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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 makes x-10 module communications more reliable Sep 29, 2010
By Mort
I used three of these, along with one of these SIGNALINC PLUG-IN PHASE COUPLER (FOR 3-WIRE 220V DRYERS) at an electric dryer outlet, to restore reliable operation to an x-10 home system that had become very flakey. In my case, and I suspect this is typical of many homes, over the years I had added electronic appliances that each internally include means to suppress any signal on the power line other than the 60HZ A/C power. The problem is that such devices have the effect of suppressing the ~200KHZ signal that X-10 modules use for communication. Battery back-up power supplies (also known as UPS units) for Desktop computers are among the worst offenders, but modern television sets and other entertainment electronics can do the same thing. One can correct that problem by powering such appliances through one of these filters. Another common problem is that typical home wiring has A/C circuits that are on separate phases of the A/C power coming into the home. The only pathway for the 200KHZ X-10 signal from one phase to the other is typically through the power company's transformer outside the house and that can be a long path with lots of signal loss. The effect on X-10 modules is that a controller on one phase may not be able to actuate an X-10 receiver on the other phase. To address that, I used the passive phase coupler that plugs into a the dryer outlet. Both phases are present at a household 220V outlet. So, a coupler there can pass the 200KHZ signal between the phases. With the combination of the filters on electronic appliances and the phase coupler at the dryer, all of my X-10 control problems went away. It is my understanding that, with larger houses having complex power system wiring, one might need an amplified phase coupler (also known as a repeater), rather than the passive type, to pass enough signal to get it all working. But, that was not necessary in my ~2000 ft^2 house. Incidentally, I'm told that repeaters do not necessarily work with dimmable circuits... So, I decided to try the passive coupler before attempting to use a repeater. If it works, it's preferable.
Though the units appear to be robustly designed, and did solve my problem, I gave a less than perfect score because one of the filter units emits a noticeable buzzing sound when there's significant power passing through it. I presume that's due to mechanical vibration of wires coiled around internal inductors in the filter. In my opinion, those wires should be secured so as not to produce acoustic energy irrespective of the magnitude of current load.
 Fixed intermittent X-10 remote problems Oct 24, 2010
By Yakkster
For years my elderly Mother was using a X-10 remote to control the main lights in her bedroom and TV room and for a oscillating cooling fan. A few years ago her caregiver reported occasional problems, but when I checked things out I couldn't determine a cause as all worked fine. More recently problems increased. I found that sometimes having different electronic device plugged-in would disable the switch module in the distant bedroom and also the one for the fan. The one with the receiver antenna in the TV room worked fine. It was still intermittent though as sometimes when I was there with my laptop power supply plugged-in it caused the problem but at other time it wouldn't. Finally I got online to search for a solution and found these filter devices. The 10 amp was the best deal. Since plugging it into a AC socket in the same room as the receiver module all has worked fine. Wished I'd know about this long ago.
Works with TED5000 Sep 16, 2010
By Stanton Smart
I was experiencing periods of drop-out when using my new TED 5000 home energy monitor. Since I couldn't move my router connection to the TED unit, I purchased this filter to plug the TED's router interface into.
Presto ... no more problems! I've been monitoring my home's electric usage with my TED 5000 for over 9 months now with great success.
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