I'm new at this, with sugerplum fairy fantasies of remotely controlling everything in the house! But, to start, all I want to do is turn out the lights in the room before starting the movie.

The lights are compact fluorescents, so I ordered from SmartHome (excellent fast service, BTW!) (1) an IBM X10 appliance module (since I know that fluorescents don't like light modules), (2) an IR543 command center, and (3) an IR/RF remote (UR-19A).

So I set things up, and they worked with the UR-19A remote. Then I had the AV2100 learn the off and on commands (to System Control 1 and 2, respectively) from the UR-19A, which worked fine in the test room (= kitchen + dining room...).

Then I plugged everything in in the room with the receiver/DVD player/etc/etc/etc, loaded the Apocalypse Now DVD, got it cued to the helicopter attack, pushed the AV2100 SC1, and, yes , the lights went off ... I started watching ... and then the lights came back on! Pushed SC1 again, and they went off, and then back on in a little while (20-30 seconds).

I made sure that after pushing the SC1 button I turned the AV2100 off completely. No effect.

Please, what am I doing wrong?

Well first off, you got everything from the wrong supplier and paid way to much. What I would try doing is turn your lights off with your remote and then immediately unplug your 4040 (IR543) and wait. If they don't come back on you have a bad transceiver. I would add that this problem is an odd one. Call them back hold for a half an hour and see if they will send you another one. If they do come back on, I would try swapping the module.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

D'oh!

My problem was indeed not AV2100-related, but instead had to do with my having 2 compact fluorescents plugged in to the appliance module. The solution is found in this thread ([Link: remotecentral.com]) using the wire cutters per this site ([Link: www3.edgenet.net]). Now it works great.

Re the price I paid, I did indeed shop around, wanting to buy just 2 appliance remotes, an IR543, and the cheapest possible X-10 IR remote with which to teach my AV2100 -- from SmartHome I paid $10 more for the IR543 but less for everything else, so with 1-day shipping it came to $72. From, e.g. homeautomationnet, the same totalled out to $104, because SmartHome had a greater selection of, including cheaper, remotes and appliance modules, and the overnight shipping cost $15 less. When I buy more stuff, I will shop around again....

Monte,

You might be a little disappointed if you bought the cheapest X-10 IR remote. You see, the X-10 brand IR remotes are, inexplicably incapable of sending the IR codes for units 11-16. So you won't be able to teach the Sony remote those codes. Don't misunderstand, the very same remote, when used in RF mode, sends the unit codes 11-16 with no problems. You can get a cheap One For All brand remote, that will send the IR codes 11-16. I don't know specifically which models, but maybe check on the One For All forum. Somebody there will know.

John Galvin

Thanks -- good to know.

Since we use compact fluorescents in all of our light fixures, and most of them have 3-way switches, I expect we're going to be very slow to make much more of our house remote-controlled, because of how much more expensive those switches are ... ow!