I beleive the concept of X10 is a Sham! The product does not work. Smarthome says it is the best thing to ever happen and they never have problems.

My friend and I both bought a system and we live 5 houses apart. He can turn my lights on and off from his house. But I can not turn his lights on or off.

If I try to open the garage door the whole X10 system stops working while the garage door is up. If I use the other button on my garage door opener what ever lights that are hooked into X10 will go off or if they are off they go on.

If this stuff is so great why does it work so poorly. X10 is the biggest peice of FU**ing S**T I have spent money on. I would spend a million dollars (If I had it) to to find a system other than X10 that will work all my lights without any bugs or problems to work out.
it would be great to if it could talk to my TVs and stereo stuff.

Does anybody know who makes a system that is better than X10. Smarthome will not take it back. So I am going to burn everything. As far as my friend, he has a whole lot of diffrent problems with his stuff. But he like's what it can do dispite all its problems.

People PLEASE help.

My brother, I feel your pain. As a custom home Automater of 11 years, I can not tell you how many X10 systems I have removed to make systems work the way my customers want automation control to work. If you want the best check out the web sites from:

Panja
AMX
Crestron
Phast
Landmark
Elan
Lutron
Lite Touch

Plan on spending from $2000.00 to $500,000.00 for hardware and programming. This stuff is way diffrent from X10. Although most of the systems I listed will interface X10 the Manufactures recommend againt it.
The best 2 would be the AMX and Crestron. I have the AMX/Panja system and the stuff it can do will blow your mind.

Good Luck

Gee, Sim won Fang,

Read the forums, apply the concepts and X10 will work fine.

Set the house codes different, install an active phase coupler and rock and roll.

Suspicious no email address on the one guy who is completely negative and asks not for advice.

Speaking of stereo stuff....I have an older 5 disc CD changer that is remote controlled, but the remote does not control the power. Enter X10 and now it is fully automated with my Pronto.

Instead of just complaining, hung chow, how about explaining your setup, describing your problem and asking for help.

TIC

Mason,

The post from "Fang" was a setup for Larry's reply. You'll notice how they were posted only 12 minutes apart and how "Fang" uses some of the same words to describe X10 as Larry used in some previous threads.

Larry has a hard time understanding why we all don't want to spend $50,000-$100,000 on our automation systems so he resorts to profanity and talking to himself.

I am sorry but what a bunch of crap. Any system if not installed properly does not work properly. I can sell you a Crestron system and guarantee you that it can be completely worthless in the hands of someone that does not understand it's set up. That’s why every system listed in the above thread is restricted to custom install dealers. X10 is one of the few systems on the market that dares trust the consumer.

I agree with Larry that this was probably a hoax, but it is a feeling shared by a lot of people. X10.com and Radio Shack unfortunately propagate this feeling, by selling products without educating the consumer about their proper use.

Thankfully there are forums like this, where if you are interested you can get the answers needed to properly install and care for your X10 system.

X10 is far from perfect but neither are all the other systems out there. All systems need proper set up in order to perform correctly.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Bill,

I agree....I was really put off that I had to come here to find out that almost every X10 installation will need a coupler and or amp.

Larry from TN,

Good observation, but sorry it is not true. I wish that I created it, but it's just plain not true. Sim does say stuff that (yes) I might say; and seems to share some of my fellings also. But Bill E. hit the nail on the head.

It does not matter how great the equipment is or how great of a programmer one might be. If the person using it does not understand it, what good is it? $1500.00 system or a $200,000.00 system.

I found it kind of odd that his neighbore friend 5 houses down can turn his lights on and off. I don't buy that because X10 codes have a limit as to how far they can travel. Now if 5 houses down is a length of 100 feet from house 1 to house 5 in a condo application, I can then see it MIGHT happen, but still would not belive it.

I will check back soon to see if Sum Dumb Wong answers Mason's questions or not. I would like to know what type of problems his friend is having also.

I too did notice that I was quick to comment just a few minutes after it posted. Maybe Sim is caught up in American Lingo or something or his english is very good.

Some advice to you Larry. You should not be so hyper to accuse someone of something when you have no proof. It is a bad practice to get into. Have you noticed that I don't post messages any more telling people I also hate X10. You did an excellent job of telling me that some people who own X10 and they have good results and that it works. It's just from my point of view, I have not meet any of these people that speak highly of X10 as you do.

So with all that said, can we be friends?

Larry

I found X-10 to be a great break-through product for someone looking to tinker with light home automation. I've kept to the basics such as light and appliance modules and intergrated them with my Pronto and found that they do exactly what I wanted them to do. All without spending $1,500 - $500,000.99.

Every problem I've come across as been the result of one of two things. Either I didn't know how to properly use the equiptment or I screwed up a macro. By posting specific questions in this forum, I've seen the error in my ways.

So thank you to everyone who has every offered advice to me in this forum. You've helped me put together a great setup that I've come to appricate, all for the relatively low price of around $60.00.

--Alexis

I have a love/hate relationship with X10. I have used it for several years now for light control only. I have had different lights trigger at unexpected times and have had the problem just go away. I would NEVER use it for heat/AC control, fireplace control, etc. But for light control, inside and outside, it's hard to beat(for the money). The only interference that I've been able to positively identify, repeatedly, is the treadmill. The other flaky stuff that happens is inconsistant. (I think the dehumidifier may be causing problems but if that's it it's not all the time.)