Well after nearly 50 years of X-10 home automation the final 18 X-10 light switches are being swapped to Z-Wave.....
Started as a teenager and finished as a Senior 
Been a long run...
11 Likes
Same here with X10. I got a Radio Shack alarm clock for Christmas in the 80s, and it had buttons to control the powerline devices, and you could have the alarm even turn on a device on a timer. I added an X10 switch and plugged in my boombox to wake up to music from a cassette tape. That started my venture into home automation.
That grew for 30 years, until I went to Wink around 2017. Then I went to SmartThings when Wink started charging, then to Hubitat when SmartThings eliminated Groovy.
I still have two boxes full of X10 devices, tons of RF motion sensors, lots of plug in dimmers and switches, as well as in-wall dimmers. I even had the IR module that would send IR commands to control my air conditioner. All with the USB connected hub that allowed for using the "Active Home" software to make logical rules for automations.
Those were the days, but X10 would miss commands fairly often, the powerline connections were not that dependable. The RF connections from motion sensors were better, but then the automation triggered from them would sometimes miss commanding the device by powerline. It worked most of the time, though.
Missed comms indeed, lots of filters and a repeater helped 
Even added the X-10 WiFi towards the end for Internet based control.
They will live on as a friend wants to play with X-10
I remember they did have a Windows based app that I used that I was very impressed with at the time. For some reason, I distinctly remember it had an option to send commands multiple times to make sure that command got thru.
EDIT: This is it. It's still being sold!
1 Like
Yeah, I loved that software when it came out. The fact you could do if-then-else statements was a game changer. It also had eight boolean variables you could set. I used them to "encode" states, depending how they were set. It was like having 8 bits to play with for keeping track of things.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering the Android/Windows population here, that XTension, one of the most flexible home automation applications ever, has not been mentioned. I still have my original floppy disk.
1 Like
Funny I had never heard of that, but apparently it also used the house wiring to send signals, and X10 devices could be integrated with it. I'm surprised it was not a walled garden that could only connect Apple devices, but I guess that was before Apple started the walled garden concept, which was more when iPhones came out.
Of course, their walled garden approach bit them with Apple Home, and then they put a lot of money into Matter development by joining CSA, to keep up with other hubs that connected many devices from different manufacturers.
Will you also be setting your pet dinosaurs free? 
3 Likes
No the Dinosaur eats the riff raff 
I'm not Old
Those final 18 x-10 switches were in the guest house so lowest on the priority
Zooz had Zen 76 switches $20 off so that motivated me to finish.....
2 Likes
I still have XTension running on a mini. Started with the REAL X10 powerline controllers, moved to Vera and Zwave, later used maker API to control devices with HE as just a “hub”, and finally got “groovy”and switched all my routines to rule machine.
Programming wise, XTension was/is very capable and AppleScript provided an extra functionality.
The MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas had state of the art lighting in the theaters when it opened in 1993. In 94 a small stage was added at the Flying Monkey Bar. We were tasked with adding stage lighting, but without spending more than a couple of hundred dollars.
A breaker panel was acquired from facilities and some spare PAR cans from the theaters. We then added some X10 modules and a four button remote the band could use to change the lights.
It was pretty funny that a billion dollar hotel casino was using X10 to run stage lighting.
1 Like
I had one of those X10 computer interfaces, and the windows app. It worked pretty well. I had X10 stuff for probably close to 20 years.
I replaced all X10 toys as soon as Insteon was introduced forgot what tear it was).
1 Like
Change is hard. But you managed to take "if it ain't broke, don't fix it to the limit." My few X10 devices went to the landfill almost a decade ago.
As a kid, I used to look at the Radio Shack ads, and dream of someday having my own home with X 10. When I finally owned a home and decided I wanted it to have smart dimmers, I turned to their descendent, Insteon. I still have them as my wired dimmers in my current home and I love them as much as the day I bought them. They are rock-solid reliable. If I was ever to upgrade (which I really can’t see a reason to do) it would likely be Lutron Casèta Diva.
2 Likes
