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[delibaker]

I have 4 LM15a's that might be useless, but I would like to confirm this.  After turning off power to the light I screwed in the LM15a and then a light bulb.  When turning power on, the bulb lights immediately and I can't seem to program it using a palm pad remote.  Also tried using AHP to program them using the Remote Chime method as described in another thread with no luck. 

I'm thinking that these are fused in the on mode,  is this possible or is there another way I could try to get them to work???

Thanks,

DeliBaker

[lviper]

Have you tired putting the lm15a in a light you can plug in to the same outlet as the transceiver? That's all I can think of trying. Others with more experience should chime in here soon.

[Brian H]

If the power was removed from the LM15A for maybe a minute and it comes back On immediately when power is restored. It is defective.

[dave w]

Adding to Brian's assessment.

It is not uncommon for the Socket Rocket to fail when the incandescent bulb it is controlling burns out (with a flash). The internal electronic switch (triac) shorts from the power surge when the filament opens. So the new bulb stays lit all the time.

In a weak defense of X10, the Socket Rocket is so limited in internal space they have no room for a heavier duty triac, or any type of additional protective components like a surge suppressor.

X10 *might* warranty them if you call customer support and use the premise that you can not afford to replace a Socket Rocket everytime the controlled light bulb blows.

[delibaker]

Thanks everyone!!!  These units are toast and I doubt that X10 will replace them since they're out of warranty by several months.  They probably fried cause my other half used generic WalMart bulbs in them which tend to "pop" when they burn out.

Thanks again,

DeliBaker

[dave w]

deli
FWIW,

A couple of decades ago there was research done (I think by X10) to determine if different brands of bulbs were less destructive at burnout. The winner was Phillips. Apparently they (at that time) had better filament support and did not "tension" the filament as tightly as other manufacturers. The outcome is: when the Phillips bulb does burnout, the filament does not snap apart, causeing the blue flash and subsequent destructive surge. Since that "study" was done a long time ago I don't know if those facts are still true. A "rough service" bulb might also work since they also have better filament support.
$0.02

[delibaker]

Thanks Dave, and hey many $.02 adds up to $1 and that's knowledge that can be shared!!!

Thanks again,

DeliBaker