Half of my LM14A's don't work

[mgadbois]

I have a 320 Amp service in my house and have 2 breaker boxes in the basement. When hooking up several LM14A's I can only get about half of them to work. All of them are on outside outlets that are GFCI, but still half work and half don't. Any ideas as to what might cause this and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance.....

[Brian H]

Signals may not be getting to the other phase of the homes wiring or from box to box. Do you have any phase coupling or repeating devices?

[mgadbois]

No. The odd thing is that the CM15A is in a different panel than the LM14A's that work. The LM14A's that don't work are in a different panel. I assume that the signal is sent over the wire and not RF. Correct?? What devices would be phase coupling or repeating devices?

[dave w]

Sounds lke you have a large home. Assuming you continue to use X10 even after Christmas you should look into better coupling of signals throughout house.

If you have one meter for the house, you can probably get away with one "hot" coupler/amp on the "main" box. Search this forum for "Phase"  "coupling" "Volp" "XTB-IIR", "ACT" etc.

Both Jeff Volp's XTB and ACT repeaters have above average outputs.

I don't have one yet, but understand Jeff's XTB-IIR is a "blowtorch" and a solidly designed unit.

Good luck

[Boiler]

No. The odd thing is that the CM15A is in a different panel than the LM14A's that work. The LM14A's that don't work are in a different panel. I assume that the signal is sent over the wire and not RF. Correct?? What devices would be phase coupling or repeating devices?

The "phases" of your electrical system are repeated in each of your panels (assuming you have 220V split phase which is common).  Each panel will have a phase A and B.  Devices located on phase A will have a much easier time communicating with other devices on phase A.  Without a coupler, devices trying to communicate across phases (A to B) will need to travel outside your home and through the power co. transformer (significant signal loss).

If you have a single power drop from the electric co. (be sure to check that you do have a single meter), an active coupler should help.

Like you, I have 300A service split among multiple panels (lot's of toys - welders, air compressors, etc).  I use a Leviton HCA02 active repeater in my main panel.  It has served my well, but is now becomming a bit undersized.  I'm guessing that your home is quite a bit larger than mine.  You'd be well advised to look at the recommendations that Dave_w provided (I've been looking at the XTB-IIR myself).