HomeMade X10

[marcos.placona]

Hi, I was looking for some X10 to buy for my place, and was really thinking about building something like this by myself.

http://www.x10europe.com/pdf/LM15E.pdf

Does anyone here have any experience in this kind of things? I was thinking of something very simple at the beginning, just using an IR receiver.

Are there any considerations or advices people over here want to say?

Cheers

 

[hippy]

You mean building a controllable lamp fixture ?

The first consideration is it is mains powered and, given the limited space you'd have for any circuitry, the prefered option would be to directly power the PICAXE from a direct to mains connection ... and if you think people here asking about connecting to cars get short shrift it's a hundred times worse when it comes to direct mains connection

Working on mains is inherently risky and you need a safe working and debugging environment and I consider it essential that someone else is always there to keep an eye on things in case the worst happens and that person has to be trained in resuscitation techniques; we don't want to see your magic smokes drift out the window

X10 uses a high-speed signalling system with data super-imposed on the line. The PICAXE is not able to deal with that signal itself, it's too slow.You could impose serial data on the mains but you'll soon find why X10 does it the way it does and you'd have to design not just the lamp switcher but also the plug-in controller elsewhere. It would also not be compatible with X10.

I tried X10 ( or whatever its UK equivalent is ) and I wasn't that impressed. Signalling did not seem as reliable as I'd hoped, it was expensive, and, to be honest, I could not find any practical application for it. To switch a light on or off I'd probably go for relay, SSR or triac switching the mains power.

 

[Dippy]

Marcos,

I don't have any experience with X10 , but I've cut'n'paste this from Basic Stamp manual:

X-10 signals are digital codes imposed on a 120 kHz carrier that is
transmitted during zero crossings of the AC line. To send X-10
commands, a controller must synchronize to the AC line frequency with
50 μs precision, and transmit an 11-bit code sequence representing the
command.
XOUT interfaces to the AC power-line through an approved interface
device such as a PL-513 or TW-523, available from X-10 dealers. The
hookup requires a length of four-conductor phone cable and a standard
modular phone-base connector (6P4C type). Connections are shown in
Figure 5.48.


No doubt you will get a few posts warning you of the potentially lethal dangers about fiddling with the mains, so I won't.

If I were doing this I'd invent my own interface/code.
I don't know how experienced you are. Based on your pevious posts I guess this may be your first foray into mains stuff?
Just be darned careful. Any doubts/worries then don't do it.

 

[marcos.placona]

Right guys, I think you gave me enough reason to try something else other than mess up with the mains.

And yes, that'd be my first try on mains.

But... what if I used a battery instead of the energy on the mains, so my piucaxe would work just as an interruptor? I wouldn't be dealing with high voltage from the mains as my picaxe just would send signals to my module and kind of "saying" power ON or OFF

Cheers

 

[Dippy]

So are you saying now that you'll be making a remote controlled light switch?
And the battery powered PICAXE switches a mains relay?
I don't really 100% understand your post I confess.

 

[papaof2]

The manual on the PL-513/TW-523 is a 1.1MB PDF:
ftp://ftp.x10.com/pub/manuals/technicalnote.pdf

Note that it is NOT isolated from the mains - these are OEM devices and the assumption is made that only those with sufficient mains knowledge will use them.

If you want a safe user interface, look for a wireless interface unit. Options include at the CM18A Firecracker (plugs into a 9 pin serial port and is controlled by the status leads, not TD/RD) or any of the handheld remotes (on/off/dim control of 2 to 16 AC devices, depending on the model). The HR12A PalmPad is powered by 4 AAA cells, so has built-in potential for beinf PICAXE-able.

I use the X10 wall switches to control lamps that are located where they are needed, not just at the few receptacles that are switch-controlled. The motion detectors and wireless remotes are also useful for entry areas - no need to leave all the lights on while you're out, just turn them on before you enter.

I use a laptop on a wireless network and turn the laser printer in the basement on/off as needed.

John

 

[Tom2000]

If you want to play it a bit safer and you just want to switch a lamp on and off, you might consider a Picaxe driving a relay, perhaps through an optoisolator, controlled by a simple radio link such as this.

Tom

 

[BeanieBots]

I had quite an in-depth play with X10 a few years ago. Both commercial and home made.
Found it very unreliable with the most anoying habbit of turning things ON all by itself. After 3 days in one week of getting up to all lights on, gave up with it.
Maybe your own protocol using RF would be more reliable.

 

[papaof2]

In several years of using X10 modules (2 different houses), I've never had a light turn on unexpectedly. There are a number of reasons a remote (wired or wireless) may not be able to change the state of a light, but random "ON" just has not happened.

There are some "gotchas" if you use motion sensors and don't read all the directions - most of them default to operating the selected device code on motion and the next higher device code on light/dark levels. In other words, you can't have separate motion detectors that operate devices 10 and 11: the motion detector for device 10 will also do light/dark control of device 11. And the codes wrap around: a motion detector set for motion control of device 16 also does light/dark control of device 1. If you use one of the X10 PC interface units with macro programming capability, this can also trigger the macro that controls a group of devices.

I've found the devices reliable enough to use a 15 amp appliance module to control the power to a garage door opener via an X10 wireless remote because the receiver is sensitive to lightning - it will open the door and lock up, requiring that the unit be unplugged to reset it (as usual, this problem appeared after the warranty expired). The X10 remote is in the truck near the garage door remote: turn on X10, open door, close door, turn off X10. I no longer come home to find the garage door up and rain blowing in; the X10 units I'm using have not exhibited any lightning-induced glitches.

I'm in the US with 120V service (split 240v). Perhaps the differences in the mains interfaces might affect the operation (smaller data signal level compared to the mains voltage level)? Do be sure to pick a house code other than "A", which is where all the units are set when they leave the factory.

John

 

[andrew_qld]

Just a quick note- if you want to do something like this a safer way would be to use a "plugpack" or "wall wart" transformer that plugs into the wall and reduces mains to a lower voltage. There are plenty of 12V lamps around including CFL types which could be controlled by an FET or relay. You could use some sort of radio module for remote control. Perhaps program a Picaxe to do things like dim the lamp as well as turn it on & off.

Andrew

 

[premelec]

With regard to X-10 self turn on: I tried appliance plug in units to turn on compact florescent lights and they would turn on at random. I solved this by putting a 27,000 resistor in parallel with the CFL lights - the X-10 units have a feature that if someone flips a siwtch on and off a couple of times to the lamp load the relay turns on... and the CFL had some reactive characteristic which brough that into play... the resistor somehow kills that...

 

[BCJKiwi]

Found the X10 Modules switch the negative line not the positive line (which is normal in NZ) and depending on what you are trying to achieve can be a gotcha.

 

[MFB]

IR mains control

There are some mains expansion block devices around that are controlled by hand-held IR transmitters. If you can figure out the codes involved (I expect they conform to one of the common TV standards) you could use the PICAXE to control the IR mains expansion block. A really safe solution!