Hi, i am a NewB but I have been reading up on some of the stickies in the troubleshooting forum.
A quick overview of my situation.
- Old duplex building built in 1950s, I live in both lodgings.
- The house is 63 feet by 24 feet. The basement is 6.5 feet tall, the two other floors are 9 feet tall.
- Top floor has its own utility bill (separate panel and meter), main floor and basement on other panel.
- Weird electrical conversion done. Each floor has a fusebox that goes to their own basement circuit breaker.
- 80% of all electrical outlets/switches go to fuseboxes. Remainder are wired to circuit breaker.
- A X10 Transceiver (PAT01) upstairs actually works on all outlets on ground and basement floor (tested using a AM486 appliance module)
- The X10 Transceiver works on all circuit breaker (as opposed to fuse box) outlets upstairs (same floor as PAT01)
- The X10 Transceiver works on very few outlets that are hooked via fusebox.
- The outlets on the north-side of the house work fine, but the south-side outlets have problems (fusebox more towards north-side of house).
My problem.
- Being a newB installed one X10 Dimer light switch WS14A and tried to make it work with remote KR22A. Would NOT work. Not on, not off.
- Removed the switch and tried testing outlets with a AM486 appliance module and it would work on some outlets but not all.
What I tried
- Further testing revealed some outlets on fuse Box position 1 or 2 would work but some would not.
- Turned off all lights in house (we have many CFLs and I read they could cause interference).
- I tried unscrewing all fuses except position 1 and turning off all circuit breakers, except the relay for the fusebox, still had problems.
- I tried placing the PAT01 transceiver right in one of the outlets in various outlets I was having problems with.
What I thought
- Something is making noise on the line and causing the X10 to signal to be garbled or something is attenuating the signal.
- So I order a X10 signal meter from Jeff Volp. Waiting to receive it to test further.
What I did after
- Started writing this post.
- In the process figured I would redo some of my tests to confirm my results.
- I notice a digital picture frame was plugged in an outlet but the frame is never on. I unplugged it for fun... (ARggg! That was my problem)
The solution
- It was the power supply to the digital picture frame was generating noise, unplugging it and all outlet worked nicely with X10.
- Plugging the picture frame to a noise reducing powerbar allowed frame to work and X10 as well.
The Lesson
- Make sure you do sufficient testing of your environment to find sources of the problem.
- Always try to remove as many variables as possible to isolate the problem.
- Power transformers (AC/DC) can generate noise on the line that will interfere with X10 signals.
Many thanks to all those who posted troubleshooting aids that went a long way to help in the problem solving of this issue.
Still looking forward to getting the X10 signal meter to see if there are other things making noise that are not yet causing issues.
Other notes
- I have tried a number of CFL and LED bulbs. None that I have tried appear to work well with X10.
- Can someone list a number of CFLs that work well and with which X10 hardware (I am looking for X10 wall-mount light switches, but would love to be able to use the entry level X10 stuff ($12-$20) not the $$$ X10 that requires a Neutral line, if that is possible.)
- Do any LED bulbs work on the entry X10 wall switches? I tried a few and once on, the wall switch will not respond to remote or physical switching...
Recap (from things read and things learned)
- When troubleshooting Transceiver issues:
a) Place transceiver on same circuit as X10 device.
b) If possible kill power to all other circuits.
c) Unplug everything from wall outlets except Transceiver and X10 Device.
d) If step c solved issue begin plugging back things one at a time. (It could be a single item or the combination of items that suck or block signal).
- Some components that some people report transceiver communication problems with:
a) CFL bulbs and fluorescent tubes.
b) LED bulbs or LED night lights
c) Power supplies AC/DC (Like cell phone chargers, power to picture frames, etc.)
d) Computers (They suggest plugging to Filtered Power bars or a UPS)
e) Other surprising things...
Thanks again all and hope this can help someone out there in their troubleshooting.
Ray
Author
Topic: Troubleshooting NewB... (Read 2312 times)