From Issue #3 , Page #64

Use X10 to create complete home control

When my daughter and son-in-law found a house, they said it felt "lonely." As they walked through the house, discussing what they could do for it, they said they could almost feel it smile. We decided to give it an X10-based "brain." Now, it welcomes them at night by turning the lights on when they come home. An automated home has several benefits. Just to belabor the obvious, some of these are:

Security: Specialists will quickly point out that if a home has a "lived in" look, it's less likely to be targeted for a break-in. If the lights go on and off at a random time rather than the same time each day, the illusion is more convincing.

Safety: Have you ever tripped over something in the yard late at night, because you couldn't see where you were going? By pressing one panic button on a remote, all of the controlled lights will turn on at once; this will keep you safe, and it's also a big enough reason for someone prowling around outside to seek another, less obvious target.

Convenience: Did you forget to turn off the basement lights?

Savings: Yeah, this is a weak point. How many people can honestly claim that they have cut their power bills by letting the computer manage their lights? It works for high-rise buildings sucking down thousands of watts of power, so it might help your bottom line, too.

We chose powerline-based X10 products because it is universally available, relatively inexpensive, easily expandable, and there are plenty of low-cost starter kits out there. However, there are some drawbacks we had to consider. First of all, X10 is susceptible to powerline noise, which can interfere with product performance. Newer X10 modules, especially the ones sold by Leviton, while not immune from powerline noise, are more robust than their predecessors. Phase couplers, if needed, can be installed by the homeowner. Also X10 is not reliable when signals have to cross from one electrical phase to another. Phase? Yes, most normal houses have 220 volts coming in to the house, where it is split into two 110-volt feeds. X10 signals have a problem crossing from one 110-volt feed to the other. But, there are ways to fix this problem.

Another, more valid reason that X10 was chosen: The homeowner's father is a serious pack rat! While cleaning out some old boxes, I found enough wall switches, outlets and plug-in modules to easily handle this installation.

PRELIMINARY SETUP

To start things off, we sat down and talked about what the kids wanted in an "automated" home. Like most people who are just starting to dabble in connectivity, they had no idea what to ask for. When we turned down the idea of being able to automate their cooking and cleaning, we decided to concentrate on the main floor, and slowly branch out from there. The outside lights were the first to be addressed. This is where they will probably get the greatest benefits, followed by the living room.

If you plan to add control to your home, draw up a detailed plan of exactly how you want to proceed. Remember that X10 mini controllers only handle eight codes each, so you will probably want to go for a "zone" approach, where each controller can handle the devices near it. As things get more complicated, you can start creating computer-controlled programs to handle some of the really interesting ideas.

Some people set up each floor as a zone, and the exterior as another one. This house has three floors, so it will eventually have four zones. But for now, one zone will do nicely.

GETTING WIRED

Often the X10 code of A-1 is used for testing, so it was avoided. In fact, we reserved A-2, A-3 and A-4 to be used by our computer program sometime in the future. (We don't know what they will be used for, but since our mini-controller can use the range of units 1-4 or 5-8, we started with the code A-5). The porch light was given the code A-5, the light near the television is A-7, and the floor lamp is A-8. We still have one code left.

Having drawn up an initial plan, we used a circuit tester on all of the outlets we were planning to replace, testing both plugs in the outlet. Although very rare, some older homes actually have outlets that are controlled by two different breakers. Hopefully, you won't encounter this problem. To avoid getting your fingers charbroiled, be sure to test each outlet. If you test before and after removing the power, you will also get the added benefit of insuring that the outlet is wired properly.

The plug-in circuit tester won't work for the wall switches, so you should remove the coverplate from the switch and then use a neon tester on the switch before removing it, again to insure that the power is indeed turned off. It was time to turn the power off. If you haven't already done so, now would be an excellent time to identify each breaker (or fuse, if your house is that old). As you have probably guessed, ours weren't labeled. It only took a few moments to find the correct breaker (and label it).

We tested everything to be replaced with a circuit tester, and began the installation. This is simple; just set the House and Unit code on each module and replaced the old switch or outlet.

DUNGEONS & DRAG RACERS

After setting up the living room, we moved to the dungeon—or more precisely, the basement/garage. When they moved in, the basement was lit with three bare bulbs. The light at the bottom of the staircase had a switch. The other two bulbs had those old porcelain pull-chain fixtures. There were no switches to control either of these bulbs. To turn the lights on, you had to walk through the dark, scary basement, find the string attached to the socket, and then give it a good tug. We needed to "brighten our outlook" down there.

A trip to the local home center netted us several four-foot, two-tube fluorescent shop lights. These fixtures aren't designed to be wired-in; they have normal three-pronged plugs. After hanging them to the floor joists, they were plugged in to several X10-grounded appliance outlets, all set to the same house and unit code. You should be able to control six sets of shop lights from one appliance module (X10's AM466), which is rated at a maximum of 500 watts. Be sure that you don't exceed the power rating for the circuit. We found that two to three sets per module were ideal for this particular setup.

To control the lights, we installed an X10 Receiver module (TM751) and two Slimline Decorator Switches (SS13A) at the top of the stairwell and by the basement door. These switches are radio transmitters that the receiver module can hear. To make them more appealing, they can be mounted virtually anywhere. When we pushed one of the switches, there was a satisfying "clunk," and the entire basement was bathed in light.

OUTDOOR LIGHTING

The house has several floodlights, but they are intensely bright and there are occasions when a softer, more attractive light is desirable. We decided upon low-voltage Pagoda lights to illuminate their walkway.

They bought a Pagoda light kit, which included the lights, wiring and transformer. After mounting the transformer to the wall in the basement, we drilled a hole through the siding for the low-voltage cable, fed the cable through, and then waterproofed the hole. The lights are installed normally, but the transformer is set up so that the timer never cycles on or off. It is set to on permanently. Then it is plugged in to another appliance controller.

At this point in the project, you can go several ways:

1. We can turn the lights on and off manually from a mini controller, but that would mean that the lights would not operate when nobody was home.

2. Since we have a receiver module, we could use an outdoor motion detector that can sense sunrise or sunset, and then it could send signals to the transformer controller to turn the lights on or off at the appropriate times.

3. We could replace one of the floodlights with an X10 motion-controlled floodlight, which can also sense sunrise and sunset.

4. For the ultimate solution, we could have the entire system controlled by a computer, such as the ActiveHome kit. While they were shopping at a local home-improvement store, the homeowners came across an X10 ActiveHome system on closeout. Score! This was just the missing piece that we needed. The heart of the ActiveHome system is a computer interface, the CM11A. It connects to the serial port of your PC, and is commanded by software that is included with the system. In addition to the software that comes with the kit, the CM11A device can be used with almost every home control program on the market.

When we tried to install the ActiveHome software, the installation program complained about a missing library. The computer is brand new and running Windows XP, so rather than try to diagnose the problem, we decided to take a different approach. Turning our browser toward Advanced Quonset Technologies, we downloaded the "light" version of Home Control Assistant (HCA). (Actually, it's called the Limited version, but it's quite capable for the job we have in mind!) One very nice feature of HCA is its graphical nature. During setup, we took several digital photos of the front of the house and downloaded them to the HCA directory. The photo is added to the program and icons of the controlled devices are positioned in the photo. Now, we can see the status of the lights by simply looking at a photo.

HCA uses quick start dialogs to configure your devices, so by simply answering a few questions, we were able to tell the program about all of our modules, and set up schedules for each one. There is one drawback to this configuration. The program we chose doesn't support downloading schedules to the CM11A. Unfortunately, this means that the computer must be kept running if we want to control the lights. This only applies to the free Limited version. We will probably buy the Standard version later, after we have decided how the computer will be controlling the lights. If we set up the power-saver features of the computer properly, the machine could stay on most of the time and still not consume very much power.

With tongue firmly planted within cheek, we would like to point out that the PC will probably suck up the energy that was saved by having it turn off unused lights.

NO BURNT BRIDGES!

As we mentioned earlier, sometimes X10 signals have problems crossing from one circuit to another. A simple way to test this is to turn on a 220-volt appliance, such as the oven or a clothes dryer. If the X10 device can suddenly be controlled, you probably need to bridge the phases.

According to the FAQ at the X10 Web site: "If you do not have enough coupling, you may couple the signal from one phase to the other by having a qualified electrician install a 0.1 microfarad, 240V AC or 600V DC capacitor across your 220-volt line from hot to hot, i.e. across any 220 volt breaker."

Since we aren't electricians, we chose the lazy approach. We bought a plug-in phase coupler from Smarthome. Unplug the dryer, plug in the coupler, and then plug the dryer back in. Coupled phases, and no electrician in sight!

A "SMARTER" HOME

We've hardly scratched the surface on our installation. We still need to add motion detectors, more controlled lights, and a lot more programming to make the house more cooperative. But bear in mind our cardinal rule: Out of sight, out of mind. The best kind of home control is nowhere to be seen. As we leave our newlyweds, we notice that the house does indeed seem to be happier and yes, a little smarter.

Project Snapshot

Estimated Time to Complete: A maximum of 4 hours
Estimated Cost: $213

The Problem
It’s your first home—an older home, with none of the extra wiring that many new homes boast of. You want to create home control without a major rehaul, and need immediate gratification.

Parts Needed
2 mini X10 controllers ($32),
an ActiveHome Starter Kit ($49.95),
2 wall switches ($28), 2 outlets ($30),
3 grounded appliance controllers ($43),
a 4816B2 SignaLinc plug-in phase coupler ($29.95 at Smarthome).

These are the “retail” prices; checking the X10 site, you should be able to duplicate the list at a better price.

Project Steps Decide what you want to control.
Draw up a plan of how to proceed.
Assign X10 codes to the various areas.
Test each outlet with a circuit tester.
Begin the installation.

Bonus Info

Testing Tip
When replacing an outlet with an X10 outlet, be sure to test both plugs in the outlet. It’s not common, but it’s possible that one outlet is controlled by two breakers. If you find one of these beasties, stop immediately! The outlet may not be wired properly and you could be opening a big bucket of worms. Call a licensed electrician to get this fixed.

Safety Tip
If you dismantle or use X10 products in any other way than what the manufacturer suggests, warranties will be nullified and products may not work as intended.

What About the Writer? Name: Brian Abernathy
Age: 53
City/State: Marietta, Ga.
Occupation: IT engineer
One thing people would be surprised to know about me:
I was in a movie with Sandra Bullock (Love Potion #9).