kwilcox
Active Member
I depend on wireless X10 to drive my automatic lighting and had noticed that while WGL design's W800RF32 receiver did one heck of a job, it did have a few shortcomings. For one, it was susceptible to RF noise such as that generated by track light transformers and some CFL lights. Secondly, it didn't always pick up signals correctly when several X10 RF sources were transmitting simultaneously. This one was a biggie for me because the accuracy and delay timing for my automatic lighting depends on sensors that send lots of signals. I can twitch a finger in most automatic lighting controlled rooms and it'll fire wireless X10.
The issue I had was also twofold: At night when the Library track lights were on at low illumination, X10 keypads sprinkled around the house weren't working reliably when the library was between them and the W800RF32 antenna. The second issue I had was that my home office door is off the library, so entering the office requires first traversing the library. This caused two motion sensors to go off simultaneously when I was headed to the office. The desired automation sequence was library lighting engaged when I entered that room followed by office lighting as I entered the office. However, the actual end result here was that 50% of the time, my W800RF32 would miss the initial sensor trip as I entered the office itself and fail to trigger the office lights. This was because as I was enteringthe office, the Library sensor was still signaling that I was moving in that room.
Enter the W800+.
Warren advertises this as a more sensitive plug & play replacement for the W800RF32 and he is pretty much spot on. Mine arrived last week, and after a short bit of troubleshooting (it wasn't compatible with the USB/Serial adapter that I was using on the original W800RF32) I had it up and running.
Since then, reliability has returned to my X10 keypads and more importantly, the office lighting has never failed to trigger.
All in all, an impressive upgrade to an already great automation component. Highly recommended for anybody looking for increased sensitivity/noise rejection and/or the increased ability to distinguish individual devices during simultaneous transmissions!
The issue I had was also twofold: At night when the Library track lights were on at low illumination, X10 keypads sprinkled around the house weren't working reliably when the library was between them and the W800RF32 antenna. The second issue I had was that my home office door is off the library, so entering the office requires first traversing the library. This caused two motion sensors to go off simultaneously when I was headed to the office. The desired automation sequence was library lighting engaged when I entered that room followed by office lighting as I entered the office. However, the actual end result here was that 50% of the time, my W800RF32 would miss the initial sensor trip as I entered the office itself and fail to trigger the office lights. This was because as I was enteringthe office, the Library sensor was still signaling that I was moving in that room.
Enter the W800+.
Warren advertises this as a more sensitive plug & play replacement for the W800RF32 and he is pretty much spot on. Mine arrived last week, and after a short bit of troubleshooting (it wasn't compatible with the USB/Serial adapter that I was using on the original W800RF32) I had it up and running.
Since then, reliability has returned to my X10 keypads and more importantly, the office lighting has never failed to trigger.
All in all, an impressive upgrade to an already great automation component. Highly recommended for anybody looking for increased sensitivity/noise rejection and/or the increased ability to distinguish individual devices during simultaneous transmissions!
