calmloki
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Probably very basic but you won't get enough information for a solid answer, but here goes anyway -
History:
We bought a place with a pool in the front and the pump and electrical in the back yard. Never had dealt with a pool before, but found that the submerged pool light has a cord that goes to a stand by the front corner of the house, said stand powered from a switch back by the pool pump in the back yard. The switch was an X10 signal through the power line switch, and after reading about X10 I bought other X10 stuff (like a receiver/signaler and a little X10 remote so we could control and dim the pool lights from the pool area. I've been very unimpressed with X10 and this year the pool lights wouldn't turn on. Check continuity through the light cord, then wired around the X10 switch and confirmed working bulb. Remote causes receiver/signaler to click and turn on a light plugged into it. Replaced X10 switch with another loose on hand X10 switch, still didn't work, so I suspect two bad switches or a failure to signal the switches.
The gal wants a pool light remote and the ability to dim the light, though once at the desired dimness it doesn't have to be changed much. I've had great success with Superswitch Christmas tree light remotes and receivers - I code the receivers and use them to turn on a lamp here and strings of LEDs there in groups with one button push. I >think< the signal is RF rather than IR, in any case it penetrates walls well. Did a little experimenting with the Superswitch receiver wired in at the pool light stand and found that I could switch the pool light on and off with much better range than the X10 remote.
Went to Lowes and bought a toggle dimmer switch and mounted it back at the pool pump switch location. Gutted the Christmas light receiver so it would all fit and be sealed under the stand at the corner of the house. Remote works the switch and the light goes on and off - even when I have the dimmer switch set for very low light. Real surprised by that - thought that dimmers worked by limiting output voltage. So how is this receiver even working? Will getting lower voltage cause it to have early failure? I'm thinking of crunchy overheated light fixtures designed for 120V bulbs that have 130V bulbs used in them. How can this be done better ( bearing in mind: Superswitch with 3 receivers cost less than $20 and I like one remote controlling lots of stuff, toggle dimmer cost $14)?
History:
We bought a place with a pool in the front and the pump and electrical in the back yard. Never had dealt with a pool before, but found that the submerged pool light has a cord that goes to a stand by the front corner of the house, said stand powered from a switch back by the pool pump in the back yard. The switch was an X10 signal through the power line switch, and after reading about X10 I bought other X10 stuff (like a receiver/signaler and a little X10 remote so we could control and dim the pool lights from the pool area. I've been very unimpressed with X10 and this year the pool lights wouldn't turn on. Check continuity through the light cord, then wired around the X10 switch and confirmed working bulb. Remote causes receiver/signaler to click and turn on a light plugged into it. Replaced X10 switch with another loose on hand X10 switch, still didn't work, so I suspect two bad switches or a failure to signal the switches.
The gal wants a pool light remote and the ability to dim the light, though once at the desired dimness it doesn't have to be changed much. I've had great success with Superswitch Christmas tree light remotes and receivers - I code the receivers and use them to turn on a lamp here and strings of LEDs there in groups with one button push. I >think< the signal is RF rather than IR, in any case it penetrates walls well. Did a little experimenting with the Superswitch receiver wired in at the pool light stand and found that I could switch the pool light on and off with much better range than the X10 remote.
Went to Lowes and bought a toggle dimmer switch and mounted it back at the pool pump switch location. Gutted the Christmas light receiver so it would all fit and be sealed under the stand at the corner of the house. Remote works the switch and the light goes on and off - even when I have the dimmer switch set for very low light. Real surprised by that - thought that dimmers worked by limiting output voltage. So how is this receiver even working? Will getting lower voltage cause it to have early failure? I'm thinking of crunchy overheated light fixtures designed for 120V bulbs that have 130V bulbs used in them. How can this be done better ( bearing in mind: Superswitch with 3 receivers cost less than $20 and I like one remote controlling lots of stuff, toggle dimmer cost $14)?