X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Troubleshooting Automation Problems => Topic started by: birdzeye on August 21, 2010, 09:07:42 PM
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Well I went and bought an RR501 a little over a year ago, so of course the warranty is kaput, and the thing has blown on me B:(
It just stays on all the time now and can't be controlled by remote or from a CM15A. I was plugging in my laptop to the same outlet that the RR501 was in and I think that's what fried the RR501.
Maybe I should just stick to the TM751 from now on :-\
Is there a way to fix it?
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When you say it can't be controlled, do you mean you cannot control the device that is plugged into it?
If not, my condolences to you.
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You mean the internal switch in it is not working or it doesn't even send X10 signal back on the power line?
Does the local button turn it on and off?
Did you try both Unit Codes 1 and 9?
Try rotating the house code dial in case it is dirty and is not on the house code indicated.
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If you are testing Brian's questions and the local button turns it on and off, it may be that your laptop power supply that you plug in to the same outlet is sucking the signal down to near nothing depending how far away from your CM15A it is. If the local control button toggles, try unplugging your laptop power supply and see if that corrects the issue.
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If you are testing Brian's questions and the local button turns it on and off, it may be that your laptop power supply that you plug in to the same outlet is sucking the signal down to near nothing depending how far away from your CM15A it is. If the local control button toggles, try unplugging your laptop power supply and see if that corrects the issue.
You forgot to post that if the RR501 works with the laptop unplugged, you need a filter on the laptop's power supply.
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Well I went and bought an RR501 a little over a year ago, so of course the warranty is kaput, and the thing has blown on me B:(
It just stays on all the time now and can't be controlled by remote or from a CM15A. I was plugging in my laptop to the same outlet that the RR501 was in and I think that's what fried the RR501.
No I don't think a working PC power supply could "blow" a RR501, but as has been said, it could create noise which would block PLC signals to and from the RR501. That should not have an affect on RF control of the RR501. I have five or six OLD RR501 that the internal relay for the outlet no longer works, but the tranceiver still functions. Have you checked the transceive function of the RR501?
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I still think it noise. I have 2 RR501s, both several years old, and working fine both get their RF signals from a pair of "Stick-a-Switch"es that do what they have to do without any faults.
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The ON/OFF button will not work. And if I plug an appliance into it, the appliance just stays on.
The reason I think it was the laptop that blew out the RR501 is that when I plugged in the laptop I saw a flash of electricity like a spark for a split second. The RR501 and laptop were both plugged into one of those 6 outlet adapters.
I've never had that problem with a TM751, and I thought the RR501 would be better quality than a TM751.
Is there a way to fix the RR501?
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The ON/OFF button will not work. And if I plug an appliance into it, the appliance just stays on.
The reason I think it was the laptop that blew out the RR501 is that when I plugged in the laptop I saw a flash of electricity like a spark for a split second. The RR501 and laptop were both plugged into one of those 6 outlet adapters.
I've never had that problem with a TM751, and I thought the RR501 would be better quality than a TM751.
Is there a way to fix the RR501?
In short. NO!!! The difference between the TM751 and The RR501 is that the 751 is not "polite". If you have 2 of them, one will send x10 signals immediately and possibly override the other, but the RR501 is "polite". it waits for the line to clear before sending. If the laptop blew it up, it should be on an outlet of it's own, not shared with a laptop's power supply .
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Maybe it was the 6-outlet adapter?
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Can you verify if it still transceives an RF signal back to the power line?
That would test for a total failure or one in the relay circuit.
I have a Date Code 02F23 RR501 still working fine, though I did resolder a few connections in the power supply area. Where it gets warm.
Since X10 has been redesigning the modules to use more easily available parts. The new ones could be different from the older ones. I know a new TM751 and an older one are completely different in many areas of the design.
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Maybe it was the 6-outlet adapter?
Good guess. ALL PC power supplies produce noise. My wife bought a laptop several years ago and plugged into a power strip behind the sofa. The lights over the sofa (x10 controlled) stopped working. 2 filters were promptly bought for the two computers. No more noise problems.
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Can you verify if it still transceives an RF signal back to the power line?
That would test for a total failure or one in the relay circuit.
Brian H,
how do I verify this?Maybe it was the 6-outlet adapter?
Good guess. ALL PC power supplies produce noise. My wife bought a laptop several years ago and plugged into a power strip behind the sofa. The lights over the sofa (x10 controlled) stopped working. 2 filters were promptly bought for the two computers. No more noise problems.
Dan Lawrence,
I was referring more to the possibility that the 6-outlet adapter (which by the way is not a power strip but rather one of those square things that plug into a 2-outlet electrical outlet) caused an electrical surge since it did momentarily flash/spark.
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If you use an RF remote to send a command through it to a module. That would see if it is totally dead.
Maybe an address not used normally and a test module on the test address. To keep the CM15A out of the mix.
The spark you saw may have been the input circuit on the laptop supplies initial power on surge.
I would not think it would damage the RR501. I guess it could have blown the fuse protecting the electronics.
The spike could have confused the controller chip in the RR501 but removing and reapplying the power should have reset that.
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If you use an RF remote to send a command through it to a module. That would see if it is totally dead.
Maybe an address not used normally and a test module on the test address. To keep the CM15A out of the mix.
The spark you saw may have been the input circuit on the laptop supplies initial power on surge.
I would not think it would damage the RR501. I guess it could have blown the fuse protecting the electronics.
The spike could have confused the controller chip in the RR501 but removing and reapplying the power should have reset that.
It's totally dead. Is there a way to change the fuse that protects the electronics?
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Well if you are handy with a soldering iron it maybe possible.
I just opened my Date Code 02F23 and made a discovery. The fuse only protects the MOV surge protection component, not the whole electronics. :o
It would be a real fine wire maybe #30 or smaller. Near the power prongs and maybe marked F or FUS.
If X10 updated the board for new components then I can't give you much data.
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Well if you are handy with a soldering iron it maybe possible.
I just opened my Date Code 02F23 and made a discovery. The fuse only protects the MOV surge protection component, not the whole electronics.
That makes about as much sense as a fuse protecting a fuse. I think X10 has lost their recipe book.
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Well if you are handy with a soldering iron it maybe possible.
I just opened my Date Code 02F23 and made a discovery. The fuse only protects the MOV surge protection component, not the whole electronics.
That makes about as much sense as a fuse protecting a fuse. I think X10 has lost their recipe book.
When a surge protector fails it turns into a low resistance, so there must be some means of interrupting the current to the surge protector.
Jeff
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Well if you are handy with a soldering iron it maybe possible.
I just opened my Date Code 02F23 and made a discovery. The fuse only protects the MOV surge protection component, not the whole electronics.
That makes about as much sense as a fuse protecting a fuse. I think X10 has lost their recipe book.
When a surge protector fails it turns into a low resistance, so there must be some means of interrupting the current to the surge protector.
Jeff
So the MOV gradually shorts each time it takes a hit? OK fuse makes sense then. But I have seen these single socket supressors with MOV unfused from hot to neutral so assumed the clamp voltage went up and junction opened with each hit. Thanks Jeff
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So the MOV gradually shorts each time it takes a hit?
The surge protector will normally clamp a voltage spike somewhat above the peak AC line voltage. A severe transient can dissipate enough energy in the surge protector for it to fail to a low resistance.
I learned that the hard way with the early XTB-IIR. Like most X10 equipment, it had 130VAC surge protectors. Several people managed to get 240V across the 120V input, destroying the surge protector, and popping the fuse (once spectacularly). It now has 275V surge protectors, so the worst that will happen is the user-replaceable fuse will pop when 240V is applied across the 120V transformer input.
Jeff
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Yes but a 130 volt MOV on 240 makes such a nice big BANG.
Unless you get a piece of it in your face. Don't ask how I know this. :'
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It's in the garbage....farewell RR501.... :'(
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Then get another one (check out Automated Outlet at http://www.automatedoutlet.com/ )and don't plug it into that multiple outlet the old one was.