I am on a contract in an almost third world country,Papua New Guinea, just north of Australia. After months of spectating on X10 products, I finally had a chance to pick some things up from the Australian X10 distributor. After some huge teething problems with the ocelot (thanks to the Australian distributor) I finally got everything working. My problem is that the signal coming from the XM10E (I think this is the 240v, 50hz equivalent to a TW523) seems to be extremely weak. I can make any module work if it is on the same circuit breaker, but any signal that has to go to the fusebox, then back to an outlet seems to get lost along the way. I have tried cutting the LED already - no effect. I have unplugged ALL items in the house - no effect. I even turned off all the breakers except the ones I wanted to control. No effect.

Does anyone have any suggestions to what could be the problem and how to solve it? A signal tester would be a godsend, but I can't find any 240v versions.

Cheers, Cam

Cam,

The ones we sell ACT AT004 are variable 120-277V and 50/60HZ. They come with the 240V adapter. There is not a better unit for figuring out what's is going on. This is a device everyone should have especially if you are doing this commercially.

ACT also has a whole hose of 240V 50Hz products [Link: act-solutions.com] including some coupler repeaters that may solve your problem.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Thanks Bill - this tester looks great! The only problem is that its also very expensive. I dont think I can justify that kind of expense at this stage. Do you sell all the ACT 240v products? I've been looking at the 240v ACT products for a while, and really like the concept, the only problem is that they dont have any 240 dimmers yet. Apparently this is still being developed. When they introduce this Im hoping to pick up a whole lot of ACT stuff.

Cheers, Cam

Cam,

The AT004 tester is worth every penny especially if you do a lot of X10. It seems expensive but when it comes down to your time and frustration level it gets fairly reasonable quick. I plan to rent them in the near future but probably won’t be sending them out of the US.

I sell every ACT product but do not stock the 240V yet. Just have not gotten enough call for it to justify the expense of having it on the shelf. If there is any product you want e-mail you and I will quote it. I know I beat the other guys out there.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Thanks again Bill, I will contact you when Im ready to go ahead. Probably won't be for a while though.

Cheers, Cam