EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

Posted on
Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:25 am
captcurrent offline
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Joined: Nov 28, 2005

EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

OK with a new paid upgrade looming in the horizon.. I am faced with a cost benefit analysis.. has can be note by my posts... I like the indigo program but unfortunately I have had nothing but trouble with hardware
insteon units dying (every time I am away from house it seems my master insteon dies) and almost a total inability to get X10 to work on my system beyond about 25 feet from teh receiver (WR800) and inability to set up irrigation (the rain x i bought years ago has to be to close to computer to be practical and the insteaon unit is an indoor unit...and frankly a lack of wall sockets for control units

OK so I have a WHOLE lot X10 units that i can't use currently

so I am looking at comparative cost of getting a new system in (ADT or something like that with irrigation) or going ahead with the version 5 upgrade with seperate irrigation system. I have had fun (sometimes frustrating) with Indigo but I need to make a leap from play toy to functional control..

So look at probably a 500 - 1000 worth of unusable x10 devices my questions is back to the EXZ10RF.. I had some moderate success with getting mine to pass a x10 to insteon command (moderate in that it never seemed to be what I wanted it to be... but hey it did work)

so after my diatribe my questions is as follows

as I understand it teh EXX10RF takes an X10 action and translates it into a poerline insteaon group command
Can Indigo sense this command through my 2412U so i can build a trigger to react to this?
If I can pull that off then the so called missing link (i know bad) is found

Any ideas on the EZX10RF would be appreicate

Posted on
Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:10 pm
captcurrent offline
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Re: EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

let me extract my ranting and ravings and re-ask/restate core question


as I understand it th EZX10RF receives wireless X10 on/off action and translates it into a insteon powerline group command
Will Indigo sense this command through my 2412U so i can build a trigger to react to this?


This would allow me to solve my range issue as the EZX10RF I had showed good range before it melted down

Any ideas on the EZX10RF would be appreicated

Posted on
Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:16 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

Yes. Indigo will "see" the EZX10RF group commands once you have it configured correctly (I have no idea how to set up the EZX10RF though - don't have one myself).

Have you considered that, given your high failure rate, you may have some really unstable power that's causing these failures? Have you had an electrician check out your home's electrical systems to make sure they aren't out of the norm?

And, as for the W800, just for grins, I did a little testing here. My office is on one side of my house (with a bathroom between it and one outside wall). It's antenna is connected to a 2" cable that connects it to the W800, so the antenna is right with the W800 sticking straight up in the air, about 4' off the floor. I got successful signals from a PalmPad in the following scenarios:

  • Through 1 wall ~10'
  • Through 2 walls ~15'
  • Through 3 walls ~35'
  • Through 4 walls, including a fireplace ~45'
  • Through 3 walls including through a washing machine and dryer ~ 25'
  • Through 2 walls (one outside) ~ 15'
  • Through 2 walls (one outside) ~25'
  • Through 2 walls (one outside) ~35'
  • Through 2 walls (one outside) ~45'

Just a data point - although I don't use the W800 in my production environment, it appears to be quite capable. Actually it's very impressive - my INSTEON RF devices don't have that kind of range.

Of course, lots of things can impact RF performance: wall composition, RF noise, sending device strength, etc. I wonder if anyone else has experienced signal range issues with the W800 and if they found a solution?

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:35 pm
captcurrent offline
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Re: EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

The house had been thoroughly tested when I purchased it a year ok

the previous owner was an electrician and the inspector marveled that it was the only house he had ever seen
completely to code .. had the main power into house redone and syste retest 6 months ago when i added air co

I have the antenna in the attic crawl space away from all metal and interference

even your own experiment shows how flukey the w800 is

my best is 20 feet through roof no walls

yeah the EZX10RF is almost impossible to program but i sort of figured out the one before it burnt out...
couldn't do much with it because i didn't need group actions... but if i can turn those into triggers.. then I can plug a big hole

Posted on
Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:48 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

captcurrent wrote:
even your own experiment shows how flukey the w800 is


How do you figure? Range of 45' seems pretty good to me...

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:56 pm
captcurrent offline
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Joined: Nov 28, 2005

Re: EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

this info

Through 1 wall ~10'
Through 2 walls ~15'
Through 3 walls ~35


if anything it should be the opposite three walls provide more shielding then 1 :)

Posted on
Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:38 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

Using a single quote after a number means feet. So, 35' means 35 FEET. Just like using double quotes after a number means inches.

So, I got good signals up to 45 feet away through multiple walls. As I said, very impressive.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:02 pm
Brandt offline
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Re: EZX10RF and getting X 10 signals into Indigo

You can always try passive radiators on your transmitting X10 devices. It may help the w800 pick up on it. Coat hangers or copper tape. Also, get the antenna from radio shack that everyone raves about (it's what I got) for the w800 up in the attic just like you....Just google 'w800rf radio shack antenna'...you should find it....Also note that my w800 works 100 times better on a mac mini core solo with indigo then it ever did on a sheevaplug running heyu....

EDIT: let me clarify that I have the w800usb not the w800rf32a

Indigo 7 w/ Dual-Band 2413U PLM
macOS High Sierra 10.13.x
2011 iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7

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