Bypass GFCI using Transceiver?

The CM11/15a transceiver sends X10 PLC and can receive RF - it does not transmit RF. Insteon, on the other hand does exactly what you describe and is useful for "phase coupling" and reaching trouble spots - like my infamous bathroom!

From:Chris Shearer Cooper snipped-for-privacy@sc3.net

What kind of testing? Did you get hold of an X-10 signal strength meter? Did you replace the GFCI with a standard $.79 non-GFCI outlet and things then worked? Those would be the only tests that an X-10 "pro" would consider as irrefutable proof the GFCI was the culprit. If you pick up a different brand, you wouldn't even have to wire it into an outlet box. You could bench test to determine if X-10 propagated correctly downstream of the new GFCI before going through the hassle of pulling the old one out of the box.

Well . . . you might have convinced yourself, but signal sucking is pretty complex business. I don't mean to sound snide, but many of us have been on the same path you're on and many of us have been very surprised by the things that end up being signal suckers from space heaters to UPS's to laptop power supplies. Unless you've got meter results or have swapped out the unit in question, you're still just guessing.

You can end up chasing your tail for a very, very long time with X-10 unless you have a meter or some sure way to determine a unit is troublesome. In your case you just can't unplug the GFCI as easily as you can unplug a suspect appliance - but in reality you *have* to remove it from the circuit so that you're sure it's the cause. If you're going to pull it, then you might as well replace it with a unit that you've bench tested beforehand to insure that it's not affecting the X-10 signal. What does a new GFCI cost? Ten bucks? Even if you value your time at minimum wage, you blew ten bucks of your time a long, long time ago on this particular problem.

You'll need one upstream of the signal sucker and you'll need one downstream of the signal sucker. If the GFCI is the source and it's not a perfect filter, then you've set yourself for the wild and wacky world of X-10 collisions where devices receive partial signals from both transceivers.

If the *only* lights you'll *ever* want to control are downstream from the GFCI it might be possible to control those units using a CM15A via radio control BUT the signals won't go beyond the GFCI so those are the only lights you'll ever be *able* to control. That's not the typical pattern of X-10 use, BTW. You'll eventually end up wanting to control more items. Virtually everyone does. Then you'll be stuck because your transceiver is behind an inadvertent firewall.

You can't send RF to a CM11A - it's a powerline device only . . .

If you're right about the GFCI being the signal sucker, there's really only one GOOD solution and that's to replace the offending device. Attempts to work around the problem with multiple transceivers will probably cause new and different problems even if they do manage to solve the immediate problem. The proper solution is to put devices that suck signals behind X-10 filters. Since that's not possible with a GFCI, the only real solution to the problem is to pull it and replace it with another GFCI that's X-10 friendly although it doesn't *seem* that way to you at the moment.

If you live near Washington DC I'll even come by with both my X-10 meters (yes, they are *that* critical to successful X-10 operation that I have two - a straight up LED bar meter and a much more complex Power Line Signal Analyzer known as "the Monterey") and we can determine with great precision what is interfering with the X-10 signal. If you've got a noise generator that's causing the problem, and not a signal sucker, not even your proposal to put a transceiver downstream of the GFCI will help. You can't determine whether your lines are noisy without an o'scope or a powerline meter or analyzer.

From reading through the CHA for a few years I've determined that buying a meter is roughly akin to making regular hard disk backups. People don't make backups regularly until they have lost a busload of data to a disk crash. X-10 users don't buy meters until they have lost a busload of time and effort running down a problem and installing kludges that don't work. Your dilemma is whether to learn from the bitter experience of others or your own bitter experience! :-) There's even a vendor here in CHA that will *lend* you a meter so there's really not much of an excuse not to check out your installation properly.

You aren't any relation to Norma Shearer or Gary Cooper, are you?

-- Bobby G.

There is no way to send "radio: signals with the CM11A. It can only send PLC (power line communication) While the CM15A does include a 310MHz RF transmitter module, the last time I looked, it was not exposed by the X-10 software.

In principle, your idea is sound but you need a way to send "radio" signals (e.g. HR12A palmpad). Also, if it is the CGFI that's blocking X-10, it may be bidirectional in effect and may still attenuate PLC signals even when injected downstream.

I would try temporarily replacing the CGFI outlet with a standard one to verify that it is the culprit.

Actually I think it does transmit RF, you have to set it up to monitor that house code (it can monitor all 16 HCs). Then it will transmit and receive on the PLC and RF. We've never been able to figure out how to tell it to transmit on the RF only.