[rescue] Phaser ink - turning off phantom loads.
Curious George
jorge234q at yahoo.com
Wed Aug 20 14:40:50 CDT 2008
--- On Wed, 8/20/08, Mike Hebel <nimitz at nimitzbrood.com> wrote:
> >> I'm really annoyed with all the devices that don't outright
> >> shut *off* (after a prolonged idle period). Especially all
> >> these things with stupid wall warts/bricks...
> >>
> >> Unfotrunately, I can't arrange for the things that I use
> >> "seldom" to all be on the same power strip or I could just
> >> flip one switch to kill them all!
> >
> > get a few of these: http://www.smarthome.com/2040.html
[X10 controllers]
> I use a fair amount of X10 stuff in the house now to help keep my
> electric bill low and there's a few things I've noticed that people
> should be aware of when using them:
>
> 1) They sometimes need a signal booster from the transceiver/timer/etc
> to where the module is actually located. This is due to going across
> circuit breakers, bad wiring, and any number of things.
It is especially problematic when you are trying to connect to
a load on "the other leg" of your electric service.
And, you can't run them through surge suppressors (which means
many of the newer "outlet strips")
> 2) Some of them have a "local on" feature that allows someone to turn
> off the device locally then turn it back on and it will cause the
> module to turn on. Because this is done by IIRC monitoring voltage
> surges some
Hmmm... I would have thought they would monitor load current to
sense when turned on locally, etc. But, to be cheap, it would be
easier to watch for a sag in the line.
> things plugged into the X10 modules will TURN RIGHT BACK ON
> WHEN TURNED OFF! *ahem* Sorry - it's frustrating to have to open
> up and cut a wire in the X10 appliance modules to make them work
> right. Plugging in a night-light into the circuit is another
> work-around.
You probably also don't want to use things that have high inrush
currents -- like older printers, many scanners, PC's, etc. except,
perhaps, on an appliance module (wich is just a dry contact relay)
> 3) LAMP modules do not work with CF bulbs. Nor do any "dimmer"
> modules. Appliance modules are the only ones that work. I use
> nothing but grounded appliance modules.
And, lamp modules are not a good choice to use with other
electronic kit, either. Appliance modules would be the way
to go.
> 4) If you're using a wireless remote you'll need to get more than one
> receiver if you want to use more than one "house code".
That makes sense.
> 5) Don't pay for modules locally unless they come out to less than $5
> each. I mean it. There are plenty of deals out there. I bought 10
> modules off E-Bay for about $30 shipped.
>
> 6) Don't use these for things like servers or TiVo boxes or things that
> are hard-drive based unless you need to hard-kill them. I have one on
> my router because of AT&T's annoying ability to refuse to fix the local
> router loop for my PPPoE static ADSL. It goes down regularly so I have
> a no-ping-reboot script in cron on one of my servers that cycles the
> router power when it can't ping the border router,
> Google, and a DNS server.
>
> I really need to write up an instructable or how-to on this
> stuff.
>
> That said I have a few server scripts running the application
> Bottlerocket to turn things on and off via a Firecracker module. The
> whole setup has cost me about $75 total so far.
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