Older x10 modules with led bulbs

General How-to's
#1

After my problems last year installing homegenie on a raspberry pi, ably handled by petedescrete, I have since added multiple macros and schedules to my HomeGenie installation and have explored different scenarios. One item has eluded me however. I have multiple older modules (LM465 lamp, WS467 wall switch, and AM486 appliance modules) that do not easily function with LED bulbs. I have found online many pages with advise on internal modifications that can be made to these modules to make them work, butt every tip is different and most conflict with each other. Has anyone done these mods and do they work? Any ideas would help… I have done appliance modules with nightlights or using a low wattage incandescent but would prefer to reduce even that consumption.

thanks for your help.

Dave

#2

Your best bet is to contact Jeff Volp probably through the X10 Forum for further advice. He’s probably the most knowledgable on the hardware side of X10 and will steer you in the right direction.

#3

Thank you. I will check that out.

Dave

#4

Relay based X10 usually will work. Devices that don’t have a neutral require power fed through the device in question which means LED will glow or flicker. The modifications you mention try to get around these limitations but I’m not sure if all modules can be made to work. IMO, I’d recommend considering only using modules with a relay and neutral wire to increase odds of LED working.

As an alternative, you can add a resistor across the hot and controlled lines (either an actual resistor or a single incandescent bulb). This will bleed off the small control voltage so the LED doesn’t glow or flicker.

I’m not an expert on this but Jeff would be a good resource to help.

#5

Thank you for the reply.

Dave