X10 Phase Coupler (Signal Bridge)

[R1PLUS]

I use an Elk M1G and an x10 PSC05 to send X10 commands, along with some hand held RF transmitters and a couple of X10 Pro PAT01 X10 RF receivers. There are 16 receivers, of various makes and models, on one house code and two Elkmate 9100's and some receptacles on another house code.

I recently added a PZZ01 Coupler/Blocking Filter in the main breaker panel next to the meter base. Now I have the PZZ01 and the two elkmate relays, in addition to any 220VAC appliance that happens to be energized, acting as a bridge between phases. Can it cause problems to have too many?

All of my X10 devices except for the Elkmates seem to be working fine. Do the Elkmates lose their address if powered down for more than an hour?

I'm learning in the X10 school of hard knocks. Any help is much appreciated.

 

[ano]

I use an Elk M1G and an x10 PSC05 to send X10 commands, along with some hand held RF transmitters and a couple of X10 Pro PAT01 X10 RF receivers. There are 16 receivers, of various makes and models, on one house code and two Elkmate 9100's and some receptacles on another house code.

I recently added a PZZ01 Coupler/Blocking Filter in the main breaker panel next to the meter base. Now I have the PZZ01 and the two elkmate relays, in addition to any 220VAC appliance that happens to be energized, acting as a bridge between phases. Can it cause problems to have too many?

All of my X10 devices except for the Elkmates seem to be working fine. Do the Elkmates lose their address if powered down for more than an hour?

I'm learning in the X10 school of hard knocks. Any help is much appreciated.

Yes, from what I've seen, the 9100's do lose their address when unpowered more than a few minutes. I think they go back to their default address of A1.

As for bridges and repeaters, those are two different things. You can use as many passive bridges as you like OR you can us ONE repeater, but no other combination. You definitly don't want two repeaters, like those built into the 9100. They will bother each other because each will be a bit out-of-phase of the other. Also, a passive bridge will greatly decrease the effect of a repeater.

 

[JeffVolp]

As for bridges and repeaters, those are two different things. You can use as many passive bridges as you like OR you can us ONE repeater, but no other combination.

It is more complicated than that. Some inexpensive couplers like a simple capacitor or the SignaLink couple signals "in-phase". So the signals applied to both legs are virtually identical with one another. Some other couplers, such as the original X10 XPCP and the similar Leviton 6299 couple signals "out-of-phase" when wired per the instructions. In this case the signals on each leg are mirror images of one another. Each type of coupling has benefits. However, unless you have 240V X10 modules, in-phase coupling is probably best. It is important not to pair the two types of couplers. I wrote a tutorial on couplers that will go into more detail:

http://jeffvolp.home.att.net/x10_info/x10_couplers.htm

Jeff

 

[R1PLUS]

Thank you both for your help!!!

I have the two 9100's and an PZZ01 as couplers. I do not know if either of them bridge in phase or not. How would I determine that?

It sounds like if I have two 9100's they cause a conflict acting as repeaters. I believe that feature is selectable. It sounds like turning one on and the other off is a good idea. Would it be better to use the one closest to the breaker box as a repeater or the one furthest away.

 

[ano]

Thank you both for your help!!!

I have the two 9100's and an PZZ01 as couplers. I do not know if either of them bridge in phase or not. How would I determine that?

It sounds like if I have two 9100's they cause a conflict acting as repeaters. I believe that feature is selectable. It sounds like turning one on and the other off is a good idea. Would it be better to use the one closest to the breaker box as a repeater or the one furthest away.

The 9100 can act as a conventional active repeater, in that it receives a signal on one leg, then repeats it on the other. I would recommend activating one but not both, and the one closest to the breaker panel would be the one I would chose to activate.