JP1 Remotes

Have any of you tried these X10 appliance modules? Are they really much quieter than plain X10 modules? The Powerhouse ones that I currently have make an annoying loud click when they come one. An 80% reduction in that sound would be great.

They sound promising, show some guts Ellen, give a new product a try, and then report back your findings of course!

The older Smarthome switches used to have a reputation for unreliability, but I tried a couple of the 2385s recently to control fluorescent lamps, and they have worked perfectly for several months. One of them is controlling 3 fixtures each with separate ballasts. No clunk at all--they use solid state switching. The old X10 & Leviton switches are now in my junk box. Clunk!

Well, since Rob threw down a metaphorical gauntlet and called me a coward, honor required me to order a couple of the ApplianceLinc modules

Got them this morning. They are definitely much more quiet than the regular X10 Pro modules that I have. You can still hear them, but the sound is much less startling and obtrusive.

Would you go so far as to recommend them over the regular ones?

Yes, since they are only a couple of dollars more than the regular ones. They are a good bit larger so if space is at a premium, that might be a point to consider.

There's another option for those who are handy with a soldering iron.

You can convert an existing X10 lamp module to a silent module.
http://users.adelphia.net/~jimbell2/ModsPage1.htm

This site has more detailed instructions, but is ofen down.
http://www.geocities.com/ido_bartana/silent_lamp.htm

There was one error in the instructions when I did it, not sure if it's still there. I have it written down at home. The pictures are right, but one of the labels for a resistor is wrong. It lists the right resistance for it but the wrong label. I think it was R8.

I created directions for converting an X10 Pro lamp module, I just haven't written up a page on it yet. The same number of components need to be removed, they're just in different places with different lables, and the soldering is harder because there are more components on the board.

I use several of these around the house and they're great, cheep and silent.

There is an archive of the ido_bartana site here

I've also made silent switch using an SSR. Instructions could be found on Ido's site as well, but there is one more source:
http://mysite.verizon.net/res1fl57/id11.html