Posted: August 09 2003 at 15:48 | IP Logged

Would an RF Repeater as sold at x10 ( http://www.x10.com/products/x10_sr731.html )and smarthome ( http://www.smarthome.com/4015.html )accomplish the same thing as hacking the mr26 and adding an external antenna?

I've never touched a soldering iron (yes, I feel less than a man) and would hate to just toss the mr26 after destroying it .

Posted: August 10 2003 at 02:51 | IP Logged

The MR26A receives x10 RF signals and tells the PC what x10 code was received (faster than a transceiver).

A hack to build a better antenna is suggested on this site so that it can better recieve the RF from remotes such as the palmpad. ( http://www.myx10.com/forum/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=1&TopicID=38&SearchPagePosition=1&search=Antenna+for+RemoteMouse&searchMode=allwords&searchIn=Topic&forum=1&searchSort=dateDESC&ReturnPage=Search)

If the Repeater seves the same function ; to boost reliability of an RF signal. I'd rather use it, than potentially screw up my mr26.

Has anyone used the Repeater?

Posted: August 10 2003 at 10:32 | IP Logged

Keep in mind that the repeater will add still more delay to the signal.

A few more notes...

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&threadm=9oqa37%241ot%242%40suaar1ac.prod.compuserve.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26q%3D%2BSR731%2B%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwg

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&threadm=h3uc1u4sqkde6l5djf4t31c76nqa8hiul5%404ax.com&rnum=17&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2BSR731%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26start%3D10%26sa%3DN

Posted: August 10 2003 at 13:36 | IP Logged

Thanks for the links.

I've not been to that news group before.

Posted: August 10 2003 at 22:27 | IP Logged

Manny,

I have never used any of the RF repeaters having done the MR26A antenna hack.  It's really not that hard, but if you've never touched a soldering iron, I would practice a little bit first on some scrap circuit boards trying to solder a couple of wires similar to the MR26A hack.

You can also check out the WGLDesigns W800 and W800RF32 devices which  are an improvement over the MR26A and are available with external antenna jacks.  Both of these devices will be supported in the next release of PowerHome which should be available soon.

Dave.

Posted: August 16 2003 at 02:43 | IP Logged

Hi Dave,

FYI: I tried the MR26 with the following results; Out of the box - about 15' range, w/ web antenna mod. about 20', w/Radio Shack antenna and amplifier a weak 25-30'.

 I would like to try the W800 and see if it's any better. Is it possible to interface to it via ph_ statements while waiting for the new release? The signal processing speed of the RF receiver is a real pain to deal with when using security cameras. 

Thanks, SA

Posted: August 16 2003 at 12:02 | IP Logged

Steve,

That is bad!!  Ive gotten a little better with my MR26A by placing two antennas in the attic at either end of the house and combining the signal with a splitter in reverse.  My biggest problem now is all of the false recognitions.  If I check the log, I have quite a few spurious RF receptions that are not real.  Ive bought the W800RF32A and while working with it to integrate functionality with PowerHome, it appears to be very promising.  Without an antenna plugged in, I was picking up a keychain remote from about 20'.

Im going to start releasing betas of PowerHome.  Read my post in the PowerHome General for more info.

Dave.