Teken Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 @MacWorks Just for historic perspective and basic understanding about what you have in the home. X-10 was one of the first home automation systems produced for the masses. All of the signals run through the electrical wiring in the home and communicate via low voltage signaling. Any power line communication (PLC) must use something to bridge the two split single phase electrical system if one is to communicate from different parts of the home. So, if there was ever a phase bride ensure its plugged in. As Brian H noted, that is only one of the evils to look out for as X-10 was easily impacted by line noise / signal suckers. Hence my request for you to unplug all possible electronics you can reach and see if there is a difference. Anything you can't reach simply turn off a breaker to that circuit but keep in mind if there was any phase bridging it may very well got lost from doing so. Link to comment
Brian H Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Many of the X10 phase couplers where mounted next to the breaker panel, some where wired inside the breaker box. . It should be on a 220 pair of breakers. You may want to double check all the breakers are On. Since you have all X10 an active model would be OK as long as you don't have any Insteon in the mix. Passive ones would be OK for Insteon and X10. Smarthome did sell some Dryer Socket couplers/Repeaters . That would be plugged into a Dryer Socket. If you had an electric dryer. It could be plugged into the front of it's pass through socket. Link to comment
MacWorks Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 Thanks, Brian. I definitely have on of those " Smarthome did sell some Dryer Socket couplers/Repeaters" , which I had unplugged some time ago. I just replugged that in. Link to comment
kclenden Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 11 hours ago, MacWorks said: Are you suggesting I factory reset the ISY and restore the backup or is there a reset procedure for the new PLM? Since you aren't using any Insteon devices, only X-10, there's really very little that could have gone wrong when you changed PLM's. Have you confirmed that your ISY is talking to the new PLM? Goto Tools->Diagnostics->PLM Info/Status and you should see a dialog box that shows the PLM address and whether it's "Connected". If it's connected then you know that your ISY is able to communicate with your PLM. Then the only question is why the PLM isn't able to connect with the individual light switches. Have you tried individually controlling every one of your light switches? Troubleshooting will be a little different if you can't reach a single light switch versus just certain light switches. Link to comment
Brian H Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 What type of bulbs are you using the PLW01 switches with? That switch is designed for incandescent bulbs. If you are trying to use LED bulbs. They must be rated for dimming. With ones rated to be on a dimmer. You may get problems. I did some tests for the X10 Forums members. With LED bulbs rated OK on a dimmer. Some would only work with the local button and no X10 power line controls. Some would not go on at all. Some pulsed from the switch stealing power through the LED bulb. Link to comment
MacWorks Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 Hi Brian, That could be it and likely what is causing my distress. I have had no luck in sorting this out and want to abandon what I have. We have some plugs in the home that work with Alexa and we are comfortable with that workflow. Assuming for a moment that I woudl like to move in that direction, is there a standard light switch that I can program for on/off and/or control with Alexa? Thanks! Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 1 hour ago, MacWorks said: Hi Brian, That could be it and likely what is causing my distress. I have had no luck in sorting this out and want to abandon what I have. We have some plugs in the home that work with Alexa and we are comfortable with that workflow. Assuming for a moment that I woudl like to move in that direction, is there a standard light switch that I can program for on/off and/or control with Alexa? Thanks! There are but as with everything electronic, there are caveats. All smart switches comes with pros and cons. The things I would ask myself is if you feel like going through troubleshooting, how much time do you want to invest, scalability and what are you willing to spend on your system. Link to comment
oberkc Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 1 hour ago, MacWorks said: Assuming for a moment that I woudl like to move in that direction, is there a standard light switch that I can program for on/off and/or control with Alexa? Do you want to keep the ISY994 (obviously, with new switches) and use it with alexa or have you decided to abandon all of it and start new? The ISY994 can integrate with the amazon echo world, but it requires a "portal" subscription. While it works very well, it takes a little more effort to make work. Unfortunately, the automation side of alexa is pretty sparse, so it may be worth it to you. The other advantage to keeping the ISY is that it opens up a wider range of devices that can be made to work with alexa. Also be aware that you would require internet for alexa to work and would be dependent on the amazon computers for your house to work. If you will be happy only with voice control and the limited event schedules of alexa, it probably is not worth the time and effort to integrate with the ISY. Link to comment
MacWorks Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 I paid for a portal subscription but since, I can't identify the issue, it may be best to move on. The ISY (with the X10) has been unreliable at best. So, I guess a simple reliable system is better than an extensible, but unreliable system. Thank you for all the great feedback. At the end of the day, if X10 is "yesterdays news" than that kinda sums it up. Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 16 minutes ago, MacWorks said: I paid for a portal subscription but since, I can't identify the issue, it may be best to move on. The ISY (with the X10) has been unreliable at best. So, I guess a simple reliable system is better than an extensible, but unreliable system. Thank you for all the great feedback. At the end of the day, if X10 is "yesterdays news" than that kinda sums it up. The problem isn't with the Isy but the technology that you are using. It's 30+ years old. If you were using insteon or zwave then you would have a much different experience. Swapping out doesn't guarantee success unless you are willing to troubleshoot whatever system you use Link to comment
oberkc Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 1 hour ago, MacWorks said: The ISY (with the X10) has been unreliable at best. So, I guess a simple reliable system is better than an extensible, but unreliable system. I am with lilyoyo1. I would not discount the ISY994 because of your experience with X10. There is a good reason X10 is not used much anymore. Some can make it work, but many more have moved on to other technology. I use insteon and z-wave, along with a small amount of Hue. While not 100%, they are 95%+. If you are interested in "automation" (rather than just voice activation or remote control of your lights with a phone) then I think you would be doing a disservice to yourself to give up on the ISY-994. It sounds as if you are willing to put in the effort. Link to comment
paulbates Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 There's a lot to read in here. I found the PLM to be a weaker X10 transmitter and not as good as receiver as the X10 TW523 or Texas Instraments used by earlier X10 computer controllers. I had to make some adjustments to my network.. where things were plugged in, etc, to get it to work properly Paul Link to comment
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