From: Joey F. <joe...@gm...> - 2005-12-29 16:04:03
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So, how reliable has X10 been for you guys? I have only run X10 a little, but am gonna step it up a bit in the near future. I will be ordering an arsenal of modules here soon. I have had good luck with the lone module I used long term in the past, but I hear talk of issues from you guys. Is X10 unreliable? What are the more reliable of the X10 products? Does it follow the general rule that the more expensive of them are the most reliable? Wha= t are some things to look out for when setting up an X10 system? Just as a point of reference, I am using a few modules in very close vicinity to each other, same circuit: CM17 Firecracker, TM751 Transceiver Module, LM14A Lamp Module, lots of AM466 appliance modules. What problems d= o you guys foresee, or can you help me avoid when shopping for X10 products? Joey |
From: Tim S. <tp...@ma...> - 2005-12-29 16:59:40
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On Thu, December 29, 2005 11:04, Joey French said: > So, how reliable has X10 been for you guys? I have only run X10 a little, > but am gonna step it up a bit in the near future. I will be ordering an > arsenal of modules here soon. I have had good luck with the lone module I > used long term in the past, but I hear talk of issues from you guys. Is > X10 > unreliable? What are the more reliable of the X10 products? Does it follow > the general rule that the more expensive of them are the most reliable? > What > are some things to look out for when setting up an X10 system? > > Just as a point of reference, I am using a few modules in very close > vicinity to each other, same circuit: CM17 Firecracker, TM751 Transceiver > Module, LM14A Lamp Module, lots of AM466 appliance modules. What problems > do > you guys foresee, or can you help me avoid when shopping for X10 products? I've been running x10 for years. Like 10 years. X10 started off good, went way down in quality and reliability, and is making a come-back. However, some of the non-x10 x10 products are better than the x10 ones. The real x10 wall switches are absolute junk, IMO. Go for the leviton ones. The appliance modules, buy the 3 prong. The 2 prong seem to die after about a year. I have an old 3 prong that is about 8 years old and still going. The lamp modules wear out (start getting unreliable, and simply stop one day) after about 2 years of heavy use. My current setup is a CM11a controller on a serial port, a W800RF32 hanging on a usb-> serial dongle, about 12 appliance modules, 6 switchs, 5 lamp modules, 6 assorted motion detectors, 5 door/window sensors, a SIgnalinc 3 wire phase coupler, a few of the inline modules for the spotlights on the house and garage, and a boosterlinc at the opposite end of the house from the cm11a. This has proven to be fairly reliable for the last year or so, after I installed the booster, and got rid of my Dell laptop. As the real x10 modules die, I'm thinking about replacing them with the stuff from Smarthome, or Insteon stuff. All around, I'm happy with the reliability at the moment. It just takes a bit of work to get it to that point. Tim |
From: Joey F. <joe...@gm...> - 2005-12-29 17:22:08
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Yes, I have no appliance modules that are not 3 prong (except the outlet that comes with the transceiver module), nor do I plan on purchasing any non-grounded. |
From: Joel D. <jr...@io...> - 2005-12-29 19:59:05
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On Thu, 29 Dec 2005, it would appear that Joey French wrote: > So, how reliable has X10 been for you guys? I have only run X10 a little, > but am gonna step it up a bit in the near future. I will be ordering an > arsenal of modules here soon. I have had good luck with the lone module I > used long term in the past, but I hear talk of issues from you guys. Is X10 > unreliable? What are the more reliable of the X10 products? Does it follow > the general rule that the more expensive of them are the most reliable? What > are some things to look out for when setting up an X10 system? > > Just as a point of reference, I am using a few modules in very close > vicinity to each other, same circuit: CM17 Firecracker, TM751 Transceiver > Module, LM14A Lamp Module, lots of AM466 appliance modules. What problems do > you guys foresee, or can you help me avoid when shopping for X10 products? > > Joey I've been using X10 for about 16 years, with really no major problems at all in that time. I've lost a couple of modules due to lightning strikes over the years, but never the whole setup. I'm currently using about 10 Leviton decora wall switches, 3 or 4 X10 lamp modules, a few X10 appliance modules (mostly grounded, but a couple of 2 wire), a couple of mini controllers and one of those fancy smarthome programmable controllers. I have a quad outlet box in the garage where I have my mh pc, cm11 and a fridge plugged in, though I have a Leviton filter wired into the box between the 2 duplex outlets, with the fridge and pc plugged into the isolated outlet. I also have a homemade inductor/capacitor coupler in a dryer outlet about 10 feet away from the cm11. The only reliability issues I have are if I leave a plug strip turned on that has a rarely used pc on it, as the power supply in the pc seems to be a major x10 signal sucker. One of these days I'll get a filter for it, but since I don't use the pc much it's not really an issue. Overall, I've been very happy with x10. I agree with others that the stuff manufactured by X10 has generally sucked in the past, though the newer stuff seems to be fairly well made. The decora switches from Leviton are really nice, though when you pry off the paddle to set the house and unit codes you'll see that mechanically they're similar to the X10 wall switches. Not sure if they're made on the same factory line or not, though the Levitons do seem to have a lower failure rate. They're definitely easier for non-tech people to use, as they look more like a real light switch. In my experience, most, if not all x10 reliability problems can be solved with some patience and advice from those who have gone before you. It's time consuming and frustrating, but it can be made to work well, though it might cost a bit if you have a big house. I don't think I'd want to use it on anything that my life depended on, as it's open loop and does occasionally miss a command, but for lights and fans I think it's great. I use an rs-232 based thermostat controlled by mh, and I think if I was going to have mh monitor a fishtank or other environment with expensive pets I'd use hardwired or at least closed loop sensors and controls so the system knows that commands have been received and acted upon. Hope this helps some. Joel -- Joel Davidson Austin, TX |
From: Mark T. <ma...@th...> - 2005-12-29 18:19:07
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Joey French wrote: > So, how reliable has X10 been for you guys? I have only run X10 a > little, but am gonna step it up a bit in the near future. I will be > ordering an arsenal of modules here soon. I have had good luck with > the lone module I used long term in the past, but I hear talk of > issues from you guys. Is X10 unreliable? What are the more reliable of > the X10 products? Does it follow the general rule that the more > expensive of them are the most reliable? What are some things to look > out for when setting up an X10 system? I've been using X-10 for years, and have my entire house controlled by X-10 (i.e. ALL switches except for garbage disposal). I have gotten to the point where my house (about 3500 sq ft) has been about 100% reliable for around two years now. For this kind of reliability I have invested in high-quality infrastructure products: an ACT CR-230 coupler/repeater and liberal placement of 5A and 15A filters. One thing I have learned is not to buy X10-the-brand. All my switches are either SwitchLinc or PCS. Recent SwitchLinc switches are very reliable but over the years I have had a few break in one way or another. The PCS switches are rock-solid, and I've never had a problem with them. That being said, I have sold my house and in my new one I will likely be using UPB and/or Insteon. - Mark. |