X10 Setup

[Security101]

Please update us with what you find out!

Jim

[Nate00]

I must have missed this thread somehow!  When you get the new switch don't hook it up in the box yet. Hook up the master switch like it is only going to be used by itself with a hot and neutral going in and a switched hot (and neutral)going to the load. then hook the slave to it with a 12" or so piece of romex to the "control" and the "line". I think when it got hooked up before with the neutral it burnt out the switch. I think the slave switch just sends a pulse to the control connection on the master switch that it gets from the hot. Let me know if this works.

[shreyas1]

To me this doesn't make any sense becasue the actual wire that goes to the light fixtures is in the box that should contain the slave switch.  My initial setup worked fine, just that the slave switch didn't function.  This meant that the master was sending signals though the traveller wires to the slave switch and having it turn on the lights.  When the wire to the fixtures was removed form the slave the master didn't work.  This mean that there was some kind of "communication" going on.  Its was setup to work just like a traditional 3 way switch.

go to: http://home.howstuffworks.com/three-way2.htm  and scroll about half way own and look at the standard 3 way setup.  The only reason that the master breaks the neutral is for purposes of its internal relay that turn it on and off from remote controls. 

It seems to me that if the switch closest to thelight in the diagram was frozen in one position the master would only be able to turn on and off, nothing else...

Maybe this is my head trying to make me think that i'm right so i don't have to rewire...

That's me isde of it...i think that the real problem is that x10 doesn't provide good diagrams of this setup. In the 3 way setup they show that the common to light hooks up to the master, but in the text is says for it to go with the slave. In the 4 way setup that came with the slave switch the common to light goes to the last slave in the chain...

neither of these setups worked and i'm not sure which i should follow when the the switch does arrive...

Nate this i think is your call...
you've done this so...this is what i think it should be...let me know what you've got and maybe we can finally put an end to the darkness in the garage!

ws-13a (master):
Red (hot wire) to "LINE"
White (2 Neutral wires supply, and feed) to "NEUTRAL"
Yellow (traveller) to "LOAD"
Yellow (traveller) to "CONTROL"

ws14a (companion):
Yellow (traveller) to "LIVE"
Yellow (traveller) to "SWITCH"
Red (to fluro. lights) to ""LIVE" terminal 2


thanks!
When this is done i'll send one of our admins a diagram so maybe we can setup a locked post with some diagrams posted of this perticular setup that x10 lacks to inform people of.  i think its funny how they send you to another companys site for help too...some guy named phil kingery...

 

Shreyas

[Nate00]

I think you are tring to follow the traditional three way setup. The probelm is that the load wire that goes to the lights has to come off of the master switch. The ONLY two wires that connect to the slave switch should be the control and line wires. If I were you I would run some romex to the master switch from the light and just use the two traveler wires to connect the slave to the master. I would eliminate the wires from the slave to the light. You can test this by hooking up the master and use one of the travelers hooked to the load in the other box. Then hook up the slave with a short piece of romex to the line and control. If this works then you will have to run that romex to the light from the master switch. the slave does not get a "load" passed through it. The slave just sends a signal down the control wire to tell the master to changes positions.

[shreyas1]

I get what you mean...this mean rewiring for me...

The only problem is that i'm in chicago and that means NO ROMEX!!!
And all conduit.  It also seems to me that there is a junction box somewhere in the ceiling of my garage and this makes it impossible to snake more wire.  I guess what i'll do is just put in some of that metal surface conduit, the wire channel or whatever that is rated for like 600v and have a short run from the main fixture to the master location.  Then i'll put one of their junction boxes over the master box and just run a cable over to the location of the master switch.  I may have another solution...i think that there maight be an extra wire comming from the slave switch box to the master switch box...i'm not sure but i'll check.

If there is one that will make my life so much easier...but i'll check later.

Thanks for the final plan Nate...I feel much better now...and actually feel like I have a plan to go by now...

Thanks again!
Shreyas

[shreyas1]

Nate I think that my BP is going to go through  the ROOF!      I got the new switch today and set it up like you explained and STILL NO LUCK!  What the heck am I doing wrong?   

This really stinks...what the heck is going on with this...no i'm sure that it has to be something wrong with my wiring...and I tried your way first to make sure that I didn't burn out the switch on accident...now what...I'm so fried.

Here is the link for the manual that I'm following...

http://ftp://ftp.x10.com/pub/manuals/ws13a-is.pdf



Thanks in advance!

Shreyas

[Nate00]

did it work with the short piece of romex? If it did then you just need to wire the two travelers like that. If it did not work I would say you have a bad master or maybe the master got burnt when the first salve was hooked up. These x-10 devices are very sensitive. I will check in tonight and see how you made out.

[shreyas1]

Nate, the instructions say this:

"Installing the Wall Switch Module (3-way applications, diagram B)
? Disconnect the power at the circuit breaker.
? Remove the wall plates and unscrew the existing switches from their boxes.
? Locate the Neutral wire in your switch box (this is a white wire, NOT a bare copper wire). Connect this white Neutral wire to the
NEUTRAL terminal on the WS13A.
? Identify the common wire at each existing switch (usually connected to a different color terminal).
? Replace one of the existing wall switches with the WS13A Wall Switch (Master): connect the common wire to the LIVE terminal
on the WS13A. Connect one of the "traveller wires" to the LOAD terminal on the WS13A. Connect the other Traveller to the
CONTROL terminal on the WS13A. If one of the travellers is red connect it to CONTROL on the WS13A.
? Replace the other existing wall switch with the WS14A Companion Switch (sold separately): connect the common wire to one of
the WS14A's terminals labelled LIVE. Connect the (red) traveller which you connected to the CONTROL terminal on the WS12A
to the terminal labelled SWITCH on the WS14A. Connect the remaining traveller wire to the second terminal labelled LIVE on the
WS14A. Screw both switches into their wall boxes and replace the wall plates."

Get where i'm pulling my wiring idea from?

while reading draw a diagram, then compare this to the one in the link in the other post i made...let m eknow if they match

The romex idea didn't work, i'll try again though...could master really be blown?  it still works?

[shreyas1]

I just wanted to post an update about my 3 waay lighting setup...well I finally got it to work...after replacing all of my parts, and swapping them out for different ones I finally got a "virtual" 3 way setup.  Here is what I did:

I used 2 XPT-1 TRANSMITTER switches...all they do is send ON or OFF signals through power lines to the
XPFM unit that switches the lights on and off.  Simple wnough, and the switches actually look somewhat normal, they toggle like decora but they are small and sideways.  I just hooked everything up last night and it worked flawlwssly, and the best part is that I can turn the lights on and off from a remote keypad while still in the car!

If anyone needs helpwith ANY x-10 setup I think that I have my fair share of experience now...so let me know...I have done just about most of then in my house, and I know there a couple other people on here that have a lot of X-10 experience too.

Jr.