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X10 Compatible With Surge Protectors

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yest...@hotmail.com

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Oct 20, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/20/99
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Hi Folks,

Another newbie question here:

I am contemplating installing a whole-house surge protector,
and it occurred to me that they might interfere with X10
operation.

Do the two interfere with each other?
Comments/experiences/suggestions?

BTW, after losing all components (TVs, laptops) *but* those attached
to surge-protected lines, I am a convert to their use.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best,

George


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

Ronald Vargo

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Oct 20, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/20/99
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In article <7uk738$upb$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, yest...@hotmail.com says...
George,

The whole house surge suppressor will not interfere with you X-10 system.
Actually it may clear up any noise problems and block X-10 from entering
your house depending on what model you choose.

I installed the Intermatic whole house surge protector it cost less the
50 bucks and had a 5 dollar rebate and a large dollar warranty for
damages. I have been monitoring using my APC UPS and I have gone from
spikes as large at 132 volts being on my wireing 5-8 times a week to only
one or two per week at 123-127.

The installation is easy don't go the for $300-$400 installation that a
electricion will ask if you feel safe working around a modern breaker
panel. It installs off of breakers on both sides of the power. One
other connection to common and the other to ground. Bolts right to a
panel conduit knockout on the side and even include the lock nut.

I hope this help.

Ron
rva...@mediaone.net

Sean Wilson

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Oct 20, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/20/99
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I've got the Panamax Primax unit, and haven't had any (additional) X-10
problems. Leviton also makes a TVSS that specifically says it won't interfere
with power line signals.

<yest...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:7uk738$upb$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...

Clark Martin

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Oct 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/23/99
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In article <3810881D...@cc-concepts.com>, Mike Baptiste
<bapt...@cc-concepts.com> wrote:

>This is a cryptographically signed message in MIME format.
>
>--------------ms74F582B945B65F112BCCB9FD
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>WHole house surge suppression is a good idea. It is also a good idea to
>leave sensitive components like TVs, computers, and A/V equipment
>plugged into surge suppressing power strips. The reason is, a whole
>house suppressor does just that. It 'supresses' a surge but won't
>necessarily absorb it all. The secondary protection from the power
>strips can suppress it even further. However, plugging any X10 device
>into a surge suppressed outlet or power strip is asking for trouble
>since they won't work as well or at all depending on teh type of surge
>strip you have. Ones with RF filtering and such can often wipe out any
>X10 singal passing through it.

A surge suppressor shouldn't affect X-10 signals. An RFI filter can,
depending on where it rolls off at. The other thing to remember with a
whole house surge suppresor is it's affect on INTERNALLY created surges is
going to be different that from external sources. If you have a high
powered motor (shop tools for example) they could introduce a spike that
while the whole house protector will damp it, it may still get to
sensitive components before it gets suppressed.

One case where it's good to use a surge suppressor with X-10 is with
flourescent lights. When I first started using X-10 I had a aquarium
flourescent light plugged into one. Every time it was turned off remotely
the light would go out and then turn back on again. When I plugged a the
X-10 into a surge suppressor (no RFI filter) the light stopped turning on
again.

--
Clark Martin
Redwood City, CA, USA
Macintosh / Internet Consulting
cla...@pacbell.net

"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"

Theodore M. Seeber

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Oct 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/25/99
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On Fri, 22 Oct 1999, Mike Baptiste wrote:

> WHole house surge suppression is a good idea. It is also a good idea to
> leave sensitive components like TVs, computers, and A/V equipment
> plugged into surge suppressing power strips. The reason is, a whole
> house suppressor does just that. It 'supresses' a surge but won't
> necessarily absorb it all. The secondary protection from the power
> strips can suppress it even further. However, plugging any X10 device
> into a surge suppressed outlet or power strip is asking for trouble
> since they won't work as well or at all depending on teh type of surge
> strip you have. Ones with RF filtering and such can often wipe out any
> X10 singal passing through it.

Hmm, this doesn't happen to me at work. Since I had a couple of spares, I
brought in a tranciever module (IBM Home Director brand, looks like an
RR501 to me) and a Powerhouse Lamp module to use with my desk lamp. The
tranciever is on the wall, the lamp module is on a surge strip plugged
into the same outlet, seems to work just fine.
Ted

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