I am running some new wires in my house 1 circuit wil have X-10 usb powerline interface plugged into it. the other one will power my stereo equipment. I have had problems in the past with noise from the stereo power supplies interfering with X-10 reception and transmission. Is this noise transmitted over the neutral or the hot conductors. The reason I ask is it will determine if I run seperate neutrals back to the panel or 1 run 1 3 wire and share the neutrals.

Thanks
Duane Reynolds
Master Electrician
WPG ELectric, Inc.

Duane, as I'm sure you know, the cost-per-foot of 12/3 or 14/3 is about twice that of 12/2 or 14/2, respectively, so cost is not a significant factor. I would consider eletrical noise reason enough to separate the lighting and equipment circuits, so I'd recommend using two separate runs.

There are noise filters available that the audio/video and/or computer gear plug into that keep the generated noise away from the house wiring to reduce signal swamping. X-10 signals are timed to be transmitted at the zero-crossing point of the sine wave, and require a relatively quiet power line.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Thanks for the quick response
With ground fault CB, Arc Fault CB, Harmonics, sharing nuetrals is a thing of the past in all but the most basic application.
BUT, I am still intersested in knowing if X-10 generates noise on the neutral, We couple X10 signals with a cap across phase conductors, but in a single phase situation the neutral is center tapped from the transformer and in a 3 phase y it is also theoreticaly center tapped.

Duane

The neutral itself doesn't really carry noise; it's noise across the line-to-neutral circuit (transformer secondary).

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com