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Home Automation

Home Automation

UPB Interfaces
Serial and USB Interfaces

Home Automation Inc.
Controllers
Keypads
Accessories
Thermostats

X-10 Controllers
ActiveHome Interface
TW-523 Interface

Custom Solutions Controllers
HomeVision Pro Controller

JDS Controllers
Stargate Controller
IR X-Pander

Miscellaneous "GLUE"
Sensor Probes
Timer Boards
Relay Boards

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What is a Whole-House Controller?

Whole-House Controllers:

Control lights and appliances throughout the home
Are programmable
Go beyond simple "one button, one action" operations

Today's whole-house controllers use the X10 standard to control lights and appliances. Some go beyond X10 by using infrared to control TVs, stereos, CD players, etc.

A whole-house controller can perform certain tasks based on time-of-day, user commands via button presses, and other inputs such as motion-detector trips.

X10 Powerline Interface

We put the X10 interface products here because they are used by nearly every whole-house controller to interface to the powerline. The X10 powerline carrier transmission-over-the-AC scheme is a proprietary protocol. Vendors "buy" the right to "talk" to the X10 bus by buying and reselling X10's own interface module.

The TW523 pops up wherever a third party manufacturer is transmitting (or receiving) X10 commands.

Power Line Interfaces

TW523
Power Line Interfaces

Controls up to 40 different lights, appliances or groups:
- Converts Received X10 Signals to Serial Bit Stream
- Converts Serial Bit Stream Into Transmitted X10 Signals
- Plugs Into AC Outlet
- RJ11 Data Connector
- FreeX10 Technical Note included! Everything you need to know to design an interface to the TW523.
- Application Note(PDF)
X-10 Collision Detection and retry.
Macro Programmable.
16 Security Zones; expandable to 32.
Click to view the Omni Feature Sheetin .PDF format.

The TW523 turns the X10 powerline commands into a serial TTL stream. When carefully matched with the zero-crossing signal (also from the interface), a microprocessor can decode the X10 commands. The TW523 also allows you to transmit X10 commands by "wiggling" the transmit line at exactly the right times. Note that these transmit and receive bit streamsare notRS232...or any other standard. Regardless of what you might hear elsewhere, you cannot reliably transmit or receive X10 commands directly from a computer's serial or parallel port; In addition to the TW523, you need some kind of interface box.

	XT-TW523 Two Way Powerline Interface		For ordering information, please see this item on our current website.