X10 Community Forum

🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Troubleshooting Automation Problems => Topic started by: Steve0914 on December 25, 2006, 09:09:13 PM

Title: WS467 works in one wiring box but not the other
Post by: Steve0914 on December 25, 2006, 09:09:13 PM

I have 2 wiring boxes in the wall of a room - one is for a single switch and the other has 2 switches.  I am replacing the single switch and one switch of the double with WS467's. Activation of these switches is done via AHP and an SS13 slimline wireless remote switch.

The single box has 2 leads - black and blue, just like the WS467 has - and after wiring it up, it works flawlessly.

The double box has a black and a blue lead connected to the switch on the left, but I'm replacing the one on the right, and it seems to be connected with a single blue lead on one side and on the other side there is a piece of wire that leads to a wire nut which has the other end of the wire piece + a black wire + a red wire twisted into it - making a connection to both red and black wires. This is the only switch in this double box that uses the red wire.

The left switch, apparently does not need the red wire.  The right switch - the one I need to convert to X10 - goes to an outdoor 100 Watt flood light.  I cannot get AHP or the SS13 to activate this switch - however, it does turn on and off at the actual switch.

These are the conditions I've encountered (for 1 and 2, I removed the black and red wires from the wire nut):

• 1.) Connect switch to blue and black only
  --> RESULT: Will not turn on even from switch, plus an adjacent electrical socket has no power.
  
  
• 2.) Connect switch to blue and red only   
  --> RESULT: Turns on from switch, but not AHP or SS13, plus adjacent socket still has no power.
  
  
• 3.) Connect switch to blue and the red/black wired together
  --> RESULT: Switch works directly, adjacent socket works but DOES NOT work w/ AHP or SS13.
  

I'm thinking that the slightly more complicated setup of this switch may be causing the problem.

I'd like to figure out how to get the switch working with that setup or maybe find out if there's another switch I have to use in order to accomplish this given the electrical setup of this 100 watt light.  I noticed there are some X10 switches that have 3 wires, but I don't know if that will make the difference here.

Any help would be appreciated!  Thanks ...     


[TTA Edit: Replace hard CRLFs with soft; add LIST command for Table - to allow proper display on smaller resolution screens.]

Title: Re: WS467 works in one wiring box but not the other
Post by: Puck on December 25, 2006, 10:40:30 PM

If you can turn the light ON & OFF manually, then the wiring should be correct. That particular switch could be on a different electrical phase from your CM15A and/or there is line noise / signal sucker on that circuit and preventing the X10 signal from reaching the switch.

If your current set up is condition #3, the socket is on the same circuit as the light switch, so maybe try plugging the CM15A into it and testing the switch with the remote.

Is the working switch & non-working one on the same House Code?

Title: Re: WS467 works in one wiring box but not the other
Post by: KDR on December 26, 2006, 05:40:33 AM

Steve0914: You need to try it as Puck suggested. It sounds like when the switch was wired that a hot lead came into the switch box and was connected to a lead that went to the outlet to make it hot and also to the switch to give it power. You should be able to hook the new switch to the same points that the old switch was hooked to. Puck's thoughts on it being a phase or noise problem is mine as well.

Title: Re: WS467 works in one wiring box but not the other
Post by: Brian H on December 26, 2006, 07:27:32 AM

Red Blue and Black wires. By any chance are these WS4777 Three-way switches? Consisting of a WS477 master and a CS277 companion or maybe just multiple WS477 Masters with no companion?