X10 light bulbs - which ones will work

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  • jaffab
    Automated Home Sr Member
    • Dec 2008
    • 94

    X10 light bulbs - which ones will work

    Morning all,

    In my house, a light bulb went over the weekend. No big deal - except looking for a new build, we old had the energy saving lightbulbs left - which put me into a bit of a panic.

    So the question I have, with most of the X10 switches and controllers haveing warnings such as "This unit must NOT be used with Low Voltage Halogens, "Energy Saving" lamps, or Flourescent lights. Doing so will cause the unit to fail beyond repair.", which bulbs are safe to use? And where can i get them (in the UK)?

    As an example, currently I have a ceiling rose thing in the bedroom with three candle bulbs (3 bulbs, all about 40w). If I replace these with the halogen, will these work or kill the switch.

    Do I need to start bulk buying light bulbs?

    Is there/will there ever be a light switch for X10 which will work with enegry saving light bulbs?
    Last edited by jaffab; 8 June 2009, 12:44 PM.
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  • toscal
    Moderator
    • Oct 2005
    • 2061

    #2
    We can supply a Fluorescent Lamp mini module. Max load is 300w. This will only do on and off and respond to things like all lights OFF and ON, so no dimming.
    I have mains halogen bulbs working very well with X10. From GU10 type ( though these will be replaced with LED ones shortly so will lose the dimming.) to the G9 halopin type. Both can be dimmed and with the soft start function seem to last a lot longer than normal. but when one blows I know the rest will follow within about 2 weeks.
    You will be able to get normal 40W bulbs until September 2010 according to the EU directive. Which should have been ratified by now. Will need to check. It was going through the final readings etc in March, but you know how long politicians can take to decide anything unless its their expense account.
    IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
    Renovation Spain Blog

    Comment

    • ScottRennie
      Automated Home Lurker
      • Jun 2009
      • 5

      #3
      Replacement Bulbs

      To follow up on the original question: Once incandescent bulbs are no longer available what are the options for us who have invested in X10 kit?
      Will modules such as the AW12 and other micro modules still work?
      Are the Domia lamp modules less likely to fail that the original x!0 modules with the new type bulbs?
      Should we ditch X10 in favour of getting up and switching lights on the old fashoned way?

      I was thinking about Rako but it looks expensive (compared to X10?)

      Any info appreciated before I buy any more equipment....

      Cheers, Scott

      Comment

      • black cloud
        Automated Home Lurker
        • May 2009
        • 4

        #4
        By now, your garage should have hundreds of incandescent bulbs stacked neatly at one end

        Comment

        • ScottRennie
          Automated Home Lurker
          • Jun 2009
          • 5

          #5
          I'm trawling the net as we speak (type?) for boxes of 40 & 60W bulbs to stock pile (might even start selling them at a vast profit to pay for the Rako!!)

          Comment

          • toscal
            Moderator
            • Oct 2005
            • 2061

            #6
            AW12 modules and the equivalent minimodule will work with anything. As it only switches things on and off.
            IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
            Renovation Spain Blog

            Comment

            • black cloud
              Automated Home Lurker
              • May 2009
              • 4

              #7
              Originally posted by toscal View Post
              You will be able to get normal 40W bulbs until September 2010 according to the EU directive.
              You can still get 100W bulbs until September 2009 according to the EU, but not in the UK. UK has unilaterally dumped them earlier than the EU. Why? Oh yes, now I remember, Gordon thinks its gets himself another 1% in the polls.

              Comment

              • toscal
                Moderator
                • Oct 2005
                • 2061

                #8
                Here is some more info from the directive. I also got the date wrong for the 45W bulb it should be Sept 2011 not 2010. Ooops.
                Each individual EU country can enforce their own rules as to when and how, but they must at least follow the general time frame. So if an EU country wants to ban 100W bulbs earlier than Sept 2009 they can but they can't decide to do it in Oct 2010. Interestingly the US and Canada seem to be following virtually the same time frame.

                Here is the directive put in an easy to follow format.
                1 Sept 2009 Frosted lamps (apart from energy class A) as well as clear incandescent lamps of 80W or above.
                1 Sept 2010 Clear incandescent lamps over 65W
                1 Sept 2011 Clear incandescent lamps over 45W
                1 Sept 2012 Clear incandescent lamps over 7W
                1 Sept 2013 Raising of quality requirements
                1 Sept 2016 Lamps with Energy Class C.
                Lamps that are exempt from this are ones for ovens, fridges, certain IR heat lamps and lamps used for medical purposes etc. There are some others but can't find out what they are at present.
                IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
                Renovation Spain Blog

                Comment

                • ScottRennie
                  Automated Home Lurker
                  • Jun 2009
                  • 5

                  #9
                  Originally posted by toscal View Post
                  AW12 modules and the equivalent minimodule will work with anything. As it only switches things on and off.
                  Cheers Toscal - I thought there was a load issue with X10 switching kit?

                  Comment

                  • toscal
                    Moderator
                    • Oct 2005
                    • 2061

                    #10
                    The only minimum load issues are with the lighting modules that Dim etc
                    IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
                    Renovation Spain Blog

                    Comment

                    • Wexfordman
                      Automated Home Guru
                      • Nov 2005
                      • 118

                      #11
                      Originally posted by toscal View Post
                      We can supply a Fluorescent Lamp mini module. Max load is 300w. This will only do on and off and respond to things like all lights OFF and ON, so no dimming.
                      I have mains halogen bulbs working very well with X10. From GU10 type ( though these will be replaced with LED ones shortly so will lose the dimming.) to the G9 halopin type. Both can be dimmed and with the soft start function seem to last a lot longer than normal. but when one blows I know the rest will follow within about 2 weeks.
                      You will be able to get normal 40W bulbs until September 2010 according to the EU directive. Which should have been ratified by now. Will need to check. It was going through the final readings etc in March, but you know how long politicians can take to decide anything unless its their expense account.

                      I'm confused, I've put in a few lw12's for my sister, and she went and put in halogens (gu10's) after I asked her nicely not to. They worked initially, but had a few lw12's blow since. So question is LW12's with gu10's yes or no ?
                      Also, what option if lw12 will not work (no neutral wire in switch plate, so cant use appliance modules etc).
                      And what is the long term solution when cfls/leds are the only option ?

                      Really appreciate some clarity on this, she has about 4 circuits not working fdor her now, and I am loathe to replace with more lw12's, th inking of going back to good old mannual switches for her.

                      Thanks,
                      Eamon

                      Comment

                      • toscal
                        Moderator
                        • Oct 2005
                        • 2061

                        #12
                        LW12 have a minimum load requirement of 60W and a max of 250W. GU10 bulbs are fine if they are halogen ones. But since they either come in 35 or 50W you will need to be controlling at least 2 bulbs per LW12 to get to the minimum load requirements. I had to do this in my office.
                        IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
                        Renovation Spain Blog

                        Comment

                        • ScottRennie
                          Automated Home Lurker
                          • Jun 2009
                          • 5

                          #13
                          Originally posted by toscal View Post
                          LW12 have a minimum load requirement of 60W and a max of 250W. GU10 bulbs are fine if they are halogen ones. But since they either come in 35 or 50W you will need to be controlling at least 2 bulbs per LW12 to get to the minimum load requirements. I had to do this in my office.
                          I thought I had read about min loads & this is it... I use LW12s mostly, so I guess they will be landfill once the low power lights arrive!

                          Comment

                          • Wexfordman
                            Automated Home Guru
                            • Nov 2005
                            • 118

                            #14
                            Originally posted by toscal View Post
                            LW12 have a minimum load requirement of 60W and a max of 250W. GU10 bulbs are fine if they are halogen ones. But since they either come in 35 or 50W you will need to be controlling at least 2 bulbs per LW12 to get to the minimum load requirements. I had to do this in my office.
                            Thanks Toscal,

                            They are the halogen versions, 1 has 10 halogens (25w each) so within spec, and the others were 4 x halogens at 50w. I do know there was a faulty batch of lw12's and I had some replaced already, so maybe same thing has happened.

                            What would you propose is the solution long term when halogens are gone ?

                            Regards,
                            Eamon

                            Comment

                            • toscal
                              Moderator
                              • Oct 2005
                              • 2061

                              #15
                              That's not an easy question. But one thing would be to have individual control of each light, not ideal but would give some sort of control.
                              Many LED dimming modules require a 0 to 10V dc signal. So if you could have a controller give you 0V for an X10 Off and 10V for an X10 On and the bright and dim commands give you something in between. But like many things its never that simple. But using something like a Homevision (www.csi3.com) controller and some external circuitry would do it, such as this http://www.audon.co.uk/stack_daq.html#dac the SD-DAC - Analogue Output may do it and at 69 pounds not a bad price, as it controls 4 outputs so 4 dimmers.
                              I guess you could have the homevision output an ASCII string when it recieves a specific X10 command. eg A1 ON would send out " V ch1 1000" and A1 Off "V ch1 0000" and say each bright command would increase the voltage by 0.625V For this to work you would need to store the current voltage in as a variable and act on this. Oh dear I can see yet another project forming.
                              Last edited by toscal; 24 August 2009, 03:30 PM.
                              IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
                              Renovation Spain Blog

                              Comment

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