How to simply set up "random" lights etc. upon "Leaving" home (X10)

"Random" is the key. Cheapest would probably be X10's AHP software and CM15A hardware. Frequently on sale at X10.com $50. If you wanted it tied to the security system you would also need an X10 "powerflash" module

Thanks. Any suggestions that would not require a PC?

Mini Timers, either LCD, or LED versions, will control up to eight loads up for two on/offs per day at *fairly* randomized settings. Add more, control more loads or add more on/off cycles. Under $40 at Smarthome, but I've scores a coupla of mine for $15-$10 at closeouts. Contain a battery backup to preserve settings during power failures and can be used as an alarm clock:

There are three different models or more floating around, but any one of them should do what you want. Only issue is that they control just the 1st eight unit codes of any single housecode, but you can (and many people do) use an alternate housecode for those lights used in the "fool the burglar" lamps. Some people even bypass the physical lamp switch so that they can't be turned off in a way that X-10 can't restart them.

I don't have one next to me, but I believe you can deactivate the mini-timers by sliding the RUN switch to Install. When you leave the house, slide it back to RUN and the unit should come back on line. There would be other ways to make it a "throw the switch" when you leave operation, too.

I keep my three plugged into a UPS when I don't want them to operate; it's a signal sink AND is behind an X-10 filter so the X-10 signals never get to the powerline. I did this because I wanted to make sure they retained their programming, which is done like an old VCR and could be friendlier. When we go away, I deploy them throughout the house. Now that I have the XTBs, I will likely abandon the timers and switch to CM11As with macros. The three timers helped get around the formerly weak signal problem by distributing the controllers to the three main branch circuits that handle lights.

-- Bobby G.

Thanks a bunch!

Hope it works for you. Let me know if you want more details on how to set them up as a "one button" solution. You'll need to rig something like a DPDT switch and an X-10 filter module so you can shunt the timers on and off the line. You might want to consider turbocharging them with Jeff Volp's XTB devices.

-- Bobby G.