Thinking Home
Frequently Asked Questions

Q 1. I'm new to all this. From a user's point of view, just what does Thinking Home do anyway?
Q 2. How does X10 work?
Q 3. How do I connect my Mac to my X10 interface?
Q 4. Why is Thinking Home not working with my Keyspan adapter under Mac OS 10.x.x?
Q 5. Why doesn't Thinking Home communicate successfully with my serial port? I know I have selected the right one.
Q 6. How do sun events work?
Q 7. Why don't my devices respond reliably to my X10 interface?

A 1. In short, the Thinking Home software tells your X10 interface what you want it to do. To learn how the X10 interface gets the job done, see the next question, "How does X10 work?"

A 2. We have created a Web page to describe how it all works. Check out our X10 Introduction.

A 3. You can do this whether you have a USB Mac or an older model that has only the round, mini-DIN 8 serial ports. The vast majority of X10 interfaces have a cable with a 9 pin "D" connector, meant to connect to a PC. So the goal is to get the Mac to present that kind of connector, one way or another.

If you have a USB Mac, we now recommend any of the USA19 USB adapters ("USA19" + any suffix) from Keyspan, Inc. These adapters provide the connector you need, and of course, all Keyspan drivers are compatible with Mac OS X.

You can also use a Keyspan USA28(X) Twin USB serial adaptor. You get two serial ports, with the mini-DIN 8 pin, round connector familiar to users of older Macs. That's nice if you have other older serial peripherals you need to continue using with your USB Mac. However, you still need the right connector, and our cable can go between your round mini-DIN 8 serial port, and the 9 pin "D" connector on the X10 interface cable. Our cable is also specially designed to work with X10's Firecracker interface, but not if USB is involved. (sorry!)

If you have a non-USB Mac, an older model, all you will need is the right cable. You can purchase ours for $10 on the Thinking Home order page, or if you're handy, you can make you own from the instructions provided in the Thinking Home installation (Help).

A 4. There are several common reasons for this. First, Keyspan adapters need an OS X driver, and it will conflict with the OS 9 driver. It is best to get the latest OS X driver and delete every Keyspan file from your Classic System Folder.

Second, after each OS X upgrade, the Keyspan driver will create new port names, and they won't match your current selection in your Thinking Home document. You'll have to update that, too. While you're at it, make sure the names don't end in just ".", but ending in ".1" or .2", for example, is OK. Before testing your new port name with Thinking Home, you should restart your Mac. In some or all cases where everything has been done correctly, the new name did not "take" until after a restart.

The third common reason is the Keyspan serial port created by their driver is in use by the networking software of the Mac OS X operating system. To check this, open your "System Preferences" from the OS X dock or Apple menu. Then under "Internet & Network", click on the Network icon. You'll see two pop up menus, and the second one is labeled "Show:". From that menu, select "Network Port Configurations", and you should see your new Keyspan serial port in the list.

If there is a check mark next to your serial port name, that means the operating system is using it for networking, and therefore it is unavailable to Thinking Home or any other applications. Uncheck it, and close your "System Preferences", and Thinking Home should be able to find your serial port.

Are you using Palm software? It has been known to work with Keyspan adapters, but it can take over the port, not share it with other applications like Thinking Home, and there is no feedback saying the port is already in use -- it is just unavailable to anyone else. Disable your Palm software, at least temporarily, and reboot your Mac. Even if that does not help, do not enable it until the serial port is working with Thinking Home again.

A 5. In Thinking Home, there are two places to select a serial port. Using the Preferences menu command, you can display a dialog showing the port which will be used by the Remote Control window, and used when creating new documents.

The other place to select a port is in the Document settings dialog. Because Thinking Home can support two or more X10 interfaces at the same time, each on a different serial port, each document must have its own port setting.

To set this, look in the lower left corner of your document window, and you'll see two icons. Click the one on the right, and your document settings dialog will appear.

Another reason Thinking Home might have difficulty using your serial port is that the driver for your USB adapter has renamed the port. For example, Thinking Home may remember USA2814P1.1, but the driver has changed the name to USA28114P1.1. Looks pretty similar, right? Later, that may change to USA2811P1.1, again very similar. Unless the name really matches exactly, the application cannot match what it was told to remember with what is now available. So please check this very carefully if you experience any serial port difficulties.

A 6. The ActiveHome/HomeDirector interface can hold a date range for which an event applies. For example, it can store one event to be executed from day 1 of each year through day 90 of each year, plus another event to be executed from day 91 of each year through day 270 of each year, and so on.

Sunrise and sunset times shift throughout the year, so when you define a single sun event, behind the scenes Thinking Home defines a series of events to span the year. Each event in the series lasts as long as permissible, while still keeping the time error within the sun tolerance specified in your settings. Once you have defined an event schedule, you store it in the interface, and you don't need to access it ever again, year after year, at least not for the sake of making sun events work correctly.

The tolerance setting defines how much timing error you are willing to accept for stored sun events. A smaller number will require more events in order to have sunrise and sunset events execute close enough to the intended time, and more events will require memory. Conversely, a larger tolerance number will permit greater timing error, so fewer events will be necessary in order to span a year. A larger tolerance number therefore means less memory is required in the interface.

Q 7. Why don't my devices respond reliably to my X10 interface?

A 7. Most of the time, this is because the interface signal is too weak, there is too much electrical noise on the power lines, or both.

The first test to do is to put the interface and one X10 module as close together as possible, preferably on the same unfiltered power strip (i.e., no surge suppression). If the module then can control an attached lamp, you definitely have a signal/noise problem. If the test fails, you'll need to replace with the interface or the module.

If the test passed, then the next step is to understand common reasons for losing signal strength and for having excessive noise. Electrical noise in the frequency range used by X10 can come from computers, TV's and any other home entertainment equipment, many kinds of lighting, and other electrical products in the home. Computer power supplies are a common culprit, even when connected to power strips with surge suppressors. Florescent light circuitry is very noisy. Halogen lights and especially dimmers are often noisy.

Some manufacturers compensate for this problem by adding a few parts to absorb the noise, and unfortunately for X10 users, these same parts absorb X10 signals from the powerline, making intended transmission much more difficult. For products that plug into a wall outlet, Isobar (tm) surge suppression power strips are one solution, since they include an electrical isolation feature that prevents product surge suppression from absorbing X10 signals from your power line.

Another common cause of a weak signal is the separation of the two power lines that come into most homes. When the electrician wires a new home, he tries to put about half the electrical loads on one of the 120 Volts AC lines coming into the home, and the other half of the electrical loads on the other power line. Of course, 240 VAC loads like electric stoves, air conditioners, and many dryers are connected to both lines. This means that if your X10 interface is transmitting from one of your power lines to a module that happens to be on the other power line, the signal has to get across. This typically happens through the transformer on the power pole outside, but it is not really designed for ensuring a good path for X10 signals.

To test if this "link" is weak, you can turn on a 240 Volts AC applicance, like an electric dryer, and try controlling your X10 device from your interface. The transformers/motor(s) provide an additional path for the X10 signals to cross from one power line to the other. If it now works, then you need an active bridge/repeater. There are passive ones available for less money, but they only mildly improve a marginal system. If you're running into this kind of "weak link" problem, we strongly recommend using the active bridge/repeater for a reliable home installation. These devices will listen closely to each power line for an X10 signal, and they will amplify and repeat the signal on both lines. It's a solid solution you will not have to doubt later.

Another test you can do is to measure the signals and noise on your power lines, using a meter like the ESM1 from Elk. The ESM1 provides a simple LED bar graph to show the levels detected. While not precise, these are very helpful in troubleshooting X10 line difficulties.

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