The other day I was doing some comparison of transfer rates (WLAN and internet) between my various 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11b hardware. (I have several, completetly physical seperate networks in the air -- for various purposes. 802.11a for WLAN, 802.11g for media and consoles, and an open 802.11b internet pipe using a captive portal, ect. Also have a couple repeaters running as well.)
My "testing" of transfer rates was simple and crude: time how long it took to transfer a 250MB file across the WLAN and do an online speed test. Nothing "scientific" here, but I did take the effort to ensure that each "test" was under as much similiar variables as possible. (I.e., turning AP's and repeaters off except for the one I intended to test, re-configing so the 802.11g and 802.11b used the same channel during the test, ect. Basically, minimizing RFI as much as possible. In my normal setup, the
802.11g's and 802.11b's channels are seperated, but they still overlap. All channels overlap, even channel 1 and 11. It works just fine regardless, so I don't care. The G's and B's are for internet crap only anyways. My WLAN pipe is A and alone in clean air.)Anyway, while going around unplugging and re-plugging everything (many times), I remembered about an old "Appliance Controller" that I had stored away. One of those X10 controller deals. Fires off an X10 signal into your house wiring, which is picked up by a module on the intented controlled appliance. I've had the thing since the mid 1980's, along with a handful of appliance and lamp modules. It was sold by Radio Shack for the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computers, which I used at the time. You can manually fire off X10 signals for up to four devices (on/off), but to control more than four (or program it), you have to hook it up to Coco. (Rom pack, cable connector between the controller and Coco's cassette port, etc).
Last time I can recall actually using the thing was in 1991. It had been stored away for 14 years, but no reason why it shouldn't still work. Thought it would be perfect to have a way of turning AP's and repeaters on/off remotetly -- so pulled it out. (I wasn't motivated enough to pull out an old Coco so I could program the thing. I would just use it as a manual device.)
Yep, it still worked just fine. It had reseted to it's default config long ago, of course. Housecode "A", and the four manual devices would be 1 through 4 --- so I set four appliance modules accordingly.
Then it got interesting. The A1, A3, and A4 devices worked like they should but the A2 device would automatically turn itself back on in ~10 secs after sending it a "turn off" signal. Ok. Thats strange. Lets try another module. Same thing. Ok. Maybe the controller is automatically sending the "turn on" command for A2? (Even though I didn't remember it having that "feature".) So, I send a "turn off" command and then immiedetly unplug the controller. Ten seconds later, yep, you guessed it -- the thing turns back on! (I'm using just a lamp in my test.) Tried all the other modules, and every single one of them do the exact same thing for A2. There is nothing "intelligent" with the modules, they are simply dumb devices.
Ok, this is strange. I had to go over to a friend's house anyway, so took the controller and a couple modules with me. Tried them over there and "A2" doesn't get the automatic "turn-on" signal after a manual "turn-off".
Ok, now I'm motivated enough to pull out a Coco so I can get into the controller and program the thing. So, after hunting down an RF adapter (and a TV that actually had VHF screws, remember them? LOL), finally get into the controller. Set the thing to a few other "Housecodes" and all the devices work normally. "A2", however, keeps getting the automatic "turn-on" signal though.
Conclusion: Someone out there (one of my neighbors on same transformer?) has something using X10 that is sending an automatic "turn-on" signal after a "turn-off" is sent with an "A2" ID. Just thought that was "interesting" and perhaps something to consider if anyone considers those devices that allow your home electrical wiring to be used for a LAN.
(I've since set the "Housecode" on the controller to "P" and now its all working fine. Whoever out there that is using "A" was probably like "WTF?" when two of their who-knows-what were turning on and off all night. I'm assuming they have at least two devices, since the auto "turn-on" was for an A2.)
Cheers, Eric (Easily amused with simple stuff.)