cram@sunpix.east.sun.com (Marc W. Howard) (02/06/91)
Is there a way to use the X-10 three way switch in a 4-way (i.e., three or more switch controlled) circuit? I have one such circuit in my house that I'd like to control. I notice that you can buy the non-active half of the three way switch pair as a separate item; does this imply that there is a way to use two of them and the three-way master switch in a four way circuit? Marc W. Howard Sun Visualization Products Research Triangle Park, NC cram@sunpix.East.Sun.COM
lairdkb@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Kyler Laird) (02/07/91)
In article <463@sunpix.East.Sun.COM> cram@sunpix.east.sun.com (Marc W. Howard) writes: > > Is there a way to use the X-10 three way switch in a 4-way (i.e., >three or more switch controlled) circuit? I have one such circuit in my >house that I'd like to control. I notice that you can buy the non-active >half of the three way switch pair as a separate item; does this imply >that there is a way to use two of them and the three-way master switch in >a four way circuit? Yes. The 'non-active half' (Radio Shack Companion Switch #61-2686T $7.99) is just a (very expensive) push button. Shouldn't be any problem to use your existing wiring as a 2 parallel lines being shorted by the companion switches. That way you can use as many as you want. (I'm being vague, but I think you get the idea.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kyler Laird I'm the NRA/NRA-ILA lairdkb@mentor.purdue.edu
bender@oobleck.Eng.Sun.COM (Michael Bender) (02/07/91)
In article <463@sunpix.East.Sun.COM> cram@sunpix.east.sun.com (Marc W. Howard) writes: -> Is there a way to use the X-10 three way switch in a 4-way (i.e., ->three or more switch controlled) circuit? I have one such circuit in my ->house that I'd like to control. I notice that you can buy the non-active ->half of the three way switch pair as a separate item; does this imply ->that there is a way to use two of them and the three-way master switch in ->a four way circuit? I don't know if I can answer your question, but I'll tell you what I found out about the 3-way X-10 wall switches. First, some background on the devices for readers not familiar with what we're talking about: The X-10 system has as one if it's remote modules a drop-in replacement for a 3-way wall switch. One of the units is a standard X-10 wall switch module with an extra wire coming out, and the other is a passive device considerably small, with 3 wires coming out if it. The reason that I wanted to find out about how the passive switch worked was that it was only rated for 1/10 amp, which works out to about 12 watts at 120VAC. This seemed strange to me, as the active switch module is rated to handle 500 or 600 watts. Well, when I was installing several of these switches this weekend, I wondered how exactly the passive switch worked, and this is what I found out. The passive switch has 3 wires - 2 blue and one red. The two blue wires are connected internally to each other, and also to a contact in the switch. This contact is connected, via either a large value resistor (I think) or a capacitor, to the red wire, so that pressing the button on the passive switch completes the connection between the red wire, through the resisitor, to the other two blue wires. Here's how I think it's wired: active switch module +---------+ passive switch module +------+ | | +--------------------+ | | | | || blue | |blue <----+ lamp +-------triac-----------||----------------+------------------> line| | | | | || red | +--/\/\/\--+ |line +------+ | +-------------||-----------+ resistor | | +---------+ || | | switch | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | +--------------------+ OK, with that theorey out of the way, I think if you just get another passive switch and wire it's blue wires in series with the blue wires from the first passive switch, or anywhere in the path of the current carrying wires, and provide a path from the 2nd passive switch's red wire to either the red wire of the first passive switch or the control wire of the active module (forgot which color it is ff hand), you should be able to make an n-way remote controlled switch. mike -- Won't look like rain, Won't look like snow, | DOD #000007 Won't look like fog, That's all we know! | AMA #511250 We just can't tell you anymore, We've never made oobleck before! | MSC #298726
tomp@hpcvra.cv.hp.com. (Tom Pettit) (02/08/91)
Yes. You can use as many of the extra switches as you want. They are simply single pole, single throw, momentary contact push button switches. I forget now the right colors to connect, but hopefully the RS version will have wiring instructions.
jad@dayton.UUCP (J. Deters) (02/09/91)
>In article <463@sunpix.East.Sun.COM> cram@sunpix.east.sun.com (Marc W. Howard) writes: >-> Is there a way to use the X-10 three way switch in a 4-way (i.e., >->three or more switch controlled) circuit? I have one such circuit in my >->house that I'd like to control. I notice that you can buy the non-active >->half of the three way switch pair as a separate item; does this imply >->that there is a way to use two of them and the three-way master switch in >->a four way circuit? This may seem like an odd response, but do you need one used as a 4-way? Let's look at this schematically...(assuming ASCII is capable of rendering schematics...) hot o-----o o-------o o-----o o------o ~ ------/ X X X \-------, o-----o o-------o o-----o o------o | 120 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ (load) VAC 3-way 4-way 4-way 4-way 3-way | | ~ -------------------------------------------------' neutral Each 4-way switch consists of a DPTD switch wired the following way: .---------, | | >------o o ,--o `-----> from 3-way `----/-. to next 3-way ,---' \ >------o o o .-----> | | `---------' (This crude drawing is supposed to represent the wires from the first 3-way being crossed and connected to the other pair of contacts in the switch.) Since this is the way a typical n-way switching circuit is wired, what happens if you replace either one of the 3-way switches with an X-10 controlled device? You have remote control. Toggling any *one* of the above switches controls the load. I don't understand why you would need remote control of more than one switch to perform only the one function; or why you would specifically have to use X10 to control one of the 4-ways. I'm sorry if I missed your point, but I am not sure what your specific application is (if it's not this). -j -- J. Deters INTERNET: jad@dayton.DHDSC.MN.ORG ATT: 612-375-3116 UUCP: ...!bungia!dayton!jad USPS: 700 Nicollet Mall/MIS 1060 ICBM: 44^58'36"N by 93^16'14"W Minneapolis, MN 55402