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[bkenobi]

My CM15A that I've used for over a decade seems to have died.  The PLC is still working as expected, but the wireless no longer receives or at least transceives any signals.  I plugged in my backup unit and it works as expected.  I'll have to open up the work horse to see if anything obvious is broken.  If not, I guess I'll have to F-connector modify the backup so it can go into the main role.

Maybe this is a common failure mode that I haven't heard about.  If so, I can do more research.  Hopefully mine is old enough that it's standard through hole components and not one integrated chip!

[Brian H]

Yours should be the three PCB model with through hole components. At least on the main board.
But looking at the FCC photos. Both the receiver and transmitter daughter boards have surface mounted components. Including the chip being used.
Even my very early CM15A (socket for controller chip) had the daughter boards with surface mounted chip. I suspect that was an original design.
The FCC Database has much data in it.
Including photos,parts list and schematics.
https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm
Grantee: B4S
Product Code: CM15A
Details choice.
There is only one RX3310A Receiver chip and other components on the receiver board.
Receiver and transmit antennas are wrapped around the inside of the case. Since you did a antenna mod for the external antenna. You probably knew this.
I am sure you knew enough to make sure Tranceived House Code was selected as on. For the House Code you are using or maybe all. Automatic sometimes did not work correctly.

[bkenobi]

At one time I certainly knew a bit about the CM15A.  I did a lot of research to understand the F-connector mod among other things.  But, having had it work without issue for so long between the X10 software and HomeGenie, I have forgotten everything.  I actually consider that a testament to it's reliability if I never have to think about it for over a decade yet it is the main hub that everything goes through.

I'll check out the FCC info and crack mine open to compare.  I'm hoping something obvious will jump out.  If not, I guess modifying the other will be the primary goal.  Fortunately, I don't rely on wireless for much.  I have 1 MS16A and a handful of palm controllers.  In fact, this time of year is the only real use for it since the boss uses one of the palm remotes to turn lights on for her tree.  When that didn't work, I knew I was going to have to fix something to fix the WAF. 

[bkenobi]

I cracked open the backup and the main CM15A to see if I could see any issues.  The backup looked as I expected since it probably wasn't used much by the original owner.  The main unit had a little residue on the main board (probably from a previous daughter board swap) that was cleaned up with alcohol.  I did notice some darkening on the left side of the main board by the transformer.  It didn't look like there was any real damage, just appeared there was some heat over time.  I put it back together but haven't had a chance to test yet.  If it doesn't work, I'll probably just F-connector mod the backup since i know it works.

[bkenobi]

Turns out, this is an interesting problem.  I tested earlier and it worked fine.  I realized that HomeGenie wasn't running and restarted the service on my RPi...which resulted in the wireless stopping.  I pulled the USB cable from the CM15A and it still didn't work.  I unplugged, waited a few seconds, plugged it back in...and wireless seems to work.  I guess that means the hardware works and it's an issue with HG.  Wouldn't it be great if the author had a forum still so users could discuss the issues...   

[Brian H]

Sounds like you are making progress.
I have seen other posts.
Where removing the batteries and disconnecting the USB cable.
Sometimes fixed strange issues.

[Tuicemen]

Homegenie.club is back online but it would be better if the old original forum was brought back to life.

[bkenobi]

I swapped in my backup CM15A (stock antenna) and it seems to work though it has almost zero range.  The F-connector modded unit is connected to an antenna (in the attic) and inline amplifier.  The thing that may be important I didn't mention is that I had a flood in the basement last week so I have several fans and 3 dehumidifiers running until it's sufficiently dried out.  I suspect that the interference those are causing is killing the wireless signal and once I go back to my normal configuration, the main unit will work fine.  Since I know it's not HG and it's probably not the CM15A, I'll check again in a few days once we get things back to normal.

[JoKer]

FWIW, my first (also long-running, but un-modified) CM15A's wireless functionality stopped working abruptly a couple years back - for no apparent reason.  Never found the problem, so I swapped-in the backup CM15A.  Not sure what I'll do if that one fails, too.  Are there any fixes - or is the thing still available, or superseded by anything better?

[brobin]

Plenty available on ebay for about $40 should you need one. 

[Brian H]

Also they are still being sold on the X10 official sales site.

[bkenobi]

I rarely use the wireless other than when the tree is lit (haven't even installed outdoor lights in a couple years).  It was more useful when I had a couple more exterior lights that were x10 and not motion sensor.  Now that I have several LED motion lights in critical areas, most of my X10 is for the back yard or controlled by a timer or motion sensor.  That's how automation should be anyway.  RF is a nice backup but I don't really want to rely on either an app or a dongle anyway so the fact that the RF went for months before being noticed faulty is a nice validation really.  I'll have to add a RF mod to the backup CM15A at some point but it's certainly not much of a priority.

[brobin]

The only thing I use the Cm15a for is to receive RF from the Broadlink RM4 Pro for Alexis control as backup to the Smartenit P2. Since the Smartenit stuff has been out of stock for awhile it's the easiest way to use Alexa with X10.