draythomp:
But, I would love it if someone out there told me I was wrong, and that we can use an XBee to control these devices.
Can't say right or wrong, but if it is doable, the answer lies in understanding application profiles, clusters, etc. The device(s) to be interfaced would likely need to conform to one of the public profiles, or the details of any proprietary profiles would need to be published.
I've just seen this stuff in the XBee product manual, haven't really made a decent effort at understanding it, much less doing something about it.
I have a number of X10 devices, and I hate all of them. They are very unreliable.
True that. They're basically unusable here now. Part of the problem is the proliferation of surge suppressors, at least some of which effectively clean the mains of X10 signals. I once had some devices that mysteriously stopped working and found that when I unplugged a surge protector that I had installed with a new TV, they worked again. Solid-state (high-frequency) fluorescent ballasts also raise hell with them. BTW, the TV won. Conclusion: X10 is no longer a viable technology in my heavily EMI-laden home.