"The Timer" Teardown + I ♥ VFD's!

Fran, does your old Heathkit use an ORP12 LDR to detect ambient light - if you keep it dim even during the day, you could replace (or supplement) the light sensor that with a potentiometer for manual control

Gordo

Hi Fran, when I saw the weird half-height zero on that Casio FX10 calculator, my immediate though was a fault in the display driver logic (like a corrupt character generator ROM) - I've had quite a few VFD calculators and never saw that before. . But no, according to www.vintagecalculators.com, it was quite fashionable at the time and they show other calculators with the same feature..

Gordo

Hi Ken. X-10 work well here with an "active" amplified bridge between the legs of the incoming power service. Only residual problems I've had: my daughter is here for a visit and plugs her Mac Book's (noisy) switch-mode supply into the same outlet . that an X-10 lamp module occupies...

more automation less security. It was not made to be a brinks of something house alarm.

Zach Allin

I still have X-10 gear in the house running the main lights in the living area and bedroom. The X-10 system is, by modern standards, crude and primitive, but it works surprisingly well considering its age. Although the design aesthetic of the BSR (and later Radio Shack - they sold X-10 gear) equipment is very 70's, its a simple enough system/protocol that it's easy to interface with modern equipment. I've a controller interface connected to a Raspberry Pi, using an onboard web server to let me control the lights with my phone. Best part (for me) is that none of this stuff "phones home" to some corporate entity in the cloud - scheduled events are very much in MY control with a simple cron job. As others have mentioned, crossing phases in the house wiring can be... temperamental, but I love the fact that this "ancient", forgotten tech still serves me this well. Oh yeah - agreed - VFD's are pretty sweet too. :)

Ken Klavonic

You got it right, line based system, and yes other users who were on the same transformer were a problem. What really killed this system was switching power supplies. The noise just drove these units nuts. I too still use some of the X-10 units, but I live in a rural area and installed a filter on the house supply which takes care of most of the problems.

William E Lee

I still have some functioning X-10 equipment. David Challis's comments were spot on. All of the equipment you could control had to be on the same "side" of your local distribution transformer. I had a not particularly tech savvy neighbor with an X-10 system, who I used to drive crazy. I noted his "house code" (two settings) on one of his controllers, and would set mine to the same code. Then, periodically, turn his equipment on and off at random times driving him nuts! You can still find an occasional reference to the X-10 stuff on "Smart Home" discussion sites like those focused on Samsung Smartthings equipment. It wasn't a true security system like we think of today. It was more of a lighting /appliance control with the ability to turn everything on or off if you thought someone might be invading "your space." Surprisingly, most of the modules still work today, so, they got something right!

This display has about 12 fewer pins than the one in the GC-1107 - it must be multiplexed, whereas the GC-1107 display is not multiplexed.

I also like the VFD display the best. I made a clock in 1979 using the same chip that is in your GC-1107 clock (re-labelled MM5316), using DGF8 VFD's made in Japan - high quality. Still works. Your videos inspired me to get back into electronics, and I have picked up several VFDs. I found DG10F tubes NOS on EBAY, and a very similar display to the one one in the GC-1107 - Futaba 5LT91Z. Just have to build em now. The MM5316 goes all the way up to 29V, so it can drive many VFD's.

Fran - you mentioned you are from a mill town, and that made me think of an 85 year old man I recently met who built a home in *his* mill town (his dad ran a grain mill) with automated AC controls back in about 1960. It has two mechanical dials, and it may be made by GE. Still works. He said it was a major PITA to install, with control wires needed run to each outlet. I'll have to take a closer look next time I visit.

Damn, I feel guilty for "exploring" (destroying) those VFD space-invader style games I found at thrift stores back in the 80s.

Wim

I used X-10 for power control back in the day when I was doing automated testing. At one company I used it to cycle a large valve to allow a breathing simulator to sense atmospheric pressure during a power up. E.g. Open Valve, power cycle breathing simulator, close valve, test CPAP. Kinda fun. I had to do that each run, or eventually the local barometric pressure would change far enough that the testing would fail. This was way late in the x-10 era, and the one's I'd order on-line just didn't seem to last. There was a control unit that you could drive from a PC serial port. The only way I could get them to work well, was to put them all on the same outlet strip. We'd sure do it different today!

Because I'm a cheap-skate (and hate to get rid of stuff) the whole house here uses X-10 for lighting control and switching on the coffee maker each morning. In recent years there have been simple "active bridge" units for sale that amplify the X-10 data and feed it to each leg of the (split phase) 240/120 Volt service. These work very well in my experience. X-10 got a bad reputation for 2 reasons, primarily: it was designed around 240 volt split phase service in Europe (no pesky neutral connection) plus with the arrival of switch-mode power supplies for consumer electronics. These seem to lack any filters for out-bound line noise, so it became a much noisier world for a rudimentary, non-mesh system like X-10. Someday I'll migrate to Z-wave or something similar, but presently all the lights here go on and of at the appointed times. And I have hot coffee every morning.........

here's a link to the video if anyone is interested, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e5lzHtxdW4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e5lzHtxdW4</a>

CloneRanger

If only they'd had the foresight to call it the X-11 (10% MORE) it would be selling still in huge quantities. Two more fonts, five more colours, price raised 200%, plus "Ring NOW" and "As Seen On TV" on their ads they would have been where Apple is today. Years ago I saw a similar unit here in New Zealand that did its signalling on 455 KHz, in multi-user premises they generated more neighbour ill will than a kid with bagpipes.

Keith Wright

David, I did not have the problems you did with noise. I deployed very simple configurations in my house. Receptacles and light switches. It became a PITA. Then more advanced control systems became available. I still have the modules. It was a pretty cool time in electronics. I keep them for nostalgia and one remote module has a broken antenna because one of my kids played with it. She graduated from UD this year. Time flies, doesn't it?

Woo Hoo!

Clint Basinger (Lazy Game Reviews on YouTube) has done a couple of good videos on the X-10 home automation system. If you search “LGR X10” on YouTube you’ll find them. :)

Nicholas Wilson

X-10 was really more about "remote control" of lamps and other AC outlets using power line control signalling. The security button refers to the timing mode where the programmed light would turn on at a specific time +/- a certain interval, such as 30 minutes, thereby simulating someone at home turning the lights on every night. As the market progressed, the X-10 producers realized that marketing the product as a "security system" was an easier sell. They added motion detectors, smoke detectors, etc. The problem is that power lines are excessively noisy and the protocol was very simple, thus the solution was very unreliable. They tried coming out with "filter" modules, but they were of little help. Also, linking between the mains phases was a problem, so they developed a phase bridge to link the signal from the transmitter on one phase to the receiver that could be on another phase. X-10 was popular as it allowed remote and timed control of lighting without rewiring your home. It failed due to the reliable issue. Devices using the protocol are still available, many with proprietary "enhancements". Check out "insteon" from smarthome.com for example. I could write a book about this stuff, having struggled with it in my home for over 30 years.