Holding on to X10 - Marmitek ?

Forum about Xanura, Eaton Holec and Marmitek and other brand X10 and A10 devices.
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depol
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Holding on to X10 - Marmitek ?

Post by depol »

Hi,

Not sure if I am opening up a can of worms because this board is most likely populated with X10 enthusiasts.

I have made a significant investment in X-10 modules over the last 12 years, in multiple phases, basically equipping more rooms with X10 material. 9 LD11 Din rail dimmers, 2 motion sensors, 3 FD10 Phase coupler/filters, a TM13 and later a CM15 Pro computer interface.

I have 2 main problems.

1. Is a known issue; signal not travelling accross different circuits on different phases. Which should be solved by installing phase couplers

2. Flickering effect on dimmed lamps. This is caused by data signals sent over the grid by the power company (to control transformer stations etc ) which seem to interfere with the LD11 dimmers. These signals are sent a couple of times per hour, always lasting about 5 minutes. Very annoying as the whole house's light intensity goes up/down/up/down. This only happens when lights are dimmed low, and disappears if turned up high. According to Intellihome.be support this would also be solved whit the FD10's.

After installing the phase coupler, none of these were solved.

I managed to get a reply from Marmitek support regarding the filtering/flickering issue. Their answer was that I should check with the power company what the frequency range of their signals is. They gave me the range that gets filtered out by the FD10. The solution would then be to possibly install another filter, fit for whatever frequency the power company sends.

The issue of the signal not travelling across different circuits is not "static". So for some modules, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So it makes the entire system unpredictable and unreliable.

In short, the only use I get of my LD11's is controlling them with with the hardware pulse switches I have connected to them. And what works 90% of the time is the wireless sensor that switches on the lights in the hallway.

I have a new project coming up as we are re-doing our garden, which includes lighting and switching it from different locations. But I am really hesitant to installing more X10 material.

Do any of you have a hybrid setup with zWawe or another wireless controlled system? What are your experiences with those?

I am so disappointing with the X10 material I have now that I would be ready to toss it all out and replace it with something else if I would have a clear indication that it works better.

If anyone would have the magical recipe to make my X10 system work acceptably, I would be very grateful, as it has costed quite a bit. And replacing it would mean writing off the entrire investment.

Thanks,

Pol
Digit
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Re: Holding on to X10 - Marmitek ?

Post by Digit »

Maybe you should have a look @ Insteon.

It has "dual mesh" as they say, both powerline & RF: https://www.insteon.com/about-howitworks.html.
For me it's a very good replacement for the (limited amount) of X10/A10 actors I used in the past.

X10 became more and more unreliable here, so when I re-developed my HA system I decided to stop using X10 and replace it with something else.
And since I had a couple of Insteon actors and a Insteon Hub on the shelf waiting to be used, it was easy to do.
It's faster and more reliable without any extra's like filters and stuff.

The good thing for you may be that you can also control X10 actors with Insteon, so you won't lose all your X10 investments at once, although I can't say anything about the reliability of controlling X10 with a Insteon hub.
Menno
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Re: Holding on to X10 - Marmitek ?

Post by Menno »

Robert,

I am too planning for replacing some X10 devices with Insteon. I know that from the Insteon website, these modules are X10 compatible, for example a micro on/off module or shuttermodule will react to X10 commands. I cannot find information about the ability of sending X10 commands. I am specially interested in the fact that when operated locally, with a switch connected to the module, these module will send it's status to the X10 network.
Do you know if this is true or not?
Digit
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Re: Holding on to X10 - Marmitek ?

Post by Digit »

Menno,

I don't know... never tested things like that.
Below you see the properties page of an Insteon device from the HouseLinc software.
Insteon Properties tab.PNG
Insteon Properties tab.PNG (27.11 KiB) Viewed 9225 times
So you can give an Insteon device an X10 address.
It's also possible to add X10 devices to HouseLinc and control them with it:
Add_X10.PNG
Add_X10.PNG (13.12 KiB) Viewed 9225 times
Based on these screenshots I would think the Insteon interface should also receive X10 traffic, but I just can't confirm it.
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