DID YOU KNOW?

COUPLERS:
All homes will benefit from the use of a coupler. Most homes have 2 phases of power coming in to them. Some to the outlets and lights are on one while some are on the other. X-10 signals must travel out to the nearest transformer, through the windings and back to your home so get from one phase to the other unless you are using a coupler. In order for the coupler to do this, it has to cut the X-10 signal in half. This is not a good thing in larger homes and in homes with excess noise or using lots of X-10. This is why the amplified coupler is a much better, and more expensive, choice. To insure your X-10 is going to be reliable, you really need to install a coupler. It would be the best piece of X-10 you could own.

SPEEDING UP X-10 MACROS:
X-10 works by issuing a house and unit code, then a command. If you wanted to turn on “A1” the information looks like this: A1…ON. If you issued several units before a command, you could control more than one unit. Example: A1, A2, A3, A4 then ON. This would turn A1, A2, A3, and A4 on all at once. You could now issue an OFF command and all would turn off. If you are creating macros, this will save transmission time by approx. 33%.

SURGE PROTECTORS AND X-10:
Most surge protectors will hinder the performance of X-10. Surge protectors “dump” the “garbage” back into the A/C line and there for cause noise. This can cause the X-10 signals to be lost and not received by devices. Inline filter modules will solve this problem but it is a question of mine as to what good is the surge protector after the filter is installed. I wonder that if the filter is installed, can the surge protector be a surge protector or is it just a glorified power strip. If anyone has any information on this, let us know.

Chris Couture