I have outside flood lights. When I hook up a normal x10 switch to it, it works but the switch starts to smell like it is burning. Obviously the switch cannot handle the amount of voltage being drawn. My question is, does X10 make a heavy duty switch that I can use for outdoor flood lights? The switch is in the basement, and not outside. Any help??

Thanks

Well, the voltage is going to be about 115v regardless. The fixutre can't draw more voltage.

What is can do is exceed the power rating of the switch. What is the total wattage of the flood light and what type of light (incandescent, flourescent, halogen, etc.) is it?

I will have to see what the wattage is on the bulbs, but there are about 10 of them, and they are incadenscent.

With ten of them there's a good chance that you're exceeding the switch's maximum power rating. i.e. 10 75 watt bulbs would be 750 watts which would be too much for the standard switches (usually 500 or 600 watt ratings).

You can upgrade to a high-wattage switch such as the PCS PCSS1L/S-1000 which is rated up to 1000 watts, and still provides dimming and silent operation, for $68.20. Alternately, you could go with a relay module, typically used for ceiling fans or flourescent lights. The X10 Pro XPS3 is rated for 20A at 120V, which converts to 2,400 Watts (P=I*E), for $27.89. What you'd lose is the ability to dim the lights and you will have an audible "thunk" when the switch is activated.

You can see all the X10 receivers I mentioned at this URL: [Link: homeautomationnet.com] Just figure out what your total power capacity needs are then you can pick the switch that'll do the job.