for use with the WM100 app since I no longer can get a decent KeyPadLink with X10. Have the tablet set to autodim, so I don't think the WAF will be too far off.

I then sorted all the bedroom modules accordingly and added the hallway light and bathroom light and will leave the tablet set to ROOM>Bedroom.

I just noticed the ROOM ON button turns on everything in the room.  What good can this be?  Sometimes in the spring and sometimes in the fall, I place a box fan in the window controlled by an appliance module. ROOM ON turns it on. 

I think the ROOM ON button needs changed to LIGHTS ON. I can live with ALL UNITS OFF.

This could turn bad.  I use X10 on things like a shaving cream heater, electric heaters, attic fans, etc.

Some of these I would want control over, and would prefer to sort into rooms, but not turn on with the accidental press of a button.

For now, I'm reporting this as a design error/bug.

There's simply no reason to have a button that turns everything in the room on.

Any thoughts?

[JeffVolp]

There is no X10 command for "All Units ON".  The manual controller issued "All Lights ON" for "All ON".  The WM100 must be sending individual commands for the Room ON instead of the X10 All (Lights) ON command.

For anyone who has used a manual controller, that would certainly be considered a bug.

Jeff

[Brian H]

Do Appliance Modules also go On?

[Knightrider]

There is no X10 command for "All Units ON".  The manual controller issued "All Lights ON" for "All ON".  The WM100 must be sending individual commands for the Room ON instead of the X10 All (Lights) ON command.

For anyone who has used a manual controller, that would certainly be considered a bug.

Jeff

It is sending individual commands.

[Knightrider]

Do Appliance Modules also go On?

Yep.

[Brian H]

Thank you for the added information.
That makes sense if every module in a room was responding.

[Noam]

To play devil's advocate, if you're using an appliance module to control lights (not uncommon, especially for non-dimming lamps), then "All Lights On" won't work, either.
And if you have additional lamps in the room (on Lamp modules) that you *don't* want to come on, then "All Lights On" wouldn't be helpful there, either.

Scenes would be a better solution for turning on only selected units in a room.

[JeffVolp]

The simple solution is to just leave any appliance module powering a device that should be controlled individually out of the "Room".

Jeff

[Knightrider]

The simple solution is to just leave any appliance module powering a device that should be controlled individually out of the "Room".

Jeff

Yeah,  thought about that, but defeats my purpose. I also have non dimming togglelinks in my kitchen. For now, life would be much simpler to either have the buttons function as x10 always has since 1975, or to eliminate them.

If I can pull this off, I'll have tablets mounted to the wall in every room.

[HA Dave]

I am only using 2 or 3 lamp modules now-a-days as I am mostly using LEDs for lighting. So the lights only function wouldn't be to helpful for me.

I am new to the idea of "rooms" for lighting (don't ask me why). But I really do enjoy turning on large groups of lights... with a single voice command to Alexa. I've even created an "emergency" room, routine.... that pretty much lights up the house inside and out. It's helpful to remember that you don't need to use the names of "actual rooms".

[Tuicemen]

I've been holding off commenting on this trying to weigh the pros and cons.
I see the possible need for an Room on button but also the potential dangers.
I suspect we may see that removed in a future release.

[JeffVolp]

I see the possible need for an Room on button but also the potential dangers.
I suspect we may see that removed in a future release.

How about a check box for individual switches and modules to include them in the Room ON and Room OFF functions?

Jeff

[Tuicemen]

I see the possible need for an Room on button but also the potential dangers.
I suspect we may see that removed in a future release.

How about a check box for individual switches and modules to include them in the Room ON and Room OFF functions?

Jeff

I like that Idea, or perhaps when you set up the device it watches for if you set it up as a non dimmable light..

[x10wizard]

In response to Knightrider's post about KeyPadLincs no longer available with X10, that isn't the case according to Sean Migaud from Insteon.

Earlier this month I emailed Insteon tech support and asked about X10 support for the Dimmer Keypad 2334-222 and the Dimmer Switch 2477D.  At first, James from Insteon tech support told me that the Dimmer Keypads and Dimmer Switches are no longer X10 compatible.  But this is contrary to what it still says in the latest manual for the Keypad.  I wanted to get this straight, so I questioned Insteon tech support again, asking ... is the Keypad manual incorrect?

Sean (from Insteon tech support) replied: At this time we have not removed the X10 compatibility out of our devices but we have stopped advertising the X10 functionality. We do expect in the next year or so to completely remove this feature as supporting X10 is not a part of our future road map and we never intended to keep that functionality for the long haul. When the change happens we will make an announcement on the Insteon.com site and remove the X10 references in the manuals. We started giving out the message you received over a year ago to help mitigate the pain when we finally make that move….so it won’t be a surprise… but for now they are still compatible.

So if anyone out there has recently purchased a new Keypad, I would ask that they please report back with 1) what the Version Number and Date Code is on the Keypad, and 2) whether or not the Keypad is in fact X10 compatible.

[Tuicemen]

I forwarded the concerns with this Room On option to Authinx.
So I suspect an update will be made to the manual explaining the room on/off buttons in more detail and pointing out that Appliance modules also are controlled with these buttons.
I'm told the Room ON is working as intended by design.
It is impossible to know what the end user powers with a X10 module but they plan to add some warnings.