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[Delboy]

Since installing Jeff's XTBR-IIR my X10 system's stability has improved 100 fold. However, as always there is still just one remaining annoyance which i think can be solved by tweaking the AGC settings. After reading the instructions several times i am still not certain how to configure the settings and whether it will assist or not.

I have Hawkeye II motion sensors in most rooms in the house and a V572AE, I find that during high periods of activity the XTB-IIR stops repeating, on inspection I note it is flashing its regular 'warning/error' LED sequence, a few seconds later the XTB starts repeating again and all is well. I also see the line voltage on a particular power outlet where I leave the XTBM connected shows vpp ranging from 2.5>4.0Vpp within  a 2 second sampling window when no known activity is occurring in the house other than the trigger's I am issuing to test/monitor the system.

It is not clear if the XTB-IIR varies its output Voltage or whether the AGC just effects the noise rejection level? Any suggestions on how to step through a logical process of elimination or XTB-IIR configuration changes?

PS - The XTBM generally shows noise level of N.00 since I tracked down the noisy appliances and applied filters, the high noise alarm has only activated about twice in the past two weeks and I have already enabled the High Command Storm Threshold.

[JeffVolp]

I don't think this is an AGC issue because the default setting works well for most people.  In a low noise environment you can turn the high threshold off to be able to pick up very weak signals.

From your description, I suspect you are running into the command storm shutdown.  The default setting allows a continuous burst of about 120 commands, or 20 commands per minute average.  That is sufficient for most people (including myself).  If you have a lot of motion detectors, you may be exceeding that amount of activity.  Try the high command storm threshold (mode option 7 ON).  That allows a continuous burst of about 400 commands, or 60 commands per minute average.

Whoops - missed that last line this morning.  I only had a few minutes to respond before I had to head out.  You can confirm the high command storm shutdown threshold is set by checking that the XTB-IIR transmits "P7 Status ON" in response to the mode command.  Also, you could check whether it is actually going into the command storm shutdown by the LED doing a rapid flash until the excessive traffic clears.  It will also send "P16 Status OFF" out the digital port when it shuts down.

Another possibility is that you are seeing collisions.  If you needed to set the high command storm threshold, that is a LOT of X10 traffic.  There is a strong likelyhood that you are seeing collisions, particularly where the source can be random transmissions from motion detectors.  If indeed you are seeing collisions, the XTB-IIR would not repeat those commands, and you would get the triple LED flash that indicates a receiving error.

Jeff