Help!

If I bought two lamp modules, one socket rocket a transceiver and an IR543, will I be able to turn each light on and off seperately and control all the lights as if they were different?

Or will I need a IR543AH???? Wot does this do?
HELP!

Yes, they will work independently. The AH model allows more than one housecode to be operated at once.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Ok Thanks Larry.

But......
The only three things I am controlling in my house are:

1 Lamp (Lamp Module)
1 Lamp (Lamp Module)
1 Light (Rocket Socket)
So what does this housecode thing mean???!!! I am new to x10. So if i had housecode A, then would one appliance be A1, THEN A2 THEN A3?

HELP Please! :D

the address is composed of house codes
A,b,c...p
and unit ID
1,2,3...16

so if you fix the house code (i.e. A in your example) then you can use different unit IDs and set the IR543 to match it.

I was pretty confused about this at first also, lemme see if I can explain this... hmm...

Each device is assigned an address, this address is specific to this device. The address doesn't have to be limited to just one device, it can be on two or more, but you will not have individual control of the devices - on is on for all with that address. So the the address is made up of two parts, the "house code" and the "unit code". House codes are letters A thru P and unit codes are 1 thru 16. So lamp #1 might be A1, Lamp #2 might be A2 and the socket rocket might be set to A3.

A lamp module can turn ON, OFF and dim the lights. An appliance module can only turn ON and OFF - this is required for things like fans, some halogen setups, flourescents, etc. If lamp #1 is set to A1 then it will respond to the following commands - A1 ON, A1 OFF, A1 DIM, A1 BRIGHT, A ALL ON, A ALL OFF. (more about the last two later)

The IR543 is a simple device that serves a few functions, but is primarily used to convert IR commands to X10 commands and "inject" them into the house wiring. It is set to a specific house code (A thru P) and can only send commands on that house code. The IR543 has no learning function, it can only receive a set signal, much like your VCR - it requires an exact IR signal to make it function. So you cannot get the Play button on your standard VCR remote to dim the lights, but a Pronto (or equivalent) can be assigned a macro to push play on the VCR and then send the OFF command to your lights. Now the IR543AH is setup to receive the house code also, so it can send A13 ON and B4 OFF - while the IR543 can only do A's or B's, but not both. Also you cannot "stack" IR543s in the same room and set them to different house codes, they are "dumb" boxes they just stick the house code on the front of every X10 command they send, so if you had one set to A and one on B, every time you send the command for A1 ON, the B box sees B1 ON - technically you are only sending the "1 ON" part of the command. So the IR543AH is receiving the full command "A1 ON".

The transceiver is used to convert RF commands to X10 and based on the items you listed, I am not sure what it's purpose is. I carry a $4 keychain remote that fires up my porch light and my entry way light. Just like the IR543 it is a dumb device and is set to a particular house code and will only work on that one.

ALL ON and ALL OFF are really convenient. When I am headed to bed, I just push ALL OFF and walk away... I don't have to push 16 buttons to make the room into "night mode". So keep in mind that if you wish to shut it all down you can - just use the ALL OFF. (Another way of putting it is that ALL OFF is the same as A1 OFF, A2 OFF, A3 OFF... thru A16 OFF.)

Hope this helps...

WOW!! YOU HAVE HELPED ME ALOT!

Well I want my Pronto TS1000 to control the lights so that is why I need the IR543 transceiver.

So does that help?...

Thanks

The ir-543 takes the ir signal from your remote and sends it down the powerline.

mgithens,

Thanks for the great write up. I'm new to this but very anxious to get started. I have a home theater and I think this works great with it.

My questions are:
If I have less than 16 lights/appliances I want to control, I can get away with the IR543 if they are all in the same house code?

Is the All ON, All OFF and DIM feature included in the IR543 as well or is that only in the AH model?

Thanks

I forgot to add another question.

I see that a PCS wall switch is included in the lighting starter kit. Will I need PCS switch to work with scenes and dimming control or will any X-10 switch work?

Thanks again.

If you have less than 16 devices then yes, you can get away with the IR543, provided all your devices are on one housecode.

Both the IR543 and IR543AH support ALL ON, ALL OFF, DIM and BRIGHT.

the ALL ON and ALL OFF are useable in the IR543... and yes you could literally have 16 devices in one house code and all will work well... one thing to keep in mind is that the IR543 only has buttons 1 thru 4, but there is a switch that changes the buttons to 5 thru 8, so you will only have control of the 1 thru 8 house codes from the box... the rest will be through the remote...

dim/bright is also available through the IR543, again with the 1 thru 8 limitation (all 16 are dimable through the IR pathway)...

you are not "required" to have a PCS switch... the cheapo ws12a switch will do the on/off/dim thing... one weakness to the cheaper switches is that the lights will not ramp on or dim up from the off position, you must go full on and then dim down... the "scene capable" switches have several differences from the cheaper variety - 1) multiple addresses for multiple setups (A1 ON could be 100% brightness, A2 ON could be 50% brightness), 2) ramp on / ramp off (fade in/out), 3) resume previous (unit is on, you send A1 DIM to get to 75% brightness, turn unit off A1 OFF, come back later to turn on A1 ON and light resumes to 75%)

you can use a splitter to hook more than one lamp up to a single module, the benefit is that the two lights will always match, but you will disable a feature called local control, which gives you the ability to walk up to a lamp and turn it on without using X10 controllers.. you literally just switch the lamp off and the on and it comes on - but this won't work with two lamps on the same module, unless both lamps are switched off... side note - touch lamps are a no go...

any more questions... :-)

Great discussion!

I'll through in a question mgithens. This thread pretty much cleared up a few lingering questions for me. However, I'm still slightly confused with the whole scenes concept and whether, for my uses, I need a scenes capable switch or not.

When I hear the term "scenes" I imagine someone with a dedicated home theater room wanting to hit one button to start the DVD and lower the lights and when the movie is over and stopped the ligth resumes to a certain preset level.

I'm not sure if I need that much control. With non-scene dimmer switches, can I still program my (arriving tomorrow) MX-500 via a macro to automatically dim the lights to a certain level once (as in when the movie starts) or do I actually have to mannually dim the lighting to the level I desire.

Sorry for the confusion, for some reason I can't seem to get the whole scene thing straight in my head. It sounds to me like even with a non-scene switch I can hit a button to establish a certain preset light level on different lights (ie. 25%) and then later on hit another button and have the light level got to another preset brightness. Am I wrong?

you could send several dims with the 500 but chances are that it will not be consistent (i.e. always at 25%)
also scenes are useful if you have several lights/X10 so that A1 is 10% on, A2 is 30% on, A3 is off.....

lawtyger,

You are correct about scenes and also about being able to make macros on your MX-500 that mimic scenes.

But...

The benefit of true scenes is that you can have multiple modules (lights/items) respond the a SINGLE X-10 command and then each module that is set to respond to that scene will do whatever you preset it to do. With a macro setup, you can do the same thing, but it will take multiple X-10 commands being sent down the wires which will take longer to happen, is less synchronized, and introduces the risk of command collision/malfunction.

Example:

With Scene Modules:
Send signal "A/10 ON"
Lamp Module 1 - goes on to preset 40% bright
Switch Module 2 - goes to preset 100% bright
Switch Module 3 - goes to preset 50% bright

With Macro and normal modules:
Send "A/1 ON"
Lamp Module 1 - turns on
Send "A/1 dim or brighten or 40% or whatever"
Lamp Module 1 - goes to 40%
Send "A/2 ON"
Switch Module 2 - turns on
Send "A/2 Full or brigthen or whatever"
Switch Module 2 - goes to 100%
Send "A/3 ON"
Switch Module 3 - turns on
etc.

Thanks for your input. It sounds like a dimmer with scenes is worth the extra money. I appreciate your example. . . which really cleared things up as to how the scenes may benefit me :)