Homeowner Forum / Home Automation / September 2008

X10 Issues - am I the only one?
I recently Purchased some items from X10, as I went to use them I ran into
various shortcommings.
1- When using the ActiveHome Professional Kit Part# CM15A-SP-ISSO and the
software that was made available on their web ( they forgot to send it to me),
it seemed easy to program however, the s/w continued to hang my Media Center
Edition SP2 OS.
2- When trying to use the Socket Rocket Smart Screw in Lamp Module, they
failed to list on the instructions you needed to program this seperately prior
to trying to use the item from #1 above.
Later this was sucessfully programmed with a code to activate the device.

Ok, so now I have a s/w package and device to remotely control the Rocket
Sockets and the ability to program the Rocket Sockets - time to use the
sensors.

3- I purchased multiple ActiveEye Motion sensors. They are wireless and simply
take 2 AAA batteries.
I placed 1 then 2 then 3 of them on my back porch with different zones or
angles between them and tested their range before the motion would set them
off. Great the seemed to work, I had them simply activate a lamp with an X10
Power House Transceiver Module (TM751). This allowed me to test the sensor
with a visual feedback of the lamp on/off. All seemed well, Again,I placed it
on the rear porch with the other two sensors - each with their own area of
coverage. Then over the next few days I experienced the following problem.
Wind would set off the motion sensor. More over, two sensors would be
activated and the lamp would continue to stay on ( it seemed as if the
Transceiver got confused), I also have an X10 Manual Remote Control CR12A and
I would have to use this to turn off the lamp. After a day or so of this
problem, I defaulted to only using 1 sensor on the rear porch.

4- Final Straw, after approximately 2 weeks of using the single sensor with
the lamp and fewer problems with the lamp being left in the on state - I
noticed I would walk by the motion sensor and it would not activate the lamp.
I would have to place my hand within a few inches to activate the sensor. I
concluded the cause for this was the batteries. Note I live in Tucson - so it
should not be the cold weather or else these would have an extremely limited
area of utility in the US. And if the battery life is less than 2 weeks - I
have no use for the entire set of items.

Comments welcome.
Chuck