Receiving x10 signals fron neighbor

[Daarn]

Hi
How long can x10 signals traveling in the grid

Best Regards
David Arnshelm

[Rupp]

It depends. If you want them to travel far they don't otherwise they can travel as far as a neighbors home.

[Wadenut]

I understand, under favorable conditions, X10 can travel as far as the nearest step down transformer (on a pole somewhere nearby as a rule).

In fact, if you don't have some sort of phase coupling in your own panel, in order to transfer X10 from one phase to the other, this is actually what happens and is why some outlets may not work as well as others in the house, if at all.
(This of course may not be entirly applicable to Sweedish power distribution systems)

If you're receiving X10 from the neighbour, this works both ways; which comes in handy sometimes... particularly on April 1st.

Rupp, I'm surprised at you. Are you developing a sense of humor after all?

[pbibm]

There are x10 blocking couplers, I have one of those. These dampen the signal right where the the power feed comes into the house. The idea is that your signals are dampened on the way out and signals from the neighbors are dampened on the way in.

It was more of a design point for me, in the 10 years its been in there I don't think any of my neighbors have x10 power line.

X10 RF is a more likely candidate for neighbor disruption and there would need to be a house code agreement between you if that were known to be true.

[JeffVolp]

Hi
How long can x10 signals traveling in the grid

One of my customers is controlling X10 devices in two homes he owns that share the same utility transformer. And there are people controlling X10 devices on farms and large estates that are a very long distance from the distribution panel.

When two neighbors sharing a utility transformer both have X10 systems, either you need some agreement to split the housecodes or you will need some sort of signal block to prevent the commands from coming in over the utility feed. The X10 PZZ01 whole house blocking coupler might do the job, but it is not easy to install. (I know from installing one myself.)

Jeff

[Bauerlein99]

It depends. If you want them to travel far they don't otherwise they can travel as far as a neighbors home.

That was pretty funny! I've had that same thought at times.

[Bauerlein99]

It depends. If you want them to travel far they don't otherwise they can travel as far as a neighbors home.

That was pretty funny!

[pbibm]

The X10 PZZ01 whole house blocking coupler might do the job, but it is not easy to install. (I know from installing one myself.)

Jeff

Jeff, when I saw what it was going to take I "chickended out" and had an electrician do it.

[Pnord]

Phantom x-10 signals

The only x-10 devices left in my home belong to my wife. She uses about a dozen lamp modules to operate electric candlesticks in the windows and some other lights around the house at Christmas. They have worked flawlessly until this year.

This year the devices are mysteriously turning on at any time of day. (never off ) I don't believe my neighbors have any x-10 but I have changed the house & device codes several times. Same result.

I have had my HAI omnipro controlling the devices until this year. The system has become so unreliable that I had to dig out an old Palm Pad to give her more control, She liked that !

Could these signals originate from anything other than another x-10 device ? Something has changed & I can't think of what it might be.
Thanks
Paul

[JeffVolp]

This year the devices are mysteriously turning on at any time of day.

That kind of behavior has been reported by a number of people after installation of a smart electric meter - in particular the one manufactured by Echelon.

Jeff

[Pnord]

That may explain it. We have new meters called "the turtle" because of their slow powerline communication protocol. Oh well, Christmas lighting season is soon over. Maybe I can find several UPB units cheap by next year
Thanks
Paul