I need an out of the house remote

I meant to say that I already see

I guess that is ws467 , for

13 dollars. That would be fine if but it doesn't say what the wattage is.

But this one need to work from 50 or maybe 100 feet away, which is a greater distance than withing most homes??

No solidstate dimmer light switch is going to handle 800 watts and fit in a regular 2.5" deep switch box.

Install an X10 switch and change 3/4 of the lamps to CFL lamps. You will have to leave some of them to make the X10 switch module operate correctly. The CFL lamps will be very dim in cold winter months for the first few mintes but the incandescent ones can be interspersed between them for instant full brightness.

A wireless receiver with antenna could be placed in the closest recepticle to the entrance the control is desired from on arrival. More than 50' may be pushing it for stock X10 remote control distance.

Motion detectors on each or set of lights would be more practical. If none of them are on then nobody is lurking or moved in the last 5 minutes.

A friend has a 4 or probably 8 floodlights on a wall switch inside his house about 3 feet from the front wall.

I would like to replace the wall switch with some sort of X10 wall switch, that will handle 8 floodlights, 800 watts maybe. There is no need for dimming.

And I would like to control the switch from something in his wife's car. All the remotes I see seem to be meant for inside the house. It can be the size of a car alarm fob, or it can be bigger. She would like to turn on the lights when she is still on the street, before she drives up the driveway, where she has the best view of possibly burglars. So she needs a range of 50 or 100 feet, depending on what it is when I measure it.

What would you recommend? For each half of the "system".

Any chance an X10 switch with dip switches could be adjusted for a car fob of unknown brand that has no dipswtiches. They have four of those, from my earlier attempts to make this happen. :)

If not, a remote cheap enough to buy one for each car would be good. They might be short of money now.

Model numbers would be greatly appreciated, if you know them.

Thanks for replying. I don't want to dim them. Just on and off. I can go to a bigger box if necesary. I'm doing all this as a favor to them, but that wouldn't be much extra work. But not in order to get a dimmer, which I have no use for.

Do they make CFL floot lights?

These things will only be on about 5 minutes a day, (unless they have a party or something), to help her come in when it's dark and to not trip on anything. She sometimes has a hard time walking.

The antenna would be a good thing, absolutely. Then how do we get from the receiver to the on-off switch? I don't have experience with this stuff.

Not in this case. It's complicated to explain. The primary goal is for the lights to go on when she turns them on from within the car.

How about....

X10 pro 20amp relay wall switch ($32.95 US):

and trasceiver to control the wall switch ($24.95 US): ...Paul

Not trying to be a shill for any store, but you can get the same stuff here for well under half the smarthome price:

Lots of other places will give you a better deal too. Point is shop around before you buy.

This unit may work but you will need a neutral to wire to or it won't function.

A loud "clack" will be usually heard when it switches on and off..

X10 pro 20amp relay wall switch ($32.95 US):

and trasceiver to control the wall switch ($24.95 US): ...Paul

Another possibility is to change all the flood lights to CFL and just leave them on when she goes out.

The motion detector could be a wireless unit on the porche or wherever the motion neds to be detected. Several of them operating the same wall unit.

X10 has transceievers that have an antenna and can wirelessly talk to remotes and wired in units. It translates X10 wired codes to X10 wireless codes and back. X10 wired talks over your house wiring to other units.

This could also give her inside the hosue control over the lights and/or timed event turn on and off for security peace of mind.

The wireless distance would be a problem for X10 wireless FOBs unless somebody has another mfg that boosts better.

Thanks for replying. I don't want to dim them. Just on and off. I can go to a bigger box if necesary. I'm doing all this as a favor to them, but that wouldn't be much extra work. But not in order to get a dimmer, which I have no use for.

Yes I have one of those X10 relay wall switches operating my garage area lighting and it does make a significant "thunk" sound when switching. Similar to any other X10 appliance relay, but at wall-switch level so perhaps more noticeable.

If the X10 wall switch and wireless transceiver + keyfob approach was used one can later add an X10 motion sensor (MS16A) to the setup. I have an X10 motion sensor in my garage area and it has controlled those lights reliably for years.

The ws467 is rated at 600 watts. Can you divide the light circuit and use 2 ws467's with 1/2 the lights on each? They can both be set to the same house&unit code and all the lights will go on/off together. Another option is to only use 50watt bulbs instead of 100w ones.

A Wireless Transceiver TM751 and a key fob KR10A-SC may work at 50' but probably not at 100'. My HR12A transmitter has better range but is larger. Putting the 751 as close to the driveway as possible will help.

Art

I tried several of the outdoor and indoor X10 motion detectors and they are never reliable outside.

When it gets cold they screw up and don't work 50% of the time. Yes I have tried about 10 different units.

Out of about 15 units I have only 3 or 4 actually work decently 98% of the time. They are junk for critical apps.

Yes I have one of those X10 relay wall switches operating my garage area lighting and it does make a significant "thunk" sound when switching. Similar to any other X10 appliance relay, but at wall-switch level so perhaps more noticeable.

If the X10 wall switch and wireless transceiver + keyfob approach was used one can later add an X10 motion sensor (MS16A) to the setup. I have an X10 motion sensor in my garage area and it has controlled those lights reliably for years.

The X10 appliance switches that others have mentioned (best to get from Ebay as suggested) work well.

To get the distance you need from the RF remote, see:

I have used the V572 RF Whole House Transceiver for about 8 years now, and it works great. I can control things from the keyfob remotes from well beyond what the typical X10 receiver covers.

Hope that helps.

I don't see any self-contained transcievers from these guys. They do not show any setup sketches to clarify.

Is a computer required for all their devices or am I reading this incorrectly?

To get the distance you need from the RF remote, see:

I have used the V572 RF Whole House Transceiver for about 8 years now, and it works great. I can control things from the keyfob remotes from well beyond what the typical X10 receiver covers.

Hope that helps.

>

Yes I too junked all my X10 RF receivers for the WGLdesigns V572A years ago. What a world of difference. I have the V572A's antenna up near the peak of my attic.

The X10 motion sensor I spoke about is inside my garage (it is an "indoors" model -- I don't know the difference between indoors/outdoor models). I have not seen a problem with the motion sensor during extremes of temperature. But I live in Southern California and cold here means 50 degrees F.

Also all my X10 RF broadcast to the WGLdesigns V572A which I believe greatly contributes to reliability (both RF reception and powerline transmission of command). In fact I use RF palmpads many places now I used to use wired X10 mini-controllers.

Only problem with the WGLdesigns V572A is it's not cheap.

The V572 ties into an XTBII, TW523, PSC05 or Powerlinc power line interface module (the TW523 is an X10 product). YOu only use a PC initlaly to tell the v572 what house and unit codes you want it to receive, and then you don't use a PC with it... just the TW523 and the V572 together. The V572 has its own antenna that you can put away from the equipment. .. I have mine mounted in the rafters about 10feet from the V572.

Jeff

I use the V572A with a PSC05.

The V572A comes with all house and unit codes enabled -- which is what I wanted -- so I never needed to hook it to a PC.

Yes, the need for the neutral wire is probably going to be a problem. I postponed replying in order to look at his house again first, but that's been put off until later today, Sunday.

The clack is not a problem. It might even be good if they hear it they know his wife, their mother, is almost home.

These are pretty good, Paul. Thanks. We'll see what I can learn at their house today.

No other replies, I think, until I know more.

Thank you all.