Thread by @RetroTechChris

A few weeks back, I picked up this X10 home automation system for $5 at a thrift store. Who wants to explore some home automation using Windows '95? Let's have a look in a 🧵 here!

First of all, what is probably most fascinating is that you can still buy this stuff from X10's website... in 2025. Go figure!

Let's explore what is in the box. If we look at the back of the box, we can see the accessories included. When I opened this up, the CD was missing, as was the serial cable. I bought the serial cable from eBay for about $10 and downloaded software from "The x10 Shop" online.

Have a look at the keychain "fob" that is included! I'm not sure I would put this on a keychain, it's not small 😂

Software installation was pretty easy. But after you install the software, you can't change the serial port. Wait... what?? Getting this to work on my Compaq LTE 5400 was a little strange too... I had to select COM1, then "switch" to COM2 later after launching the program. 🤷‍♂️

Alright, enough buildup for this, let's play a bit. First, on launch of the application, this is what we see. Kindof nice that it shows you how to connect up to the computer. I set the lamp to A2 and the appliance to A1. Let's go!

So, I have an incandescent night light connected to the "lamp" interface, and a CFL lamp connected to the "appliance" interface. Here's a little demo where we turn the devices on and off and dim the night light. You can hear the relay click on the "appliance" interface.

Alright, how about we try an LED night light bulb. Well, since these are powered with very little current, you can see that the device never really turns off! It only changes between "dim" and "bright"

Two other things worth noting: I have heard that a dryer (or other 220V devices) can interfere with this setup, so I turned on the dryer. It still works, perhaps because we are on the same circuit here. Also, if plugged into a surge protector, the device(s) won't work either.

Well, anyway, as fun as this was, I think I am going to keep my home free of X10 automation 😂. But I did get $5 worth of entertainment value out of this, so all good. Thanks for following along!

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