X10 Home Automation and Home Security
Frequency Asked Questions
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X10 Basics |
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| X10 is a communications language that allows compatible products to talk to each
other using the existing electrical wiring in the home. Most X10 compatible products are very affordable and the fact that they talk over
existing wires in your home means that no costly rewiring is necessary. Installation is simple, a transmitter plugs (or wires) in at one
location in the home and sends its control signal (on, off, dim, bright, etc.) to a receiver which plugs (or wires) into another location in
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X10 is Simple
Press a Button on the Transmitter and the Signal is Sent over the Home's Electrical Wiring to a Receiver
Using simple dials or buttons you assign each product with one of up to 256 addresses. If you wish two products to go on and off
together you can set them to the same address or use scene addresses on many advanced products. All X10 compatible products can be freely
mixed and matched - so use can use some of these products together with X10, Leviton, Stanley, IBM, JDS, ACT, Homepro, etc.
Here are some of the products we carry:
Click here for complete list
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5 Easy Steps to Install
Plug-In X10 Products |
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X10 -- Making it
Trouble-Free |
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Most of the time, X10 products work without any problems. However, because X10 products talk over your home's electrical wires
they may have difficulties in two situations. The first is when there is an appliance running that generates "noise" onto the
powerline. Appliances that may cause problems are motors (e.g. dryer, treadmill, vacuum cleaner, etc.) and advanced electronics (e.g.
switching power supplies on some laptops, some big screen TV's, etc.). The good news is that all you need to do is plug the appliance into a
noise filter such as FilterLinc.
The second "issue" with X10 is when your X10 transmitter is on one "side" (phase) of your home's electrical
wiring and the receiver is on the other "side". Many times the signal either bridges the two phases at the transformer at the
street or via some 220V appliance in the home. When this doesn't happen, a simple plug-in phase coupler called Smarthome SignaLinc will solve
this challenge. |
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X10 -- Advantages |
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It is estimated that X10 compatible products can be found in over 10 million
American homes. This is because it has so many advantages over other types of remote control products and systems:
- Inexpensive
- No new wiring is required -- perfect for retrofit
- Simple to install
- 100's of compatible products
- Control up to 256 lights and appliances
- Time proven -- it has been around for over 20 years
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X10
Icons |
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| In the X10 section and on the product pages you will find these handy icons to help you quickly understand what each product
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These transmitters send a specially coded low-voltage signal that is super-imposed over the 120 volts on the home's electrical
wires. A transmitter is usually capable of sending up to 256 different addresses on the AC line. Multiple transmitters can send signals to
the same module.
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Devices with this symbol receive the special signals sent by the transmitters. Once a matching signal comes in, the device responds
and turns ON or OFF or dims or brightens. Receivers generally have "code dials" that are adjusted by the user to set the address.
Multiple devices with the same address can co-exist in the same home.
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These devices both send and receive X10 signals. Like regular receivers and transmitters, they can communicate on all 256
addresses. 2-Way products are helpful for status reporting and triggering other receivers to turn on, off or even run a macro event (a
multi-step event run by an intelligent controller).
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These products add the convenience of a radio frequency link (e.g. signals which travel through the air) to X10 products. Popular
products in this class include wireless hand-held remote controls and wireless motion detectors. A plug-in unit with an antenna is required
to catch the radio signal from the wireless unit and puts the X10 signal onto the line (just like a garage door remote activates the
opener).
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Example Products by Type |
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Change the way you think about screw drive openers!