[onehawkeye]

We are going to be building a house with a home theater in the basement, I am starting to look into some automation. I have a couple of X10 wall switches in my current house that have dim on/off features, they are controlled by a radio receiver that plugs into the wall and a remote. When I turn the lights on or off, the receiver emits a very loud click, it almost sounds like a mouse trap. Do all X10 systems work this way or do I just have a cheap piece of crap, I don't want to purchase a large amount of X10 pieces for my theater if this is the way they all work. Any information would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

 

[barrister]

I have been using X-10 for 20 years. It has its idiosyncracies, but is great when you work within its limitations. It sounds like you have lamps plugged into an SR227 wall module. The reason that I say this, is that the X-10 brand wall modules do click. However, if you install X-10 wall switches, they do not click. Also, many other vendors make wall modules, such as leviton and PCS. I cannot verify if the other vendors' wall modules click, but I know that depending on what type of x-10 device you decide to use, you can surely do away with the clicking sound where your lights are concerned.

 

[krooooog]

X10 "appliance" modules "click"...and it is a LOUD click as you mentioned. These are for heavier loads whereas the "lamp" modules are for smaller loads and make no noise. I have both in my house. I use a flourescent backlight for my RPTV and required the use of an appliance module. Appliance modules cannot dim by the way. If all you are using is lamps with standard bulbs (not flour.) I'd get a few more lamp modules and enjoy the silence.

 

[barrister]

The thought has also ocurred to me that the transceiver that you are using may be set on the same device code as your lamp modules. If you are using I believe, a 751 transceiver, put the slider switch over to "9-16" and then make sure that your modules are coded 1-8. The reason is that the transciever has an outlet on it that clicks, so if you don't use the outlet on the transciever you won't hear anything from it.

 

[The Robman]

Check out the link below, it gives details of a brand of X10 modules that are quieter than regular X10 modules, and it also gives details of how you can modify your existing modules to be quieter.

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2345