- What is X10?
- What sort of X10 transmitters exist?
- What sort of X10 receivers exist?
- How many different units can X10 handle?
What is X10?
X10 is a communications protocol for remote control of electrical devices. It is designed for communications between X10 transmitters and X10 receivers which communicate on standard household wiring.
Transmitters and receivers generally plug into standard electrical outlets although some must be hardwired into electrical boxes. Transmitters send commands such as "turn on," "turn off" or "dim," preceded by the identification of the receiver unit to be controlled. This broadcast goes out over the electrical wiring in a building. Each receiver is set to a certain unit ID, and reacts only to commands addressed to it. Receivers ignore commands not addressed to them.
Note that "X-10" is a trademark of X-10 (USA) Incorporated. Please see X10.com for any specific company or product information.
What sort of X10 transmitters exist?
The simplest X10 transmitter is a small control box with buttons. The buttons select which unit is to be controlled, and which control function is to be sent to the selected units (e.g. "turn on," "all units off," etc).
There are also clock timer transmitters which can be programmed to send X10 commands at certain times. Some of these can be programmed with buttons on the timer; some must be connected to a computer to select the times.
There are other special purpose transmitters that send certain X10 commands at sunup or sundown, upon detecting movement, or as commanded by tones over a telephone.
What sort of X10 receivers exist?
The simplest X10 receiver is a small module with an electrical plug (to connect to a standard wall outlet), an electrical outlet (to provide controlled power to the device it's controlling) and two dials (to set the unit ID code) on it.
An appliance module has relay inside which switches power to its outlet on or off in response to X10 commands directed to it.
A lamp module is similar, but has a triac instead of a relay and will respond to dimming commands as well as on or off commands.
Other receivers can be wired into wall outlets or into lamp fixtures.
Note that the standard wall switch (X10:WS467) is a receiver, not a transmitter; it does not transmit X10 commands, and only takes action when it receives the appropriate X10 command or local button-push.
How manydifferent units can X10 handle?
X10 specifies a total of 256 different addresses: 16 unit codes (1-16) for each of 16 house codes (A-P). Normally a transmitter is set to a certain house code (generally selectable by means of a dial) and so can control at most 16 unit codes.
There is no restriction on using multiple transmitters each set to a different house code on the same wiring. Also, several receivers could be set to the same house code and unit code so a single command issued by an X10 transmitter could control multiple receivers in parallel.
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