From: Tom Yarmas <tom-AT-yarmas.com>
Date: 16 Mar 2010 04:15:31 UTC   (11:15:31 PM in author's locale)
To: XTension <xtensionlist-AT-shed.com>,	<info-AT-emeryemery.com>

It should make sense once you better understand the house wiring. Every
house has 220/240 volt power. But, most electrical devices use 110/120 volts
(except large items like Oven, stove, dryer, etc). So your house has 2 legs
of 110/120 volt in your breaker panel (fuse box). Every breaker in the
breaker panel connects to one or the other leg of the power. In fact, every
other breaker connects to the same leg - so the even breakers are on one leg
and the odd breakers are on the other leg. The 220/240 Volt breakers are on
both legs.

The X10 signals will not always be strong enough to reach the entire length
of both legs. So when you plug in to one room, the signals may not be able
to reach as far as when plugged in to another room.

There are signal bridges that can help as well as repeaters.

One simple test is to turn on an electric stove or oven and see if the
signals then reach all of the devices. Generally, having a 220/240 volt
appliance on will allow the signals to cross the 2 legs of power and reach
all of the devices.

To work around the issue, you can find a more centrally located plug for the
CM15 using trial and error. Or you can get a signal bridge.

Another issue can be noise. I had a problem where noise on the power lines
was reducing the effectiveness of the X10 signals. Noise was coming from
electric motors and computer power supplies and uninterruptable power
supplies (UPS). The noise issue can be harder (more expensive) to fix as it
requires a filter at each device that is causing the noise. For a long
while, a signal bridge allowed me to control everything in my house. But
over the years, I had more and more noise and I had to add filters in order
to control everything.

I hope that helps.

-tom

On 3/15/10 9:47 PM, "Emery & Laney Bills" <info-AT-emeryemery.com> wrote:

> First off, thank you to Michael and James for the advice. It was so simple to
> order the CM15A connect it to my mac and control Lamp Modules and Light
> Switches.
>
> I have run into a very odd situation and I am wondering if anyone has any
> advice.
>
> I have about 8 different devices I am controlling and when I set up the system
> on my iMac located in the den, I was able to control 4 of the 8 devices from
> that location. The two lights in the kitchen would not respond. and the two
> lights in the living room would not respond.
>
> Here's where it get's odd. When I set it up on the Mac Mini in the living
> room, I was able to control 6 of the 8. From that location, I was unable to
> control two of the Lamp Modules in the den but I was able to control the
> overhead light in the room which uses a wall switch.
>
> It's so odd. There is a a Venn Diagram to illustrate this which makes sense to
> me. It seems like the wiring in the house has a barrier of some kind but it's
> not at all logical.
>
> Anyone know about this?
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