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Best appliance module ?

I have been trying to use a grounded appliance module to switch fish tank lights on and off. It has been unreliable. I put an X10 analyzer on the line and found very good X10 signal strength (900mV), but quite a bit of noise (up to 120mV).

I traced the noise to an in-wall light dimmer, and replaced the dimmer with a simple non-X10 on-off switch. The noise came down to less than 15mV. Two of the three modules that I have tried are still not reliable. The one that seems to be working well is an X-10 Pro. The ones that are not working reliably are a Honeywell HSA-111 and a Smarthome ApplianceLinc 2002SHL3.

I should note that this house has a variety of in-wall X-10 receivers (Leviton, PCS) that have been working very reliably for almost five years. Whatever PCS or Leviton uses in the 16xxx switches seems pretty good elsewhere in this house. If only there was an appliance module with the same discrimination. Maybe there is something funny about this one socket, but I don't know what.

Is it a known fact that the X-10 Pro is a great appliance module and the others are not ?

George

Reply to
George Pontis
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Maybe a dumb question since you seem to be familiar with X-10 signals, but are the two Hot Wires in your home wiring bridged for X-10 signals?

Home Automation Labs makes a Dryer Plug and other products that do this. They also make X10 amplifier relay devices that amplify weak X10 signals to 7 volts or so. Maybe something like that would solve your problem.

Beachcomber

Reply to
Beachcomber

"Home Automation Labs"? I think you probably mean Smarthome.

That X10 amplifyier I think you're talking about is the BoosterLinc. It takes it to about 4 volts and works pretty well.

Martin

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Reply to
AutomatedOutlet.com

Yes, I have a phase coupler at the panel. I am sure it is doing the job since the signal strength is very good when the controller transmits. After watching with the X-10 signal analyzer I now think that there is another source of noise besides the dimmer that I removed. The noise level is normally low but over time I see "BSC" (bad start code) pop up with significant strength, like > 100 mV.

What I don't have is a whole house block. Perhaps a neighbor has something very noisy that is doing it. In any case, the X-10 Pro module seems to be reliable while the others are not.

Reply to
George Pontis

Yes, perhaps the PZZ01 will help. SOmetimes even the transformer at the pole can generate noise....

Martin

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Reply to
AutomatedOutlet.com

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