x10 landscape lighting

[Martin Hellman]

I'm about to embark on an X10 home automation for our outside
landscape lights and hope that someone with more experience can help
answer some questions:

1. X10 is a standard that a number of manufacturers conform to. Are
there any manufacturers you would recommend and why? For example,
Smart Home seems to claim quieter operation of some of their modules.

2. Are there any control modules that can handle a 900 watt, 120 volt
transformer (not purely resistive therefore) and are suitable for
installation outdoors in a weather resistant box?

For example, x10.com's AM466 Appliance Module says it can handle 15
amps, but only 500 watts, while Leviton's Fluorescent Fixture Module
(cat # 6375) says 20 amps, with no power limit given. Is x10.com being
conservative? Or has Leviton forgotten to mention a power limit??

We have four tranformers for our lighting, two 500 at watts, one at
300 watts, and one at 900 watts. Each is in a separate
weather-resistant metal box, currently with an (ugh) mechanical timer
that I want to replace with X10.

3. I want the lights to turn on somewhat after sunset (probably half
an hour, though I'd like to experiment). What PC program and
controller would you recommend? I need one that will control the
lighting even with the PC off and would prefer USB over serial port
since serial ports are likely to disappear.

x10.com's controller/software has an ON AT DUSK feature, but that
doesn't seem to be user settable relative to sunset and most automatic
systems I've seen come on long before light is needed. I'd prefer a
program that had more options, but could live with that if they define
dusk as significantly darker than sunset.

4. Do you have any suggestions on a remote control to over-ride the
programmed controller of #3 above. Sometimes we'll want to manually
turn them on when they'd normally be off and vice versa.

Some remotes seem unwieldly, for example using channel+ and channel-
to turn things on and off. I don't need a substitute for my TV remote
and would greatly prefer something that was specific to controlling
x10 lighting.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Martin

[Richard Cochran]

I can't answer all your questions, but see below...

hel...@stanford.edu (Martin Hellman) wrote in message news:<45cf32b4.03101...@posting.google.com>...

>
> 3. I want the lights to turn on somewhat after sunset (probably half
> an hour, though I'd like to experiment). What PC program and
> controller would you recommend? I need one that will control the
> lighting even with the PC off and would prefer USB over serial port
> since serial ports are likely to disappear.
>
> x10.com's controller/software has an ON AT DUSK feature, but that
> doesn't seem to be user settable relative to sunset and most automatic
> systems I've seen come on long before light is needed. I'd prefer a
> program that had more options, but could live with that if they define
> dusk as significantly darker than sunset.

The free ActiveHome software will handle this. You can define a
macro to wait ten minutes (or half an hour, or whatever works for
you), and then turn on the lights. Tell it to run this macro at dusk.

ActiveHome/CM11a doesn't directly handle USB, though. It would
probably work with a USB/Serial converter, but I have no experience
with that. It does run standalone without the PC running. The
computer is only required for programming it initially.

The ActiveHome/CM11a combo is about the most basic computer controlled
automation software. I'd expect almost any others would have at least
this much capability if not more.

> 4. Do you have any suggestions on a remote control to over-ride the
> programmed controller of #3 above. Sometimes we'll want to manually
> turn them on when they'd normally be off and vice versa.
>
> Some remotes seem unwieldly, for example using channel+ and channel-
> to turn things on and off. I don't need a substitute for my TV remote
> and would greatly prefer something that was specific to controlling
> x10 lighting.

There's a standard popular white X-10 remote that has on/off buttons
for eight lights, plus bright/dim buttons. Leviton makes essentially
the same unit in black, with different style buttons. I have one
of each, and they work well. You might also consider a "sticky switch",
which is essentially a radio remote masquerading as a light switch,
which you attach to the wall. It has the advantage that you always
know where it is. This doesn't have to be an either/or decision, you
can use multiple radio remotes.

--Rich