X10 Rex barking dog device

I still have one of these, basically a speaker that plays sound of barking dog when appropriate X10 device triggered (came with one motion sensor to trigger it also). It’s the only X10 device I don’t have a replacement for. This would be perfect while on vacation if any motion sensors trigger, start the barking.

Any of you old X10 guys know if there are any special settings or hacks to make the Rex start barking when power turned on so I could use it with a zwave outlet? I found the manual but couldn’t figure out any what to do it with the test modes.

I know Sonos can play sounds, but they are too much money IMO. I haven’t had much luck with the Android LANannouncer either.

Thanks!

these are too dangerous. People will get hurt laughing themselves to death. I think they were recalled by manufacturer.

Open it up - maybe you can jumper the action.

This is a long shot on a post from 2016 - but I also have the X10 Barking Dog which is the only X10 device I still use and which activates when my Home Assistant sensors trigger motion when I’m not at home. Worked really well.

Sadly my PS500 power supply blew up the other day and as it’s a long since discontinued product I can’t get a replacement. I used the X10 gateway in Home Assistant for communications.

Like you, I want to trigger it using Zigbee rather than Zwave - did you have any success with that? I haven’t opened it up yet to see what the options might be but without a power supply it’s definitely a lot harder.

X10 has long since disappeared but I rather liked my barking dog!

If it were me, and I didn’t already have a Doberman to do the barking, I would wire in an external power supply based on the voltage and amperage specs, and get a zigbee relay (such as Amazon ASIN B08X218VMR) and wire it into the circuit that activates the bark.

I would not, however, run an additional app on my phone just to have app control, which most of the relays offer. That gives way too much personal information and device security away to extremely unaccountable people.

No, I’m not an electronics engineer. Just a tinkerer that couldn’t resist at least trying.

Interesting idea - the replacement power supply is the easy part - identifying the part of the circuit that triggers the barking dog is a bit more of a challenge!

I use a virtual switch to get Alexa to play dogs barking on outdoor PIR motion when I’m out.