26 Jun
2001
26 Jun
'01
11:52 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
X10 in the UK/EU is expensive.
On June 26, Richard Erlacher wrote:
This probably explains why X10 is not at all popular in the UK (and yes,
a 230V version does exist). I seem to remember that last time I looked at
the price of the modules they were all about \pounds 40.00 each. And the
computer [1] interface was about \pounds 90.00. I decided it was going to
be far too expensive for me to use. communication via the power mains, isn't it?
My notion to date has been that
the X-10 stuff is a mite costly, considering that one could hook up a triac, an
MOC30-something isolated triac driver, and a PIC, e.g. one of the 14-pin or
even 8-pin parts, and put the thing in the box with the switch.
Costly? A 300W dimmer module costs like nine bucks. When I add up the [1] Wintel, only, alas. Totally useless to me.
Take a look at my pages, you'll think outherwise. :-)
> They're all PIC-based, by the way...the
modern dimmer modules contain
> 12c508 chips.
Some are PIC based, the newer ones are, some of the modules are not.
I am not suprised. I think they used to be based on
some kind of ASIC,
but it would make sense for them to use PICs now.
The 'Old School Hacking' community is using PIC, AVR, and Zilog controllers
to interface between the AC and the PC. We've come up with some interesting
hacks. See Dave Houston's (http://www.laser.com/dhouston/bx24-aht.htm) pages
for a really good example.
--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)home.net
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