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[roger1818]

Roger818:  I think you misread my post.  Your calculation appears to be based on a 220 ohm resistor.  My post specified a 220K (220,000) ohm resistor which would be about 0.065 watts.

Ooops.  You are right.  I am not sure that enough signal would travel through a 220K resistor to help, but I guess it would be worth a try.

[Oldtimer]

Per the preceding posts I just tested using a resistor in parallel with a CFL to bypass problems caused by the CFL interacting with the X10 local control current. But, as roger1818 and I both postulated 220K ohms was not able to do enough load shifting to bypass local control. 

I found that the highest standard value resistor that would bypass local control is 22K (22,000) ohms. I used an AM486 appliance module and a 1 watt resistor.   Neither a CFL or incandescent lamp would trigger the  module on from off if I unscrewed them and then screwed them back into the socket.  By the way, without the resistor, my particular CFL, in the module off position, did not trigger the module on by itself or flicker.

The extra load from this resistor works out to 0.65 watts, not bad if that's what you need to solve your problem.  I had an ammeter in the circuit while I was testing and the "off" drain by the module was in the order of 0.09 amperes with or without the resistor in the circuit, although theoretically the resistor should draw on the order of 0.01 amperes.  Looks like this will work and not cost you as much as theory would suggest, just be careful when you try it out.

P.S. (Later today) If I were doing it I'd put the resistor across the wiring to the socket for the lamp or across the socket itself, but after the lamp switch.  This should eliminate the "CFL triggering local control problem" but still allow you to use the lamp switch to turn on the lamp by local control when you want to.

P.P.S. (As of August, 2007) When I started using this in my X10 system I discovered that a 1/2 watt resistor didn't get very warm to the touch in this application, however if you're concerned about this use 1 watt to be sure as long as you have the space for them.
(As of July, 2008) Several friends have pointed out the Radio Shack doesn't sell 1 watt, 22k resistors and used two 47k 1/2 watt resistors in parallel instead. which they say works fine.  By the way if you're using the resistor on a fluorescent fixture instead of a CFL you may have to add one or more additional resistors in parallel which will still give you less wasted draw than a 4 watt night light.

P.P.P.S.  (As of December, 2007) Click here for detailed resistor installation instructions.