LGR Oddware - X10: MS-DOS Smart Home Automation!
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
ReplayRetro
What a fantastic piece of Oddware! Absolutely love it! The reason your LED bulb caused problems was because of leakage. basically because the adapter needs to be powered by your mains and lacks full isolation it never actually completely shuts off the power to the lamp, instead just reducing it to a very low level. With an incandescent bulb this isn't a problem, because the power getting through isn't enough to do anything, but because LED bulbs require so little power and have capacitors you'll basically get a brief flash from the bulb every time the capacitor gets fully charged, the same is true of the dimming effect except it flashes faster as you're charging it more quickly. If you were to use a dimmable LED bulb you'd probably eliminate this problem (though it depends on the amount of leakage)
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What a fantastic piece of Oddware! Absolutely love it! The reason your LED bulb caused problems was because of leakage. basically because the adapter needs to be powered by your mains and lacks full isolation it never actually completely shuts off the power to the lamp, instead just reducing it to a very low level. With an incandescent bulb this isn't a problem, because the power getting through isn't enough to do anything, but because LED bulbs require so little power and have capacitors you'll basically get a brief flash from the bulb every time the capacitor gets fully charged, the same is true of the dimming effect except it flashes faster as you're charging it more quickly. If you were to use a dimmable LED bulb you'd probably eliminate this problem (though it depends on the amount of leakage)
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Joe
I had that whole system of X10 including drape controllers and even open contact programing of temperature modules for air conditioning. Not: you cannot use fluorescent or LED bulbs because of the lower constant power state required. These already -sleep- at a lower power state. This causes blinking, pulsing and very dim lighting. e. g a fluorescent bulb will glow in -off- state. Another odd behavior is electrical noise. The burst from external sources and induced noise from electrical storms can turn lights on or off. Also some PCs (286, 386, 486) contribute electrical noise on the circuit effectively blocking X10 bursts. The X10 sold a plug in adapter for the PC power supply to filter the noise. And if your devices resided on different legs or you panel, the signal would not pass without a bridge.
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I had that whole system of X10 including drape controllers and even open contact programing of temperature modules for air conditioning. Not: you cannot use fluorescent or LED bulbs because of the lower constant power state required. These already -sleep- at a lower power state. This causes blinking, pulsing and very dim lighting. e. g a fluorescent bulb will glow in -off- state. Another odd behavior is electrical noise. The burst from external sources and induced noise from electrical storms can turn lights on or off. Also some PCs (286, 386, 486) contribute electrical noise on the circuit effectively blocking X10 bursts. The X10 sold a plug in adapter for the PC power supply to filter the noise. And if your devices resided on different legs or you panel, the signal would not pass without a bridge.
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donkmeister
In the late 90s I dated a girl who's dad had automated the family home with X10. I think he'd built the system in the late 70s or early 80s and it had something that looked a bit like an ALTAIR driving it. He explained to me that he'd spent a lot of time programming it to do things like turn the TV off at a particular time, turn lights on, set the heating etc but then spent most of his time straining to reach the override buttons when the TV turned off whilst he was watching something or he wanted to make the house warmer or cooler. All very impressive in theory but of limited use, and there was a definite delay between hitting a dimmer and the lights dimming.
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In the late 90s I dated a girl who's dad had automated the family home with X10. I think he'd built the system in the late 70s or early 80s and it had something that looked a bit like an ALTAIR driving it. He explained to me that he'd spent a lot of time programming it to do things like turn the TV off at a particular time, turn lights on, set the heating etc but then spent most of his time straining to reach the override buttons when the TV turned off whilst he was watching something or he wanted to make the house warmer or cooler. All very impressive in theory but of limited use, and there was a definite delay between hitting a dimmer and the lights dimming.
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Nightykk
Tbh. That's not much worse than current day Google Assistant.
-Hey booboo, turn on the desk lights- - Proceeds to turn on every single light.
-Hey booboo, turn on the DESK light- - Urgh, fine then.
-Hey booboo, play Star Trek Enterprise- - Playing Star Trek The Original Series from Netflix on. -Hey google play Star Trek Enterprise- - Playing Star Trek The Origi--- - turns off device -
-Hey booboo, set the brightness to -raises voice- 20% (cause you know it's going to screw it up)- - Okay, let me just blind you with 100%.
-Hey booboo, close the blinds- - Do you want me to close the blinds?
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Tbh. That's not much worse than current day Google Assistant.
-Hey booboo, turn on the desk lights- - Proceeds to turn on every single light.
-Hey booboo, turn on the DESK light- - Urgh, fine then.
-Hey booboo, play Star Trek Enterprise- - Playing Star Trek The Original Series from Netflix on. -Hey google play Star Trek Enterprise- - Playing Star Trek The Origi--- - turns off device -
-Hey booboo, set the brightness to -raises voice- 20% (cause you know it's going to screw it up)- - Okay, let me just blind you with 100%.
-Hey booboo, close the blinds- - Do you want me to close the blinds?
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Yesterday's
Hey, rewatching this, I vaguely remember that there was some early 2000s company trying to make some stuff compatible with X10, and there was some controversy because it was not the original X10 company? They released something called Firecracker (or something along those lines) that was free-. -severe asterisks apply. The only other thing that I remember that really got people annoyed was that one of their ads featured a fairly bloody obviously photoshopped Sarah Palin in American flag bikini holding a rifle. Or something. Because early 2000s I guess.
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Hey, rewatching this, I vaguely remember that there was some early 2000s company trying to make some stuff compatible with X10, and there was some controversy because it was not the original X10 company? They released something called Firecracker (or something along those lines) that was free-. -severe asterisks apply. The only other thing that I remember that really got people annoyed was that one of their ads featured a fairly bloody obviously photoshopped Sarah Palin in American flag bikini holding a rifle. Or something. Because early 2000s I guess.
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Bill
Mornin i had this system since 76 it was kick ass in the day started with commadore 64 now x10 has a wifi interface everything sill works but the lighting components they are not compatible with LED lighting. its nice you don't need a phone to turn stuff on and off all the time but you can still set up times. I use it in the man cave and at Halloween
Ive got a 80, s IBM PS2 computer monitor, keyboard, mouse and programs to get rid of don't want to scrap it
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Mornin i had this system since 76 it was kick ass in the day started with commadore 64 now x10 has a wifi interface everything sill works but the lighting components they are not compatible with LED lighting. its nice you don't need a phone to turn stuff on and off all the time but you can still set up times. I use it in the man cave and at Halloween
Ive got a 80, s IBM PS2 computer monitor, keyboard, mouse and programs to get rid of don't want to scrap it
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Troy
I still use my X10 system. Some parts of it are over 30 years old and I can turn on/off the lamp in my bedroom without getting out of bed. The X10 lamp module sends a pulse of electricity to the lamp and it can detect when the lamp is turned off and on again at the power switch on the lamp. It-s a manual override in case you can-t find the main control unit. Try it! Because the LED or CFL bulbs are low power you can see this flash.
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I still use my X10 system. Some parts of it are over 30 years old and I can turn on/off the lamp in my bedroom without getting out of bed. The X10 lamp module sends a pulse of electricity to the lamp and it can detect when the lamp is turned off and on again at the power switch on the lamp. It-s a manual override in case you can-t find the main control unit. Try it! Because the LED or CFL bulbs are low power you can see this flash.
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Stephen
totally had that system in the 80s and 90s. Used to freak my friends out with the voice activation. I would stop talking and they would start yelling which would ruin the effect. I'd come home and say sweetie darling I'm home and the lights would come on. Sweetie darling what's the name I called my computer. My biggest issue was that I had a hard time communicating with the computer from the front door!
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totally had that system in the 80s and 90s. Used to freak my friends out with the voice activation. I would stop talking and they would start yelling which would ruin the effect. I'd come home and say sweetie darling I'm home and the lights would come on. Sweetie darling what's the name I called my computer. My biggest issue was that I had a hard time communicating with the computer from the front door!
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Sean
Actually used an X10 system up until 2012. Moved the various switches, outlet's, and plugs every time I moved in the 90's. Finally abandoned all the stuff in the townhouse I owned when I sold it, installing a much better Insteon system in the house I bought and am currently living in. Biggest problem with X10 is dealing with the two phases and getting a reliable signal on both sides.
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Actually used an X10 system up until 2012. Moved the various switches, outlet's, and plugs every time I moved in the 90's. Finally abandoned all the stuff in the townhouse I owned when I sold it, installing a much better Insteon system in the house I bought and am currently living in. Biggest problem with X10 is dealing with the two phases and getting a reliable signal on both sides.
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Stoned
dude every time I see your old ass computers and stuff I'm so enchanted staying up till 3am on the work night. The x10 was magical and super worth it. i'm just super sad i don't have all the awesome hardware u got. In many ways, this stuff is more magical than what is around now. Just so much more awesome than hollow sad computers and hardware of today.
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dude every time I see your old ass computers and stuff I'm so enchanted staying up till 3am on the work night. The x10 was magical and super worth it. i'm just super sad i don't have all the awesome hardware u got. In many ways, this stuff is more magical than what is around now. Just so much more awesome than hollow sad computers and hardware of today.
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