I live in a fairly new (4 yr old) house that is ~3500 sq. ft. I've had X-10 problems that haven't been solved by placing a coupler across the dryer outlet. I've been considering installing an amplified repeater at the circuit box, but wonder if the new plug-in "Boosterlinc" might be a good way to go.

If I could get away with 1-2 Boosterlincs, instead of hiring an electrician, I'd be very happy. Thanks in advance for the advice.

I have the ACT CR234 coupler/repeater, but had one circuit that had considerable loss on it. Despite testing everything, adding filters, etc., I could never get the X-10 level up past about .3v even though it left the CR234 at over 5v.

I purchased one of the new Boosterlincs from Bill E. at HomeAutomationNet to test. I'm here to report it works very well. It more than tripled my signal level to a little over 1 volt.

I believe the first thing that should be done is deal with things that are loading the signal down, so far as is possible, such as some UPS units, some TVs, etc with filters. After all offending devices are treated, the Boosterlinc seems to be a great new tool.

I use one of the little Elk signal level meters to keep track of levels and it's a great help.

Deane

Deane, ksqrd,

Can you give me a direct link to the "Boosterlincs" product you refer to? I searched Bill's "HomeAutomationNet" web site but could'nt find details on it. Also, is this module a coupler as well?

Thanks,

Martin :-)

I don't think he has the picture and description up yet. Here's a link to the order page showing the price which is lower than anywhere else, as usual.

[Link: homeautomationnet.com]

Here's a link to a description:

[Link: smarthome.com]

It is not a coupler. It plugs into a socket on the circuit where you have a weak signal and boosts it in real time. This amazes me, but I confirmed with my Elk meter that it is indeed working in real time.

Note that the description points out that if there is no signal present, then the Boosterlinc is not going to boost anything. You have to have something already there for it to pick up. In my case, I had .3v which was operating my things pretty well, but I wanted a more solid signal so tried this. It worked.

I think this may be a very useful new problem solver along with the ACT filters. As I mentioned above, I'd eliminate things sucking the signal down first. Surge protectors are notorious signal killers unless they have a filter on the front end to isolate them.

Dean,

We have not put the boosterlinc up on the site yet although I am convinced they work pretty darn well. I did have some trouble sending a long string of X10 commands through them, but am not sure if the problem was with the devise or the speed of my signal analyzer. Anyway for what they were designed to do the do it.

I agree with you as for taking care of the basics (coupler repeater, filters) first. They are a patch and not a substitute for proper system set up.

These are in our database if anybody needs one just search for booster. Oh and of course you will save about 10% over SH's deal.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Thanks for the posts--you've certainly answered my questions.