X10 HR12A PalmPad Remote Control

I have been using these remote control units for about 30 years. They work amazingly well if you locate the transmitter at a central home location. These remotes transmit a wireless signal (around 50 MHz) to the receiver which is plugged into a 120 V outlet. The centrally located transmitter puts a 50 MHz digital signal on your home power lines that can be picked up by little recievers located near the devices whose power you want to turn on and off. The remotes use 4 AA cells. These last an entire year or more. The X-10 system is a bargain and works very well. The price is very low for the whole X-10 system particularly if you buy it as a complete home kit complete with remote control units Transmitter/Receiver unit, and several remote switches that plug into your 120V outlets. You can use the X-10 system to control lamps, Hi Fi amps, just about anything that is below about 100 Watts dissipation.

The switch pads do not last forever. The previous one lasted 8 years. The soft switches require a constant battery drain. The typical failure mode is where the negative battery end touches the connector. Corrosion accumulates there, which can be cleaned up with cheap emery board. Previous versions used a spring to hold the battery in place. This version uses a more robust leaf spring that should be easier to clean off and maybe even last a bit longer. I'm old school and prefer to repair rather than discard and replace. I would like to move on to newer technology, but the X10 lamp module has one feature I have not seen anywhere else. The attached lamp can be turned on by simply turning the switch on the lamp from on to off and then back to on. The lamp module senses the disconnection and will turn on without using any remote controller. This is very valuable when living with an Alzheimer's patient. Note that the lamp module requires an incandescent bulb, which are now banned. So these lamp modules will be useless soon.

Nicely molded plastic product with rubberized buttons works perfectly. Remote measures 4.5" x 2.75" x 7/8" and weighs about 4 oz. I use 4 AAA alkaline batteries that easily last longer than a year. The left side of the remote has clear removeable plastic that covers an area where you can abbreviate the purpose of each remote button. I use the remote to control upto 16 devices on 2 separate circuit breakers. My home has roughly 1/2 the home AC outlets on 1 circuit breaker and the other 1/2 of the home AC outlets on a second circuit breaker. I have 2 transceiver modules (old model HC50RX). One is plugged into any outlet on the 1st circuit and the other one is plugged into any outlet on the 2nd circuit. Both transceivers and the remote control are set to house code A. This setup allows the single remote to easily control devices anywhere in my home. I like the RF (radio frequency) capability opposed to the IR (infrared) so I can control lights, fans, etc that are in different rooms out of line of sight. I use the remote to control a mix of X10 Powerhouse Appliance Modules (AM466) and X10 Powerhouse Lamp Modules (LM-465). Since the remote was priced about 25% below other sellers, I purchased 2 so I can save one as a backup.

I've been using X-10 remotes for decades with - mostly - great success. I've also got a small pile of X-10 PalmPad handheld remotes which have stopped working. I just ordered two more to replace the current inoperable ones. However, of the two new remotes only one worked. Now, I've got to return the bad one, although Amazon tries hard to make the process as easy as possible. Still, it's a pain to have to go through the process.

I have used the devices for many years and find them to be very reliable and easy to use. Configuration is a simple matter of setting the dial on the front plate to match the house code of the devices you wish to control. [Note: you will also need an X10 TM751 Wireless Transceiver Module or similar to make use of this device]. Once the controller is set to the correct house code, all you need to do is press the on or off button for the corresponding number of the device to turn it on/off. For lamps or similar devices that can be dimmed, the blue arrow buttons at the bottom of the unit allow for stepping up/down through various levels of illumination. There is a slide switch at the bottom of the unit which allows you to reach more unit codes with the same series of on/off buttons. Sometimes this can lead to a little confusion if a device is not responding if the slide switch is set to the wrong range. Simply, slide it back and the device will respond. This is user error not a device fault. There is a thin paper strip that allow you to label what each button is for. The spacing is a little tight but that keeps the size of the controller to fitting in your palm. Overall, a handy little gadget.

I lost my old X10 remote after a move. This appears to be the exact same model that I had and it worked perfectly right out of the box. Thank you.

We “inherited” two of these remotes when we moved into our house almost 8 years ago. Just recently they stopped working even with new batteries. We bought these to replace the broken ones and they work perfectly with the main units we already have. All we had to do is put in batteries and they worked just like the old ones. A seamless transition.

I actually bought two, for the hand units, in order to turn my lights on or off, as my bedroom is in a loft area, and I can turn my lights on before I get upstairs, or turn them off when I get down stairs. It’s perfect!