X10 Community Forum
🖥️ActiveHome Pro => ActiveHome Pro General => Topic started by: Tipiford on May 04, 2021, 02:02:45 PM
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We downsized 5-years ago and brought our X10 system with us, which has been working flawlessly until about a month or so ago. Four of our modules are controlled by the timers on AHP, two of which work properly, and two will not turn on by the timers, but will turn off by the timers (trying both macro and individual timers with the repeat function).
One of the two problem modules can turn on or off by the buttons in AHP (and there are several that cannot be controlled by the buttons that are not on timers). All of the modules function properly by remotes.
All X10 modules and transceivers (we've tried both CM19 and CM 15) are on the same phase. When we first built this home, we brought with us a Leviton HA02, as all units at that time were not on one phase; when that died, we then purchased an XPCP which died within three months. We then reconfigured our pane to all X10 on one phase, which after having the same issues, installed a Leviton DHC 6284 (if you've never worked with #4 wiring, that was a 'bear'), and an XPCR, and our issues persists. We also have tried different house codes, to no avail.
I am totally baffled. Any suggestions here?
Tip
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An XPCP is a passive device, and it is highly unlikely that it actually failed. More likely is that you have been adding electrical devices that are interfering with X10 communication.
Things like CFL or LED lights and small plug-in power modules may inject noise onto the powerline, and prevent X10 modules from decoding commands. So can any electronic equipment with switching power supplies.
Other electronic equipment may include line filters that severely attenuate X10 signals. Most likely are desktop and tower computers, but it has been reported that even some game systems can kill X10 signal levels.
I wrote some troubleshooting guides that should be helpful: https://jvde.us/x10-troubleshooting/
Jeff
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We have added nothing. This was working perfectly, then the aforementioned issues.
Tip
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How about moving an existing electronic device to another location? Like a cell phone charger.
Changed a LED bulb that failed for a replacement?
Some electronic devices can deteriorate over time. You may want to unplug some devices and see if things changed.
If the problem modules are plug in. See if they would work on the same exact circuit and the CM15A.
Jeff's troubleshooting tutorials are a good source of information. Worth looking at.
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Windows updates have always played havoc with AHP. If set to auto update it would seem that you did nothing. Try reverting to a previous version of windows (prior to last update) with auto updates turned off.
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Some electronic devices can deteriorate over time. You may want to unplug some devices and see if things changed.
If the problem modules are plug in. See if they would work on the same exact circuit and the CM15A.
Most power supplies in use for the past 15 years are Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) which operate at 20kHz to 200kHz. X10 modules are very wideband and tend to respond to these frequencies. So, when the input filter capacitor of an SMPS fails with age it can start spewing high frequency noise to the powerline. This interfers with X10 powerline signals.
These cases where a long reliable SMPS becomes a problem are difficult to troubleshoot as it's more difficult to isolate than with a newly added device.
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An XPCP is a passive device, and it is highly unlikely that it actually failed. More likely is that you have been adding electrical devices that are interfering with X10 communication.
Things like CFL or LED lights and small plug-in power modules may inject noise onto the powerline, and prevent X10 modules from decoding commands. So can any electronic equipment with switching power supplies.
Other electronic equipment may include line filters that severely attenuate X10 signals. Most likely are desktop and tower computers, but it has been reported that even some game systems can kill X10 signal levels.
I wrote some troubleshooting guides that should be helpful:
Jeff
The XPCP device was merely mentioned in the history prior to moving all devices to the same phase. Our server (desktop) is down awaiting Seagate's repair service, so it's discounted from the mix, and I've tested this at high noon, when all LEDs and CFLs are off, but thanx.
How about moving an existing electronic device to another location? Like a cell phone charger.
Changed a LED bulb that failed for a replacement?
Some electronic devices can deteriorate over time. You may want to unplug some devices and see if things changed.
If the problem modules are plug in. See if they would work on the same exact circuit and the CM15A.
Jeff's troubleshooting tutorials are a good source of information. Worth looking at.
I have tested this with all lights/electronic devices off, issues persists. The only new device added around the start of this problem was a new telephone device, which we've eliminated, Thanx
Windows updates have always played havoc with AHP. If set to auto update it would seem that you did nothing. Try reverting to a previous version of windows (prior to last update) with auto updates turned off.
I will give this a try, thanx
Most power supplies in use for the past 15 years are Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) which operate at 20kHz to 200kHz. X10 modules are very wideband and tend to respond to these frequencies. So, when the input filter capacitor of an SMPS fails with age it can start spewing high frequency noise to the powerline. This interfers with X10 powerline signals.
These cases where a long reliable SMPS becomes a problem are difficult to troubleshoot as it's more difficult to isolate than with a newly added device.
We left behind our 85# power supply when we moved, but thanx
I find it interesting that one of the timer issues is on the same circuit as a non-timer module, that cannot be controlled with the AHP buttons, but the module with the issue can be controlled with the AHP buttons. This might sound like a AHP.exe issue, but I've downloaded fresh copies, more than once.
Thanx all,
Tip
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Off or disconnected?
Many present day electronics are powered on all the time. In standby. So things like remotes can control them.
Example. I have an LCD TV. It has three .1uF capacitors. Across the Line and Neutral, Line to Ground and Neutral to Ground. When plugged in it shows a definite X10 signal absorption on my XTBM X10 test meter.
Disconnecting is a better test over just off.
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Off or disconnected?
Many present day electronics are powered on all the time. In standby. So things like remotes can control them.
Example. I have an LCD TV. It has three .1uF capacitors. Across the Line and Neutral, Line to Ground and Neutral to Ground. When plugged in it shows a definite X10 signal absorption on my XTBM X10 test meter.
Disconnecting is a better test over just off.
Disconnected. And, as an update, I switched out the affected modules, which, to me at least, indicates a circuit problem.
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Are the modules. Appliance or Dimmer type modules?
If they are dimmer types. Are the new enough to have Soft Start {Slowly Ramp On and Off}?
In the last few revisions of AHP. There are two menu lists for those modules. Lamp and Before Soft Start.
If you used the Lamp list. The modules could use Extended X10 commands. That older ones can not understand.
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As well as being sure modules are configured corectly in AHP as Brian referenced. Be sure you have the newest version and that it is registered. Others have experienced oddities with using an unregistered version. Some that reported timer issues found once AHP was registered they no longer had those issues.
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Are the modules. Appliance or Dimmer type modules?
If they are dimmer types. Are the new enough to have Soft Start {Slowly Ramp On and Off}?
In the last few revisions of AHP. There are two menu lists for those modules. Lamp and Before Soft Start.
If you used the Lamp list. The modules could use Extended X10 commands. That older ones can not understand.
As well as being sure modules are configured corectly in AHP as Brian referenced. Be sure you have the newest version and that it is registered. Others have experienced oddities with using an unregistered version. Some that reported timer issues found once AHP was registered they no longer had those issues.
They are dimmer types., non soft start, and the AHP version is 3.318, and I had the wrong dimmer types installed in AHP.
But what I don't understand is, all of this was working properly 5 or 6 weeks ago; but thank you both for getting me straightened out on the proper configuration of AHP (and had been using it incorrectly for years).
The timers tested out with a test macro, and the real test will be tonight and tomorrow morning, but all is looking good.
Thanx,
Tip